Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (arcade game)
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| Cadillacs and Dinosaurs | |
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| Developer(s) | Capcom |
| Publisher(s) | Capcom |
| Platform(s) | Arcade |
| Release date | February 1st 1992 |
| Genre(s) | Beat 'em up |
| Mode(s) | Single player, 2-3 player Co-op |
| Input methods | 8-way Joystick, 2 Buttons |
| Cabinet | Upright |
| Arcade system | CPS-1 + QSound |
| Display | Raster, 384 x 224 pixels (Horizontal), 4096 colors |
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs: The Arcade Game (known in Japan as Cadillacs Kyouryuu Shin Seiki) is a 1992 arcade game released by Capcom. It is a beat 'em up based upon the comic Xenozoic Tales which was created by Mark Schultz in the late eighties. A TV series made after the game was released, though it wasn't a major success, and the Capcom game didn't have any relation with it as it was based entirely on the comic series.
Not to be confused with the console and computer game Cadillacs and Dinosaurs: The Second Cataclysm made by Rocket Science Games but based on the same license, this time on the TV series rather than on the original comic. Despite its success and popularity, the Capcom arcade was never released in home systems.
The game-play is like that of many other side-scrolling beat'em up games of the time, such as Streets of Rage or Final Fight. A distinctive feature of this game is the frequent use of firearms, rarely seen on other games of its kind, which normally favored weapons such as bottles and knives. There is also a sequence in which the player can get control of the titular vehicle by radioing for it. It is difficult to keep the car intact for long, because the boss at the end of the sequence (Hogg) is armed with grenades.
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[edit] Controls
In Cadillacs and Dinosaurs the player has access to several special attacks. They are done in the same way for all the characters, but have varying degrees of effectiveness per character. By pressing attack and jump together, the player performs a 360 attack with momentary invulnerability that knocks down nearby enemies. By pressing forward, forward then attack, the player performs a dashing attack that can easily take down crowds of enemies. Mustapha's dashing attack is particularly effective, as it has long reach and priority. By pressing down, up then attack, the player will perform a rising attack that hits multiple times, but can leave you vulnerable. Unlike most other Capcom beat'em ups, you cannot fluently chain a rising attack during a combo, but you can perform one while holding an enemy.
[edit] Characters
It features 4 playable characters, corresponding more or less to the usual variations found on beat'em ups:
[edit] Jack Tenrec
- Profile: Part Mechanic, Part Shaman
- Height: 1.8m (6ft)
- Weight: 78kg (172lb)
- Strength: Good Ability
- Mega Crush Attack: Spiral Uppercut
- Win Quotes: "Damn, I'm Good!", "You Can't Touch This!"
- Power: 4/5, Speed: 3/5, Skill: 3/5
- Attributes: The comic's main protagonist is the game's balanced fighter, focusing a bit more on power than speed. His running slide is invulnerable to many attacks.
[edit] Hannah Dundee
- Profile: Diplomat and Explorer. Jack's former flame and love interest.
- Height: 1.70m (5ft 6in)
- Weight: 53kg (117lb)
- Strength: Item Skilled
- Mega Crush Attack: Spiral Smash
- Win Quotes: "What A Wimp!", "All Right!"
- Power: 2/5, Speed: 4/5, Skill: 5/5
- Attributes: The second fastest character in the game, she's also specially skilled with knives and other items. She's a great thrower, being able to launch enemies higher than the other characters. She's not as powerful as other characters, but her agility makes up for it.
[edit] Mustapha Cairo
- Profile: Engineer and Jack's Friend
- Height: 1.98m (6ft 5in)
- Weight: 68kg (150lb)
- Strength: Flying Kicks
- Mega Crush Attack: Tornado Kick
- Win Quotes: "Bad To The Bone!", "I'm A Bad Mamba Jamma!"
- Power: 3/5, Speed: 5/5, Skill: 3/5
- Attributes: The fastest character in the game. His flying drop kick has great reach and priority, making him probably the most capable character in the game. The best choice for beginners.
[edit] Mess O'Bradovich
- Profile: Elusive Past
- Height: 2,05m (6ft 7in)
- Weight: 97kg (213lb)
- Strength: High Powered
- Mega Crush Attack: Spinning Knuckle Bomb
- Win Quotes: "Number One Baby!", "I'm Just Too Cool!"
- Power: 5/5, Speed: 2/5, Skill: 4/5
- Attributes: The "powerhouse" of the game, Mess is the Mike Haggar of Cadillacs and Dinosaurs. Despite being slow he is the most powerful playable character in the game. His Diving Body Slam is powerful but not so functional, due to his poor jump ability. Make good use of his throws as these are his most powerful attacks.
[edit] Enemies
[edit] Regular enemies
As in a typical beat'em up game, there are nasty enemies to oppose the players, described below.
- Bikers (Gneiss, Ferris and Driver) - the most basic enemies of the game, they are usually dumb, attacking mostly with punches, kicks and rarely with a flying kick. Gneiss enemies can sometimes appear on their "powered-up" motorcycles trying to run over the player. Gneiss wear blue with grey (complete with riding goggles), Ferris wear orange with grey, Driver wear black with green (having more life than his fellow friends).
- Midgets (Punk and Thug) - very annoying small enemies. They are somewhat harder to deal with (and thus can be a real pain for most players) due to their smaller stature and bigger aggressiveness. They jump a lot and attack with fast punches, shoulder butts, jump kicks and even throwing grenades (for Punk) and TNT bundles (for Thug) - which they can drop sometimes when killed. Punk wears blue pants while Thug wears pumpkin pants.
- Knife Men (Blade and Razor) - cruel guys skilled with butchery knives. They can attack both disarmed (with simple punches) and with their trademark knives - which they can use to stab, execute a jumping downward stab attack, throw them (the player can hit incoming knives to deflect them, thus allowing their use) and use a running swipe attack (which has good priority and shall not be confronted). These guys constantly drop their knives when killed. Blade wears yellow with navy blue and blonde hair, Razor wears lime green with graffiti and tanned skin.
- Fat Guys (Blk Elmer, Hammer Terhune and Wrench Terhune) - powerful obese enemies that can deal good damage if the player is not careful. These men attack with basic punches and kicks, with addition of running shoulder charges and a painful jumping butt smash. In some occasions they will also disturb sleeping Shivats in order to wake them into rampage. Sometimes they are also seen smoking cigars when doing nothing. Blk Elmer wears blue clothing, Hammer T. wears gold/orange clothing and Wrench T. wears green clothing.
- Hunters (Poacher J., Gutter and Skinner) - the Black Marketeer's most favored gunmen, they are responsible for killing and selling dinosaur leather and bones for extorsive prices. Hunters wear torn-down sweatshirts, pants and climbing boots. They always sport a hunting rifle, thought they rarely use it; also, they rarely drop their rifles when defeated. Their attacks include combos of rifle smacks, rolling rifle smash, hopping kick and the rare rifle shot. Poacher J. sports yellow sweatshirt while Gutter has spinach-green and Skinner has papaya-red.
- Lash Terhune (commonly Lash T.) - tall built guys with leather clothing and a huge steel mace attached to a long rope. Lash T. has basic attacks with knee and his mace, plus a long-range mace fling that deals good damage against any careless victim, friend or foe. He also likes chewing bubblegum after attacking with his mace.
- Walther - a minor variant of Vice Terhune (Stage 1 Boss), he makes his debut in Stage 3 and appears frequently through the game. He has the same actions and skills of the default Vice Terhune, but is a little easier to fight. Sometimes, Walther drops his handgun when defeated.
- Bludge - this Blanka-looking creature is a human-reptile hybrid created by Dr. Simon Fessenden himself. Being a reptilian, he has characteristics such as long jumping kick, diving claw slash and acid spits. Bludge can also grab the player with his tongue and slowly drain his/her health unless the player breaks free. Bludge can also eat objects laying on the ground to prevent their further use in battle (however, if Bludge is killed quickly, the object can be recovered from his stomach before digestion).
- Tyrog 2 - just like Walther, this being is a lesser variant of Tyrog (Stage 6 Boss), and is fought only once (in the first scene of Stage 8). This hideous creature combines every action from all of Tyrog's 3 phases. Being a minor-level enemy Tyrog 2 is easier to dispose of.
[edit] Dinosaurs
Dinosaurs sometimes are enemies in the game. When neutral they are in green color; when enraged or attacking they turn into yellow color; when "defeated" they return to green color and stop attacking, thus moving off screen. Having no allegiances, dinosaurs will attack anyone in their vicinity, player or enemy.
- Rock Hopper - a kind of velociraptor. He is usually friendly until being attacked. A Rock Hopper has vicious claw and biting attacks.
- Mack - a triceratops whose only attack is a painful charging headbutt. It's best to beat him when he stops charging.
- Zeke - a pterodactyl which only uses airborne attacks fitting to his winged nature. He can be somewhat hard to hit. But, an easy way to spot it is by standing on his shadow, right below him, and strike right as it goes close to the ground.
- Shivat - a tyrannosaurus-rex, this 12-feet behemoth is commonly found sleeping but will wake up in a rampage if disturbed by fat guys hitting him. Shivat has tremendously powerful biting attacks and causes minor ground shakes when walking. It is by far the hardest dinosaur to be calmed down, so players are advised not to let a Shivat being awakened.
[edit] Stage bosses
As usually occurs at beat'em up games, there is a boss at the end of every level. Cadillacs and Dinosaurs has 8 levels and of course 8 different bosses.
- Vice Terhune - the boss of City In The Sea (Level 1)
- The Butcher - the boss of Swamp Forest (Level 2)
- Hogg - the boss of Hell Road (Level 3)
- Slice - the boss of Jack's Garage (Level 4)
- Morgan / Morgue - the boss of Village Of Flame (Level 5)
- Tyrog - the boss of Jungle and Mine (Level 6)
- Slisaurs - the bosses of The Vault (Level 7), they are reptilian "clones" of Slice (Level 4 Boss)
- Dr. Simon Fessenden - the boss of Deep Deep Down (Level 8)
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- It is thought that this was the first game from Capcom CPS-1 to feature swearing. Two instances are the censored ""XXXX YOU!" (said by The Butcher, Stage 2 Boss) and Jack's stage completing catchphrase "Damn, I'm Good!"
