More Fleenstones.
The Flintstones: The Surprise At Dinosaur Peak! is a 1993 platforming video game made for the NES by Taito. It's a sequel to the 1991 Flintstones game, The Rescue of Dino & Hoppy.
The story starts with Fred looking for Pebbles, who has gone missing. Barney also notices Bamm-Bamm has gone missing as well. So the worried dads go searching in the neighborhood for their missing children. Fred and Barney find Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm at the volcano, but before they can reach the kids, the volcano erupts sending a flow of lava down and blocking their way. With no way to reach the children, Gazoo suggests that Fred And Barney enlist the help of a Pterodactyl, who will take them to the mountain and talk to the legendary Fire Dinosaur. Fred and Barney embark on a journey to find the Pterodactyls and ultimately stop the volcano.
Surprise At Dinosaur Peak! shares the same gameplay of its predecessor in which you control Fred Flintstone armed with a club, but the big difference in this sequel is the addition of a playable Barney Rubble. Barney comes packed with a slingslot, which is weaker than Fred's club, but is a useful projectile for hitting enemies from a distance. He can also grab and hold onto ropes, but cannot grab ledges like Fred can. The player can switch between Fred and Barney through the use of the Select Button. Knowing with character to use in certain situations is key to conquering obstacles and challenges in the game.
This video game contains examples of:
- 1-Up: Items that grant extra life are present in the game but are rare.
- Bait-and-Switch Boss: When Fred and Barney meet the fire dinosaur again in the lava cave. It looks like the problem is solved when they defeat him again, until he calls for his mother and she appears. She is the true Final Boss of the game.
- Big Boo's Haunt: The haunted tower is the seventh stage. There are timed puzzles that involved hitting switches and reaching the door before it closes.
- Bonus Stage: Certain spots in levels contain bonus areas where 5-pointed stars fall. Collecting enough of these will give an extra life. At the end of the bonus stage, a large powerup falls as well.
- Bottomless Pits: Falling off the screen equals a life loss.
- Brats with Slingshots: Barney attacks enemies with a slinghot, effectively replacing the slingshot weapon of the previous game.
- The Cameo: Wilma and Betty appear in the Quarry site level. The wives will give Fred and Barney a special lunch item, which fully restores their energy when they use it.
- Cartoon Meat: One of the powerups in the game is a cylindrical meat surrounding femur bone.
- Charged Attack: Like in the predecessor, Fred can charge up his club swing to do more damage. Getting hit causes you to lose the charge.
- Circling Birdies: When the final boss gets defeated, the stars are seen above her head.
- Collision Damage: Colliding with enemies damages the player.
- Death Mountain: The fifth level takes place in Mr. Slate's Rock Quarry, with some Construction Zone Calamity elements. The ninth level takes place on the cliffs of the volcano.
- Death Throws: Both the player and the enemies get thrown offscreen when defeated.
- Degraded Boss: Boss of the third stage makes an appearance in the final level as a weaker variant of itself.
- Excuse Plot: Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm are trapped by a lava flow! Are you a bad enough caveman to rescue them?
- Fireballs: The last two bosses spit out balls of fire.
- Giant Spider: Giant spiders make an appearance starting from a jungle level. A particularly large spider acts as a boss of the sixth stage.
- The Goomba: Green dinosaurs, the first enemy encountered in the game, just move back and forth.
- Green Gators: Crocodiles in the jungle level are dark green.
- Heart Container: The Shake Power-Ups extend your energy meter, but not restoring them fully. The actual heart power ups do that instead
- Hearts Are Health: Health is represented with heart symbols.
- Inconveniently-Placed Conveyor Belt: Mines feature conveyor belts, sometimes in unnatural locations.
- Indy Escape:
- In the final level, there is a section where you are chased by a rock.
- Later in the level, the player is chased by a giant hot stone wheel that is very determined to chase after the player.
- Invincible Minor Minion: Ghosts and statues can only be temporarily stunned.
- Jungle Japes: The second level is jungle-themed.
- Lethal Lava Land: The final level takes place inside a volcano with fire-based hazards to boot.
- Levels Take Flight: The eighth stage has Fred and Barney riding the Pterodactyl to the volcano. Flying rocks make this difficult.
- Life Meter: You have two playable characters, but they share the same life bar.
- Living Statue: Ninth level features statues that fire at the player.
- Macro Zone: This sixth stage takes place in a giant kitchen area within a house.
- Mama Bear: The Final Boss is the mother of the fire dino you faced earlier, and she's none too pleased with you beating up on her son.
- Mana Meter: You don't use coins for weapons anymore, instead you have a little bar that depletes each time you use a weapon, but replenishes over time.
- One Bullet at a Time: In the eighth stage, the amount of projectiles onscreen is limited to one.
- Pelican Package Pouch: Pelicans are used in place of basketball baskets. After a goal, pelicans spit the ball out again.
- Promoted to Playable: Fred's buddy Barney Rubble, an NPC in The Rescue of Dino & Hoppy, is now playable in this game.
- Pulling Themselves Together: Statue enemies will pull themselves together after being smashed to bits.
- Rewarding Vandalism: Destroying barrels will give items.
- Ring-Out Boss: Miniboss in level 2 can be defeated by managing to get it off the platform.
- Rise to the Challenge: In the final level there is a section where the player needs to outrun rising lava.
- Roaring Rapids: The fourth level is a short stage where Fred and Barney have to ride a surfboard across the sea and jump ramps, all while dodging jumping fish, flying birds, and jagged rocks.
- Seesaw Catapult: There is a lizard with a pivot. When Fred or a projectile hits the other side of the lizard, the player is lunched upward.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: When you beat the game, it is revealed that Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm were never in any danger. All they wanted to do was roast some marshmallows, and they get mad at Fred and Barney for stopping the lava flow.
- Shared Life-Meter: Fred and Barney each share the Life Meter as well as lives.
- Solid Clouds: Some of the bonus stages take place in clouds that can be walked on.
- Spikes of Doom: Spikes that damage the player start making appearances from the third level.
- Springs, Springs Everywhere: Cloth, crocodile jaws and horned sharks act as a springboard. The jaws launch Barney higher up in the air than Fred.
- Swap Fighter: You can switch between the two characters with a simple press of the Select button, they both share health and lives.
- Temporary Platform: Some of the log platforms start to fall when jumping on them.
- Treasure Is Bigger in Fiction: Bosses drop giant gems about the height of half of Fred.
- Underground Level: The third stage takes place in a stone mine. The final stage is within the caves in the volcano itself.
- Walk, Don't Swim: Underwater sections simply cause the player to fall slower but neither Fred nor Barney can swim.
- Warm-Up Boss: The boss at the end of second stage slowly moves back and forth, charging only when hit. There are convenient platforms that can easily be used to dodge the attack.
- Watch for Rolling Objects: In the first stage, there is a section where the player has to climb upwards while avoiding incoming boulders that roll downhill.
