History VideoGame / Nanosaur

* {{Handguns}}: The Nanosaur's weapon, which has five different attacks: [[EnergyWeapon standard laser]], [[HomingProjectile heat-seeking missiles]] (which can lead to a MacrossMissileMassacre if the player has plenty to spare), [[MakeMeWannaShout sonics]], [[SpreadShot a dividing shot]], and [[NukeEm nuclear weapons]].

** Or a pterosaur, with a jetpack, various weapons, and a [[MakeMeWannaShout sonic scream]].

* TheCretaceousIsAlwaysDoomed: You were sent back twenty minutes before the asteroid hits.

''Nanosaur'' is a third person shooter developed by Creator/PangeaSoftware and released for the UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh in 1998. In Nanosaur, you play a genetically engineered raptor from the year 4122 sent to the Cretaceous Period to retrieve the eggs of five dinosaur species to save the Nanosaur species in the future. You only have twenty minutes to complete your mission before the asteroid hits Earth. During the mission, your Nanosaur will have to blast its way through several dinosaurs while collecting weapons and powerups.

* AllForNothing: almost. The second game starts with the theft of the eggs you took from the past, meaning another character has to go through the ordeal once again.

** ''Stegosaurus'' did not live during the Cretaceous Period, they lived during the Jurassic.

* EverythingTryingToKillYou: If you thought dinosaurs were bad enough, you also have lava-balls, spore-shooting fungi, and rolling boulders to worry about!
* ExcusePlot: Both games start with a barebones premise, and the details keep making less and less sense the more you think about them.
** ''Nanosaur'': You're a genetically engineered dinosaur from the future, who goes back in time 20 minutes before an extinction event to salvage dino eggs. Why? Who cares? ''You're a genetically engineered dinosaur from the future!''

* LampreyMouth: the sequel features jumping alien worms with such mouths, who constitute an environmental hazard.

* MultipleLifeBars: in ''Nanosaur II''. Damage first depletes your shield, then your health. Interestingly, different attacks will damage either a different amount.

* AmbiguousRobots: The Nanosaurs themselves. Are they just genetically-engineered dinosaurs ? Cyborgs ? [[UpliftedAnimal Uplifted Animals]] with added cybernetic parts ? Or outright robots, given that the protagonist of ''Nanosaur II'' (although supposedly naturally born) emits smoke upon getting hurt and explodes upon dying ?

* AWinnerIsYou: Finish the first game and your character gets a medal. Finish the second game and your (other) character gets… a medal !
* ConvectionSchmonvection: Lava in the first game deals heavy damage if you fall right in it, but none if you stand next to it. Sometimes it can even be jumped upon with next to no damage !

* DumbDinos: All of the dinosaurs besides the player character fall under this trope - they neither notice nor care that you're trying to help. Doubly [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by the fact that the player is both an ''intelligent'' dinosaur whereas the ones encountered are just savage animals, ''and'' a ''raptor'' who came to take their eggs. Though it could arguably also apply to the intelligent dinosaurs from year 4122; whose [[SarcasmMode genius idea]] was it to send their agent to retrieve eggs in the Cretaceous Period only ''20 minutes'' before the asteroid hits ?

** ''Nanosaur'': You're a genetically engineered dinosaur from the future, who goes back in time 20 minutes before an extinction event to salvage dino eggs. Why ? Who cares ? ''You're a genetically engineered dinosaur from the future !''

* PteroSoarer:

** The main player in the sequel is a ''Ludodactylus''-esque pterosaur (although the intro portrays it as a ''Pteranodon'') which grabs the eggs with its feet. There's also large ''Rhamphorhynchus'' (with pycnofibres) which serve as AirborneMooks.

** ''Nanosaur II'': The eggs you stole from the past were stolen by another group in the future and taken to another planet. Go get them back.

* DeflectorShields: One of the powerups.

* ExcusePlot:
** ''Nanosaur'': You're a genetically engineered dinosaur from the future, who goes back in time 20 minutes before a meteor strike to gather dino eggs. Why ? Who cares ? ''You're a genetically engineered dinosaur from the future !''
** ''Nanosaur II'': The eggs were stolen by evil rebel Nanosaurs who took another planet for a vague evil plan. Go get them. The details ? They just keep making less and less sense the more you dig into them.

* MadeOfExplodium: Dinosaurs, apparently. (Though they actually "shatter" when they die.) There are also plant that explode if you come near them, and crystals that explode if you shoot them.

* AmbiguousRobots: The Nanosaurs themselves. Are they just genetically-engineered dinosaurs, or cyborgs ? Or outright robots, given that the protagonist of ''Nanosaur II'' (although supposedly naturally born) emits smoke upon getting hurt and explodes upon dying ?

%%* JetPack: The Nanosaur has one.
%%* LethalLavaLand: The second environment after the green rainforest zone.%%Is?
* MadeOfExplodium: Dinosaurs, apparently. (Though they actually "shatter" when they die.)

!! Nanosaur contains examples of:

* JetPack: The Nanosaur has one.
* LethalLavaLand: The second environment after the green rainforest zone.

* ToughArmoredDinosaur: Out of all the game's enemies, the ''Stegosaurus'' take the most shots to bring down due to their thick skin.

* KingOfTheDinosaurs: Subverted. ''Tyrannosaurus'' are the most common enemies in the game, but they only attack by pouncing and are rather easy to bring down.

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs

* TemperCeratops: The ''Triceratops'' will charge if the player gets too close, even hiding in bushes to ambush them.
* ToughArmoredDinosaur: Out of all the game's enemies, the ''Stegosaurus'' take the most shots to bring down due to its thick skin.

** The ''Velociraptor'' from the sequel are Film/JurassicPark-styled as usual, with feathers on their heads.

** The ''Velociraptor'' from the sequel are Film/JurassicPark-styled as usual, with feathers on their heads.
* StockDinosaurs:
** You are a ''Deinonychus'', and you fight ''Tyrannosaurus rex'', ''Stegosaurus'', ''Pteranodon'', ''Triceratops'', and ''Dilophosaurus''.
** The sequel has you playing as a pterosaur (resembling a toothed ''Pteranodon''), and the enemies are ''Brachiosaurus'', ''Velociraptors'', and ''Rhamphorhynchus''.

** You are a ''Deinonychus'', and you fight ''TyrannosaurusRex'', ''Stegosaurus'', ''Pteranodon'', ''Triceratops'', and ''Dilophosaurus''.
** The sequel has you playing as a pterosaur (resembling a toothed ''Pteranodon''), and the enemies are ''Brachiosaurus'', ''Velociraptors'', and ''Rhamphorhynchus''.
* TyrannosaurusRex: These like to pounce on you.

* {{Handguns}}: The Nanosaur's weapon, which has five different attacks: [[FrickinLaserBeams standard laser]], [[HomingProjectile heat-seeking missiles]] (which can lead to a MacrossMissileMassacre if the player has plenty to spare), [[MakeMeWannaShout sonics]], [[SpreadShot a dividing shot]], and [[NukeEm nuclear weapons]].

** The main player in the sequel is a ''Ludodactylus''-esque pterosaur (although the intro portrays him as a ''Pteranodon'') which grabs the eggs with its feet. There's also large ''Rhamphorhynchus'' (with pycnofibres) which serve as AirborneMooks.

* DumbDinos: All of the dinosaurs besides the player character fall under this trope - they neither notice nor care that you're trying to help. Doubly [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by the fact that the player is both an ''intelligent'' dinosaur whereas the ones encountered are just savage animals, ''and'' a ''raptor'' who came to take their eggs.
** Though it could arguably also apply to the intelligent dinosaurs from year 4122; whose [[SarcasmMode genius idea]] was it to send their agent to retrieve eggs in the Cretaceous Period only ''20 minutes'' before the asteroid hits ?