Want to know what was top of my Christmas list back in 1993? Jurassic Park on the Super Nintendo. I could not have been any more excited for this game but despite the hype. It left me feeling like I had been mauled by a Raptor!

I freaking loved (actually I still do) Jurassic Park as a kid and the first video game based on Jurassic Park was a huge deal. Actually, I should say video games as this was one of those games that was on every console and computer under the sun at the time. A magazine here in the UK called, Games Master did a great job showcasing the different versions. But the Super Nintendo looked the best. It had an overhead view, like Zelda and it even had first person sections which at the time was a big deal and now that I think about it this was the very first exposure to a first person shooter I had….. that is kind of sad isn’t it?

Anyway, the game could not have been more hyped and it looked so much better than the standard shooter that Sega was getting. So I was rabid like a T-Rex with Ian Malcolm in its sights with excitement to play this on Christmas morning.

Jurassic Park on Super Nintendo is one very weird game. It is actually a huge game with a ton of different objectives to do from collecting raptor eggs, turning on generators and stopping raptors getting into the building. Add to this you need to find ID cards to get into certain places and a pretty big island to explore, not to mention all the indoor areas and you have one huge ass game!

The idea behind Jurassic Park on the Super Nintendo is great. At the time the first person sections blew my mind, but these the more you play them the worse they become. To start with it is like a maze unless you go old school and use a pen and a bit of graph paper, you will easily get lost as all the rooms look the same. Also, there are parts where you need night vision goggles. If you do not have them the room is dark and the dinosaurs will kill you. Finding these goggles each time you go into a new building is a major pain in the butt.

The overhead sections of the game are not that bad. You can fight dinosaurs and find different things and the objectives are pretty interesting, but Jurassic Park on the Super Nintendo has a flaw, a flaw that makes it one of the worst Jurassic Park games ever made and that flaw is no save points and no password system! That is right an adventure game that has a ton of objectives requires you to beat it in one sitting! The first time I played it I was getting yelled up to come down for dinner. I will when I can save my game was what I said, but that save point never came. As a kid I never completed Jurassic Park on the Super Nintendo and even now as an adult with emulators that have to save states, I have no desire to do so.

The Sega Mega Drive version of Jurassic Park which I mocked before release was a million times better. Actually, the Sega Master System version is way better, so much better that it is actually my favourite of all the games based on the first Jurassic Park movie.

Jurassic Park on the Super Nintendo is not a bad game, but the lack of even a password feature ruined it.