Cast your mind back to 1993.
Do you remember the hype which surrounded Jurassic Park?
Because I do, and it was colossal....
Much like a dinosaur.
It was therefore inevitable that a range of games would follow for the consoles of the
time.
The Mega Drive version developed by BlueSky Software and released in August 1993 was a
platformer, as was the Master System release.
Whilst the Ocean developed Nintendo versions took an endearing top down approach, much
like the Amiga iteration.
But the Super Nintendo Version, released in November 1993 stood out in particular for
the first person perspective it adopts when you go inside.
There are various buildings to navigate, with the Visitor Center being one of the first
you encounter.
Within lie all sorts of Jurassic terrors along with some eerie screeching sounds to evoke
an atmosphere of unease.
When I first saw this game reviewed on Bad Influence, I was sold.
I didn't own a Super Nintendo, but this created a huge incentive for me to obtain one.
It was probably the first time I'd witnessed Doom like gameplay on a 16 bit console and
it expanded my mind to the possibilities of these machines, and it was much better than
the Mega CD's point and click version.
I should also mention that the Amiga AGA version has some FPS elements also, but that's a story
for another day.
Clearly I wasn't alone in my excitement however, because thanks to one of my go-to's for news,
indieretronews.com, I came across Visitor Center.
According to it's own page; Visitor Center is a lovingly crafted "cover" of the first
person interiors from Jurassic Park on the SNES.
Although updated for modern play-ability, it captures the spirit and challenge of the
original 1992 game.
So you begin in the middle the Visitor Center.
I'm using the keyboard for control, but you can also use a gamepad, in this currently
beta release.
Developed by a gent called Jeff who goes by the alias Progrium, this release doesn't include
all the features anticipated for the final game such as interacting fully with computer
terminals, like the original or swinging doors, but it has more than enough to excite my nostalgia
gland.
I'm pretty sure I've got one of those.
It's also pretty hard.
You can't go shooting dinosaurs, willy nilly as you'll run out of ammo.
Likewise if you try and cattle prod them into annihilation, you'll end up almost inevitably
toast.
Created in Unity; there are 4 floor layouts within the game, all created on a flat grid,
like games such as Wolfenstein 3D & Rise of the Triad.
Jeff actually built a Unity editor extension that can reproduce the Build engine used in
Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior, and this is how Visitor Center got started.
The in game art work is borrowed from the original SNES incarnation from screenshots,
followed by some photoshop tweaking.
Interestingly the original game distorts in game assets when rendering through uneven
pix-elation.
So Jeff made some changes to accommodate for this.
You can find videos on how he achieved all this by following the link in the description,
along with download links to the game, of course.
For me, developments like this really show how even 24 years later, these games remain
vivid in our minds.
I mean, these older games are also easier to re-create in modern engines, but there
has to be an underlying excitement there that these 8 and 16 bit titles created and continue
to create even today..
Playing this release now fills me with the same incredulity as when I first witnessed
it back in 1993.