Radical Rex
Packaging for the Super NES version
Developer(s)Beam Software
Publisher(s)
Director(s)Cameron Brown
Producer(s)Tom Sloper
Designer(s)Ian Malcolm
Programmer(s)Andrew Harvey
Tim McKay
Peter Litwiniuk
Artist(s)Damian Borg
Joe Rimmer
Composer(s)Marshall Parker
Platform(s)
Super NES
Release
  • Super NES, Genesis, Sega CD
    • NA: October 1994
    • EU: September 1994
  • Microsoft Windows
    • WW: March 7, 2019[1]
  • Evercade
    • WW: June 8, 2020
Genre(s)Action
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Radical Rex is an action platforming video game released in 1994 in North America, Europe and Australia. It is a remake of the 1993 Game Boy game Baby T-Rex. It was published by Activision and developed by Australian game studio Beam Software for the Super NES, Genesis, and Sega CD. A Microsoft Windows port of the Super NES version published by Piko Interactive was released on March 7, 2019.[1] Piko also released the game as part of the Piko Interactive Collection 1 for the Evercade on June 8, 2020.

Gameplay

The game stars Radical Rex, a skateboarding, fire-breathing Tyrannosaurus rex who must save his land, and his girlfriend Rexanne, from an evil magician named Sethron. In his way are dinosaurs, sea creatures, and other monsters.

Rex has a few abilities, including a roar that kills or hurts all enemies on screen, a fire breath which can temporarily immobilize enemies, and a bubble spray which he can use while underwater. Sethron is replaced by a weasel-like mammal named Skriitch in the Mega Drive/Genesis and Sega CD versions. Despite this, the weasel acts the same as its Super NES Counterpart.[2]

Reception

The game has received mixed to negative reviews.

Reviewing the Super NES version, GamePro's Bonehead complained that the music becomes repetitive and the player character's skateboard "goes so fast you often miss power-ups and jumps", but praised the cutesy and humorous graphics and the simple enjoyability of the gameplay, and summarized the game as "about as good and as endearing" as the successful Joe and Mac games.[6] A reviewer for Next Generation, on the other hand, gave it a thoroughly negative assessment. He criticized the incongruity between the cheerful, goofy player character and the murky background graphics, and said that though he agreed the gameplay is often reminiscent of Joe and Mac, he called it flat, unmotivating and not in par with other platform games.[5]

GamePro wrote that the Genesis version has slightly less colorful graphics and more muffled sound effects than the Super NES version, and is missing the entertaining intro rap, but that it retains all the essential elements that made the game fun. They concluded that it would appeal to younger gamers but is too easy and cutesy for older gamers.[7] For Sega CD version, they commented that some of the levels and enemies are new, but the graphics and sounds are virtually identical to those on the SNES and Genesis.[8] The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly were more critical, saying the game had nothing but its CD quality soundtrack to justify its presence on the Sega CD. They also criticized the lack of polish in the gameplay and controls.[4]

Sega-16 gave the Mega-CD version a 4.0 out of 10.0 as it was criticized for utilizing the "extreme bad attitude" fad that was being popular through pop culture throughout the 1990s, that the game has offered and also claimed to have a lack of originality. It was also criticized for having repetitive straightforward platforming elements within its gameplay and graphics, cheap obstacles and frustratingly difficult bosses.[9]

References

  1. 1 2 Zwiezen, Zack (February 24, 2019). "The Week In Games: Start Your Engines!". Kotaku. Gizmodo Media Group. Retrieved February 24, 2019.
  2. ↑ Radical Rex Manual (PDF). Sega.
  3. 1 2 "Radical Rex Critic Reviews for SNES". GameFAQs. Retrieved 2012-07-24.
  4. 1 2 "Review Crew: Radical Rex" (PDF). Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 67. Ziff Davis. February 1995. p. 34.
  5. 1 2 "Radical Rex". Next Generation. Imagine Media (3): 102–3. March 1995.
  6. ↑ "ProReview: Radical Rex". GamePro. No. 74. IDG. November 1994. p. 158.
  7. ↑ "ProReview: Radical Rex" (PDF). GamePro. No. 66. IDG. January 1995. p. 50.
  8. ↑ "ProReview: Radical Rex" (PDF). GamePro. No. 68. IDG. March 1995. p. 56.
  9. ↑ Sebastian Sponsel (2009-12-07). "Radical Rex CD". Sega-16.com. Retrieved 2012-07-24.
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