Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures
Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures is a 1994 platform video game released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is a video game adaptation of the Indiana Jones films Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). The game was developed by Factor 5 and published by JVC Musical Industries, Inc. The story is told through cutscenes and text and is mostly faithful to the movies. Its release coincided with that of Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, also released by JVC and LucasArts and in the same platform style as the Super Star Wars trilogy.
Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures | |
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SNES cover art | |
Developer(s) | Factor 5, LucasArts |
Publisher(s) | JVC, LucasArts |
Producer(s) | Julian Eggebrecht |
Designer(s) | Kalani Streicher Thomas Engel Julian Eggebrecht Willi Bäcker |
Programmer(s) | Thomas Engel |
Composer(s) | Rudolf Stember |
Platform(s) | Super Nintendo Entertainment System |
Release |
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Genre(s) | Platform |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Gameplay
The game is primarily action based, and the player controls Indiana Jones through levels based on events of the movies. Jones's main method of attack is his bull-whip, but he can also damage enemies by punching or rolling into them. Occasionally a gun can be found that has unlimited ammo, and grenades are available in limited numbers. Besides attacking, the whip can also be used as a method of swinging across pits.[1] Once in a while, the game breaks the mold from the typical action and plunges the player into various other types of gameplay, such as flying a plane, riding a mine cart, and going down a mountain on a raft.
Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures uses the same engine as the Super Star Wars series[2] and is divided into 28 areas, many of them in side-scrolling view and others in driving stages. If Indy dies in an area, the player restarts from the beginning of the current area. All three of the movies are featured in the game, but Raiders of the Lost Ark is the only one playable upon starting the game. In order to play Temple of Doom and Last Crusade, the player must progress through the game or use a password.
Release
A Sega Genesis/Mega Drive conversion was reported by Electronic Gaming Monthly to be 100% complete and reviewed in gaming magazines.[3][4][5][6] Like many third-party titles near the end of the Genesis/Mega Drive's lifecycle, however, the game was shelved and was never released. A prototype of the Genesis/Mega Drive version was sold on eBay for GB£770.00.[7] In 2017, Factor 5 co-founder Julian Eggebrecht stated that the Genesis/Mega Drive port was left unpublished due to U.S. Gold ceasing operations.[8]
Reception
On release, Famicom Tsūshin scored the game a 25 out of 40.[9] GameRankings gave the game an aggregated score of 75.13% based on four reviews.[10] GamePro described it as a decent though unexceptional side-scroller. They cited the game's faithful recreation of the scenery and enemies of the films as its strongest point, but found that the graphics are inconsistent, the music is excellent but stays the same through most of the game, and the stages are far too easy.[11] The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly contradicted this, saying that the game is extremely challenging, with two of them adding that it suffers from frequent unavoidable hits. However, they praised the game's graphics, especially the Mode 7 effects, and gave it a score of 7 out of 10.[2] Allgame gave a review score of 3.5 out 5 stars praising the gameplay and being faithful to the source material although giving criticism to the repetitive game music and graphics being a bit choppy.[12]
See also
References
- "Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 73. Sendai Publishing. August 1995. p. 126.
- "Review Crew: Indiana Jones". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 66. Sendai Publishing. January 1995. p. 38.
- Gurka, John (August 1995). "Fact-Files - Genesis: Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 73. Sendai Publishing. pp. 126–127.
- Squideo, Captain (August 1995). "ProReview: Genesis - Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures". GamePro. No. 83. IDG. p. 66.
- "GAMERS (Germany) review Part 1, November 1995 issue". Archived from the original on September 12, 2012. Retrieved July 6, 2009.
- "GAMERS (Germany) review Part 2, November 1995 issue". Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved July 6, 2009.
- ureaking (May 14, 2015). "Indiana Jones Mega Drive / Sega Genesis rare prototype PCB GAME UNRELEASED !". eBay. Archived from the original on July 10, 2015. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
- McFerran, Damien (July 21, 2017). "Factor 5 Almost Ported Super Castlevania IV To The Sega Mega Drive". Nintendo Life. Nlife Media. Archived from the original on September 18, 2018. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
- NEW GAMES CROSS REVIEW: インディ・ジョーンズ. Weekly Famicom Tsūshin. No.346. Pg.30. 4 August 1995.
- "Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures review score". Gamerankings. Archived from the original on May 3, 2019. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
- "ProReview: Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures". GamePro (64). IDG. November 1994. p. 120.
- Brett Alan Weiss. "Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures". Archived from the original on November 15, 2014. Retrieved December 22, 2020.