Adventures of Dino Riki, The (NES)
Overview
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 8/10
- Approximate amount of time to master: 7+ hours (Depending on skill)
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 1 (plus replaying the first 3 stages a few times)
- Number of missable achievements: 6
- Do cheats disable achievements?: Yes, pressing Up+Start at the game over screen to restart at the stage you were will affect some achievements (mentionned in the achievement name)
- Does difficulty affect achievements?: There's no options to change difficulty
- Glitchy achievements: None
- Hardest achievement: Neko Dino Rikimu (Rack up nine lives!)
Introduction
Welcome to the Adventures of Dino Riki, a vertical shooter/platformer game created by Hudson Soft and released in 1987 for the NES. You control Riki, a courageous prehistoric young man through 4 levels with three different landscapes: Land, City Ruins and Mountains. Like many games of that era, not much story is given, you just jump into action as soon as the game starts.
During the course of the game, you will gain different weapons and powerups by collecting tiles. You will start with 2 hearts that will increase as you find heart container tiles through the stages. You will start with 2 lives, an extra life will be given at 10,000 points and other extra lives can be earned after collecting 9 diamond tiles without getting hit.
A boss is fought at the end of each level, a Pterodactyl in stage 1, a T-Rex in stage 2, a Cobra in stage 3. Stage 4 is divided into 4 different sub stages where you have to fight all the previous bosses another time before fighting the final boss on stage 4-4, a Giant Bee. When the game is cleared, no ending is given, you just start the game all over again, but you get to keep all you had before beating the game (lives, points and heart containers)
Roadmap
Step 1: Beat the game and don't use wings (bird tiles)
First, just play through the levels and try to memorize enemy patterns for future and more serious playthroughs. If you run out of lives, press Up+Start on the game over screen to restart back at the level you were and thus avoid restarting from the beginning, doing this won't affect achievements. On this run, try to avoid every bird tiles on the first 3 stages to get the The Bird is NOT the Word, Desert soar-vivor and Prehistoric Platforming Perfection achievements.
You will also most likely get enough powerups to unlock Maximum Carnage and I really Shouldn't Put This in HyperDrive (weapons and speed tiles) by playing naturally
Clearing all stages will net you the 7 story-related achievements
-=UPDATE=- A revision has been made for this game to include beating the game without using the continue cheat. So most likely you will need another playthrough to manage this. If you lose all your lives, you will need to start the game over to get those achievements
Step 2: Macho Riki
There are achievements for reaching the end level bosses as Macho Riki for the first three levels, see the achievements descriptions below to know the location of those powerups. This will give you the Flying Dutchman, We just want to PUMP - YOU UP and THE INCREDIBLE SWAMP THING achievements. When you successfully get all 3, restart the game for step 3.
Step 3: Points, lives and heart containers.
Those are by far the hardest achievements in this game, but all of these can be earned on the first 3 levels. Maxing up heart requires to survive the first 2 stages without getting killed. Maxing up lives requires to beat the first 2 stages and a part of stage 3 without getting hit (unless you get hit at the right moment, see achievement description below for more informations). As for points achievements (1,000,000 points being the last one) there is a trick to earn all of them no further than stage 1, but it will be time-consuming and redundant
Conclusion
For gamers who are experienced in shooter games this game will give a mild challenge, but green shooter gamers will find it pretty hard and frustrating, especially the platforming sections where you must jump over lily pads or ravines, which is very poorly done. The key here is to memorize the enemy patterns, which are always the same, and avoid grabbing too much speed powerups, only one is sufficent to effectively dodge enemy attacks. The good news is that all achievements can be earned on the first 3 stages except the story-related ones (finishing the stages)
Achievements
I'd Turn Back If I Were You! (2 points)
Defeat PTERODACTYL at the end of Jungle Land.
Beat Stage 1, story-related and can't be missed
Larry the Scary Rex (2 points)
Defeat TYRANNOSAURUS REX at the end of Desert Land.
Beat Stage 2, story-related and can't be missed
Cobra Command (2 points)
Defeat SPITTING COBRA at the end of Swamp
Beat Stage 3, story-related and can't be missed
I Tried to Warn You! (2 points)
Defeat PTERODACTYL at the end of SUPER Jungle Land!
Beat Stage 4-1, story-related and can't be missed
Stephen, We Did It! (3 points)
Defeat TYRANNOSAURUS REX at the end of SUPER Desert Land!
Beat Stage 4-2, story-related and can't be missed
Jafar's Last Wish (4 points)
Defeat SPITTING COBRA at the end of SUPER Swamp Land!
Beat Stage 4-3, story-related and can't be missed
NOT THE BEES!!! (5 points)
Defeat MAD HORNET at the end of ULTRA Desert Land!
Beat Stage 4-4, story-related and can't be missed
YES! I AM INVINCIBLE!! (10 points)
Get a full bar of 8 hearts! In THIS game!?
You start the game with 2 hearts. To upgrade your max heart containers, you have to find the heart container tiles scattered through the levels. If you die, you lose one. There are three heart containers in stage 1 and three in stage 2 (and many others in the other stages), so you can earn this achievement fairly quickly if you go through the first 2 levels without dying and without missing heart container tiles. None of them are hard to find so make sure to destroy all the blocks on your path
I Really Shouldn't Put This in HyperDrive (5 points)
Get the maximum speed of three wing-boots!
To upgrade your speed, grab the boots powerup, you have to grab 3 of them without dying or without getting hit to earn this achievement, you should be able to unlock it naturally while playing through the game
Maximum Carnage (5 points)
Get the best weapon upgrade!
Grabbing the fist powerup will improve your weapon. You start with rocks, the first upgrade will give you hammers, the second upgrade will give you boomerangs, and the final one will give you torches. The achievement unlocks when you get the torches. You will get this naturally while playing through the game
Neko Dino Rikimu (25 points)
Rack up nine lives!
You start the game with 2 lives, the only score milestone to reach to give you an extra life is 10,000. To earn more lives you have to get a streak of 9 diamond tiles without getting hit. Diamond tiles gives you points exponentially and gives you an extra life when you grab the ninth one. If you get hit, the streak goes back to zero. The streak will also reset at the end of a stage. It's highly recommended to do this on the first 3 stages. The latter ones don't have enough diamond tiles to give extra lives, and those stages are very hard anyway so not getting hit will be too challenging. You can get 3 extra lives in stage one (one for earning 10,000 points and two from diamonds streak. On stage 2 you can earn three more lives from diamonds. So you can have 8 lives after 2 stages. You can earn the final one on stage 3. Memorizing enemy patterns is a must for this achievement, as getting hit at the worst moment will screw your entire attempt. The best moment to get hit is after earning an extra life and the streak started back at 0, if you get hit at the middle of a diamond streak you're gonna have to start all over again.
FLYING DUTCHMAN (10 points)
Fly with MACHO RIKI to the end of Jungle Land!
Macho Riki is a hidden powerup that gives Riki his ultimate form, he will become very muscular and will throw versions of himself as projectiles. The power will end if you suffer damage, and you can't carry this power to fight bosses. To get this achievement you have to reach the stage 1 boss's lair as Macho Riki while flying. To fly you have to find another hidden powerup, the bird, which gives you the ability to fly by holding the jump button. Like the Macho Riki powerup, suffering damage will end it, as well as releasing the jump button.
On stage 1, there is 3 Macho Riki powerups and 4 bird ones, their locations are invisible so you're gonna have to hit their exact location to make them appear. The first bird tile is just before the first lily pad, shoot to the left of the speed tile powerup to make the bird appear, grab it then jump across the water, shortly after, you will see a line of three power blocks to the right, ignore them, instead go to the left side by the water and shoot to make the first Macho Riki powerup appear. Now that you have both powerups you can start flying right away and try to survive until the end of the stage to get the achievement.
If you lose the powerups you can still find other ones by the end of the stage, the second Macho Riki tile is to the far left side of the screen just before another river section where some lily pads are diving underwater, the third and final one is again to the left side between 2 long sections of water. The 2nd and 3rd bird tiles are just a few feet from each other, in an area where you have small mountains on your path, look for a ham tile on the right side, the bird tiles are just to the right of the ham tile and above it. The final bird tile is just to the right of the final Macho Riki tile mentioned above.
A convenient way to get this achievement is by dying near the very end of the stage, the last checkpoint will put you right at the point where you can grab both the final bird and final Macho Riki tiles.
Macho Riki Screenshot locations:
We Just Want to PUMP - YOU UP! (10 points)
Get Macho Riki in Desert Land to the end of the level!
You have to get to the end of stage 2 as Macho Riki (no flying needed for this one), there is only one Macho Riki tile hidden in this stage. At one point you will come to a junction where you must choose between going left or right. Take the left path, the hidden Macho Riki powerup is hidden in this path right in the middle before a quick sand
Location:
THE INCREDIBLE SWAMP THING (10 points)
In Swamp Land, get Macho Riki to the end of the level!
The final Macho Riki achievement requires to reach the end of level 3 as your muscular alter ego (no flying needed), there is 2 Macho Riki tiles hidden in this stage. The first tile is hidden at the far left side as the second set of 8 black orbs attacks you. The 2nd hidden Macho Riki is located after the first series of ground tears, it's located just above a skeleton fossil on the left side. Conveniently, it's located right after the last checkpoint so if you unfortunately lose your Macho Riki form you can die and try again right away
Locations:
The Bird is NOT the Word (10 points)
Beat Jungle Land without getting ANY wings!
See Prehistoric Platforming Perfection
Desert Soar-vivor (10 points)
Beat Desert Land without getting ANY wings!
See Prehistoric Platforming Perfection
Prehistoric Platforming Perfection (25 points)
Beat Swamp Land without getting ANY wings!
3 achievements are awarded for completing the first 3 stages without grabbing the bird powerup. Even if you don't use it, grabbing the tile will negate the achievement. So this means you will have to go through the jumping sections on stage 1 and 3, which can be very annoying considering this inconsistent and inaccurate aspect of the game
Encino Man (10 points)
Become a well-dressed caveman by getting 50,000 points!
See How about a Hundred Hours??
Cactus in a Small Sombrero Trying to Play a DS (25 points)
Get 500,000 points. I have no idea what this is.
See How about a Hundred Hours??
How About a Hundred Hours?? (50 points)
Get a whopping 1,000,000 points! Who's on the title screen now??
There is 2 ways to earn 1 million points:
- The hard (almost impossible) way: play through the game normally until you get 1 million points. A fairly good playthrough will net you around 500k and 600k points, meaning you will have to do nearly 2 full playthroughs without losing all your lives to get it.
-The easier (but very boring) way: near the end of stage 1, you can get a flying and Macho Riki powerups. When you fly, an infinite number of enemies will come at you, even when you reach the end of the stage. The same 4 waves of enemies will come at you in a loop. They are not too hard to kill and to avoid so the risk of losing your Flying Macho Riki state is small if you stay focused. With this method, you can grind 1 million points in approximately 30 to 45 minutes. You're gonna have to keep the jump button pushed the entire time to keep flying so I suggest remapping the jump button to a trigger at the top of your controller for comfort. If you get hit and lose your flying state, enter the boss lair and let him kill you. You will start back right before the last flying and Macho Riki tiles, grab them and repeat the process
REVISION ACHIEVEMENTS
Didn't Turn Back (5 points)
Defeat the boss of Jungle Land without using the Continue cheat.
See Prehistoric Bee Basher
Scarier Rex (10 points)
Defeat the boss of Desert Land without using the Continue cheat after the first level.
See Prehistoric Bee Basher
Going Commando (10 points)
Defeat the boss of Swamp Land without using the Continue cheat after the first level.
See Prehistoric Bee Basher
Warning Ignored (10 points)
Defeat the boss of Super Jungle Land without using the Continue cheat after the first level.
See Prehistoric Bee Basher
Stephen Saver (25 points)
Defeat the boss of Super Desert Land without using the Continue cheat after the first level.
See Prehistoric Bee Basher
Jafar Jabber (25 points)
Defeat the boss of Super Swamp Land without using the Continue cheat after the first level.
See Prehistoric Bee Basher
Prehistoric Bee Basher (50 points)
Defeat the final boss without using the Continue cheat
For all the achievements from the latest revision, you have to complete every stage without losing all your lives. Meaning the continue cheat is not allowed for any of these. If you lose all your lives you have to start all over from the beginning.
The game is hard, very hard and for people willing to master this set they'll have to put a considerable amount of time memorizing the enemy patterns and all powerup locations in each stage. Your best ally here is the bird powerup allowing you to fly, you will be able to skip those dreaded platforming sections as long as you don't get hit and lose your wings. Mastering the first 2 stages are a must, because those are the stages where you can farm and rack up much needed extra lives (see the Neko Dino Rikimu achievement above)
Stage 4-4 is short but extremely hard, losing a life in this level can be catastrophic as powerups in that stage are scarce and the enemies will throw everything at you, and there is no bird or Macho Riki tiles neither. So if on a previous run you played this level over and over and over again until you mastered it that'll give you a good chance to succeed in your no continues run
Thanks to MGNS8N for the creation of the achievement set