Adventures of Dino Riki

Lore & Background

Adventures of Dino Riki was developed by Hudson Soft. Japanese magazines initially previewed it as an action game with unique mechanics, but it was reworked into a scrolling shooter just before launch. The earlier version would have involved scrolling to different screens, picking up flowers, and stunning enemies with stones. Hudson desired to release a game similar to Konami's 1986 MSX shooter Knightmare. The development staff was never made public by Hudson, but former employees revealed details through social media posts. Programmer Satoshi Mikami stated that the Japanese title "Shin Jinrui" (New Humans) referenced new staff brought in for the project, while Hudson executive Toshiyuki Takahashi wrote that the moniker was chosen because it was Japan's buzzword of the year for 1986. Beep magazine columnist Hiroaki Iwasaki determined that the game was programmed by Shinichi Nakamoto and Hitoshi Okuno, with Sakurada Meijin also working on it. Manga artist Gaku Miyao created the cover illustration, adding a girl who does not appear in the game. Takeaki Kunimoto is credited online as composer, but he stated he only made the boss victory jingle, suggesting Daisuke Inoue likely composed the bulk of the tracks. Sound programmer Keita Hoshi believed Toshiaki Takimoto worked on audio, but Iwasaki concluded it was Fumihiko Itagaki.

Reader's Guide

Adventures of Dino Riki is significant as an example of Hudson Soft's efforts to navigate Nintendo's five-game-per-year limit by partnering with Ricoh to create the Rix Soft label. The game's association with South Korean-Japanese professional wrestler Riki Choshu, who lent his name and likeness, was a marketing strategy to boost sales. Choshu appeared in Japanese advertising, and the transformed protagonist's clone attack is called the "Riki Lariat," his signature move. The game received consistently mediocre review scores and mixed critical response. Critics disagreed on its presentation, gameplay quality, and challenge level. Some praised its nonstop action and variety of enemies, while others criticized its graphics, difficulty, and platforming segments. Retro Gamer considered it among Hudson's weakest games, citing terrible graphics, a steep learning curve, and over-reliance on power-ups. The game also received unlicensed ports to the MSX and Master System by South Korean developer Zemina in October 1991. Its legacy is that of a largely forgotten title with a notable development history and celebrity tie-in.

Did You Know?

• The game was originally an action game where players would stun enemies with stones and kick them offscreen, before being reworked into a scrolling shooter.
• Wrestler Riki Choshu lent his name and likeness to the game, and his signature move, the Riki Lariat, appears as the transformed protagonist's clone attack.
• The Japanese title 'Shin Jinrui' (New Humans) was chosen because it was Japan's buzzword of the year for 1986.
• The girl on the Japanese cover art was added unprompted by manga artist Gaku Miyao and does not appear in the game.

From Action Game to Scrolling Shooter

The finished cartridge barely resembles what Japanese magazine previews first showed readers. In its earlier incarnation, the title was an action game with a distinct screen-by-screen structure: the player would follow directional arrows to advance, gather three flowers per screen, and defeat enemies by stunning them with stones before kicking them offscreen. The prototype featured sixteen stages with a boss every fourth one, a day-and-night cycle, and bonus stages. Power-ups included terrain-movement boosts and a stopwatch that could freeze enemies in place. Yet just months before launch, Hudson Soft reworked the entire design into the vertically-scrolling shooter that ultimately shipped. According to programmer Satoshi Mikami, the company had wanted to produce a title in the spirit of Konami's 1986 MSX shooter Knightmare, and that ambition ultimately shaped the final product. The Japanese title, Shin Jinrui, meaning "New Humans," was chosen partly because the phrase had been named Japan's buzzword of the year for 1986, and partly to reference the fresh staff assembled for the project.

The Riki Choshu Connection

The game's most recognizable branding element was never part of its original design. South Korean-Japanese professional wrestler Riki Choshu, riding the peak of his popularity, lent his name and likeness to the project purely as a sales-boosting measure. In a pre-release build, Choshu's sprite could actually appear on-screen as a separate character who assisted the player. In the final Japanese version, his presence was woven more subtly: the transformed protagonist's clone attack was officially named the "Riki Lariat," after Choshu's signature wrestling move. The celebrity tie-in extended well beyond the cartridge. Both Choshu and Hudson executive Toshiyuki Takahashi appeared in print and television advertisements, and the pair even showed up at a live promotional event held at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan wrestling arena in Tokyo. Interestingly, manga artist Gaku Miyao, who painted the Japanese box art, was told to create an image with "rolling energy" but was never specifically instructed to include Choshu. The girl depicted on the cover does not appear anywhere in the game itself; Miyao admitted he added her on his own initiative.

The Rix Soft Workaround

Nintendo's licensing rules for its Family Computer console capped each licensee at five releases per year, a restriction that forced Hudson Soft into an unusual partnership. To slip Shin Jinrui past that ceiling, the developer teamed up with electronics corporation Ricoh and briefly established a software publishing arm called Rix Soft. Under that short-lived label, the game hit Japanese retail shelves on February 10, 1987, after an initial target of mid-December 1986 had slipped. The Rix Soft arrangement was a one-time workaround rather than a lasting brand, and it effectively disappeared after this single title. North American players would have to wait considerably longer. Hudson announced Adventures of Dino Riki for the Nintendo Entertainment System at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in January 1989 and then self-published the cartridge in the United States that October, nearly two and a half years after its Japanese debut. The extended gap between the two releases meant the game arrived in a very different market context, and it was received with average review scores and mixed opinions about its graphics, gameplay feel, and difficulty curve.

Stages, Weapons, and Survival

The finished game presents four vertically-scrolling stages, the final one expanding into four distinct sub-stages. Players control Dino Riki, a primitive human navigating a prehistoric landscape populated by dinosaurs, dodging enemy fire and platforming hazards before taking down each stage's boss. Combat begins with simple thrown rocks, which can be upgraded through a clear progression: stone axes, then boomerangs, and finally torches, each step widening both range and spread. Hitting boulders scattered across the terrain reveals power-ups including speed boosts and wings that grant flight. A hidden item tile triggers a transformation into Macho Riki, who can fire powerful projections of himself. Environmental dangers add tension; the first stage, for example, features bodies of water crossed by lilypads that either slide back and forth or submerge and resurface, with a single fall meaning instant death. A hit from an enemy downgrades speed and weapon levels by one tier, while dying strips all power-ups entirely and returns the player to a checkpoint.