Ludography
Dino Master cover

2005 · Cooking Mama Limited · Action · Turn-based strategy

Dino Master

Nintendo exclusive

Dino Master is a game for the Nintendo DS system similar to a fusion of Pokémon and the arcade game Qix. The player takes the role of "Dave the Digger", who excavates fossils from various sites while avoiding enemies. The fossils can then be revived into living dinosaurs and pitted against each other in Battle Mode.

Released
24 May 2005
Platforms
Nintendo DS
Genres
ActionTurn-based strategy
Developers
Cooking Mama Limited
Publishers
Majesco Entertainment
Modes
MultiplayerSingle-player
Themes
Science fiction
Country
Japan
Age ratings
PEGI 3ESRB E

About

Dino Master is a game for the Nintendo DS system similar to a fusion of Pokémon and the arcade game Qix.

Keywords

  • dinosaurs
  • grinding
  • turn-based
  • archeology

Media

Dino Master screenshot 1

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The player takes the role of "Dave the Digger", who excavates fossils from various sites while avoiding enemies. The fossils can then be revived into living dinosaurs and pitted against each other in Battle Mode. To battle, the player would choose a part of the dinosaur to defend, and a part of the opponent dinosaur to attack. Smaller dinosaurs are weaker but have less vulnerability points; larger ones are stronger but have more vulnerability points.

Powerful dinosaur are more rare to come by, and the player can dispose of the common kinds. In the story mode, the player traces a line across the field and any fossil concealed within the line is revealed. Enemies that collide with the line will send out a yellow "bullet" which will follow the line toward the player until it strikes or the player reaches an area of security. If the player collides with an enemy, the player loses a life.

Reception

Dino Master received negative reviews on release. On Metacritic, the game holds a score of 28/100 based on 6 reviews.

Frank Provo of GameSpot rated the game a 2.4/10, citing its presentation as being equivalent to "an early generation Game Boy Advance game" and calling its controls "sluggish and unreliable." IGN's Craig Harris gave the game a 2.5/10 rating after criticizing it for its "ugly" graphics, "clunky" controls and ultimately calling it a "horrible, sloppy remake" of Qix.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Nintendo DS24 May 2005North America · Japan 22 September 2005 · Europe 27 June 2007

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Platform libraries

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.