Software:Baby T-Rex

From HandWiki
Short description: 1993 video game
Baby T-Rex
Developer(s)Beam Software
Publisher(s)Laser Beam Entertainment
Hi Tech Expressions
Producer(s)Alfred Milgrom
Designer(s)Ian Malcolm
Programmer(s)David Theodore
Artist(s)Greg Holland
Joe Rimmer
Jeremy Kupsch
Darren Hanna
Joe Rimmer
Composer(s)Marshall Parker
Platform(s)
Game Boy
ReleaseBaby T-Rex
Agro Soar
Bamse
  • SWE: 16 December 1993
We're Back! A Dinosaur’s Story
  • NA: November 1993
Genre(s)Platform
Mode(s)Single-player

Baby T-Rex is a platform game developed by Beam Software for Game Boy. It was released in 1993 in Europe by Laser Beam Entertainment, Beam's publishing arm. The same underlying game was released under alternate titles each adapting a different intellectual property: Agro Soar in Australia, Bamse in Sweden, and We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story in North America, where it was published by Hi Tech Expressions.[1]

The following year Beam released a follow-up, Radical Rex, for Super NES, Sega Genesis and Sega CD, which in 2022 was bundled with the Game Boy game in a compilation for various platforms.[2]

Gameplay

In the original Baby T-Rex version of the game, players control an anthropomorphic skateboarding dinosaur, who must traverse various levels in order to save his girlfriend from the evil wizard Sethron.

In the Agro Soar version of the game, players control Agro as he tries to escape a "pre-historic cartoon within his own TV" in which he is trapped by Sethron after he had insulted the wizard while watching the television show Curse of Sethron.[3]

The Bamse version of the game sees Bamse, the world's strongest bear, and his rabbit friend Lille Skutt rescuing the inventor tortoise Skalman from the mischievous wolf Vargen after Skalman transports them 75 millions of years back in time, to the age of the dinosaurs in a time machine he had built.[4]

The We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story version of the game sees players control Rex, a Tyrannosaurus rex with enhanced intelligence who must rescue his three dinosaur friends Woog, Elsa and Dweeb from the film's villain Professor Screweyes.[5]

Development

Beam actively sought to adapt the game for a number of different licensed properties in different countries around the world.[1] Subsequently, the game was also released as We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, based on the 1993 film of the same name in North America, Bamse, based on the Swedish children's character Bamse and the comics featuring him, in Sweden, and Agro Soar, which stars the puppet children's television show host Agro from Beam's home country of Australia. These versions changed the story and the graphics (most notably the main character sprite, cutscenes and the title screen) to fit the license but kept the gameplay, level design and music intact.[1][6]

Beam had also unsuccessfully pitched versions featuring the characters Sooty, Hugo and The Smurfs at various European trade fairs.[6] A version of the game featuring Edd the Duck was completed and reviewed by Game Zone magazine in Britain but was pulled from distribution just before release when the BBC revoked the license.[1] Decades later a ROM of the game was leaked onto the internet as part of the 2020 Nintendo data leak.[7]

The game uses an in-house developed engine that was previously used in a Tom and Jerry game.[1]

Reception

All versions of the game received average reviews.[1][6]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Mansfield, Dylan (February 24, 2019). "Baby T-Rex: The Game Revised 10 Times". https://www.gamingalexandria.com/wp/2019/02/24/baby-t-rex-the-game-revised-10-times/. 
  2. ↑ Balofsky, Jonathan (2022-09-02). "“Radical Rex coming to Nintendo Switch, Xbox and PlayStation on September 8”". https://realotakugamer.com/radical-rex-coming-to-nintendo-switch-xbox-and-playstation-on-september-8/84664/. 
  3. ↑ "Agro Soar (GB)". http://www.thecoverproject.net/view.php?cover_id=17717. 
  4. ↑ "Bamse". 10 March 2017. https://www.thegameisafootarcade.com/arcade-games/nintendo-game-boy/b/bamse/. 
  5. ↑ "We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story". Electronic Gaming Monthly 6 (10): 196. October 1993. https://archive.org/details/Electronic_Gaming_Monthly_51/page/n197/mode/2up?q=dinosaur. Retrieved November 25, 2021. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Odoerfer, Mandi (November 29, 2015). "Baby T-Rex Was the Little Game Boy Game That Could". https://retrovolve.com/baby-t-rex-was-the-little-game-boy-game-that-could/. 
  7. ↑ Klepeck, Patrick (September 11, 2020). "Nintendo's Secrets Are Continuing to Leak, Revealing Its Unknown History". https://www.vice.com/en/article/nintendos-secrets-are-continuing-to-leak-revealing-its-unknown-history/. 
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
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