Cadillacs and Dinosaurs: The Arcade Game, known in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 as Cadillacs: Dinosaurs of a New Century (キャディラックス 恐竜新世紀|Cadillacs Kyōryū Shin Seiki) is a 1993 arcade game

Arcade game

An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...

 released by Capcom

Capcom

is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...

. It is a side-scrolling beat 'em up

Beat 'em up

Beat 'em up is a video game genre featuring melee combat between the protagonist and a large number of underpowered antagonists. These games typically take place in urban settings and feature crime-fighting and revenge-based plots, though some games may employ historical or fantasy themes...

 based on the comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 series Xenozoic Tales

Xenozoic Tales

Xenozoic Tales is an alternative comic book by Mark Schultz set in a post-apocalyptic future. Publication began in 1986 with the story "Xenozoic!" included in the comic anthology Death Rattle. This was shortly followed by Xenozoic Tales #1 in February 1987...

. The game was produced as a tie-in to the Cadillacs and Dinosaurs

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (TV series)

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs is an American Saturday morning animated television series which aired on CBS Kids in the United States from 1993 to 1994. Based on the comic book of the same name by Mark Schultz, the show was created by screenwriter Steven E...

animated series which was aired during the same year the game was released.

Controls

In Cadillacs and Dinosaurs the player has access to several attacks. Each character has two special moves; one that is performed by pressing down then up and the attack button, and the other which loses health on contact and is performed by pressing the attack and jump buttons together. When two or more players play together, placing their characters on top one another will trigger a team-attack.

Regular enemies

As in a typical beat' em up game, there are nasty enemies to oppose the players, described below.

• Bikers (Gneiss, Ferris and Driver) - the most basic enemies of the game, they are usually dim-witted, attacking mostly with punches, kicks and rarely with a flying kick. They also often drop several firearms when defeated. Gneiss enemies can appear on their "powered-up" motorcycles trying to run over the player. Gneiss wear blue with grey (complete with riding goggles), Ferris wear orange with grey, Driver wear black with green (having more life than his fellow friends).
  Alternative names in Japanese version: Risk for Gneiss, Astro for Ferris and D.D. for Driver.

• Midgets (Punk and Thug) - very annoying small enemies. They are somewhat harder to deal with (and thus can be a real pain for most players) due to their smaller stature and bigger aggressiveness. They jump a lot and attack with fast punches and kicks, shoulder butts, jump kicks and even throwing grenade
  Grenade
  A grenade is a small explosive device that is projected a safe distance away by its user. Soldiers called grenadiers specialize in the use of grenades. The term hand grenade refers any grenade designed to be hand thrown. Grenade Launchers are firearms designed to fire explosive projectile grenades...
  
  s (for Punk) and TNT bundles (for Thug) - which they can drop when killed. Punk wears blue pants while Thug wears pumpkin pants.
  Alternative names in Japanese version: Nitro for Punk and Turbo for Thug.

• Knife Men (Blade and Razor) - cruel guys skilled with butchery knives. They can attack both disarmed (with simple punches) and with their trademark knives - which they can use to stab or swipe, execute a jumping downward stab attack, throw them (the player can hit incoming knives to deflect them, thus allowing their use) and use a running swipe attack (which has good priority and shall not be confronted). These guys constantly drop their knives when killed. Blade wears yellow with navy blue and blonde hair, Razor wears lime green with graffiti and tanned skin.
  Alternative names in Japanese version: none.

• Fat Guys (Black Elmer, Hammer Terhune and Wrench Terhune (commonly Blk Elmer, Hammer T. and Wrench T.)) - powerful obese enemies that can deal good damage if the player is not careful. These former American football
  American football
  American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
  
   players attack with basic punches and kicks, with addition of running shoulder charges and a painful jumping hip smash. In some occasions they will also disturb sleeping Shivats in order to wake them into rampage. They usually bring food in their pockets and smoke cigar
  Cigar
  A cigar is a tightly-rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco that is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the mouth. Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities in Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, and the Eastern...
  
  s when idle. Blk Elmer wears purple with blue clothing, Hammer T. wears gold with red clothing and Wrench T. wears white with green clothing.
  Alternative names in Japanese version: James for Blk Elmer.

• Hunters (Poacher Joe (commonly Poacher J.), Gutter and Skinner) - the Black Marketeer's most favored gunmen, they are responsible for killing and selling dinosaur leather and bones for luxurious collectors at extorsive prices. These guys wear torn-down sweatshirts, near-discolored pants, climbing boots and hunting rifle
  Rifle
  A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
  
  s (though they rarely fire them, and even more rare they drop their rifles when defeated). Their attacks include combos of rifle smacks with kicks, a rolling rifle smash, a hopping kick and the rare rifle shot. Gutter sports yellow sweatshirt, Poacher J has spinach-green and Skinner wears papaya-red.
  Alternative names in Japanese version: Saturn for Gutter and Cobra for Skinner.

• Lash Terhune (commonly Lash T.) - tall built guys with leather clothing and a huge steel mace attached to a long rope. Lash T. has basic attacks with knee and his mace, plus a long-range mace fling that deals good damage against any careless victim, friend or foe. He also chews bubblegum
  Bubblegum
  Bubblegum is a type of elastic chewing gum, designed to be blown out of the mouth as a bubble.-History:In 1928, Walter Diemer, an accountant for the Fleer Chewing Gum Company in Philadelphia, was experimenting with new gum recipes. One recipe was found to be less sticky than regular chewing gum,...
  
   after flinging his mace.
  Alternative names in Japanese version: none.

• Walther - a minor variant of Vice Terhune (Stage 1 Boss), these guys lead the Black Marketeer's poachers in their incursions for killing dinosaurs. He makes his debut in Stage 3 and appears frequently through the game. This enemy has the same actions and skills of the default first boss, but is incredibly harder to fight. Sometimes, Walther drops his handgun when defeated.
  Alternative names in Japanese version: Colt.

• Bludge - this Blanka
  Blanka
  is a video game character from the Street Fighter series of fighting games. Blanka is depicted as a feral savage, with green skin and long orange hair, resembling a monster more than a human...
  
  -looking creature is a human-reptile hybrid created by Dr. Simon Fessenden himself. Being a reptilian, this foe is a formidable combination of strength and agility, possessing other characteristics such as long jumping kick, diving claw slash and acid spits. He can also grab the player with his tongue and slowly drain his/her health unless the player breaks free. Bludge can also eat objects laying on the ground to prevent their further use in battle (however, if he is killed quickly, the object can be recovered from his stomach before digestion
  Digestion
  Digestion is the mechanical and chemical breakdown of food into smaller components that are more easily absorbed into a blood stream, for instance. Digestion is a form of catabolism: a breakdown of large food molecules to smaller ones....
  
  ).
  Alternative names in Japanese version: Phantom.

• Tyrog 2 - just like Walther, this being is a lesser variant of Tyrog (Stage 6 Boss), and is fought only once (in the first scene of Stage 8). This hideous creature combines every action from all of Tyrog's 3 phases. Being a minor-level enemy, Tyrog 2 is easier to kill.
  Alternative names in Japanese version: none.

Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs can be neutral or enemies in the game. When neutral they are in green color; when enraged or attacking they turn into a brown-yellow color; when "defeated" they return to green color and stop attacking, thus walk off screen. Having no allegiances, dinosaurs will attack anyone in their vicinity, player or enemy.

• Rock Hopper (commonly R. Hopper) - a kind of velociraptor
  Velociraptor
  Velociraptor is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur that existed approximately 75 to 71 million years ago during the later part of the Cretaceous Period. Two species are currently recognized, although others have been assigned in the past. The type species is V. mongoliensis; fossils...
  
  . He is usually friendly until being attacked, and his claws and teeth are viciously powerful.

• Mack - a triceratops
  Triceratops
  Triceratops is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur which lived during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period, around 68 to 65 million years ago in what is now North America. It was one of the last dinosaur genera to appear before the great Cretaceous–Paleogene...
  
   whose only attack is a painful charging headbutt. It's best to beat him when he stops charging.

• Zeke - a pteranodon
  Pteranodon
  Pteranodon , from the Late Cretaceous geological period of North America in present day Kansas, Alabama, Nebraska, Wyoming, and South Dakota, was one of the largest pterosaur genera and had a maximum wingspan of over...
  
   which only uses airborne attacks fitting to his winged nature. He can be somewhat hard to hit. But, an easy way to spot it is by standing on his shadow, right below him, and strike right as it goes close to the ground.

• Shivat - a Tyrannosaurus
  Tyrannosaurus
  Tyrannosaurus meaning "tyrant," and sauros meaning "lizard") is a genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur. The species Tyrannosaurus rex , commonly abbreviated to T. rex, is a fixture in popular culture. It lived throughout what is now western North America, with a much wider range than other...
  
  -Rex, this 12 feet (3.7 m) behemoth
  Behemoth
  Behemoth is a mythological beast mentioned in the Book of Job, 40:15-24. Metaphorically, the name has come to be used for any extremely large or powerful entity.-Plural as singular:...
  
   is commonly found sleeping but will wake up in a rampage if disturbed by fat guys hitting him. Shivat has tremendously powerful biting attacks and causes minor ground shakes when walking. It is by far the hardest dinosaur to be calmed down, so players are advised not to let a Shivat being awakened.

Stage bosses

As is customary with beat' em up games, there is a boss at the end of every level. Cadillacs and Dinosaurs has 8 levels and of course 8 different bosses.

• Vice Terhune (commonly Vice T.) - the boss of City In The Sea (Level 1)

• The Butcher (Atomic in Japanese version) - the boss of Swamp Forest (Level 2)

• Hogg (Gaspar in Japanese version) - the boss of Hell Road (Level 3)

• Slice - the boss of Jack's Garage (Level 4)

• Morgan / Morgue - the boss of Village Of Flame (Level 5)

• Tyrog - the boss of Jungle and Mine (Level 6)

• Slisaurs - the bosses of The Vault (Level 7), they are "reptilian clones" of Slice (Level 4 Boss)

• Dr. Simon Fessenden - the boss of The Under World (Level 8)

Weapons

Weapons are subdivided into 3 distinct classes: melee weapons, throwing weapons and firearms. Melee ones can have their attacks "delayed for extra damage", implying that the longer the player keeps the attack button pressed, the more damage it deals when hitting. Firearms, on the other hand, are mostly limited to their ammunition: when having their ammo fully depleted, they will lay on the ground (with exception of the Bazooka, which disappears right after), waiting for a reload, in which state they can be used as throwing weapons until reloaded (except for Rifle and M-16A1, which will be melee weapons). Bullet boxes will only reload firearms: if there are several firearms scattered around and the player grabs a bullet box, the first firearm picked up right after will be the reloaded one, with full ammo. Throwing weapons usually can be used only once, unless it can be used for melee attacks at close range (like Knife and a broken Rod).

Firearms

• Pistol - standard firearm which does minimal damage, sometimes dropped by a defeated Walther. It holds 6 bullets.
• Shotgun - a powerful roomsweeper PGS12-like firearm which can damage multiple enemies if these are "concentrated" within the gun's firing path. It holds 6 cartridges.
• Rifle - a "less-powerful-but-not-worse" variant of Shotgun, it can occur naturally or (very rarely) be dropped by defeated Poacher J. / Gutter / Skinner enemies. When out of ammo, a Rifle will serve as a melee weapon. It holds 6 rounds.
• Uzi - automatic rapid-firing sub-machinegun which can hold up to 48 bullets.
• M-16A1 - a firearm that occurs very rarely in the game. Holds up to 48 bullets just like the Uzi (but its shots are slightly more powerful than the former) and can be used as a melee weapon when out of ammo just like the Rifle.
• Bazooka - the rarest and most powerful firearm of the game. It only holds up 4 shots and vanishes instantly after expending its load, unless it's reloaded before the last shot is expired. The player will gain a Bazooka automatically by choosing to continue after losing his last life. Just like Grenade and TNT (see below), Bazooka shots can disintegrate to pieces enemies with low remaining health.

Throwing weapons

• Grenade and TNT - very powerful. If used on enemies with low health, they will disintegate into pieces, just like Bazooka shots. These powerful explosives can appear on their own or dropped by defeated Punk / Thug enemies. Grenades can be thrown the same fashion as Stones (see below), and can even hit other enemies who are "horizontally aligned" within its throw trajectory; TNT bundles, on the other hand, do not have this ability, but can physically bash at enemies' heads before igniting into explosion.
• Barrel - both Steel Barrel (red) and Wood Barrel (brown) can be picked up and thrown at enemies if the player gets close enough to grab and lift it. Barrels usually contain useful items inside.
• TNT Barrel - it looks like a standard Steel Barrel or Wood Barrel, but players can easily distinguish it because of the red flashing on it. Once it is hit by anyone or anything, it starts to ignite and then explodes right a second after, damaging or disintegrating everybody caught in the radius of the blast. Just like default Barrels, TNT Barrels can be picked up and thrown.
• Bucket - a smaller Steel Barrel, it has the same uses of one.
• Stone - a fairly common but the weakest throwing weapon, each one can only be used a single time. It can hit multiple enemies if they are "aligned horizontally" just like the Grenade.
• Knife - for a distance it's a deadly throwing weapon; at close range (when it flashes orange in player's hands) it can be used to stab enemies only once - except fot Hannah, who can stab up to 3 times at melee range. These can be found naturally or dropped by Blade / Razor enemies.

Melee weapons

• Rod - a purely melee weapon, it breaks in half after 2-5 hits, when it gains all functionalities of a Knife (see above), including Hannah's close-range stabbing ability.
• Torch - another rare weapon, it sets enemies on fire but, unlike Grenade or TNT, it does not disintegrate them in case of low health.
• Club - perhaps the second best weapon found through the game, it's basically like the Torch but without fire. It has the particularity of hitting the same enemy 2-3 times per strike, thus causing better damage.
• Butchery Knives - they only exist during the boss battle with The Butcher in Stage 2, and are possibly the worst melee weapons of the game. They are the only of all weapons of the game which never disappear, due to The Butcher's constant grab and use of them.

External links

• The Cadillacs and Dinosaurs Garage
• Cadillacs and Dinosaurs