The dinosaurs created by the InGen company, both carnivores and herbivores, have broken loose in various locations and must now fight each other to the death.
That’s the basic gist of it, really.
The game is notable for featuring dinosaurs that weren’t featured in the movies at the time but a few would go on to have major roles in future movies (albeit with some major redesigns).
Tropes
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: All dinosaurs get 3 alternate costumes to use, and some of them are really cool. Some examples include:
- Cryolophosaurus with dark blue skin and flame-like markings
◊. - Tyrannosaurus Rex with cyan skin and orange stripes◊.
- Suchomimus with blue and light brown skin◊.
- Ankylosaurus with black skin and yellow and black armor◊.
- Spinosaurus with reddish-orange skin and cyan and orange sail◊.
- Stygimoloch orange skin and blue belly and skull dome.
- Cryolophosaurus with dark blue skin and flame-like markings
- Animals Not to Scale:
- The game has several examples, and all of these are based upon the T. rex being its actual size◊ which it accurately resembles, when comparing it to the size of humans in-game. These dinosaurs play this trope straight:
- Suchomimus is a fairly large predator in real life◊, but it's a bit smaller than T. rex. Here however, it is quite a bit larger◊ than T. rex, with its size and bulk being comparable to that of the Spinosaurus from Jurassic Park III.
- Acrocanthosaurus is around the same height as T. rex in real life◊, but it's not quite the same length as it. In this game, it is taller, longer and bulkier◊ than T. rex.
- Megaraptor in real life◊ is certainly a large predator, but it is far smaller than T. rex. Here it's not far off from being the same height and length◊ as T. rex.
- Styracosaurus is by no means the smallest ceratopsid in real life◊, but here it is incorrectly portrayed being almost identical in size◊ to Triceratops when compared to T. rex.
- Albertosaurus is among the larger tyrannosaurs in real life◊, but it never reached the same size as T. rex. Here, it's a bit taller◊ than T. rex, while being fairly similar to it in length.
- Cryolophosaurus is around the same size as Megaraptor◊ in real life, but similarly to it, it is much larger◊ here. It's even slightly taller than Albertosaurus.
- Compsognathus is one of the smallest◊ dinosaurs in real life, with the largest ones barely not reaching an adult human's knee in height. It's much larger◊ here, so it would be a bit easier to kill one in order to regain health.
- Stygimoloch is only around half the height of an adult human◊ in real life and stands 3 meters long. In-game however, it is a good four times taller and longer◊ than in real life, now being almost the same size as T. rex.
- Pachycephalosaurus is about twice the size◊ of Stygimoloch in real life. Here, Pachycephalosaurus is larger than in real life, but still smaller◊ than Stygimoloch, despite suggestions that the latter is a juvenile Pachycephalosaurus in real life.
- Spinosaurus is the largest meat-eating dinosaur to have existed, but here it's the smallest◊ of all playable carnivores, being nowhere near the size estimates of a long-legged◊ or short-legged◊ Spinosaurus in real life, in addition to looking nothing like its film counterpart note .
- Suchomimus is a fairly large predator in real life
- The dinosaurs who avert this trope are:
- Tyrannosaurus Rex, as explained above.
- Giganotosaurus is one of the few theropods confirmed to be larger than◊ T. rex in real life, and in-game◊ it's still larger than T. rex but not to a ludicrous extent.
- Carcharodontosaurus is around the same size, if not slightly larger than T. rex in real life◊, and here they are also near identical in size◊.
- Ankylosaurus is the largest ankylosaur known in real life◊ and in this game◊, its size is accurate to the upper estimates it could have reached.
- Triceratops was the largest ceratopsid in real life◊ and its size in-game◊ is accurate to the one in real life when compared to T. rex.
- The game has several examples, and all of these are based upon the T. rex being its actual size
- Artistic License – Paleontology: In addition to the usual Jurassic Park examples like pronated hands and the raptors lacking feathers, the Spinosaurus and Megaraptor in particular are based on long-outdated assumptions regarding what they looked like.
- The Spinosaurus is a smaller theropod with long hind legs and a generic carnosaur skull, whereas paleontological discoveries in the decades since the game came out have revealed it to have had a crocodilian head, short legs, and a ventrally flattened tail.
- The Megaraptor is portrayed as a colossal Velociraptor — in line with assumptions that its giant claw was on its feet and that it was a dromeosaurid. While there is some contention as to exactly where it's phylogenically classified — with scientists theorizing that it was an allosauroid, tyrannosaurid, or even a spinosaurid — it's known that Megaraptor's giant claw was actually on its hands.
- Ascended to Carnivorism: The ostensibly herbivorous playable dinosaurs like Ankylosaurs and Triceratops are able to munch on small edible creatures running around the arena and regain their health. Although given recent theories that herbivorous dinosaur may have occasionally dined on raw protein as extant herbivores are known to do, this may actually be closer to the truth than the average layperson would think.
- Big Entrance: All dinosaurs will do a big entrance into their respective home stages. Some examples include:
- Triceratops breaking out of its cage, stomping its foot on the ground and shaking its head.
- Acrocanthosaurus jumping on top of the roof of a gas station and chasing its tail before jumping down to the ground.
- Albertosaurus walking through the entrance of Universal's Islands of Adventure, doing an Unnecessary Combat Roll and roaring.
- Bigger Is Better: The playable raptor here is not your usual Velociraptor, but Megaraptor, which is only slightly smaller than many other bigger dinosaurs like T. rex.
- Canon Immigrant: Spinosaurus, Stygimoloch, and Giganotosaurus all made their entry into the Jurassic Park franchise here and have since transitioned into the film canon.
- Carnivorous Healing Factor: The dinosaurs regain health by eating the dogs, smaller dinos like compys, and humans that wander into the battlefield.
- Combat Commentator: Bizarrely, an in-universe example; the person commentating is apparently in a helicopter over the battle, and different comments at the end of fights indicate that they're either A.) Making the dinos fight for some reason, or B.) just watching as one dinosaur proceeds, for whatever reason, to whoop the ass of every dino it meets.
- Cool vs. Awesome: This is a fighting game between dinosaurs, so this is bound to happen. The announcer implies they're siccing the dinosaurs on each other - for what reason? Who cares?Announcer: What a battle!
- Early-Bird Cameo: A Spinosaurus three years before before the third film, albeit looking very different from the one in that film — to the point that it looks more like a claw-less raptor with a sail strapped to its back. Also Stygimoloch, which made its first onscreen appearance in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom 19 years later. Stiggy incidentally has the same coloration as the game’s Stygimoloch. Giganotosaurus also makes its first appearance in the franchise in this game, 23 years before appearing in Jurassic World Dominion.
- Epic Flail: Ankylosaur's tail.
- Flawless Victory: The announcer will say "Flawless" if you manage to win a battle without taking damage.
- Hyperactive Metabolism: Various edible creatures (goats, humans, dogs, and Compsognathus) will scurry across the arena, partially replenishing lost health when eaten or killed by one of the fighters.
- Mighty Roar: As usual, T. rex lets out its Signature Roar in its victory pose, as do nearly all the carnivorous dinosaurs.
- Mythology Gag: Various arenas are based on scenes from first two films are shown in the game, such as the T.Rex enclosure, the Raptor pen and the visitors center from Jurassic Park (1993) and the S.S. Venture deck, the InGen basecamp and the San Diego gas station from The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
- Natural Weapon: Since you play as dinosaur, of course you will fight with kicks, teeth, claws, headbutting, tail whacking and horns.
- Practical Taunt: Taunting an opponent's dinosaur will fill up your dinosaur's rage meter and allow you to perform a special rage attack should it be full.
- Product Placement: Having been released on the same year that it opened, the game includes an arena that's based off of the Jurassic Park area at Universal's Islands of Adventure. It also features a commercial for the park as a special bonus.
- Victory Pose: Every dinosaur will do one upon winning a battle.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: Your health is replenished when you eat edible creatures as mentioned in Hyperactive Metabolism above.
- Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: Megaraptor's eyes, which are particularly visible in its victory pose.
