Shin Jinrui

Shin Jinrui (aka Adventures of Dino Riki in the west) is a vertical/overhead shooter developed by Hudson Soft and published by Rix Soft. The game is set in prehistoric times and tells the adventures of a courageous young caveman, and his voyage through a dangerous world populated with dinosaurs and other apex predators. As he begins his adventure, the caveman relies on small rocks in order to defend himself against the various enemies coming his way. However, this default weapon is very limited and, thankfully, can be upgraded as the game progresses. Some elements of the scenery are destructible (such as flowers, pots or skulls) and reveal all kind of special icons. Most of them give the player various advantages in battle - Power icons, symbolized by a closed fist, progressively upgrade the main weapon into stone axes, boomerangs and finally flaming torches, boots speed-up the player, hearts increase the player's available life to a maximum of eight hearts, meat refills life, Stars destroy all enemies on screen in a flash, and Diamonds boost the player's score. Two secret icons are also available throughout the game, and can only be revealed by shooting at the same hidden and invisible locations multiple times - the bird gives the player little wings and the ability to temporary fly, and the Riki icon turns the player into a large wrestler with considerable powers. Shin Jinrui features four different levels (the last one being a combination of the first three level themes and bosses) and is single player only.