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The Flintstones: The Treasure of Sierra Madrock is a side scrolling action video game by Taito Corporation for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The story of the game is generally based on the 1960s The Flintstones cartoon series.
In the opening story of the game, the Water Buffalos' leader, the Great Poobah, decides to retire. As his last decree as Great Poobah, he makes a contest in which whoever finds the Treasure of Sierra Madrock will be his successor. In the game, Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble must find the treasure before any other Buffalo member (or even their wives, Wilma and Betty). The game features passwords that must be written down in order to continue the game from the highest level reached.
The game itself first involves a world map representing a themed set of worlds. Both characters move like they would in a traditional board game by rolling dice and move to the appropriate space. Depending on the landed space, the player must clear a level in that particular world, defeat bosses, or enter shops, among other things. On some zones, Wilma and Betty appear and if any one of them manage to meet their respective husband, she will drag him some spaces back to an arbitrary location. The levels themselves are simple platformer segments. In these segments, the characters must traverse from left to right (and sometimes right to left), while avoiding hazards and defeating dinosaurs, Water Buffalo members or other creatures. In order to defeat enemies, Fred and Barney use a wood club.
There are also powerups such as brontoburger (energy) and clams, which are used to buy items in shops. In a few cases, a powerup is a trap in which the Cavemouse appears, being followed by Dino. Unlike the TV show, Dino actually hurts the player if he is hit by him. The earlier zones in the game can only be cleared by first defeating specific Water Buffalo members (most of which appeared at some point in the cartoon series) by winning them in a race located at a stadium. For that purpose, they must be found. If any character go to the stadium, the race can be practiced. Once defeated, they will give an item to both Fred and Barney, so that they can go the next world. The types of worlds involved include Bedrock, Snowrock (an ice world), and Magmarock (a fire world), amongst other worlds present in the game.
Source: Wikipedia, "The Flintstones: The Treasure of Sierra Madrock", available under the CC-BY-SA License.
- Tight, responsive controls and satisfying platforming feel
- Visually appealing character sprites and animations
- Short, bite-sized levels that reinforce a back-and-forth, two-player-friendly pacing
- Strong sense of momentum and speed-inspired design cues (Sonic-like pacing)
- Continued map progression without forced level replay, and a password system for physical setups
- Would benefit from a more explicit tutorial to ease new players into the dice-momen settings and maps
- Dinosaurs are not a prominent feature in this particular playthrough, which may disappoint fans expecting more prehistoric content
- No full level replay; progression can be reset by coins/hearts loss when continuing
- Initial learning curve related to dice-based movement and immediate map decisions
- Adventure, treasure hunt, exploration, platforming action within a light-hearted cartoon world
- The Flintstones universe, Bedrock and prehistoric locales leading toward Sierra Madrock
- episodic map-driven exploration with light storytelling through character interactions
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Dice-based movement — Rolling a die to determine how many spaces to move on a branching map, injecting luck into progression
- Network/Route Building — Players choose which paths to take on an interconnected map to reach different locations
- Nonlinear map exploration — Players choose which paths to take on an interconnected map to reach different locations
- platforming action — Climbing, jumping, and combat in short, self-contained level segments
- Progression and health scaling — Player gains hearts to extend survival chances as they advance through the map
- Resource Management — Collect coins and maintain health/hearts; losing these on continues or failures affects progression
- Simple combat — Defeat enemies using a basic club mechanic within levels
- Two-player design / pass-and-play feel — Game design suggests competitive or cooperative play with two players; physical versions feature a password system
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I'm ready to label this one a hidden gem.
- This is quite a good deal of fun.
- I highly recommend
- If you're looking for a two-player SNES game, I highly recommend