0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - 102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue

                             

102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue was released in 2000 and was loosely based on the 102 Dalmatians movie released the same year, as well as appearing on the Playstation 1 with a November release in North America and a December release for Europe, it was also released on the Sega Dreamcast, Game Boy Color and for Windows the game was developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Eidos Interactive

The player can choose to either control Domino voiced by Frankie Muniz (in the console version) or Oddball, during the course of the game the player will have several opportunities to collect stickers towards a virtual sticker album, as well as various actions during the game that will unlock stickers for example completing the level, collecting all the bones on the level and rescuing your fellow puppies.

The game is a 3D game with a fully moveable camera for easier navigation the player controlled character must avoid or bark at enemy toys to short circuit them or tumble into them to smash them, the levels have a checkpoint system in the even of the player losing a life rather than sending the player back to the beginning of the level.

The life system in the game works on a four and out system if the player is hit by an enemy on four occasions the player is sent back to the last checkpoint, the checkpoints are easily identified by a parrot called Waddlesworth.

Each level has a spirit animal guide who tells the player how to get through the level the spirit guide will also sometimes give you a specific assignment for the level, the game also features Cruella’s three main henchman Jasper and Horace from 101 Dalmatians and Le Pelt from 102 Dalmatians these enemy bosses can not be taken out like other enemies and must be defeated by doing certain tasks.

Two of the Dalmatian puppies Oddball and Domino (seriously sound like two awful bond villains) are out in the park looking for treasure, when they find a toy buried, the toy was made by one of Cruella De Vil’s toy factories this leads to the daring duo uncovering that Cruella’s toy sales are way down and she is facing financial ruin,

Cruella sets a dastardly plan in motion to reprogram her toys to capture any pet in sight with and freeze them in super gloop and sell them as new toy line of hyper realistic animal toys, Oddball and Domino are the only ones of the 102 Dalmatians that have not been captured when they return from the park.

The pairs parents Dottie and Dipstick set out to rescue the pups and command Oddball and Domino to stay home however they set out to save their siblings and parents (what do you expect when one is called dipstick) who have also been captured

IGN gave the game a 7 out of 10 with review David Zdyrko praising the games voice-overs and cutscenes a particular highlight however criticised the games difficulty as been too easy, Game Industry News awarded their top score of 5/5 for the game this definitely seems likes a blip in the general ratings for the game with the remainder of the games ratings coming in at 5 to 7 out of 10 so overall the games is above average.

This is the part of 0 to Z where is visit four online retailers and see what the availability of the title is, and what price you would be looking at if you wanted to pick this title up the sites that I will be using for this are Amazon.com,  eStarland.com, retrogames.co.uk and Gamedude.com I know the last one is very location specific but from a podcast I listen too I have heard they have a huge stock of older games.

So lets get down to business we may as well start with Gamedude if you are looking to get rid of your copy of 102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue GameDude will give you $6 for you copy on the other hand if you are looking for a copy of the game you will be looking at a $14 outlay to get a copy from GameDude.

Retrogaming.co.uk sadly does not have a copy of the game available, moving on to eStarland.com a used copy of the game, this is a complete copy of the game with case, cover, manual and disc will set you back $12.50 which is about £9.50, if you are looking to trade in your copy eStarland will pay $5.50.

Heading to Amazon.com for a used copy you are looking at a minimum of just under $13 or £9.90 for a used good quality copy, for a couple of dollars more however you can get a used like new copy the base price of $9.99 with a $4.59 shipping fee.

Used copies however do shoot up in price reaching just short of $40 at one Amazon retailer this however is not the most expensive used copy on sale this copy comes with a like new disc, fresh jewel case, art work and cd covers the asking price only $92 if you think that is bad a good quality version is on the market for $200, at least you get free shipping because that makes all the difference, it is even more amazing when a brand new copy of the game can be picked up for $79.95 which is just over £60, definitely a game for collectors if you can get your hands on a new copy of the game.

Written by

P J Gibbon