Nintendo has made the announcement that Turok: Dinosaur Hunter will be made available to interested individuals through the Nintendo Switch’s eShop. This is interesting because it has been more than two decades since the first-person shooter saw its initial release on the N64, which was so long ago that the video game developer responsible for making it has been out of business for more than a decade’s time. On top of this, it should be mentioned that Nintendo has stated that the follow-up Turok 2: Seeds of Evil will be coming out for the eShop as well. Here are 10 things that you may or may not have known about Turok for the Nintendo Switch:
1. Turok Is the Name of the Protagonist
In most cases, Turok is used to refer to the protagonist of the Turok series. However, it should be mentioned that it is a title, which is why there has been more than one character to bear the name.
2. Started Out As a Comic Book Series
It should be mentioned that the Turok series started out with a comic book series called Turok, Son of Stone. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there are some significant differences between the modern Turok series and its predecessor, with an excellent example being how the Turok of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter was born in the 1800s whereas the Turok of Turok, Son of Stone was pre-Columbian.
3. Marketing Mix-Up
Amusingly, there was a serious marketing mix-up for Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. In short, the protagonist was supposed to be Tal’Set, who was a Turok from the 1800s. However, the marketing features Joshua Fireseed, who was the protagonist of the Acclaim Comics because the marketing team thought that the game was going to follow the comic book series that was running at the time.
4. Set in the Lost Land
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter happens in a place called the Lost Land, which serves as the boundaries for a number of parallel universes that have been bound together. As a result, time is flexible in said location, which is why it is home to a wide range of strange entities that include aliens, cyborgs, and dinosaurs.
5. The Boss Is Called the Campaigner
The boss of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter is an evil warlord called the Campaigner, who wants to remove the boundaries between parallel universes so that he can rule over the whole of the cosmos. For this purpose, he is seeking the pieces of a weapon called the Chronoscepter, which can be used for said purpose when its power has been amplified with a focusing array.
6. There Is a Cyborg T-Rex
Speaking of which, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter has a cyborg T-Rex named Thunder, which possesses fire breath to go along with its laser as well as its rocket launchers. On top of this, it even had a stomp attack that could send out shock waves.
7. It Is Possible to Find and Use the Chronoscepter
It is possible for players to find and use the Chronoscepter. However, this can be rather inconvenient, seeing as how the Chronoscepter was broken into eight separate pieces for the purpose of preventing someone from finding and using it. On the plus side, the Chronoscepter makes the final fight with the Campaigner much, much easier, whereas failing to find the weapon will mean a long, knock-down, drag-out fight.
8. There Is Another Powerful Weapon Called the Fusion Cannon
Besides the Chronoscepter, there is another powerful weapon called the Fusion Cannon, which combines huge damage with a huge blast radius. Unfortunately, the Fusion Cannon had very limited ammo, which is why most players chose to save its use for the most important enemies such as the Campaigner. Even more unfortunately for them, the original version of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter made it so that attempting to use the Fusion Cannon on the Campaigner would result in him disarming the player before using his strongest attack to remove more than half of the player’s health.
9. Multiple Death Animations for Enemies
The Turok series has a reputation for having multiple death animations for its enemies, which are triggered based on the region that each target was shot in. Turok: Dinosaur Hunter was less extravagant in this regard than its successors, but it isn’t hard to see how the trend started up.
10. Ported By Nightdive Studios
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and its sequel are ported by Nightdive Studios, which specializes in obtaining the rights for classic video games that are no longer available before producing ports for various modern platforms.
