Dragon Hopper (aka: D-Hopper, or Jump Dragon)
Dorin the Dragon Prince lived a happy life in the magical Kingdom of Celestia until the corrupt prime minister jailed his family. Pursued by soldiers, Dorin fled his home. As he ran away, he tripped and fell into a mysterious hole, landing in the Land of Faeron. Help him find his way back to the surface and save Celestia in Nintendo's Dragon Hopper, a battery-backed, 3-D adventure for Virtual Boy. © 1996 Nintendo / Intelligent Systems
Manufacturer: Nintendo
(Intelligent Systems)
Serial#: VUE-P-VDHE
Genre: 3-D Action/Adventure/platform/RPG
Game has backupcapacity and saves scores
Memory: 16 Megabits
Number of Players: One (1)
Suggested Retail Price was: US$34.95 in America
Planned release date: 26 August 1996
(First adventure, Legend of Zelda-type game, Dragon Hopper, to be released in August)
Features:
Prince Dorin's family has been captured by the King's power-hungry prime minister.
Player controls Dorin as he seeks the help of fairies to find the King, Queen and his
love Diana.
Dragon Hopper is Nintendo's latest game in 3-D combining Virtual Boy's 3-D qualities
with action/adventure game features.
The game stars a jumping dragon, Dorin, whom you control through multi-level stages of action.
Players find adventure as they explore levels, talk to helpful creatures, and battle foes and guardians to find the four spirits who can help.
Player's perspective is a direct overhead view, providing a dramatic effect when jumping
between multiple levels.
Dorin is able to leap amazingly high to reach platforms suspended in mid-air, or drop down to hidden areas of stages that appear through holes or at the
ends of paths.
"Element of Discovery" allows Dorin to wander through each level in search of a star to
take him to the next level.
Adventure elements include defeating new enemies and obstacles to solve problems.
Dorin must find keys, travel through warp gates and avoid all of the perils that each level has to offer.
Battery-backed memory saves your game progress
The above information was taken from a fact sheet from an American
Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) press kit in 1996 (headline was "FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE") which was handed out by:
Michael Puccini (213) 623-4200
Eileen Tanner (509) 628-1993
Booth #8417, South Hall
Note: When you look at all the images on this page, take notice of how Dorin grows bigger & stronger as the game progresses and he gains more magical powers, spotted so far are 4 different dragon evolutions as he grows and with 7 worlds to travel through there should be that same amount in total <^_^>
Were to have been released in both Japan and America.
*That's some nice ingame story screenshots altogether huh? :-)
Click here for
pictures of Dorin's jumping movements!
"Dragon Hopper is a 3-D adventure game played on a
multitude of maze levels. Above you can see Dorin hop (yep like a kangaroo) down
a series of terraces to reach a jump platform on the ground floor."
*The large blocks in the foreground are stairs leading to higher floors, hop hop
hop
*Explore areas beneath a higher platform and the overhead
floor turns transparent & when you jump higher and higher the floors below
gradually fade from view
*Each world has a hidden warp tile that teleports you to a
magic shop. There you can spend your heard-earned Star Coins on new spells or
pay to play for the chance to win more money in a Bonus Room game
*Cutter, the guardian of the Earth Level is about to attack
you, unlike most adventure games, Dragon Hopper lets players use a variety of
attacks and tactics to dispatch major enemies (killing is such a harsh word)
*Map leveloverview: Dragon Hopper has 7 worlds filled with
platform mazes. The leaps become more difficult as Dorin climbs up out of the
Great Tunnel, crosses the plains of Earth and enters the Tower of Infinity
The Fairy Spirits need your help:
Each time Dorin rescues a Fairy Spirit, he receives an elemental power. When
you free the Earth Spirit from his prison in the Great Tunnel, he gives you the
power to create a large earthquake that destroys enemies and crumbles weak
floors.
When you rescue Fairy Spirits, they give you clues and special dragon powers. The Earth Spirit gives you the power of the Earth Dragon ...
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... while the Water Spirit shares the Ice
Dragon's magical ability.
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Is the existence of a prototype confirmed: Yes...
... A playable Demo/Proto has been seen at E3 1996.
& the American official Nintendo Power magazine even previewed the entire
game!
