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When you get disconnected from your WiFi, you’re met with a cool little game called Dino Run which Google provides to you to help pass the time until your connection is restored because, well, Google is full of awesome geeks. It’s one of the many small things built into the company’s DNA that’s centered on their ninth core rule: ‘You can be serious without a suit’. From the Google Doodle Pac-Man game to the Google Assistant’s Tardis joke just to name a few, you can see that their focus on work being challenging, but that challenge being fun is central.
At the beginning we thought, “What if it did a cute little kick in the beginning like our favorite 90’s hedgehog? What if it roared to signal to people that it was alive?” But in the end, we settled on the basics of any good runner game: run, duck and jump.
– Google on the origins of Dino Run
While the original game is meant to be simple, one developer, Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag, CEO and owner of 100 Thieves, which is a lifestyle brand and gaming organization based in L.A., felt it wasn’t enough just to jump over cacti and dodge pterodactyls. Instead, he built his own modded version of the game called Dinoswords, which allows you to fight back as you run using 26 classic video game weapons. Heads up, parents – this isn’t exactly for the kids.
“Dino Swords is our take on the classic Chrome dinosaur runner game, made extravagant with 26 weapons to help your runs,
“Many of them pay homage to classic video game weapons, some of them are totally OP, and some are completely useless. There’s even a few Easter eggs that are pretty hard to unlock.”
Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag – Developer of Dinoswords
He’s not wrong either – the weapons range from ridiculously over powered, like a laser beam to absolutely useless, like a cigarette. Here’s a list of several of the weapons which I was able to identify the potential classic reference for. Many of these could belong to several games, but it’s just fun to speculate based on my youth. Think you can identify the rest?
- F to Pay Respects – Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
- Buster Sword – Final Fantasy VII
- Shuriken – Ninja Gaiden
- Hammer – Donkey Kong
- Portal Gun – Portal
- Hat and Baseball Bat – Earthbound
- Downers (pills) – Narc?
- Upper (Pills) – Narc?
- Tank (cleverly branded 100T) – Grand Theft Auto
- Bow and Arrow – The Legend of Zelda
- Cigarette – Metal Gear Solid
- Grenade – Grand Theft Auto
- Chainsaw – Zombies Ate My Neighbors or Ghoul Patrol
- Laser Beam – Gradius?
People have been recreating Dino Run for years for school projects and even just for fun and practice, but this was the first time I’ve encountered something so unique. It’s funny because it almost gives the narrative that Dino has had a shift in its approach to life and has decided to fight back.
As I’ve spent entirely too much time playing Dinoswords, I’ve realized a few things about the game that may be helpful as you try it yourselves. Firstly, while it may seem obvious, you should keep your hands positioned on the home row keys the entire time. This makes it easy to move between all of the weapons you’ve collected in a fraction of the time you would if you were peck typing. Secondly, you can time your jumps at collecting weapons to get something different as they cycle through several options while they’re waiting for you to take them from the air. It may be tricky, but it’s possible. Lastly, laser beams are ridiculously powerful, but just like some of the other weapons, you need to make sure you are prepared to switch to another weapon if you run out as they’re not unlimited.
The game features daily and ‘all time’ global leaderboards so you can keep revisiting and trying for a higher score. Matthew has also stated that those at the top of the leaderboards would receive some form of prize periodically – Our guess is 100 Thieves swag.
It’s also possible to play the original Dino Run without losing your internet connection by visiting Chrome://dino in your browser. Let us know in the comments below what you think of Dinoswords and if you were able to unlock all 26 weapons! Which was your favorite?
Pro Tip
If you’re using a Chromebook, just remember that if you want to access both Dino Run and Dinoswords with ease, your best bet is to turn both of them into ‘shortcuts’ by visiting the ‘more’ or three dots menu at the top right of the Chrome browser, clicking ‘more tools’ three quarters down the list and selecting ‘create shortcut’. From there, you can check the ‘open as window’ box and rename the shortcut before clicking ‘create’. Going forward, you can play either game by searching your launcher or by pinning them to your bottom shelf like a piece of software!
