The Flintstones: King Rock Treasure Island

Despite ABC canceling the show some twenty years before the launch of Nintendo's Game Boy, that hasn't stopped Taito from publishing this pun-filled game based on The Flintstones. King Rock Treasure Island may not look like much, but this portable outing offers a surprisingly solid Flintstones adventure, even if it lacks most of the humor from the show.

With his wedding anniversary just around the corner, Fred is at a loss for the perfect gift. As luck would have it, our hero discovers a treasure map and sets out on a quest to find Wilma something extra special. What he doesn't realize is that somebody doesn't want him finding that hidden treasure and will stop at nothing to make sure you fail. This is the set-up for the least funny Flintstones episode yet.


It turns out that King Rock Treasure Island plays a lot like the Adventure Island series. Fred throws his homemade hatchets, rides atop dinosaurs and even works his way through an action-packed island full of bosses and baddies. When it's not openly ripping off the early Wonder Boy adventures, The Flintstones offers players a number of challenging platforming challenges over the course of seven medium-sized stages.

Fred doesn't even get out of Bedrock before running into problems. Enemies swarm him at the very knowledge of the treasure map, making it slow going for this hardworking historic figure. In order to find this treasure, Fred must make his way across the sandy floor of Desert Rock, over the water in the Black Ship, under the water at the sea's bottom and eventually to the King Rock Castle, where you'll eventually come face to face with your prize ... and a nasty boss.


The Flintstones: King Rock Treasure Island is more than just an Adventure Island rip-off, it also gives the players a chance to hop behind the wheel and drive Fred's foot-powered car. These speedy levels work as the game's bonus stages, requiring our hero to do little more than collect items and not crash. This is a fun diversion, even if it doesn't look like Fred is the one behind the wheel.

The Flintstones offers all of the 2D action you expect, and not much more. Your job here is to dodge enemies and throw your axe, something that doesn't exactly capture the essence of the 1960s prime time cartoon. Sometimes you will be able to freeze an enemy with your attack, allowing you to jump on their motionless body to snag items in hard to reach locations. This is the extent of the depth in this 1993 platformer.


Despite being on an underpowered console, this Flintstones outing is surprisingly sharp looking. The backgrounds are sparse in each level, but all of the environments look like they were pulled out of the TV show. The music also has hints of the familiar tune, though I found myself growing tired of the repeating track before reaching the second stage. The gameplay is also good, even if it's nothing you haven't seen before.

King Rock Treasure Island makes for a solid 2D action game, even if it fails miserably as Flintstones fiction. You don't get any of the witty banter and the storyline is about as thin as the paper Fred's drawn on. Still, the game does a good job of capturing the show's charm and giving us a sizable adventure on a portable system. Now if only the target audience had fond memories of this long-canceled sitcom.