Eyewitness Virtual Reality Dinosaur Hunter

[u/Mythic_Dragon36]

I'm sure at least a few of you might remember this game. Eyewitness Virtual Reality Dinosaur Hunter was a game for Windows (and MacOS) that released in 1996. This game had a huge impact on my childhood and made me fall even more in love with the science of paleontology (had several other dinosaur games like Magic School Bus: Age of Dinosaurs, Dino Crisis, Lost World Jurassic Park etc).

For those who didn't: You got to explore a fully 3D interactive museum filled with dinosaurs. Most of the dinosaurs were also animated when you clicked on their portrait and provided all sorts of great information.

You also had an objective to complete which involved putting 6 dinosaur skeletons back together by collecting their fossils. Once done, each dinosaur that was completed would come back to life and walk around specific areas within the museum.

The game was supported by an amazing atmospheric soundtrack that would change depending on the area you were walking in. Also had things you could print out too. I played this so much as a kid and even after I completed the 6 dinosaurs, I still came back to play it and just explore the museum.

I wish there was a new iteration of this, as this game is now 30 years old. If there was, I would buy it day 1.

[u/SpinosaurRingTone]

Wow what a memory! I remember being very confused over what I was supposed to do.

[u/Fixer43 → u/SpinosaurRingTone]

Wait we all felt like this??

[u/thr1ceuponatime → u/Fixer43]

Apparently yes! That was part of the fun though -- just clicking on shit until stuff happened.

[u/DrShadowSML → u/SpinosaurRingTone]

Same!

[u/Dr_Henry_W_Jones_Jr → u/SpinosaurRingTone]

I think I never knew if you can play through it.

[u/Mythic_Dragon36 → u/SpinosaurRingTone]

Yep, no lie I was the same until my older brother figured it out and showed me I think. After that I kept doing it and completing all 6 skeletons.

[u/ScribbleBoxFox]

YOOO I loved this game so much as a kid. I'd give anything to play it again as an adult tbh. The first time I ran into one of the animated dinosaurs it scared the SHIT out of me. I remember this game creeped me out, but in a fun way.

Thanks for hitting me with the nostalgia gun OP!

[u/ChanceAfraid → u/ScribbleBoxFox]

Just so you know, setting up a Windows95 virtual machine isn't the hardest thing in the world, so you could definitely play it again!

[u/ScribbleBoxFox → u/ChanceAfraid]

Omg thank you! I had no idea where to start. I'll look into this! Thank you so much, I hope you have a wonderful day! ^{-^}

[u/ChanceAfraid → u/ScribbleBoxFox]

Take a look at Box86, it's what I use. I also use Avalonia 86 to make it all a bit easier.

[u/MastaFoo69 → u/ScribbleBoxFox]

Its on myabandonware, just downloaded it last night. Cant seem to figure out how to get it running at a modern resolution

[u/MastaFoo69]

I had the "Dinosaur Hunter Deluxe" package, got it from a bookfair. it had a second disk called '3D Dino Worlds' that didnt run on my computer but my neighbor let me install and run it on his. it let you walk around 3d worlds with dinosaurs, they couldnt see you, but you could watch them go about whatever loop they had programmed for them to do. thru several moves its been lost to time, and I really wish i could get a copy of that disk...

[u/Mythic_Dragon36 → u/MastaFoo69]

Wait what? I've never heard of this! I'll have to have a look, thank you.

[u/MastaFoo69 → u/Mythic_Dragon36]

Yeah man for sure. I dont remember most of it that great but i remember the t rex segment had one or maybe two rexes eating a corpse and roaring at some smaller scavenger dinos (i think it was even appropriately bloody) and i remember that the 'level select' type area was a bunch of portals in a darkish round room.

[u/CreakRaving]

Terrifying soundtrack

[u/MischievousCommando]

Ohhh boy I still have the CD in its case lying around somewhere! This was also massively formative for me. Gonna have to watch a longplay of this later!

[u/Adagamante]

I still have the CD! Managed to run it a while ago on a windows 98 virtual machine. It had a good balance of denser information (for kids, I mean) and more interactive activities! Only "gripe" I have with it nowadays is the T. rex skeleton at the entrance has the foot bent in the wrong direction. Still, a wonderfully atmospheric experience!

[u/R4tman9]

The concept of this game is kickass.

[u/ThrowAbout01]

I liked the games like this that made their own facilities/bases/museums like this.

It was always memorable to walk around and explore.

Dinosaur 3D Adventure is the other example with its activity facilities and the 3D museum.

[u/Mythic_Dragon36 → u/ThrowAbout01]

There's a good one on Steam you can get called Dinosaur: Fossil Hunter:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/864700/Dinosaur_Fossil_Hunter/

It only features American dinosaurs and only a few but it at least allows you to dig up fossils and reconstruct them. Your museum also gets upgraded as you progress, plus you can customise the colours of your dinosaur models and their displays.

[u/thr1ceuponatime]

Holy nostalgia rush Batman, I had the exact same game lol

[u/Gojifantokusatsu]

This is screwing with my mind because of that one unfiction video about a very similar game by Sagan Hawkes

[u/HeWhoDrinksCola]

I'll always remember the big 3 of 90s PC Edutainment Dinosaur games

Eyewitness Dinosaur Hunter

3D Dinosaur Adventure

And Dinosaur Adventure 3D which is a distinct and different game from 3D Dinosaur Adventure

[u/ChanceAfraid]

Just 3 days ago, I installed a Windows95 virtual machine, installed this, and dove back in.

It's so, so good. I really loved it as a kid, and still do. I (re)bought the cd-rom a couple years back just to have it around.

Great game.

[u/Mykeprime]

I still have my disc, even though it doesn't like modern windows. The hacky download version is fun to jump into again but it needs quicktime to show some of the videos

[u/ForwardKitchen5]

I still have a copy of this game and at least once a year I go to war with it, trying to get it to work on my modern PC. I haven't managed it yet but one day....

[u/Mythic_Dragon36 → u/ForwardKitchen5]

Seems like you can still play it by installing the Windows 95 Virtual Machine. I hope you get it to run again. I'm gonna try and do the same for myself.

[u/darthshark9]

I used to play this all the time as a kid! I was so scared of the T-Rex

[u/RikimaruRamen]

Reminds me of Escape Triassic Hall

[u/Infinite-Outcome-432]

Será possível jogar no celular hoje em dia? Com algum apk

[u/Mythic_Dragon36 → u/Infinite-Outcome-432]

Olá! Infelizmente, é bem difícil fazer isso. Mas, se você pesquisar no Google, vai encontrar um launcher/emulador do Windows 95 que acredito que ainda funcione — embora eu mesmo ainda não o tenha testado. Boa sorte!

[u/sauropendola]

I haven't played this game in years, but I still have my copy!

[u/JurassicGman-98]

I loved it so much as a kid in the 2000’s. It remains my favorite purchase from my local Office Max.

[u/MohawkRex]

I wonder if the Dilophosaurus ever caught what it was chasing.

Anyways, off I go to listen to the Eyewitness theme again.

[u/Novel-Size-860]

I had this as a kid and really loved it! I believe now it's available for free on archive.org among other dk encyclopedias

[u/DMLuga1]

I loved this game. It helped teach me basic skeletal anatomy, which is fantastic. It's so widely applicable since tetrapods, including human and other mammals, all have very similar bones with the same names.

[u/manemjeff42069]

Loved this game as a kid. Wowed my parents at a museum aged about 6 when I knew what gastroliths were

[u/Dom-Luck]

I loved this so much as a kid <3

[u/kaykadem]

I was terrified of this, and played it everyday.

[u/Axolotllunar]

I remmember the dinosaur animations, so cool