102 Dalmatians: Puppies To The Rescue Cover

102 Dalmatians: Puppies To The Rescue (Game Boy Color)

This review was originally written on 10/03/2018.

Technical Information

Developer: Digital Eclipse
Publisher: Activision
Release Date: November 22, 2000

102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue is a game in which you can control Domino or Oddball, and must save your family from the villain Cruella De Vil.
The game was fully based on the movie and had versions for PC, Dreamcast, and PlayStation; however, the Game Boy Color version is completely different from those.

The main menu from 102 Dalmatians: Puppies To The Rescue. The first level in 102 Dalmatians: Puppies To The Rescue. An early level in 102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue. An early level in 102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue. Brief description of the Cafeteria stage. Oddball running through the stage in 102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue.

Final Thoughts – Analyzing the Game as a Whole

Graphics and UI

Even with all the limitations in color and screen space, the sprites and levels turned out well done. Some stages are quite simple in terms of shading, while others are more detailed, creating a good balance.

The scene transition animations are honestly kind of ugly—flat colors, characters in stiff poses, and all that… but let’s cut it some slack, since the game is from the early 2000s.

The HUD is very functional, your HP is represented by a little paw. When you take damage, part of the paw turns red. I found that pretty creative!
However, the title screen is pretty lame, with a flat blue background. I think they could have put a bit more effort into it and at least added some kind of scenery.

Soundtrack and Sound Effects

Catchy and upbeat tracks!
So much so that I never forgot one of them since the first time I played this game (which was around 2002, I think).

Gameplay

The gameplay is very simple, but I was quite bothered by the hitbox of the collectible bones, which is positioned right in the middle of the asset. In some areas, picking them up becomes a somewhat irritating task.

The game’s genre is a mix of platforming and exploration, and instead of just reaching the end of the stage, you must look for a key and free the dalmatians that are trapped.

Despite not having a save system, it does feature a password system, which helps a lot for those who haven’t fully gotten the hang of the game yet.

You can’t choose the difficulty level, which is a shame, since the game is quite easy and short.

Replayability and Game Retention

I only see two reasons to play this game again: nostalgia (if you played it back in the day) or simply to kill some time.

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