In 1993, Capcom unleashed Cadillacs and Dinosaurs upon an unsuspecting arcade public. The game was a beat-em-up based on Mark Shultz's comic, Xenozoic Tales from the eighties, not to be confused with Cadillacs and Dinosaurs the TV show that was based on the comic but had nothing to do with the game. There was also a second game made, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs: the second cataclysm which was based solely on the TV show. Cadillacs and Dinosaurs would remain an arcade only title, never really becoming popular enough to be ported over to the many console systems of the time.

In Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, players could choose between four playable characters: Jack Tenrec, Hannah Dundee, Mustapha Cairo or Mess O'Bradovich. Jack was the main character from the comics and a decent all around fighter. Hannah Dundee, a diplomat and explorer was good with knives and a great thrower. Mustapha was super fast and had a super powerful ranged kick. Mess was large and slow but had more damaging attacks. A pretty typical range of characters for this type of game and it could be played either as a single player experience or as a 2-3 player co-op.

Unlike it's predecessors Final Fight and Streets of Rage, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs utilized weapons as well as fists and kicks. The special moves and their controls were the same for each character but certain characters were better at some attacks than others. A 360 attack, a dash attack and a rising attack were all accessible through the use of simple button combinations. Towards the end of the game, the Cadillac finally makes an appearance as a vehicle for your heroes, but keeping it running long enough to actually be any use was tricky due to grenade lobbing enemies.

The art on this one is extremely well executed, showing the games comic book roots. It seems that special care was taken with Hannah in particular, as she looks the most realistic of the bunch. This team also seems to have quite the affinity for boots. The Arcade Flyer Archive, where I find all these treasures, has the rest of this particular version of the flyer on display as it was actually a booklet with six inside pages that included a discription of the game, the moves, and a three page illustrated enemy guide. Definitely one of the finer examples of well done flyer art out there.