This is the fifth part of a series I'll be doing on games played during my childhood. You can read the others below.

Part 1/ Part 2/ Part 3/ Part 4

If there's two things kids like, it's robots and dinosaurs, so when someone tells you to stick the two together, you know you're in for a treat. Nanosaur was yet another title by Pangea that I played because it came pre-loaded on the iMacs my stepfather bought for the family when I was in 4th grade, but it wasn't the best in their catalogue by a longshot. Still, there's something about a dinosaur with robotic abilities, isn't there? As a little girl, I was obsessed with Beast Wars (again, dinosaur robots) and so Nanosaur, even despite its glaring flaws - like the glaring flaw of the fact that it kind of outright sucks - really struck a nerve with me, and probably because I was just an absolute weirdo.

But I've always been a fan of the underdog, of the bizarre and the seemingly ridiculous. The things that feel as if they shouldn't exist, because I feel like I shouldn't exist. I'm extremely protective of the odd, the weird and the strange, because I too am all those things. Sure, Nanosaur doesn't play well, it doesn't look great, it's not even all that much fun, and I'm willing to say that stands true even back when it came out. It's a very bland, very mediocre, very sub standard title, and in fact I struggle to even really call it a "game". But if all this is true...then why do I have such a soft spot for it and remember it so fondly?

I suppose one could say that it's in part due to just how utterly fucking strange it all was. As I said, I appreciate and cherish the strange, because often the strange get swept under the rug (especially back then, perhaps not so much these days). A time traveling dinosaur with robot attachments? How the hell is that not outright weird? But I was outright weird too. I was such a strange kid. I took photos of roadkill and my favorite movie growing up was Little Shop of Horrors. I wasn't exactly miss popularity myself. So maybe in some weird way I could defend such a ridiculous concept as Nanosaur because I was a ridiculous concept. I realize most of these "reviews" ultimately boil down to the same argument: game weird, me weird, weird me love weird game. I wish I could offer more insight but I can't. I'm a broken woman who loves dinosaurs with jetpacks, and that's all I can offer you.

I never played any of the sequels to Nanosaur. I never really had much interest, to be honest. I can remember going to the Mac store in the mall with my stepdad occasionally and seeing other kids trying it and eventually opting for something a little bit more...what's the word...good? I totally understand why. Hell, like I said, it's by no means a "good" game, then or now. Nostalgia doesn't help everything age gracefully, if anything sometimes it helps you realize how awful something actually was, even if you still admit to appreciating it for its artistic sensibilities. And yes, I recognize I just said "artistic sensibilities" in response to a video game about a raptor with a jetpack but so what, this is my review, I can do that. I loved Nanosaur for what it was, not what it wasn't, and that's the different between other bad games and a game like Nanosaur. Other bad games make me mad that they aren't better, Nanosaur makes me happy it even exists.

Nanosaur shouldn't be judged for its shortcomings, it should be appreciated for existing whatsoever to begin with. I could sit and write essay after essay about games I consider bad, point by point about why I think they're bad, but Nanosaur will never be subjected to that. In a world where we all spend so much time on things we hate and why we hate them, it's nice to have things we can just appreciate, flaws and all. He big lizard who fly. He make things go boom. Me like him.

Sometimes enjoying something really is that simple.

My name is Maggie. I write & make art for a living. If you like this post, you might also like knowing I recently published a graphic novel here, I have a semi autobiographical book here and you can support me monthly on Patreon.