Once again, you can use my link bit.ly/DinoDiegoDCFeb22 and check out the first chapter of any DataCamp course for FREE to unlock new career opportunities and become data fluent today! Thank you all for your patience with this video. I know it took a while, but things have been pretty hectic. Also, I've just been spending a lot of time playing the Big Al game, more time than I'd like to admit. And you want to know what's sad? Haven't beaten the game yet. Anyways, you can check out the game yourselves in the description above. Let me know how far you guys get in the game! As always, I have more stuff in the works and will do my best to send it your way as soon as I can! Appreciate the support and thank you for 32K subs!
I remember playing this, the skeleton puzzle game and the Jurassic period game where you can have Allosaurus vs Diplodocus on the Salt Plains. The nostalgia, I'll have to go play this game again, thank you for this video Dino Diego, solid video and glad to know this game isn't gone anymore.
MY DUDE, THE GAMES NOT LOST (6:55) SOMEONE MADE A DIRECT PORT AFTER THE GAMES ORIGINAL DEVELOPER SAW A REMAKE, THUS ENC0URAGING THE ORIGINAL DEVELOPER OF THE TEMAKE TO PORT IT OVER.
I had completely forgotten about this! The green allosaurus icon just opened that memory for me. I vividly remember playing it, deciding to attack a lizard and then dying. At which point I rage quit!
I remember this! This was such a good game, I remember my principal at my school talked to me about the game because I was the only one in my school who was into dinosaurs, he said this game was good and was a lot like The Isle, good times
I remember the days when my teachers would talk to me about random dinosaur stuff, because I was the only one there who was really into them. They never talked about this game tho. Good times regardless.
I saw Broken Jaw this year to and he still holds up 11 years later in 2022 then 2011 and if this 2 meet *broken jaw & big al* maybe they’ll become friends
The BBC website had a variety of interesting games during the early to mid-2000's. Along with the Big Al Game, there were other games based on the Walking With... Series (some of which might be great subjects for future videos?): -Various online games related to both WWD & WWB (i.e. Release the Beast, Fossil Game, Dinosaur Bones, Footprints Games, Camouflage Game, etc.) -The Evolution Game -The Sea Monsters Adventure Game -Walking with Cavemen Game -Dinosaur World
I miss the fanfare and aggressive educational merchandising that accompanied the release of the WW series. The excitement from TV previews, the online tie-ins on the BBC website (including the games), the books (still treasure my coffee-table volumes) and the toys- the WWD figures were fantastically well made. It was such a novel and exciting experience back in the late 90s that has never been repeated.
OH MY GOSH ! Big Al was a HUGE part of my early Child hood , but only being 3 or 4 at the time I of course never played on the internet (with what little internet we had LOL) and Big Al is the whole reason Allosaurus is still to this day my all time favorite Dinosaur . if I had known of this game I probably would have spent hours on it , so I'm checking this game out right now ! I know I did have this other Walking with Dinosaur game back in 2000 for the longest time , it was a PC game and I remember there being a part were you could customize you Computer with WWD related sounds, wallpapers and screensavers. sadly my physical copy was lost to time long ago . I definitely need to look that game up again
damn... the thumbnail made me bloody sad. sad nostalgia. And yeah this was hard. It wasnt the only one, there was a sea monsters game and I think a few more that I cant remember. Oh, OH and the like Jurassic simulator one, where you would just walk around discovering things and triggering unique events, it was kinda awesome.
the dawn of man game was similar to big al and another good one, that game was sick definitely miss it. man that Sea Monsters game lives rent free in my head dude
Man, what a fun, heartwarming story! It’s so cool to see the process to get this game restored for those who grew up playing it to re-enjoy today. The Ballad of Big Al is the reason Allosaurus is my favorite dinosaur, so I’m always glad to discover more information about its history! Great video, my friend! Also, The Big Al Game > The Isle lol
Oh wow! I was one of those people that played this for HOURS when Big Al came out. That was me! I had no idea that this lost game was ‘remade’ in a sense. Thanks for making this video.
Growing up in the early 2000s I had a massive dinosaur addiction and I remember when I was young was getting on the BBC website and playing all of the flash games. My favourite has to be the 3D Explorer again they may as that one was incredibly fun and this one I remember as well. There was a lot of really fun flash games I supply on the BBC websites. Unfortunately most of them allow long gone and is only more recently that I started to think about them again. You can still find a handful of them but not cause because most of them use flash they are basically unplayable and current start. It is a shame really especially considering the people who own it definitely don't care about their upkeep. But it is good to see that people are trying their best to salvage what they can.
This is probably the first video game I ever played and have very fond memories of it. I loved the walking with series as a kid and would watch them religiously. I've wanted to be a palaeontologist ever since and just last year I graduated with a degree in palaeontology and am now going into my postgraduate studies.
As a 94 kid. I played the shit out of this game as i was on the cusp of getting into FPS games like BF2 and into RPG games like Diablo 2. My uncle also got me into D&D around this time as well. But this flash game had me hooked, it was perfectly good, and getting to the point of being able to yeet anything felt amazing. Also in my elementary years in school, i got caught playing this game by my teacher, she at first, went wtf, then her brilliance went okay, i have a week long lesson planned around history of the earth, dinosuars ect. She actually added a day where my whole close basically got to spend the whole day playing this game. Present time now, i was just watching a bunch of dinosuar related content on YT and had this game pop into my head. THANK YOU so much for making this video , subbed and liked.
Though I never played this game I remember loving both the Sea Monsters game and the various Doctor Who games, especially The Last Dalek, which I played for hours at a time as a kid. I remember being heartbroken when the BBC removed the games from the site. Probably an overreaction but I loved them a lot as they brought me a ton of joy at a time in my life when school bullying made me really miserable. I really don't understand why the BBC got rif of so many of these.
Great video and analysis of the lost game of the Walking with Dinosaurs Balled Of Big Al. I miss having this game and it’s so nostalgia and a childhood classic alongside the Dinosaur 2000 website from Disney and they’re so amazing and very nostalgia.
There's a lot of flash games from BBCs past that I used to play the heck out of. Mostly the science ones from the Walking with series and blue planet. All of them are lost or unplayable so I'm hoping for people to find them or get them working again in the future.
I loved the Big Al series as a kid. The idea of following the life story of this one dinosaur was always so engaging. I also have some great memories of the WWD live show. The dinosaur puppets of that show were so beautiful and impressive looking back.
I loved this game! I could never get Al beyond a sub adult stage (Red if I remember correctly) I was so bummed when this game went away. Diego Could you maybe cover Hall Trains animations for a future video? And any idea where to find the Barosaurus short they did for the New York Natural History Museum ? PS Yes the game was hard, I'd say it was less about things wanting to kill you, although believe me, that did happen a lot. I'd say it was Al metabolism. The damn thing was never full. You could go maybe five six moves before starving to death at points which would make you the player more desperate and willing to take risks, more often than not getting you killed, so I'll give it credit for replicating what hunger can drive a creature to do. Did anyone who played it ever come across any Sauropods? I think I might have come across a Brachiosaurus once but outside of finding footprints that was about it.
Remember this well from when I was a kid! What a time, and the remake is functionally identical as far as I'm concerned. Interestingly there was a 'sequel' released with Walking with Beasts in the same format called Evolution. You played as bushbaby-like primate and presumably had to evolve into modern man, although it was a lot harder than the Big Al game...or at least I remember it so. Couldn't even get out of the Eocene. The WWB site also had tonnes of great minigames too.
I remember that, and sadly it has not survived - it was a very difficult game, largely because it was a lot more open-ended with the evolution affecting player outcomes.
I played this back in the day! Definitely going to give the port a shot soon. That said, anybody remember the 3D Walking with Dinosaurs game? I barely remember it anymore, but it was 3D and was described as a beta/test version and was available for download on the BBC page. Had p much kind of a working ecosystem with the most polished area being the salt flats, and basically it allowed you to spawn dinosaurs and watch them interact, not much gameplay to it. That's about all I remember.
How much i would give to see this documentary again... sadly it got removed off of Netflix in my country years ago and I haven't seen it since. Also, awesome video 👍
A large portion of my childhood and what I would like in gaming after that point was generated by the big al game. I believe my enjoyment of survival based games originates here and the game was many things... I wouldn't have called it hard though, from what i recall it was just an exorcise in choosing fights, knowing when to back down and at times, whenever you got hungry getting lucky. That said though it did teach me that sometimes a creature will lash out in desperation, as there were many times whenever I had to fight above my weight class whenever Al was too hungry. Edit: I remember whenever I was starting in the game design sphere I ended up making a spiritual sequel to the big al game, with updated realism to the then current scientific beliefs regarding dinosaurs, and more option. Weird to think back on all that now x3
really loved this game as a kid. wanted a dinosaur sim game ever since. anyone else remember the walking with beasts ones? i only remember one. you set an animal body in certain elemental conditions and watch how well it would be preserved over time. i also have a vague memory of a sea creature one too.
I LOVED this game!! But I was so bad at it, Al never survived long with me controlling him :') btw, does anyone remember a game where you would control a fox, also on the BBC website? I think it could be hunted by wolves and you had to find food and water
So glad the game was restored by a true hero of a fan. Found it a few years ago and I adore it. I do wish there was some sort of good game over at level 4, you just sort of play endlessly at that point.
Between this and the Evolution Game featuring primates (which I'm lead to believe no longer exists anywhere online) the BBC used to produce some cracking software.
this is the most important video of the year, maybe the decade. Thank you for continuing the word of this game. Fighting the good fight. I thought it was lost for so damn long... sometimes things work out :) fantastic analysis!!!
I vaguely remember playing this game back in the day. I also remember the BBC would randomly do a marathon of all their ‘walking with’ series during the 2000s.
I always loved this game when I was a kid and I was one of many who was heartbroken when it was replaced with that awful Planet Dinosaur game. During one of my searches for the game, I found that there's a 3D PC game based on WWD called Dinosaur World, which I never hear people talk about so I don't know a lot about it. I've always wanted a new survival game based on the show with the same designs for the dinosaurs you can be as the show. Ik it'll never happen but I can dream lol.
Story time guys, so when I was around 7 years old I was playing this game religiously at school on the laptops, we went on break and I came back to someone closing down my game, safe to say I got suspended shortly after because nobody and I mean NOBODY disrupts the ballad of big Al
Dude…. Your a legend . Thanks you soooo much for this I can die happy now. I searched for like 8 months trying to figure out what the source material for the game was because I couldn’t remember the name, I searched over and over for “dinosaur game” “earth 2000s dinosaur game” free dinosaur online” “waking with dinosaurs game” etc I totally forgot about big Al. Gunna go play now
I got to play the original and I'm excited to try this port! Back when I played the original I got good enough to consistently reach adulthood so I wonder if I can manage that again. And yes, that was after dying A LOT before adulthood. This game really was hard!
I have a memory of somone in my family playing this game. I think it was my older brother, but I cant really remember. I Believe I was around 2 or 3 when I saw somone play it, I wish I was born sooner to experience the glories of this game and the early 2000's. :(
I never played the original Big Al game, but I *did* play the Planet Dinosaur game that took its place. Frankly, I'm just as curious of what that game was like, what happened to it, etc, as I only remember playing it a couple times before I couldn't find it again, and my own searches have brought up little to nothing about it.
This game was my life as a kid, I would never be able to make it to adulthood due to the difficulties. But since the release I was able to grow up and have a few females. The nostalgia
I played this game a few times as a kid but never got very far because I would always be killed or die of starvation (at least I think starvation was a mechanic if memory serves me right). The one I really played, though, was Sea Monsters. Had a blast with the minigames and beat it a few times. The only two minigames I remember were one where you had to press the right key to paddle away from a mosasaur and another where you had to press the right button (red, blue, green and yellow were the four colors) to activate the smell suit to protect a diver from the Liopleurodon. I think there was another involving using sonar with the Basilosaurus. It was like a board game in how when it was time to switch stages each time a clock or compass' arrow would spin around until it landed on a random spot. You would also unlock clips from the show for different animals (like the Arsinotherium on land or the Hybodus feeding on the Leedsichthys) as you progressed.
Another great BBC flash game from the Walking With Dinosaurs spin offs was the Sea Monsters Adventure It was a series of small mini games with the player being a time traveller going thru the ancient seas I don’t think I ever got past the memorization game but I always loved playing this game whenever I had the chance
I also remember playing this game a bunch as a kid, and still remember the experience fondly. HOWEVER, there was also ANOTHER BBC game almost exactly like this one, except based on Walking With Beasts, simply called the "Evolution Game." Sadly, I recall it being taken down due to some nondescript technical error, and NEVER got put back up, which is a real crying shame, as I recall actually being more into that game than Big Al. In any case, it was nice to revisit some lost childhood nostalgia with this vid. 👍 Holding out hope that Jennifer Edwards can give us a remake of this game too.
oh my god. i dropped hours into this game as a kid, i remembered it recently and was so terrified id find it on a lost media video. alsso the version of the game where you were a monkey was also super fun. edit: actually i think you started out as a base primate and had to evolve into other more advanced ones.
How fitting was it that the researcher/designer was one _Alex_ lady, like, if Alex the computer geek from Jurassic Park (1993) instead of being traumatized, made a computer game with dinosaurs lol
Actually, mine was the series on TLC's Paleo World with the actor Ben G as the narrator for the series and he also starred in the movie QB 7 a good movie and a must watch.
Aaah I was so excited when I saw this video pop up on my feed, I used to LOVE this game as a kid. I never beat it though! I always got stuck on yellow (?) stage I think - level 3 or 2? Something like that, my memory is fuzzy but thank you for reminding me of some good times! I remember this game and there was a Sea Monsters one based on the sea creature series the BBC made too... I also recall one that was about the Cavemen/early humans? Though Big Al is the one I remember most. 💙
Have you covered that old history channel game platform? I remember a Jurassic fight club game and some weird lizard shooter that were amazing as a kid.
Now can we get the other WWD game where you got to explore around and put cameras on things and it had random events?? If you made it to the end of it you got to the salt plans and then could just spawn a ton of diplodocus and allosaurus haha.
Once again, you can use my link bit.ly/DinoDiegoDCFeb22 and check out the first chapter of any DataCamp course for FREE to unlock new career opportunities and become data fluent today!
Thank you all for your patience with this video. I know it took a while, but things have been pretty hectic. Also, I've just been spending a lot of time playing the Big Al game, more time than I'd like to admit. And you want to know what's sad? Haven't beaten the game yet. Anyways, you can check out the game yourselves in the description above. Let me know how far you guys get in the game! As always, I have more stuff in the works and will do my best to send it your way as soon as I can! Appreciate the support and thank you for 32K subs!
Yo I just found a full video walkthrough on this game called Dinosaur World on a channel named Zombear
I remember playing this, the skeleton puzzle game and the Jurassic period game where you can have Allosaurus vs Diplodocus on the Salt Plains. The nostalgia, I'll have to go play this game again, thank you for this video Dino Diego, solid video and glad to know this game isn't gone anymore.
MY DUDE, THE GAMES NOT LOST (6:55) SOMEONE MADE A DIRECT PORT AFTER THE GAMES ORIGINAL DEVELOPER SAW A REMAKE, THUS ENC0URAGING THE ORIGINAL DEVELOPER OF THE TEMAKE TO PORT IT OVER.
@@weirdtuberjournalism9757 you didn't watch the full video when you made this comment, did you?
I had completely forgotten about this! The green allosaurus icon just opened that memory for me. I vividly remember playing it, deciding to attack a lizard and then dying. At which point I rage quit!
the beevah
The raging beaver
Ah yes the good old lovely beaver
Beaver Beaver Beaver Beaver Beaver Beaver Beaver Beaver Beaver Beaver Beaver Beaver Beaver Beaver Beaver Beaver Beaver Beaver Beaver Beaver Beaver Beaver Beaver Beaver
I never seen you comment before 😮
I remember this! This was such a good game, I remember my principal at my school talked to me about the game because I was the only one in my school who was into dinosaurs, he said this game was good and was a lot like The Isle, good times
It’s so crazy being the only kid in your school who’s into dinosaurs I felt so isolated for the longest time lmaooooo
I remember the days when my teachers would talk to me about random dinosaur stuff, because I was the only one there who was really into them. They never talked about this game tho. Good times regardless.
I'm also an only dinosaur guy in my school.
@@THEB3A5T3294 relatable, man
“Only kid who was into dinosaurs”
Based man
This put a massive puzzle piece from my childhood back into place, I was starting to think I was just mistaking a dream with reality.
I saw Big Al this year and he still looks amazing
I saw Broken Jaw this year to and he still holds up 11 years later in 2022 then 2011 and if this 2 meet *broken jaw & big al* maybe they’ll become friends
The BBC website had a variety of interesting games during the early to mid-2000's. Along with the Big Al Game, there were other games based on the Walking With... Series (some of which might be great subjects for future videos?):
-Various online games related to both WWD & WWB (i.e. Release the Beast, Fossil Game, Dinosaur Bones, Footprints Games, Camouflage Game, etc.)
-The Evolution Game
-The Sea Monsters Adventure Game
-Walking with Cavemen Game
-Dinosaur World
I'll definitely keep these in mind. I had no idea the WWD series had so many games!
I remember the Sea Monsters game being super fun and engaging, miss that one and all the others
dinosaur world is still up in its full early 2000s glory. the website still says it's a very large file at 20 mb
you know where i can play these?
@@godemperorlech5422 Most of them aren't playable anymore but @PKiX stated that Dinosaur World might still be available on the BBC website?
I miss the fanfare and aggressive educational merchandising that accompanied the release of the WW series. The excitement from TV previews, the online tie-ins on the BBC website (including the games), the books (still treasure my coffee-table volumes) and the toys- the WWD figures were fantastically well made. It was such a novel and exciting experience back in the late 90s that has never been repeated.
OH MY GOSH ! Big Al was a HUGE part of my early Child hood , but only being 3 or 4 at the time I of course never played on the internet (with what little internet we had LOL) and Big Al is the whole reason Allosaurus is still to this day my all time favorite Dinosaur . if I had known of this game I probably would have spent hours on it , so I'm checking this game out right now !
I know I did have this other Walking with Dinosaur game back in 2000 for the longest time , it was a PC game and I remember there being a part were you could customize you Computer with WWD related sounds, wallpapers and screensavers. sadly my physical copy was lost to time long ago . I definitely need to look that game up again
damn... the thumbnail made me bloody sad. sad nostalgia. And yeah this was hard. It wasnt the only one, there was a sea monsters game and I think a few more that I cant remember. Oh, OH and the like Jurassic simulator one, where you would just walk around discovering things and triggering unique events, it was kinda awesome.
the dawn of man game was similar to big al and another good one, that game was sick definitely miss it. man that Sea Monsters game lives rent free in my head dude
The sea monster one was so fun
Legitimately this is such an amazing long time journey for a game
I'm so happy one of the people involved happened across the game and assisted :)
Man, what a fun, heartwarming story! It’s so cool to see the process to get this game restored for those who grew up playing it to re-enjoy today. The Ballad of Big Al is the reason Allosaurus is my favorite dinosaur, so I’m always glad to discover more information about its history! Great video, my friend!
Also, The Big Al Game > The Isle lol
nice to see you here.
Actually, I believe someone got it to work.
4:42 I spent HOURS on this game. The last dinosaur I got before the Planet Dinosaur game was taken down was Gigantoraptor if I remember correctly.
Ive never been so happy to watch a video ever...off to play the game for hours!
Oh wow! I was one of those people that played this for HOURS when Big Al came out. That was me!
I had no idea that this lost game was ‘remade’ in a sense. Thanks for making this video.
Growing up in the early 2000s I had a massive dinosaur addiction and I remember when I was young was getting on the BBC website and playing all of the flash games. My favourite has to be the 3D Explorer again they may as that one was incredibly fun and this one I remember as well. There was a lot of really fun flash games I supply on the BBC websites. Unfortunately most of them allow long gone and is only more recently that I started to think about them again. You can still find a handful of them but not cause because most of them use flash they are basically unplayable and current start. It is a shame really especially considering the people who own it definitely don't care about their upkeep. But it is good to see that people are trying their best to salvage what they can.
This is probably the first video game I ever played and have very fond memories of it. I loved the walking with series as a kid and would watch them religiously. I've wanted to be a palaeontologist ever since and just last year I graduated with a degree in palaeontology and am now going into my postgraduate studies.
Congratulations!
@@somekid338 thank you!
As a 94 kid. I played the shit out of this game as i was on the cusp of getting into FPS games like BF2 and into RPG games like Diablo 2. My uncle also got me into D&D around this time as well. But this flash game had me hooked, it was perfectly good, and getting to the point of being able to yeet anything felt amazing. Also in my elementary years in school, i got caught playing this game by my teacher, she at first, went wtf, then her brilliance went okay, i have a week long lesson planned around history of the earth, dinosuars ect. She actually added a day where my whole close basically got to spend the whole day playing this game. Present time now, i was just watching a bunch of dinosuar related content on YT and had this game pop into my head. THANK YOU so much for making this video , subbed and liked.
Though I never played this game I remember loving both the Sea Monsters game and the various Doctor Who games, especially The Last Dalek, which I played for hours at a time as a kid. I remember being heartbroken when the BBC removed the games from the site. Probably an overreaction but I loved them a lot as they brought me a ton of joy at a time in my life when school bullying made me really miserable. I really don't understand why the BBC got rif of so many of these.
I used to play this as a kid in the computer lab lol. I was so sad when I couldn’t find it anymore.
Ahhhh I remember playing that as a kid. I could never make it into adulthood.
So, you are still a child?
Great video and analysis of the lost game of the Walking with Dinosaurs Balled Of Big Al.
I miss having this game and it’s so nostalgia and a childhood classic alongside the Dinosaur 2000 website from Disney and they’re so amazing and very nostalgia.
This game was the nostalgia for dino survival games. I hope they'll all come back on the site so all fans (including me) could play it again!
There's a lot of flash games from BBCs past that I used to play the heck out of. Mostly the science ones from the Walking with series and blue planet. All of them are lost or unplayable so I'm hoping for people to find them or get them working again in the future.
I used to play the hell out of this game. It was my favorite growing up and I'd love to play it again!
Man I remember playing this a kid in the 2000s! Miss those days.
This game and the original big Al special made allosaurus my favourite dinosaur as a kid.
Oh man... I miss this game. I played it as a kid and the last time I died it was from standing too close by the water with crocodiles around.
I used to play this as a child. My dad’s girlfriend at the time would google “Free Online Dinosaur Games” and this was one of the ones which popped up
I salute Jennifer Edwards -- based lady she is -- and her efforts in bringing back this classic.
I loved the Big Al series as a kid. The idea of following the life story of this one dinosaur was always so engaging. I also have some great memories of the WWD live show. The dinosaur puppets of that show were so beautiful and impressive looking back.
I remember this game, I played it for AGES as a kid and got really good at it. I completely forgot about it until I saw this video
Thank you for reminding me of this gem from my childhood.
I was an 8 year old boy, literally vibrating with excitement on christmas day watching the ballad of big al. I remember.
I remember always starving in this game because eventually it just stops spawning anything.
I loved this game! I could never get Al beyond a sub adult stage (Red if I remember correctly) I was so bummed when this game went away. Diego Could you maybe cover Hall Trains animations for a future video? And any idea where to find the Barosaurus short they did for the New York Natural History Museum ?
PS Yes the game was hard, I'd say it was less about things wanting to kill you, although believe me, that did happen a lot. I'd say it was Al metabolism. The damn thing was never full. You could go maybe five six moves before starving to death at points which would make you the player more desperate and willing to take risks, more often than not getting you killed, so I'll give it credit for replicating what hunger can drive a creature to do.
Did anyone who played it ever come across any Sauropods? I think I might have come across a Brachiosaurus once but outside of finding footprints that was about it.
Remember this well from when I was a kid! What a time, and the remake is functionally identical as far as I'm concerned. Interestingly there was a 'sequel' released with Walking with Beasts in the same format called Evolution. You played as bushbaby-like primate and presumably had to evolve into modern man, although it was a lot harder than the Big Al game...or at least I remember it so. Couldn't even get out of the Eocene. The WWB site also had tonnes of great minigames too.
I remember that, and sadly it has not survived - it was a very difficult game, largely because it was a lot more open-ended with the evolution affecting player outcomes.
I remember playing this game and the other Walking With Dinosaurs and Walking With Beasts, Chased By Sea Monsters Games on BBC Site!!!😎👍🎬🦖🦕🎮💯
I played this back in the day! Definitely going to give the port a shot soon.
That said, anybody remember the 3D Walking with Dinosaurs game? I barely remember it anymore, but it was 3D and was described as a beta/test version and was available for download on the BBC page. Had p much kind of a working ecosystem with the most polished area being the salt flats, and basically it allowed you to spawn dinosaurs and watch them interact, not much gameplay to it. That's about all I remember.
I played this game when I was a kid! Wild to think back to those times. I had actually forgotten completely about this game until I saw this video.
How much i would give to see this documentary again... sadly it got removed off of Netflix in my country years ago and I haven't seen it since. Also, awesome video 👍
A large portion of my childhood and what I would like in gaming after that point was generated by the big al game. I believe my enjoyment of survival based games originates here and the game was many things... I wouldn't have called it hard though, from what i recall it was just an exorcise in choosing fights, knowing when to back down and at times, whenever you got hungry getting lucky.
That said though it did teach me that sometimes a creature will lash out in desperation, as there were many times whenever I had to fight above my weight class whenever Al was too hungry.
Edit: I remember whenever I was starting in the game design sphere I ended up making a spiritual sequel to the big al game, with updated realism to the then current scientific beliefs regarding dinosaurs, and more option. Weird to think back on all that now x3
I made an Instagram post about this game like a year ago, glad someone else is covering it
really loved this game as a kid. wanted a dinosaur sim game ever since. anyone else remember the walking with beasts ones? i only remember one. you set an animal body in certain elemental conditions and watch how well it would be preserved over time. i also have a vague memory of a sea creature one too.
I remember this!
This and a shark game that was similar were my favorite games as a kid lol.
i loved playing this game when i was a kid
I remember playing this game on the Discovery Channel site as a little kid
Oh my God I never thought I'd see the day that someone talked about this game, I LOVED it as a kid!
I LOVED this game!! But I was so bad at it, Al never survived long with me controlling him :') btw, does anyone remember a game where you would control a fox, also on the BBC website? I think it could be hunted by wolves and you had to find food and water
I do! That was for the BBC's Life of Mammals.
So glad the game was restored by a true hero of a fan. Found it a few years ago and I adore it. I do wish there was some sort of good game over at level 4, you just sort of play endlessly at that point.
I loved playing the Big Al game when I was a kid. That, and the Sea Monsters game which was also marvellous.
I remember playing this when i was a wee lad. Good times
This and a game called Vietcong are two flash games that truly got me hooked on games in the first place.
Between this and the Evolution Game featuring primates (which I'm lead to believe no longer exists anywhere online) the BBC used to produce some cracking software.
this is the most important video of the year, maybe the decade. Thank you for continuing the word of this game. Fighting the good fight. I thought it was lost for so damn long... sometimes things work out :) fantastic analysis!!!
Thank you for the kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed it
You could do a video for another BBC WWD game! It’s a game based on the Sea Monsters special hosted by Nigel Marven.
I vaguely remember playing this game back in the day. I also remember the BBC would randomly do a marathon of all their ‘walking with’ series during the 2000s.
I remember this game. Along with the other games on this. Nice of you to cover this.
I always loved this game when I was a kid and I was one of many who was heartbroken when it was replaced with that awful Planet Dinosaur game. During one of my searches for the game, I found that there's a 3D PC game based on WWD called Dinosaur World, which I never hear people talk about so I don't know a lot about it.
I've always wanted a new survival game based on the show with the same designs for the dinosaurs you can be as the show. Ik it'll never happen but I can dream lol.
Story time guys, so when I was around 7 years old I was playing this game religiously at school on the laptops, we went on break and I came back to someone closing down my game, safe to say I got suspended shortly after because nobody and I mean NOBODY disrupts the ballad of big Al
I remember this game! I loved it!
Dude…. Your a legend . Thanks you soooo much for this I can die happy now. I searched for like 8 months trying to figure out what the source material for the game was because I couldn’t remember the name, I searched over and over for “dinosaur game” “earth 2000s dinosaur game” free dinosaur online” “waking with dinosaurs game” etc I totally forgot about big Al. Gunna go play now
Oh this is incredible. I used to play this game almost every day! I'll have to look up these new versions and see how they hold up as an adult!
I got to play the original and I'm excited to try this port!
Back when I played the original I got good enough to consistently reach adulthood so I wonder if I can manage that again. And yes, that was after dying A LOT before adulthood. This game really was hard!
Used to play this constantly in school and study hall. It was great but so challenging !
I loved the Big Al game! The slow internet connection in 2002 was the most dangerous thing, as you sometimes could not respond to danger in time.
I have a memory of somone in my family playing this game. I think it was my older brother, but I cant really remember. I Believe I was around 2 or 3 when I saw somone play it, I wish I was born sooner to experience the glories of this game and the early 2000's. :(
Oh my god I loved that game I wish there was a way to still play it
I didn't get to watch the walk with Dinosaurs but I did hear some awesome things about it.
I played this for hours as a kid. I didn't get too far because I didn't understand anything but it's a core memory
I remember this game and miss it so much! I loved it!!
First time I tried out this game and it is actually really fun.
I spent HOURS on this game - I've never come across anyone else who remembers it
i remember taking ages to finally complete this when it first came out it was randomised i think
*Oh my god! I* played this game as a kid! Beat it once
So sad to know it’s lost
Lost, but recreated! There are two versions of it that can be played today.
I never played this, but I absolutely loved the sea monsters game!
I played this on Discovery's site when I was a kid and on and off until it went away entirely.
I never played the original Big Al game, but I *did* play the Planet Dinosaur game that took its place. Frankly, I'm just as curious of what that game was like, what happened to it, etc, as I only remember playing it a couple times before I couldn't find it again, and my own searches have brought up little to nothing about it.
My favorite old childhood documentary
This game was my life as a kid, I would never be able to make it to adulthood due to the difficulties. But since the release I was able to grow up and have a few females. The nostalgia
I remember playing this as a kid!
This game was so awesome. I've never seen anyone beat it
I played this game a few times as a kid but never got very far because I would always be killed or die of starvation (at least I think starvation was a mechanic if memory serves me right). The one I really played, though, was Sea Monsters. Had a blast with the minigames and beat it a few times. The only two minigames I remember were one where you had to press the right key to paddle away from a mosasaur and another where you had to press the right button (red, blue, green and yellow were the four colors) to activate the smell suit to protect a diver from the Liopleurodon. I think there was another involving using sonar with the Basilosaurus. It was like a board game in how when it was time to switch stages each time a clock or compass' arrow would spin around until it landed on a random spot. You would also unlock clips from the show for different animals (like the Arsinotherium on land or the Hybodus feeding on the Leedsichthys) as you progressed.
Another great BBC flash game from the Walking With Dinosaurs spin offs was the Sea Monsters Adventure
It was a series of small mini games with the player being a time traveller going thru the ancient seas
I don’t think I ever got past the memorization game but I always loved playing this game whenever I had the chance
I remember playing this game all the time when I was a kid. It was so much fun.
Wow, this sounds like a fun game. And the whole story behind it is very interesting.
I also remember playing this game a bunch as a kid, and still remember the experience fondly. HOWEVER, there was also ANOTHER BBC game almost exactly like this one, except based on Walking With Beasts, simply called the "Evolution Game." Sadly, I recall it being taken down due to some nondescript technical error, and NEVER got put back up, which is a real crying shame, as I recall actually being more into that game than Big Al.
In any case, it was nice to revisit some lost childhood nostalgia with this vid. 👍 Holding out hope that Jennifer Edwards can give us a remake of this game too.
And now you reminded me of that walking with beasts game that I swear to god was impossible to beat.
oh my god. i dropped hours into this game as a kid, i remembered it recently and was so terrified id find it on a lost media video. alsso the version of the game where you were a monkey was also super fun. edit: actually i think you started out as a base primate and had to evolve into other more advanced ones.
How fitting was it that the researcher/designer was one _Alex_ lady, like, if Alex the computer geek from Jurassic Park (1993) instead of being traumatized, made a computer game with dinosaurs lol
I remember playing this all the time , I’m glad I’m not the only one
And amazingly it still runs better than Evrima next to a body of water
Actually, mine was the series on TLC's Paleo World with the actor Ben G as the narrator for the series and he also starred in the movie QB 7 a good movie and a must watch.
Bro thank you for that link to the game. Holy hell its been so long!
Aaah I was so excited when I saw this video pop up on my feed, I used to LOVE this game as a kid. I never beat it though! I always got stuck on yellow (?) stage I think - level 3 or 2? Something like that, my memory is fuzzy but thank you for reminding me of some good times! I remember this game and there was a Sea Monsters one based on the sea creature series the BBC made too... I also recall one that was about the Cavemen/early humans? Though Big Al is the one I remember most. 💙
Oooooh yeeeeeeesss.
Yeah ! New vid ! And it's a happy ending ! ! !
I wasn't aware of that game's existence, so you know exactly what i'm gonna do right now
Have you covered that old history channel game platform? I remember a Jurassic fight club game and some weird lizard shooter that were amazing as a kid.
This game was my favorite BBC internet game!
Now can we get the other WWD game where you got to explore around and put cameras on things and it had random events?? If you made it to the end of it you got to the salt plans and then could just spawn a ton of diplodocus and allosaurus haha.
Now we wait gor the other bbc game like the sea monster game, wwc game etc.
We dont talk about *WWD 3D* no no no.
Would it then be an issue to say that I either liked it for what it was or didn't mind it in general?