Play Color A Dinosaur Online

I remember picking up Color A Dinosaur for the NES back in 1993. It was published by Virgin Interactive, and it stood out even then as a very different kind of game for the system. While most cartridges were about jumping on enemies or shooting aliens, this one promised something quieter, aimed at a much younger audience.

You don't control a character so much as you control a cursor. The entire game is a series of static screens, each one a black and white line drawing of a dinosaur. Your only objective is to fill these drawings with color. You select a color from a palette on the side of the screen and then move your cursor over the areas you want to paint; the game fills them in automatically. There are no enemies, no time limits, and no way to fail. The pacing is entirely your own, making it less a challenge and more a simple, digital coloring book. Playing it feels like a very calm, almost meditative task.