The player takes on the role of the titular Dino Riki in a prehistoric setting, tasked with completing a series of vertically-scrolling stages while contending with various enemies, platforming sections, and bosses.

Due to a five game-per-year limit imposed by Nintendo on its licensees, Hudson partnered with electronics corporation Ricoh to get Adventures of Dino Riki released in Japan under the briefly-established Rix Soft label in early 1987.

Dino Riki can move in all directions, jump, and throw weapons to destroy enemies and uncover health and power-ups from boulders strewn about the landscape.

Taking a hit from an enemy will drop speed and weapon upgrades down one level while dying will remove all power-ups and bring the player back to specific checkpoints.

Previews in Japanese magazines revealed that it was initially an action game with unique mechanics before being reworked into a scrolling shooter mere months before launch.

Programmer Satoshi Mikami told Iwasaki that he was not involved in the production but claimed that Hudson wished to release a scrolling shooter similar to Konami's Knightmare, first available for the MSX in 1986.

[3] However, when talking about the Hudson music compilation 20th Century Famicom Boy on his own blog, Kunimoto stated that he only made the boss victory jingle and that his old colleague Daisuke Inoue was mostly likely responsible for the bulk of the tracks.

Wanting to exceed this limit, Hudson partnered with electronics corporation Ricoh as a workaround and briefly established a software branch called Rix Soft to publish Shin Jinrui in the developer's stead.

[8][7] Hudson announced the game as Adventures of Dino Riki for the Nintendo Entertainment System at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in January 1989[19] and self-published it in North America that October.

[20][21] Adventures of Dino Riki received consistently mediocre review scores but drew a mixed response from critics who disagreed on its presentation, gameplay quality, and challenge level.

[24] The quartet of commentators from Famicom Tsūshin compared the gameplay to Knightmare and Hudson's own Star Soldier with one reviewer noting the difficulty of battling numerous onscreen enemies that do not fit the prehistoric setting.

[2] Gary Meredith of Game Players positively stated "Adventures of Dino-Riki won't be mistaken for an educational program on prehistory.

"[25] Computer Entertainer felt that despite its nice graphics, the game was most likely only geared toward young boys and that it offered nothing unique compared to many other titles in the same genre.

"While skilled players can hold onto a flight power-up to bypass some of these platforming sections, it won't take long for most people to become utterly demoralized," he concluded.