Dalton's Dinos hides an underground goo-mining operation, where dinosaur-like creatures threaten the missing staff and Dalton's son, DJ. In the game, you play Jordan, a stranded student drawn into the disaster at this New Mexico Route 66 attraction. The Terrible Lizards game story begins decades earlier, with a military discovery beneath the future museum. Spoilers follow through Jordan's escape with DJ.
Terrible Lizards game story timeline
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1950s | The military finds giant caverns and black goo beneath the future attraction. |
| 1980s | Dalton Coolidge builds Dalton's Dinos over the dig site. |
| 1992 | DJ and the staff vanish, and Jordan's car breaks down across the street. |
What did the military discover in the 1950s?
The military discovered giant caverns containing black, tar-like goo in the early 1950s. Dr. Fellows led research into its biological properties. Its texture varied between areas, becoming slimy, bouncy, or sticky.
Soldiers began reporting hostile creatures in the darkness. Early reports were dismissed, but attacks became harder to ignore. The military found that light frightened the creatures and installed floodlights around its bases.
Fellows connected the monsters to dinosaurs brought back through the goo. He and the military leadership decided the creatures must never reach the surface. Fellows hid the elevator key, and everyone remaining underground eventually died.
Why did Dalton build Dalton's Dinos above the caves?
Dalton Coolidge built the attraction over a New Mexico dig site in the 1980s. He saw a business opportunity in the site and its discoveries.
His wife, Elena, and son, DJ, became part of the family business. Dalton also hired his lifelong friend Stella. Displays and a band of mascots attracted visiting families.
Dalton increasingly focused on money and the underground operation. His relationships deteriorated as the business consumed his attention.
What was Dalton's secret deal?
Dalton sold goo extracted by his employees to a mysterious buyer. The buyer demanded set quantities and threatened Dalton's family when he fell short.
Dalton responded by pushing his employees harder. Workers discovered another deposit called the mother lode. He ordered everyone to move there and begin extracting it.
Leaving the operation was difficult for employees. Dalton had arranged working conditions that made quitting and leaving the caves almost legally impossible.
Why did DJ and the staff disappear in 1992?
DJ and the staff present at Dalton's Dinos vanished as Dalton's family life fell apart in 1992. Dalton and Elena were approaching divorce, and DJ struggled to make friends.
DJ spoke about a friend called Dennis the Dilophosaurus. Dalton dismissed Dennis as imaginary, while Elena worried about her son. Later, you discover that Dennis the Dilophosaurus is a real threat underground.
The Bronto appears responsible for some staff disappearances. The Allosaurus also kills a worker you encounter in the caves. What happened to every missing employee is still unknown.
How does Jordan enter the game's story?
Jordan enters Dalton's Dinos after his car breaks down across the street. While waiting for a tow, you explore the apparently empty attraction.
A figure wearing a Benji mascot costume does not answer Jordan. A ringing telephone instead connects you with Stella, who asks you to find Dalton. You find a tape explaining that Dalton went underground to search for DJ.
The Bronto bursts through the gift shop walls. Stella tells you to activate floodlights, but these anger the creature rather than drive it away. Its pursuit forces you into the basement and dig site.
Stella's role in Terrible Lizards extends beyond answering your calls. She had studied the dormant Bronto before leaving for a conference. She travels back while guiding you by phone.
You eventually kill the Bronto with dynamite, but the collapsing floor sends Jordan deeper underground. There, you uncover Dalton's extraction business and encounter the Allosaurus.
How does the Terrible Lizards game story end?
Jordan finds DJ underground and escapes with him through the military elevator. Before that rescue, Dalton's final tape reveals regret over his actions and treatment of Elena and DJ. The Allosaurus then attacks and kills Dalton.
You survive further pursuit until goo traps the Allosaurus and a cave collapse crushes it. Dennis approaches, but DJ calls him away. You reach the military operation and find the missing boy.
The elevator requires the key on Dr. Fellows' body. Dennis attacks during the ascent, but Jordan knocks him off. Jordan and DJ reach the surface, where DJ recognizes Auntie Stella's car.
- Read the Terrible Lizards game ending explained for the final escape and Stella's car.
- Check the Terrible Lizards secret ending for the bonus credits scene.
What does the black goo explain in the game's story?
The goo connects the underground research, Dalton's business, and the creatures resembling fossils found in the caves. Stella notices that the monsters match the excavated fossils.
One interpretation is that the goo enters fossilized bones and builds new creatures around them. That explanation remains a theory about how the transformation works. See all the Terrible Lizards game dinosaurs.
An alien or meteor origin is also speculative. A poster accuses Dalton of worshipping aliens that attach themselves to dinosaur bones. The attraction includes a meteor impact display, but that does not confirm the goo's origin. The game has not confirmed its origin.
FAQ
Dalton's Dinos is a roadside attraction on Route 66 in New Mexico.
The missing child is DJ, Dalton and Elena's son. You find him underground while playing Jordan.
Fellows wanted to prevent the underground creatures from reaching the surface. You later recover the key from his body.
The military studied the goo decades before Dalton built his attraction. Dalton later extracted it for a mysterious buyer.
No. An alien or meteor origin remains a theory, rather than an established explanation.
