An incomplete history of time-travel games

Back to the Future Part II & III (1990)

We said we’d steer away from movie-based games, but we have to make an exception for Back to the Future. While the original warranted a standalone game, its sequels got lumped together in one big combo-pack. This worked well at the time, because the two films’ stories lent themselves to topsy-turvy interweaving. But nowadays, when you mention a game based on the concluding phases of a trilogy, all people can say is, “you mean like Enter the Matrix?”

Did It Do Your Head In? If Marty returned to the same place, little time-paradox-spawned clones of himself would chase him down and mess with his space-time continuum. You also had to perform actions in the past to make it through future levels.

Were There Cowboys In It? You have seen Back to the Future III, right?

Cowboys and Indians! Who knew those could be combined??

Time Travel Satisfaction Rating:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time (1991)

Because the Ninja Turtles were always a ridiculous exercise in superhero absurdism, it would have been rude not to send them on a time-travel adventure. So this sequel to the smash-hit (read: pitched at hyped-up preteens) arcade beat ‘em-up dutifully provided more of the same, this time over a variety of historical backdrops. Pizza was consumed, mutants were walloped, and the dishonourable code of the Ninja was ever further misrepresented for the entertainment of impressionable Westerners.

Did it do your head in? The game actually included an elegant solution to the philosophical problem of the Grandfather Paradox, in which… oh, look, seriously, what do you think?

Were there cowboys in it? That old-west train wasn’t going to rob itself!

Above: Foot Soldiers on ponies. Too precious 

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Bill and Ted’s Excellent Video Game Adventure (1991)

As a rule, we’ve tried to steer away from games that just adapt a time-travel movie’s plot. However, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Video Game Adventure didn’t do this: following on from the movie’s story in isometric RPG form, the game gave the catchphrase-rich duo a whole new adventure on the NES. One that happened to revisit many of the movie’s more notable locales. Hmmm.

Did it do your head in? The focus of the game was finding the “bait” that notable “dudes” would follow you through time for. So if your idea of brain-bashing is figuring out that Cleopatra will only get into a phone booth if presented with a major credit card, this one will keep your melon scrambled.

Were there cowboys in it? If the real-life Jesse James had had the Uzi with which the Wild Stallyns lure him to their cause, maybe he wouldn’t have been assassinated by the coward Robert Ford.

Above: Alex Winter has never looked more special, and Alex Winter was in a movie all about circus freaks 

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Time Traveler (1991)

“Time Traveler?” Bravo, Sega, that one must’ve taken you a bit of focus-grouping. The creation of Dragon’s Lair designer Rick Dyer, Time Traveller was a magical relic from a utopian future: tricky optical illusions provided a pseudo-holographic effect that made the game’s sparse smattering of digitised characters and props appear to float ethereally before the player. “It’s like that chess game from Star Wars!” we all gasped, before playing it and discovering that actually it was Dragon’s Lair with worse acting.

Did it do your head in? The villain had a tricksy scheme for manipulating time for his own ends, but this mainly manifested itself in kidnapping a Princess and making the hero rescue her. Consider our heads firmly undone-out.

Were there cowboys in it? The hero was a cowboy! Specifically, a dopey Stetson-wearer named Marshall Gram, who didn’t know much about no fourth-dimensional no-goodery but couldn’t bear to see a fine filly kidnapped by no dastardly varmint.

Above: He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He sends your guy to the hospital, you send him back to the talent agency 

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The Lost Vikings (1992)

Beloved Norse orienteers Eric, Olaf and Baleog proved such cult heroes that they found their way to a cameo in World of Warcraft. The poor fellows, it would appear, are never getting home! Their first adventure, though, saw them traversing a variety of temporally alien climes, solving puzzles and acting all gruff and hirsute.

Did it do your head in? The time-travel may have been a fairly perfunctory story device, but the puzzles sure did their best to conquer your poor noggin.

Were there cowboys in it? There were Egyptians (always a popular second choice), but no cowboys.

Above: Take what you can get 

Time Travel Satisfaction Rating: