An incomplete history of time-travel games

Chrono Trigger (1995)

One of the best-loved time-travel games of all time, there’s not much needs to be said to warrant Chrono Trigger’s inclusion on this list. Not only was the time-skipping a constant plot element, rather than just lazy setup, but the characters’ ability to leap between time periods legendarily opened the game up to an admirable degree of control over the way you wanted to experience the story. Timewarp cleverness at its best.

Did it do your head in? The developers included an entire end-time realm for the specific purpose of helping players get their heads around the game’s concepts.

Were there cowboys in it? Fearing that Chrono Trigger could not be a true time-travel classic without cowboys, one ending featured an oblique verbal reference thereto. Phew!

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Tales of Phantasia (1995)

The first in the now-fairly-huge Tales series, Phantasia took a Final Fantasy-esque approach to time travel, using it as a background story-point rather than making the concept a focus. The game’s twisty-turny plot involves a supervillain whose shtick is jumping through time, and a Ragtag Band of Heroes whose shtick is chasing him. It’s like if Carmen Sandiego had involved lethal magic spells.

Did it do your head in? It kept you on your toes.

Were there cowboys in it? Claus F. Lester is a cowboy name, and Claus F. Lester looks like this.

We humbly submit that Tales of Phantasia has cowboys in it.

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Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped (1998)

After two games in which lots of crazy stuff happened in the present, Crash 3 wisely decided that time-travel was mandatory if the series was to continue. This took the form of dumping the hero in a hub world and asking him to choose a world to go to, all of which now had a date on them as well. And the franchise was forever (very marginally) changed!

Did it do your head in? Seeing as nobody knows what a bandicoot is, the notion that they might be capable of time manipulation was a surprise to no-one.

Were there cowboys in it? There was a level with an old-timey cowboy biplane flying over an old-timey cowboy landscape, but the PlayStation was not capable of rendering actual cowboys at this point in its development cycle.

Above: There could be cowboys down there, right? 

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The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998)

Oh, hell. You drop Ocarina into the mix, where are you going to go from there? And yes indeedy, the game stays true to Zelda heritage by having a doozy of a time-warp plot and incorporating the time-travel elements skilfully into gameplay. While earlier (and later) Zelda games would flirt with time-travel elements, it was in Ocarina that the Hero of Time really earned the title.

Did it do your head in? For 1998, the time-travel puzzles were certainly more than respectable.

Were there cowboys in it? There were ranchers, faithful steeds, and a little guy who rode a horse about the place all the live-long day.

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Ape Escape (1999)

Basically an extended tech-demo for the Dual Shock’s newfangled and not-at-all-N64-influenced dual analog sticks, Ape Escape figured: if you can chase villains through time as well as space, why not? Frankly, that’s the least the game owed us after setting human understanding of the monkey/ape distinction back several decades.

Did it do your head in? The game made you use your thumbs in entirely new and enthralling ways! So if your brain was in your thumbs, yes, Ape Escape would really mess with you.

Were there cowboys in it? Cowboys would not be phased in till Ape Escape 3. You can’t have apes, pirates and cowboys all at once.

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