Researching this game was really interesting. I couldn’t help but temper the immense disappointment from this with the fact that its systems would later influence one of the biggest fighting series out there: Tekken. It reminds me of another game, Final Fantasy 2, that was too ambitious for the console it was on, who’s mechanics would later be used to great effect by someone else. It’s one of those things that makes gaming so interesting, I think.
2/2 – Time Killers
Hello and welcome. My name is Katosepe and I’ll be your host for today’s video game of the day.
Today’s game is Time Killers, a 2D fighting game originally released in arcades in 1992 and later ported to the Sega Genesis in 1996. Time Killers was developed by Incredible Technologies, the company known for the Golden Tee Golf arcade games still made to this day. The home port was made a few years later by THQ.
In the arcades, Time Killers was unique at the time for using a five button system. Each button controls one limb. Left and right arms, left and right legs and one button for the head. Similar systems would later be used by Tekken but at the time, this was a new style. By using certain attacks, players can destroy or even remove the limbs of enemy fighters. This would mean the other fighter would not be able to use attacks that used those destroyed limbs.
The game features eight playable characters and one final boss. Each character was from a different time period, ranging from a prehistoric caveman to a cybernetic soldier and an alien queen. The final boss, Death, could only be defeated by using special Death Moves which decapitate enemies similar to Mortal Kombat fatalities.
The Genesis port had an interesting development as it was actually fully made by 1994 but was cancelled after extremely poor test reviews. It wasn’t until two years later, in 1996, that it was published by Black Pearl. Time Killers was not well received by critics or fans. One reviewer even called it quote Easily the worst example of a 2D fighting game in history end quote.The arcade version was received better but has been mostly forgotten as an attempted cash in on the Mortal Kombat craze of the time.
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