''Time Soldiers'', known in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

as , is a 1987

run and gun video game Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a Video game genre, subgenre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain typ ...

developed by

Alpha Denshi , formerly known as , was a Japanese video game developer founded in 1980. ADK began as a developer of arcade games and is best known for their library of SNK Neo Geo (system), Neo Geo titles, including for its home consoles, produced in partner ...

for arcades and published by

SNK is a Japanese video gaming and interactive entertainment company. It was founded in 1978 as by Eikichi Kawasaki and began by developing arcade games. SNK is known for its Neo Geo arcade system on which the company established many franchises ...

. It was distributed in North America by Romstar. A

Master System The is an 8-bit Third generation of video game consoles, third-generation home video game console manufactured and developed by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series ...

version was also produced, as well as versions titled ''Time Soldier'' for the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

, and

Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...

Gameplay

''Time Soldiers'' can be played by either a

single-player A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the gameplay. Video games in general can feature several game modes, including single-player modes designed to be played by a single player in add ...

, or by two players simultaneously. Players move their characters with an eight-way rotary joystick, shooting enemies along a scrolling backdrop. The rotary joystick allows players to walk in one of eight directions while shooting in any of twelve directions. These controls are similar to the SNK-developed ''

Ikari Warriors ''Ikari Warriors'', known as in Japan, is a vertically scrolling run and gun video game released for arcades by SNK in 1986. It was published in North America by Tradewest. At the time there were many ''Commando'' clones on the market. What d ...

'' (1986) which allowed the player to walk and rotate in eight directions. The plot involves the protagonists traveling through time to rescue their comrades from the villainous Gylend. Each of the five levels is set in a different time period: The Primitive Age, The Age of Rome, The World Wars, The Age of War and Future World. Players travel between the periods with the aid of a device called the "D-Scanner". Before each level, the player is shown the name of one of their comrades and the period in which that comrade is held captive. The player is then placed into one of the time periods. If that period is not the one in which the captive soldier is located, the player must defeat a midboss of the level and re-enter the time portal, repeating the process until the correct time period is reached. When the player reaches the correct time period, the player must then fight through the end of the level and defeat the level boss to rescue the captured soldier.Semrad, Ed. "Time Soldiers will Test the Best". The Milwaukee Journal. March 12, 1989. p. 4G. Unlimited continues are available on all levels except the last one. In the Sega Master System port however, continues are limited to three continues per player.

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Time Soldiers'' on their November 15, 1987 issue as being the second most-successful table arcade unit of the month. Robin Hogg of ''

The Games Machine ''The Games Machine'' was a video game magazine that was published from 1987 until 1990 in the United Kingdom by Newsfield, which also published '' CRASH'', ''Zzap!64'', '' Amtix!'' and other magazines. History ''The Games Machine'' ran head ...

'' reviewed the arcade game, praising it for its rich graphics and difficulty curve, while comparing it favorably to ''Ikari Warriors''. Duncan Evans of ''

Popular Computing Weekly ''Popular Computing Weekly'' was a computer magazine in the UK published from 1982 to 1990. It was sometimes referred to as ''PCW'' (although that abbreviation is more commonly associated with ''Personal Computer World'' magazine). Overv ...

'' reviewed the Master System port, rating it 89% and considering it one of the better Master System titles, while comparing it favorably to ''

Commando A commando is a combatant, or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force, specially trained for carrying out raids and operating in small teams behind enemy lines. Originally, "a commando" was a type of combat unit, as oppo ...

'' (1985) and preferring it over the Master System versions of ''

Golvellius is an action role-playing video game developed by Compile (company), Compile and originally released for the Japanese MSX home computer system in 1987. In 1988, Compile released a remake for the MSX2 system, titled . This game featured mostly th ...

'' and ''

Altered Beast ''Altered Beast'' is a 1988 beat 'em up video game developed and published by Sega for arcades. The game is set in Ancient Greece and follows a player character chosen by Zeus to rescue his daughter Athena from the demonic ruler of the under ...

''.

References

{{Authority control 1987 video games ADK (company) games Amiga games Arcade video games Atari ST games Commodore 64 games PlayStation Network games Romstar games Run and gun games SNK games Master System games Video games about time travel Video games scored by Yuka Watanabe Video games developed in Japan Multiplayer and single-player video games

Gameplay

Reception

See also

References