''Time Bandit'' is a Maze

shoot 'em up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a sub-genre 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 types of chara ...

written for the

TRS-80 The TRS-80 Micro Computer System (TRS-80, later renamed the Model I to distinguish it from successors) is a desktop microcomputer launched in 1977 and sold by Tandy Corporation through their Radio Shack stores. The name is an abbreviation of ...

Model I by Bill Dunlevy and Harry Lafnear and published by MichTron in 1983. It was ported to the

TRS-80 Color Computer The RadioShack TRS-80 Color Computer, later marketed as the Tandy Color Computer and sometimes nicknamed the CoCo, is a line of home computers developed and sold by Tandy Corporation. Despite sharing a name with the earlier TRS-80, the Color Co ...

and

Dragon 32 The Dragon 32 and Dragon 64 are home computers that were built in the 1980s. The Dragons are very similar to the TRS-80 Color Computer, and were produced for the European market by Dragon Data, Ltd., initially in Swansea, Wales before mov ...

, but enjoyed its greatest popularity several years later as an early release for the Atari ST. It was also released for the pseudo-PC-compatible Sanyo MBC-55x with 8-color display.

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore International, Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and sign ...

and

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few oper ...

versions were ported by Timothy Purves.

Gameplay

In each overhead-view level, the player must gather keys to open locks which allow access to the exit. Between levels, the player chooses the next level from one of 16 different "Timegates," each leading to a different world, and each of which must be completed sixteen times, each time being progressively more difficult than the last. The worlds vary in character and difficulty. Some worlds incorporate elements of

text adventure game '' Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...

s, and most contain gameplay references to other popular games of the time, such as ''

Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze video game, maze action game, action video game developed and released by Namco for Arcade game, arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its l ...

'' and ''

Centipede Centipedes (from New Latin , "hundred", and Latin , " foot") are predatory arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda (Ancient Greek , ''kheilos'', lip, and New Latin suffix , "foot", describing the forcipules) of the subphylum Myriapoda, an ...

''. In addition to the primary objective of exiting each level, optional

side quest Side or Sides may refer to: Geometry * Edge (geometry) of a polygon (two-dimensional shape) * Face (geometry) of a polyhedron (three-dimensional shape) Places * Side (Ainis), a town of Ainis, ancient Thessaly, Greece * Side (Caria), a town of an ...

s become available in the later stages of some worlds, usually awarding the player with one of several "artifacts" upon completion. The game also features a "Duel Mode" for two players. In this mode, a split screen is used for simultaneous play in the same worlds, allowing direct cooperation or combat between players.

Development

According to Harry Lafnear, ''Time Bandit'' was based on

Konami , is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machines, slot machines, and arcade cabinets. Konami has casi ...

's 1982 arcade game ''

Tutankham is a 1982 arcade video game developed and released by Konami and released by Stern in North America. Named after the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun, the game combines a maze shoot 'em up with light puzzle-solving elements. It debuted at the Eur ...

'' and was originally called ''Pharaoh''. The Atari ST and Amiga versions have visual similarities to ''

Gauntlet Gauntlet or the gauntlet may refer to: Common uses *Gauntlet (glove), protective gloves used as a form of armor *Running the gauntlet, a form of physical punishment Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Gauntlet (comics), a Marvel ...

'', but ''Gauntlet'' was released in late 1985 after development of ''Time Bandit'' was complete. According to Lafnear, he found out about ''Gauntlet'' from friends who saw it at an arcade and called it "a ''Time Bandit'' clone". However, he believes neither game copied each other, but that the similarities stem from earlier " maze

shoot 'em ups Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a sub-genre 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 types of charac ...

" such as ''

''.

Reception

Lafnear estimates that 75,000 copies were sold, mostly for the Atari ST.

Jerry Pournelle Jerry Eugene Pournelle (; August 7, 1933 – September 8, 2017) was an American scientist in the area of operations research and human factors research, a science fiction writer, essayist, journalist, and one of the first bloggers. In the 1960 ...

of ''

BYTE The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable unit ...

'' named ''Time Bandit'' his game of the month for September 1986, stating that the ST version "is the best arcade-type computer game I have ever seen". The game was well received by reviewers in ''

Antic Alphanumeric Television Interface Controller (ANTIC) is an LSI ASIC dedicated to generating 2D computer graphics to be shown on a television screen or computer display. Under the direction of Jay Miner, the chip was designed in 1977-1978 by ...

'', ''

COMPUTE! ''Compute!'' (), often stylized as ''COMPUTE!'', was an American home computer magazine that was published from 1979 to 1994. Its origins can be traced to 1978 in Len Lindsay's ''PET Gazette'', one of the first magazines for the Commodore PET c ...

'', and ''

'' for its gameplay and graphics, though reviews also noted that the game includes no music and has minimal sound effects. The

version of the game was reviewed in 1990 in '' Dragon'' #158 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 4½ out of 5 stars.

Reviews

*''Génération 4'' (1987) *''

Zzap! ''Zzap!64'' was a computer games magazine covering games on the Commodore International series of computers, especially the Commodore 64 (C64). It was published in the UK by Newsfield Publications Ltd and later by Europress Impact. The magazi ...

'' (Apr, 1988) *''

The Games Machine ''The Games Machine'' is 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 magazine ran head to head w ...

'' (Apr, 1988) *''ATARImagazin'' (Mar, 1987) *'' ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment)'' (Apr, 1988) *''Power Play'' (Mar, 1988) *''Power Play'' (Mar, 1989) *''

ASM (Aktueller Software Markt) ''Aktueller Software Markt'' (literally ''Current Software Market''), commonly known by its acronym, ''ASM'', was a German multi-platform video game magazine that was published by Tronic-Verlag from 1986 until 1995. It was one of the first magazine ...

'' (Mar, 1988) *''

Info Info is shorthand for "information". It may also refer to: Computing * .info, a generic top-level domain * info:, a URI scheme for information assets with identifiers in public namespaces * info (Unix), a command used to view documentation produ ...

'' (May, 1988) *'' Commodore User'' (Mar, 1988) *''

Amiga User International ''Amiga User International'' (or ''AUI'') was a monthly computer magazine published in its later years by AUI Limited, it was the first dedicated Amiga magazine in Europe and in comparison to other Amiga magazines, AUI had a more serious perspec ...

'' (Mar, 1988)

Legacy

''The Timelord's Handbook'', a clue book and companion manual for the game, was released in March 2010 by Harry Lafnear, one of the original authors of the game. In addition to game clues, the book includes background fiction and profiles on the game's history and creators.

References

{{reflist

External links

''Time Bandit''
at Atari Mania 1983 video games Amiga games Atari ST games DOS games Dragon 32 games Maze games Shoot 'em ups TRS-80 games TRS-80 Color Computer games Science fiction video games Video games about time travel Video games developed in the United States Single-player video games