Retro Game of the Day! Time Pilot '84

Retro Game of the Day! Time Pilot '84

Time Pilot '84 by Konami, released to arcades in (guess?) 1984.

Ah yes! Definitely one of the "good ol' boys" of the arcade series of yesteryear, 1982's Time Pilot found itself reincarnated a couple of years later. Let's have a look-see what it was all about.

The original Time Pilot was a fairly wonderful game when it released. Still quite fun as a matter of fact; you had an incredible sense of control and firing range with your little ship, and there was a constant stream of things to shoot/avoid/capture. It was a wonderful recipe.

This sequel follows in those footsteps fairly well, though enough is changed in the basic outline of the game that it feels like a completely standalone entity, and that's a good thing. '84 sticks with the futuristic motif, which works well with its' style, and now you have lock-on missiles to play with (and plenty more targets to shoot/avoid). It's a shooter-fans paradise!

I used to work at a game studio where they had one of these machines in their lobby; even though it was already over 15 years old, people would still put in hours on this thing blasting away trying to outdo one-another's highscores (we'd scrawl them on post-it notes and stick it to the marquee, since they'd get erased every night when they powered the machine off). That's the type of game is was; stylish, brutish, simple, and just plain fun. I want to go play it now! Don't let the primitive, crude graphics turn you away, this is absolutely a must-play if you like chasing and shooting.

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