Time Pilot III ?

Pleiades10

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Over the years, I've chimed in on existing threads about how I always felt let down by Time Pilot 84. Mainly because the game abandoned the "travelling through time" aspect of the original.

Yeah, the title screen says that you are traveling "further into the unknown world", but you are just flying over alien planets that all basically look the same. Sure, you MAY be travelling to different years… but it just doesn't feel the same to me.

I've always wondered if a third game in the series, released in the Jamma era, which took the focus of the game back to true time travel would have been successful.

The title screen could feature a crawl that explains that the systems running the time travelling trials of the original Time Pilot (to revisit the various eras of human powered flight) malfunctioned, causing the pilot and his jet to proceed further into the future instead of returning to the 1980s. (thus, the plot of TP '84.)

It could then state that following the events of the second game in the series, these guidance systems all rebooted to zero, causing the pilot to appear in a pre-"big bang" environment, and now he has to fight his way back forward in time in order to finally reach the 1980s again.


The five screens would be:

1. Dawn of time… an outer space level, where you shoot comets, and meteorites, and dodge solar flares.

2. Prehistoric… battling pteranodons, archaeopteryxs, and maybe something like giant bats or insects

3. DaVinci era… battling versions of those ancient flying machines from DaVinci's notebooks. Maybe some steampunk stuff too.

4. Contemporary era – late 80s, early 90s. I'm think stealth bombers would be the main targets.

5. A catch all. This could be portrayed as enemies from each of the prior 4 eras, perhaps all thrown into a "time warp" that the player would have to emerge victorious from in order to see the animation of the Time Pilot jet landing on good old terra firma and exiting his plane to a welcoming crowd. He has returned home!

Of course the basic Time Pilot gameplay would be unaltered. Centrally located players ship. Have to destroy X number of targets in order to reach a "mothership" appropriate to the level. Destroying the mothership progresses you further in time.

Bonus objects (the parachutists?) would appear, as would enemies in formation and slightly larger targets that take multiple hits.


So, can anybody contact Konami and make this happen? ;)

Kyle :cool:
 
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Time Pilot is one of my favorite games... even today AND when I was a kid. But I've always disliked TP '84, mostly for the same reasons you mentioned above.

I'm all for someone creating Time Pilot III... or Time Pilot 3: Lost In Time... or Time Pilot: 2050 A.D....
 
I've been playing a ton of Time Pilot lately. Such a great game. I installed it in my Scramble cabinet and am just waiting for a 4 way Komami switcher to bring it all together with Super Cobra.

I'm not a fan of TP84 but think the series could use another version similar to the original.
 
I've been playing a ton of Time Pilot lately. Such a great game. I installed it in my Scramble cabinet and am just waiting for a 4 way Komami switcher to bring it all together with Super Cobra.

I'm not a fan of TP84 but think the series could use another version similar to the original.

If only I could play Scramble on my Gyruss cabinet...

... I refuse to add a 2nd button and I don't think Scramble would be nearly as impressive of a game with only bullets or bombs (not both!).

I guess I COULD tie both to a single button if I really wanted to. Hmmm...

I already have Time Pilot in there. :D
 
Original Time Pilot is a game I can usually get a top score on at a Barcade (including their white-board list).
 
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If only I could play Scramble on my Gyruss cabinet...

... I refuse to add a 2nd button and I don't think Scramble would be nearly as impressive of a game with only bullets or bombs (not both!).

I guess I COULD tie both to a single button if I really wanted to. Hmmm...

I already have Time Pilot in there. :D

Wire laser to P1 start and bomb to P2 start or if you can comfortably reach between the fire button and one of your start buttons, just wire bomb to the start button of your choosing.
 
I never liked TP '84 either. Too bland, and it was the time travelling aspect I liked. I would suggest for a third one the prehistoric level (sounds promising), a few of the original levels, but perhaps with more enemy types in each level, like how level two has the bombers in addition to the planes. I like a stealth fighter that fazes in and out, or perhaps that could be your ship, with a phase out button like the shield in asteroids. I wouldnt be opposed to power ups either, perhaps gained by grabbing the parachute guys. Two player co op would be badass.
 
I've always wondered if a third game in the series, released in the Jamma era, which took the focus of the game back to true time travel would have been successful.

I like your sequel idea - it would bring back a lot of what made the first game as great as it was, but with the addition of storyline and some fresh gameplay.

TP84 didn't strike me as a bad game, but it wasn't what the follow-on to the original should have been. Ditto Vanguard II, which is surprisingly similar to TP84.

Anyway, the TPIII idea seems like something that would work well on Irem's M72 (or related) hardware - something about the graphical styles of those games strike me as that being a good fit for what you're talking about.
 
I wouldn't be opposed to power ups either. But release them only occasionally, so earning one would truly be a special event. (as opposed to games that throw power ups at the player constantly)

Maybe one of them could be the "homing missiles" from TP 84.

A laser type cannon as in Last Mission or Raiden may be cool too.

Kyle :cool:
 
If only I could play Scramble on my Gyruss cabinet...

... I refuse to add a 2nd button and I don't think Scramble would be nearly as impressive of a game with only bullets or bombs (not both!).

I guess I COULD tie both to a single button if I really wanted to. Hmmm...

I already have Time Pilot in there. :D
Tie it to another button, like Player 1 or Player 2.

You could also find a hacked-up CP and "adapt" it.

So many great Konami games.

Scott C.
 
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