Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Crossroads of Time
Encyclopedia
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Crossroads of Time is an action-adventure
video game for the Sega Genesis/Megadrive game console, later ported
to Super Nintendo. The game was developed by Novotrade Entertainment and published by Playmates Interactive.
46871.6. Political turmoil on Bajor has slowed the usual flow of visitors on the Deep Space Nine
. A cardassian
warship is docked at the station as well as at least one bajoran
vessel. An attack is made on a station's crew member and soon after that, Jadzia Dax
scans some anti-proton emissions at the lower pylon 3 where the cardassian ship is docked. Captain Sisko
volunteers to inspect it personally since chief O'Brien
is busy repairing the station's security grid. Upon arrival, he finds some bajorans planting bilitrium grenades around the area. He manages to beam
all grenades to space before they explode while Odo arrests the terrorists. They turn out to be bajoran 'redemptionists', a radical movement that rejects traditional bajoran culture. Cardassian captain, Gul Gurgey, comes to Sisko's office railing that he "won't tolerate terrorist acts against his ship". Meanwhile, the ship the redemptionists came from is found to have left the station a little bit earlier. Major Kira Nerys
takes a runabout to chase it through the wormhole and catches up in an asteroid field near the Idran system. She incapacitates the terrorists' ship with phaser fire, beams the crew aboard and tows the vessel back to the station. Captain Sisko asks Gurgey how come that his crew left the station just before the bombing attempts and Gul assures him it was a mere coincidence.
Stardate 46872.5. Sisko learns from Kira that redemptionists have kidnapped Kai Opaka, a bajoran spiritual leader, and demand him to personally negotiate for her return. Captain travels to Bajor on a runabout piloted by Dax and beams to the agreed-upon place but finds no negotiators. He nevertheless manages to find and free Opaka from her holding place in a nearby temple. Jadzia is unable to beam them up due to strong interference cause by redemptionists' facilities underground. Sisko descends to the catacombs and destroys a power generator and a weapons replicator that were causing the interference.
Stardate 46872.7. Having returned to the station with Kai Opaka and the Tear of the Prophets, Sisko and his officers continue to investigate the recent events. Sisko is positive that someone on the station has been giving information to the terrorists. Meanwhile, a bajoran monk is attacked at his temple on the promenade, the assailant undoubtedly being after the orb. Doctor Bashir
scans the monk's robe for evidence and finds that the attacker was a cardassian wearing bajoran redemptionists' clothes. Jadzia examines parts of the redemtionists' weapons replicator that Sisko brought from Bajor and finds it is also cardassian-made. Sisko finally deduces that the redemptionists' leader, Etok, is a cardassian disguised as a bajoran to manipulate the terrorists on behalf of Gul Gurgey. The cardassians' plan is to accuse bajorans of terrorism, get the last Orb for their collection, destroy Deep Space Nine and use the cause to justify re-invading Bajor to gain control of the strategically invaluable wormhole.
Stardate 46873.4. Gul Gurgey scores the captain for his deduction but says it is too late. He teleports onto his ship and takes an attack position against the station but doesn't fire. The DS9 crew announces red alert knowing the station isn't equipped to fight off warships. They try to send a message to the Starfleet
command or at least Bajor so Gurgey can't attack without risking war. However, the cardassian ship is jamming their communications. Odo finds what Gurgey is waiting for: his men find and disarm a bilitrium bomb set to explode in a few hours. The station crew strives desperately to find a solution before Gul finds out the bomb is not going off.
Kai Opaka tells Sisko that the solution is in his own past. After consulting his offices, captain finds out they can beam through the cardassians' shields to crash their computers but he needs information from a ship he previously served on, USS Saratoga. He asks Kai how to do that. She says: "That's where the Prophets
can help you". She opens the Orb's enclosure and Sisko steps into his own past to the Saratoga, just after she has been critically damaged by the Borg
in the battle of Wolf 359
.
At the Saratoga, Sisko manages to access the tactical computer on the deck 10 to see the Borg transportation beams' characteristics. He also rescues his son and a few other crew members along the way. After beaming to the survival pod bay, his consciousness returns to the present time.
Using the data Sisko has witnessed during his flashback, chief O'Brien modifies the transporter system and beams Odo to Gurgey's ship right through their shields. Using his changeling abilities, Odo infiltrates the ship undetected and finds its control center. He gives DS9 the coordinates and Sisko himself beams there too. He traverses the ship, stunning cardassian crewmen and incapacitating computers with a 'code breaker' device. After disabling the ship's main computational array, he meets Gul Gurgey. Gurgey has activated the ship's self-destruction device as a last resort, intending to take DS9 along. Sisko nevertheless manages to break the device before it goes off and beams back to the station.
Stardate 46873.6. Gurgey's ship is hopelessly crippled and DS9 is finally able to report the cardassian's ploy to the Starfleet and Bajor. Suddenly, three more cardassian warships approach. Gul Dukat, the commander of the force, comes to Sisko's office. He assures captain that Gurgey had been acting on his own initiative which Sisko doesn't believe. Dukat replies: "What you believe is unimportant as is what you cannot prove". Sisko warns him: "We will be watching you". The cardassians depart and Sisko feels he can finally take some time to relax.
, also doctor Julian Bashir
, major Kira Nerys
and Odo
. Most of the game's levels are cinematic platformers, one is a horizontal-scrolling shooter. Platformer levels are of two types: 'adventure' levels and 'action' levels. In 'adventure' levels, the player character moves around the Deep Space Nine, talking with NPCs
and ultimately reaching a certain point in the plot. In 'action' levels, the player wanders the level in the cinematic platformer style, climbing ledges, fighting enemies with a phaser, finding and using items, with an ultimate goal to fulfill a certain mission, sometimes within a given time limit.
A password is given after completing each one or two subsequent levels. If the player gets his/her character killed, the game can be resumed from the point the last password was given at. The number of retries is unlimited, however, the player can be pushed quite a distance behind.
The game has a distinctive Star Trek flavor in that to complete most levels, the player needs to first thoroughly investigate the level map and learn to use various equipment found throughout it. Only after that the walkthrough becomes more or less straightforward and the player can start training to meet the level goals within the given time limit and not get the protagonist killed in the process.
Due to that and to moderate to moderately high difficulty, few levels are completable on the first try. Each one can take as many as a few dozen attempts before a decent walkthrough plan is prepared and executed with enough mastery.
Action-adventure game
An action-adventure game is a video game that combines elements of the adventure game genre with various action game elements. It is perhaps the broadest and most diverse genre in gaming, and can include many games which might better be categorized under narrow genres...
video game for the Sega Genesis/Megadrive game console, later ported
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
to Super Nintendo. The game was developed by Novotrade Entertainment and published by Playmates Interactive.
Plot
StardateStardate
A stardate is a date in the fictional system of time measurement developed for Star Trek, commonly heard at the beginning of a voiceover log entry such as "Captain's log, stardate 41153.7...
46871.6. Political turmoil on Bajor has slowed the usual flow of visitors on the Deep Space Nine
Deep Space Nine (space station)
Deep Space Nine is a fictitious space station, and is the eponymous primary setting of the science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It serves as a base for the exploration of the Gamma Quadrant via the Bajoran wormhole, and is a hub of trade and travel for the sector's denizens...
. A cardassian
Cardassian
The Cardassians are an extraterrestrial species in the Star Trek science fiction franchise. First introduced in the 1991 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Wounded", the species originating on the fictional Alpha Quadrant planet Cardassia Prime...
warship is docked at the station as well as at least one bajoran
Bajoran
In the Star Trek science-fiction franchise, the Bajorans are a humanoid extraterrestrial species native to the planet Bajor. They were first introduced in the 1991 episode "Ensign Ro" of Star Trek: The Next Generation and subsequently also featured in episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and...
vessel. An attack is made on a station's crew member and soon after that, Jadzia Dax
Jadzia Dax
Jadzia Dax , played by Terry Farrell, was a main character during the first six seasons of the science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine....
scans some anti-proton emissions at the lower pylon 3 where the cardassian ship is docked. Captain Sisko
Benjamin Sisko
Benjamin Lafayette Sisko, played by Avery Brooks, is the main character of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.-Early life and career:...
volunteers to inspect it personally since chief O'Brien
Miles O'Brien (Star Trek)
Miles Edward O'Brien, played by Colm Meaney, is Chief of Operations in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Before DS9, he appeared as a recurring transporter chief in Star Trek: The Next Generation...
is busy repairing the station's security grid. Upon arrival, he finds some bajorans planting bilitrium grenades around the area. He manages to beam
Transporter (Star Trek)
A transporter is a fictional teleportation machine used in the Star Trek universe. Transporters convert a person or object into an energy pattern , then "beam" it to a target, where it is reconverted into matter...
all grenades to space before they explode while Odo arrests the terrorists. They turn out to be bajoran 'redemptionists', a radical movement that rejects traditional bajoran culture. Cardassian captain, Gul Gurgey, comes to Sisko's office railing that he "won't tolerate terrorist acts against his ship". Meanwhile, the ship the redemptionists came from is found to have left the station a little bit earlier. Major Kira Nerys
Kira Nerys
Kira Nerys , played by Nana Visitor, is a main character in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.-Backstory:Per Bajoran custom, her family name, Kira, precedes her given name, Nerys. She has two brothers , and her parents' names are Kira Taban and Kira Meru...
takes a runabout to chase it through the wormhole and catches up in an asteroid field near the Idran system. She incapacitates the terrorists' ship with phaser fire, beams the crew aboard and tows the vessel back to the station. Captain Sisko asks Gurgey how come that his crew left the station just before the bombing attempts and Gul assures him it was a mere coincidence.
Stardate 46872.5. Sisko learns from Kira that redemptionists have kidnapped Kai Opaka, a bajoran spiritual leader, and demand him to personally negotiate for her return. Captain travels to Bajor on a runabout piloted by Dax and beams to the agreed-upon place but finds no negotiators. He nevertheless manages to find and free Opaka from her holding place in a nearby temple. Jadzia is unable to beam them up due to strong interference cause by redemptionists' facilities underground. Sisko descends to the catacombs and destroys a power generator and a weapons replicator that were causing the interference.
Stardate 46872.7. Having returned to the station with Kai Opaka and the Tear of the Prophets, Sisko and his officers continue to investigate the recent events. Sisko is positive that someone on the station has been giving information to the terrorists. Meanwhile, a bajoran monk is attacked at his temple on the promenade, the assailant undoubtedly being after the orb. Doctor Bashir
Julian Bashir
Lieutenant Julian Subatoi Bashir, M.D., played by Alexander Siddig, is a main character in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Bashir is the chief medical officer of space station Deep Space Nine and the USS Defiant.-Overview:...
scans the monk's robe for evidence and finds that the attacker was a cardassian wearing bajoran redemptionists' clothes. Jadzia examines parts of the redemtionists' weapons replicator that Sisko brought from Bajor and finds it is also cardassian-made. Sisko finally deduces that the redemptionists' leader, Etok, is a cardassian disguised as a bajoran to manipulate the terrorists on behalf of Gul Gurgey. The cardassians' plan is to accuse bajorans of terrorism, get the last Orb for their collection, destroy Deep Space Nine and use the cause to justify re-invading Bajor to gain control of the strategically invaluable wormhole.
Stardate 46873.4. Gul Gurgey scores the captain for his deduction but says it is too late. He teleports onto his ship and takes an attack position against the station but doesn't fire. The DS9 crew announces red alert knowing the station isn't equipped to fight off warships. They try to send a message to the Starfleet
Starfleet
In the fictional universe of Star Trek, Starfleet or the Federation Starfleet is the deep-space exploratory, peacekeeping and military service maintained by the United Federation of Planets . It is the principal means by which the Federation conducts its exploration, defense, diplomacy and research...
command or at least Bajor so Gurgey can't attack without risking war. However, the cardassian ship is jamming their communications. Odo finds what Gurgey is waiting for: his men find and disarm a bilitrium bomb set to explode in a few hours. The station crew strives desperately to find a solution before Gul finds out the bomb is not going off.
Kai Opaka tells Sisko that the solution is in his own past. After consulting his offices, captain finds out they can beam through the cardassians' shields to crash their computers but he needs information from a ship he previously served on, USS Saratoga. He asks Kai how to do that. She says: "That's where the Prophets
Prophet (Star Trek)
In the fictional Star Trek universe, the Prophets, also known as Wormhole Aliens, are non-corporeal beings who inhabit the artificially constructed Bajoran wormhole which connects a distant point in the Gamma Quadrant to the Alpha Quadrant, near the planet of Bajor and the space station Deep Space...
can help you". She opens the Orb's enclosure and Sisko steps into his own past to the Saratoga, just after she has been critically damaged by the Borg
Borg (Star Trek)
The Borg are a fictional pseudo-race of cybernetic organisms depicted in the Star Trek universe associated with Star Trek.Whereas cybernetics are used by other races in the science fiction world to repair bodily damage and birth defects, the Borg use enforced cybernetic enhancement as a means of...
in the battle of Wolf 359
Battle of Wolf 359
The Battle of Wolf 359 is a fictional space battle in the Star Trek universe between the United Federation of Planets and the Borg Collective in the year 2367...
.
At the Saratoga, Sisko manages to access the tactical computer on the deck 10 to see the Borg transportation beams' characteristics. He also rescues his son and a few other crew members along the way. After beaming to the survival pod bay, his consciousness returns to the present time.
Using the data Sisko has witnessed during his flashback, chief O'Brien modifies the transporter system and beams Odo to Gurgey's ship right through their shields. Using his changeling abilities, Odo infiltrates the ship undetected and finds its control center. He gives DS9 the coordinates and Sisko himself beams there too. He traverses the ship, stunning cardassian crewmen and incapacitating computers with a 'code breaker' device. After disabling the ship's main computational array, he meets Gul Gurgey. Gurgey has activated the ship's self-destruction device as a last resort, intending to take DS9 along. Sisko nevertheless manages to break the device before it goes off and beams back to the station.
Stardate 46873.6. Gurgey's ship is hopelessly crippled and DS9 is finally able to report the cardassian's ploy to the Starfleet and Bajor. Suddenly, three more cardassian warships approach. Gul Dukat, the commander of the force, comes to Sisko's office. He assures captain that Gurgey had been acting on his own initiative which Sisko doesn't believe. Dukat replies: "What you believe is unimportant as is what you cannot prove". Sisko warns him: "We will be watching you". The cardassians depart and Sisko feels he can finally take some time to relax.
Gameplay
In the game, the player controls a member of the Deep Space Nine's crew, mostly captain Benjamin SiskoBenjamin Sisko
Benjamin Lafayette Sisko, played by Avery Brooks, is the main character of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.-Early life and career:...
, also doctor Julian Bashir
Julian Bashir
Lieutenant Julian Subatoi Bashir, M.D., played by Alexander Siddig, is a main character in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Bashir is the chief medical officer of space station Deep Space Nine and the USS Defiant.-Overview:...
, major Kira Nerys
Kira Nerys
Kira Nerys , played by Nana Visitor, is a main character in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.-Backstory:Per Bajoran custom, her family name, Kira, precedes her given name, Nerys. She has two brothers , and her parents' names are Kira Taban and Kira Meru...
and Odo
Odo
Odo , played by René Auberjonois, is a major character on the science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He is a member of a fictional shapeshifting race called Changelings and serves as the head of security for the space station Deep Space Nine on which the show is...
. Most of the game's levels are cinematic platformers, one is a horizontal-scrolling shooter. Platformer levels are of two types: 'adventure' levels and 'action' levels. In 'adventure' levels, the player character moves around the Deep Space Nine, talking with NPCs
Non-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
and ultimately reaching a certain point in the plot. In 'action' levels, the player wanders the level in the cinematic platformer style, climbing ledges, fighting enemies with a phaser, finding and using items, with an ultimate goal to fulfill a certain mission, sometimes within a given time limit.
A password is given after completing each one or two subsequent levels. If the player gets his/her character killed, the game can be resumed from the point the last password was given at. The number of retries is unlimited, however, the player can be pushed quite a distance behind.
The game has a distinctive Star Trek flavor in that to complete most levels, the player needs to first thoroughly investigate the level map and learn to use various equipment found throughout it. Only after that the walkthrough becomes more or less straightforward and the player can start training to meet the level goals within the given time limit and not get the protagonist killed in the process.
Due to that and to moderate to moderately high difficulty, few levels are completable on the first try. Each one can take as many as a few dozen attempts before a decent walkthrough plan is prepared and executed with enough mastery.
Trivia
- The Deep Space Nine level has a KlingonKlingonKlingons are a fictional warrior race in the Star Trek universe.Klingons are recurring villains in the 1960s television show Star Trek: The Original Series, and have appeared in all five spin-off series and eight feature films...
woman standing on the promenade who speaks KlingoneseKlingon languageThe Klingon language is the constructed language spoken by the fictional Klingons in the Star Trek universe....
. One of her phrases is a hidden gag intended for those who are able to translate. Maurice Molyneaux tells this as well as the translations in his DS9 Klingon Gag article.
External links
- Maurice Molyneaux: Deep Space Nine (Genesis/SNES) - a set of articles by Maurice Molyneaux, the game's chief designer, recalling his experiences of creating the product