Time Killers
Encyclopedia
Time Killers is a weapon-based fighting
arcade game
developed by Incredible Technologies
and published by Strata. Along with Allumer's Blandia
, Time Killers is one of the earliest weapon-based fighting games modeled after its competitor Capcom
's arcade hit Street Fighter II
, but later became overshadowed by the success of SNK
's weapon-based fighting game, Samurai Shodown
.
Death is not content with this celestial balance and craves power and domination over all things. Throughout time Death has launched his most devious, brutal and destructive plans in pursuit of the elimination of Life and the gaining of Eternal Domination. Death infused a portion of his being into mortal creatures of power and evil who performed his horrible machinations. And, to his eternal chagrin, Death has been soundly defeated by an individual and seemingly inconsequential agent of the Life Force.
Throughout time, these warriors have triumphed over Death's earthly incarnations, weakening Death's cosmic balance and enraging it to unfounded heights of frustration and resolve. From these great losses Death plots a devious new scheme that will exact his revenge on those who defeated it and severely weaken the Life Force at the same time.
Death plucks each hero from the time stream at the moment of victory. He approaches the heroes separately, disguised as Chronos, Master of Time and Messenger for Good. Death lies to each mortal, spinning moral fantasies and catering to individual secret desires. Death convinces each warrior to fight seven messengers of Death throughout the time stream in order to defeat evil and preserve Life. A promise of immortality is offered to each mortal if he or she is successful in this false mission. The TIME KILLERS heroes, still fatigued and disoriented from their previous encounters, believe the Master of Deceit and agree to meet the challenge.
Death has orchestrated events that will pit eternity's greatest warriors and Death's greatest enemies against each other. Whichever TIME KILLERS warrior survives these bloody battles will have to face a fully powered and vengeful Death in his own dark underworld. Will Death be victorious and reclaim a hold on All That Is? Or will one of the TIME KILLERS heroes overcome the power of this prime force and become forever immortal? Only time will tell..."
. Rather than the standard layout of punches and kicks of various strengths, a specific button is used to attack with the corresponding body part: left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg, and the head. A stronger attack can be executed by pressing both limb buttons at the same time. The attack buttons involving respective arms and legs are also the basis of BloodStorm
as well as Namco Bandai's Tekken series, the 2011 Mortal Kombat game, and Bio F.R.E.A.K.S.
.
One of the most notable aspects of the game is how damage is sustained to the characters during battle. If enough damage is done to an arm, that limb will be torn completely off from the character's body, rendering it useless in combat. It is possible for both limbs to be lost, thus forcing the character to fight with only their legs and head. Damage can also be done to the legs, but unlike the arms they cannot be removed. Sometimes, depending on when the blow is landed, an arm can be taken off with one or two hits.
Another notorious aspect of Time Killers is its Instant Kills or 'Death Move', which, if executed and hit successfully, will lop off the opponent's head and immediately end the round. It is simply done by pressing all five buttons at once. Unlike MK's 'Fatalities
', which can be done only after the opponent has been defeated in 2 rounds, they can be done any time the player desires. There is also a 'Super Death Move', which can only be done while next to the opponent and by pressing all five buttons while s/he is stunned while holding the joystick in the direction that moves the character toward the opponent. This attack removes both the arms and the head. When the round ends, any lost body parts (including the head) are 'magically' restored in a display of deus ex machina
as though nothing had happened.
Rancid - A streetwise punk, framed for murder. He is from New Chicago in 2024 AD and carries a chainsaw. His 'X' shaped scar is from a battle he had with a man who was behind the X murders, which Rancid was being accused of. He managed to kill the man before disappearing. With this in mind, it is possible his backstory was somewhat inspired from Charles Manson
, who had carved a swastika into his forehead with a knife. The scar may be a reference to the Fist of the North Star
character Hyo.
Orion - A space hero of sorts who was supposedly grown in a test tube and loves riding in the vastness of space in the future period of A.D. 2885. He became a fugitive after escaping from police out of fear when he tried to report an alien attack that left no traces of evidence and now journeys to locate the aliens responsible. He fights with an electric sabre.
Thugg - A large, very powerful prehistoric caveman who wields a stone axe, having emerged from beyond "The Edge". He led a fierce and bloody battle against a reptilian alien race known as the Troglodytes, who were harvesting humans as cattle for food and slavery.
Lord Wülf - A heroic knight from the medieval ages. His family was murdered by Count Morbid, who tried to conquer England before he was destroyed by Wülf. He is supposedly based on King Arthur
, even hailing from Camelot, England and wields the legendary sword known as Excalibur
.
Leif - An adventurous Viking who carries a large battle axe. He was a constant thorn in the side of the mysterious and undead legions of the Black Army, led by Black Thorn, who aspired to take over the world. It is most likely that he is based on Leif Erikson.
Musashi - A samurai who fights with a sword. Musashi is a brilliant strategist and the finest general in Japan who lost his once-undefeated army to a horrifying dragon. Musashi himself was protected by the dragon's scale he wore and traveled for many years to find it and avenge his loss. Supposedly based on Miyamoto Musashi
.
Mantazz - A mutant creature, resembling a praying mantis in appearance. She is the queen (as is implied in her background story) of a race of unknown origin from the far-off future of 4002 AD. Having overwhelmed an entire area and spreading quickly, these creatures wanted nothing but to cause death and destruction to humankind; after a fearsome war and the disappearance of their queen, both races managed to coexist peacefully. She fights with her razor claws.
Matrix - A female soldier from the future time of 3297 AD with a bionic arm in place of a limb she lost in a battle, giving her the ability to tap into the commands of cybernetic foes as a result. She uses a sword made of plasma as her weapon. In her period, all of the robots went mysteriously berserk and began to massacre humankind. She managed to defeat the Master Drone, but vanished shortly after her victory.
Death - The final boss of the game and the one responsible for the entire tournament and taking each of the fighters from their periods. Being the grim reaper
, he carries a scythe. He cannot be defeated in a 2-out-of-3 match normally, and must be decapitated with a Death Move or a Super Death Move in order to beat the game.
and was scheduled for a release some time after the arcade game's, but was pushed back for a few years due to its violence level and gore. It was eventually published by Black Pearl in 1996 but sold poorly, due to being cited by most video game magazine critics as having incredibly poor graphics, sound and playability.
Fighting game
Fighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...
arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
developed by Incredible Technologies
Incredible Technologies
Incredible Technologies , based in Arlington Heights, Illinois is a US-based designer and manufacturer of coin-operated video games. Some of their games include Silver Strike Bowling, Power Putt, Target Toss Pro: Bags/Lawn Darts, and Golden Tee Golf...
and published by Strata. Along with Allumer's Blandia
Blandia
is a one-on-one, weapon-based fighting arcade game developed and published by Allumer. It is the sequel to the arcade game, Gladiator. Along with Strata's Time Killers, Blandia is one of the earliest weapon-based fighting games modeled after its competitor Capcom's arcade hit Street Fighter II,...
, Time Killers is one of the earliest weapon-based fighting games modeled after its competitor Capcom
Capcom
is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...
's arcade hit Street Fighter II
Street Fighter II
is a competitive fighting game originally released for the arcades in . It is the arcade sequel to the original Street Fighter released in and was Capcom's fourteenth title that ran on the CP System arcade hardware...
, but later became overshadowed by the success of SNK
SNK Playmore
SNK Playmore Corporation is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. SNK is an acronym of , which was SNK's original name. The company's legal and trading name became SNK in 1986....
's weapon-based fighting game, Samurai Shodown
Samurai Shodown
Samurai Shodown, known as in Japan, is a competitive fighting game produced by SNK for their Neo Geo arcade and home platform. In contrast to other fighting games at the time which were set in modern times and focused primarily on hand-to-hand combat, Samurai Shodown is set in feudal-era Japan ...
.
Story
"Life and Death, the two prime forces of nature, have fought a timeless struggle for dominance over All That Is. The incarnate forces of Life and Death clash constantly, within and without all dimensions, planes and times. Both Life and Death enjoy victories and mourn losses in their struggle, but for the most part the two entities are evenly matched.Death is not content with this celestial balance and craves power and domination over all things. Throughout time Death has launched his most devious, brutal and destructive plans in pursuit of the elimination of Life and the gaining of Eternal Domination. Death infused a portion of his being into mortal creatures of power and evil who performed his horrible machinations. And, to his eternal chagrin, Death has been soundly defeated by an individual and seemingly inconsequential agent of the Life Force.
Throughout time, these warriors have triumphed over Death's earthly incarnations, weakening Death's cosmic balance and enraging it to unfounded heights of frustration and resolve. From these great losses Death plots a devious new scheme that will exact his revenge on those who defeated it and severely weaken the Life Force at the same time.
Death plucks each hero from the time stream at the moment of victory. He approaches the heroes separately, disguised as Chronos, Master of Time and Messenger for Good. Death lies to each mortal, spinning moral fantasies and catering to individual secret desires. Death convinces each warrior to fight seven messengers of Death throughout the time stream in order to defeat evil and preserve Life. A promise of immortality is offered to each mortal if he or she is successful in this false mission. The TIME KILLERS heroes, still fatigued and disoriented from their previous encounters, believe the Master of Deceit and agree to meet the challenge.
Death has orchestrated events that will pit eternity's greatest warriors and Death's greatest enemies against each other. Whichever TIME KILLERS warrior survives these bloody battles will have to face a fully powered and vengeful Death in his own dark underworld. Will Death be victorious and reclaim a hold on All That Is? Or will one of the TIME KILLERS heroes overcome the power of this prime force and become forever immortal? Only time will tell..."
Gameplay
Time Killers plays much like Mortal Kombat, albeit slightly more complex, with some similarities to the also-popular Street Fighter IIStreet Fighter II
is a competitive fighting game originally released for the arcades in . It is the arcade sequel to the original Street Fighter released in and was Capcom's fourteenth title that ran on the CP System arcade hardware...
. Rather than the standard layout of punches and kicks of various strengths, a specific button is used to attack with the corresponding body part: left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg, and the head. A stronger attack can be executed by pressing both limb buttons at the same time. The attack buttons involving respective arms and legs are also the basis of BloodStorm
BloodStorm
BloodStorm is a fighting game released in 1994 in arcade form by Strata and developed by Incredible Technologies. It is considered by some as a quasi-'sequel' to Time Killers...
as well as Namco Bandai's Tekken series, the 2011 Mortal Kombat game, and Bio F.R.E.A.K.S.
Bio F.R.E.A.K.S.
Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. is a 3D fighting game released by Midway in 1998. It was originally planned for arcades. However, this arcade prototype was scrapped and never officially released , and the game was later released for the PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and PC.-Characters:*Bullzeye, Freak classification:...
.
One of the most notable aspects of the game is how damage is sustained to the characters during battle. If enough damage is done to an arm, that limb will be torn completely off from the character's body, rendering it useless in combat. It is possible for both limbs to be lost, thus forcing the character to fight with only their legs and head. Damage can also be done to the legs, but unlike the arms they cannot be removed. Sometimes, depending on when the blow is landed, an arm can be taken off with one or two hits.
Another notorious aspect of Time Killers is its Instant Kills or 'Death Move', which, if executed and hit successfully, will lop off the opponent's head and immediately end the round. It is simply done by pressing all five buttons at once. Unlike MK's 'Fatalities
Fatality (Mortal Kombat)
In the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games, a Fatality is a finishing move that can be used against one's defeated opponent at the end of the final match, after the boss character says "Finish Him/Her." The Fatalities are usually lethal, featuring a brutal and morbid execution of the defenseless...
', which can be done only after the opponent has been defeated in 2 rounds, they can be done any time the player desires. There is also a 'Super Death Move', which can only be done while next to the opponent and by pressing all five buttons while s/he is stunned while holding the joystick in the direction that moves the character toward the opponent. This attack removes both the arms and the head. When the round ends, any lost body parts (including the head) are 'magically' restored in a display of deus ex machina
Deus ex machina
A deus ex machina is a plot device whereby a seemingly inextricable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved with the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability, or object.-Linguistic considerations:...
as though nothing had happened.
Characters
Each of the characters in the game hails from a different period, bringing his/her own origins and weapons into the battle. The handbook that was made for the game goes into detail that explains the origins and background of each. A few of the characters are based on historical figures and legends.Rancid - A streetwise punk, framed for murder. He is from New Chicago in 2024 AD and carries a chainsaw. His 'X' shaped scar is from a battle he had with a man who was behind the X murders, which Rancid was being accused of. He managed to kill the man before disappearing. With this in mind, it is possible his backstory was somewhat inspired from Charles Manson
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...
, who had carved a swastika into his forehead with a knife. The scar may be a reference to the Fist of the North Star
Fist of the North Star
is a Japanese manga series written by Buronson and drawn by Tetsuo Hara that was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1983 to 1988, spanning 245 chapters, which were initially collected in a 27-volume tankōbon edition by Shueisha...
character Hyo.
Orion - A space hero of sorts who was supposedly grown in a test tube and loves riding in the vastness of space in the future period of A.D. 2885. He became a fugitive after escaping from police out of fear when he tried to report an alien attack that left no traces of evidence and now journeys to locate the aliens responsible. He fights with an electric sabre.
Thugg - A large, very powerful prehistoric caveman who wields a stone axe, having emerged from beyond "The Edge". He led a fierce and bloody battle against a reptilian alien race known as the Troglodytes, who were harvesting humans as cattle for food and slavery.
Lord Wülf - A heroic knight from the medieval ages. His family was murdered by Count Morbid, who tried to conquer England before he was destroyed by Wülf. He is supposedly based on King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
, even hailing from Camelot, England and wields the legendary sword known as Excalibur
Excalibur
Excalibur is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Great Britain. Sometimes Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone are said to be the same weapon, but in most versions they are considered separate. The sword was...
.
Leif - An adventurous Viking who carries a large battle axe. He was a constant thorn in the side of the mysterious and undead legions of the Black Army, led by Black Thorn, who aspired to take over the world. It is most likely that he is based on Leif Erikson.
Musashi - A samurai who fights with a sword. Musashi is a brilliant strategist and the finest general in Japan who lost his once-undefeated army to a horrifying dragon. Musashi himself was protected by the dragon's scale he wore and traveled for many years to find it and avenge his loss. Supposedly based on Miyamoto Musashi
Miyamoto Musashi
, also known as Shinmen Takezō, Miyamoto Bennosuke or, by his Buddhist name, Niten Dōraku, was a Japanese swordsman and rōnin. Musashi, as he was often simply known, became renowned through stories of his excellent swordsmanship in numerous duels, even from a very young age...
.
Mantazz - A mutant creature, resembling a praying mantis in appearance. She is the queen (as is implied in her background story) of a race of unknown origin from the far-off future of 4002 AD. Having overwhelmed an entire area and spreading quickly, these creatures wanted nothing but to cause death and destruction to humankind; after a fearsome war and the disappearance of their queen, both races managed to coexist peacefully. She fights with her razor claws.
Matrix - A female soldier from the future time of 3297 AD with a bionic arm in place of a limb she lost in a battle, giving her the ability to tap into the commands of cybernetic foes as a result. She uses a sword made of plasma as her weapon. In her period, all of the robots went mysteriously berserk and began to massacre humankind. She managed to defeat the Master Drone, but vanished shortly after her victory.
Death - The final boss of the game and the one responsible for the entire tournament and taking each of the fighters from their periods. Being the grim reaper
Death (personification)
The concept of death as a sentient entity has existed in many societies since the beginning of history. In English, Death is often given the name Grim Reaper and, from the 15th century onwards, came to be shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe and clothed in a black cloak with a hood...
, he carries a scythe. He cannot be defeated in a 2-out-of-3 match normally, and must be decapitated with a Death Move or a Super Death Move in order to beat the game.
Ports
The game was ported to the Mega Drive/GenesisSega Mega Drive
The Sega Genesis is a fourth-generation video game console developed and produced by Sega. It was originally released in Japan in 1988 as , then in North America in 1989 as Sega Genesis, and in Europe, Australia and other PAL regions in 1990 as Mega Drive. The reason for the two names is that...
and was scheduled for a release some time after the arcade game's, but was pushed back for a few years due to its violence level and gore. It was eventually published by Black Pearl in 1996 but sold poorly, due to being cited by most video game magazine critics as having incredibly poor graphics, sound and playability.