Time Pilot
{{Short description|1982 video game}}
{{Infobox video game
| title = Time Pilot
| image = Time Pilot Flyer.png
| caption = North American arcade flyer
| developer = Konami
| publisher = {{Video game release|WW|Konami{{cite web |title=Video Game Flyers: Time Pilot, Konami (USA) |url=https://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=thumbs&db=videodb&id=2780 |website=The Arcade Flyer Archive |access-date=7 April 2021}}{{cite web |title=Video Game Flyers: Time Pilot / Pooyan (Konami, UK) |url=https://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=thumbs&db=videodb&id=2957 |website=The Arcade Flyer Archive |access-date=7 April 2021}}|NA|Centuri|EU|Atari Ireland|FRA|Karateco{{cite web |title=Video Game Flyers: Time Pilot, Karateco (France) |url=https://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=thumbs&db=videodb&id=6519 |website=The Arcade Flyer Archive |access-date=7 April 2021}}|MENA|Atari Ireland}}
| designer = Yoshiki Okamoto
| artist = Hideki Ooyama
| composer = Masahiro Inoue
| platforms = Arcade, Atari 2600, MSX, ColecoVision
| release = Arcade {{Video game release|JP|November 1982{{cite web |title=TIME PILOT |url=https://mediaarts-db.bunka.go.jp/id/M733292 |website=Media Arts Database |publisher=Agency for Cultural Affairs |access-date=5 May 2021}}|WW|January 1983{{cite book |last1=Akagi |first1=Masumi |title=アーケードTVゲームリスト国内•海外編(1971-2005) |trans-title=Arcade TV Game List: Domestic • Overseas Edition (1971-2005) |date=October 13, 2006 |publisher=Amusement News Agency |language=ja |location=Japan |isbn=978-4990251215 |page=113 |url=https://archive.org/details/ArcadeGameList1971-2005/page/n114}}}} Atari 2600 {{Video game release|WW|1983}} ColecoVision{{Video game release|WW|1983}}MSX{{Video game release|EU|1983|JP|December 1984}}
| genre = Multidirectional shooter
| modes = Single-player, multiplayer
}}
{{Nihongo foot|Time Pilot|タイムパイロット|Taimu pairotto|lead=yes|group=lower-alpha}} is a multidirectional shooter arcade video game designed by Yoshiki Okamoto and released by Konami in 1982. It was distributed in the United States by Centuri,{{cite magazine|title=Overseas Readers Column - Konami's Video "Time Pilot" Licensed To Century Of U.S.A.|magazine=Game Machine|issue=203|publisher=Amusement Press, Inc.|date=15 December 1982|page=30|lang=ja}} and by Atari Ireland in Europe and the Middle East.{{cite magazine |title=Industry News: Atari, Konami Announce Pact For 'Time Pilot' |magazine=Cash Box |date=18 December 1982 |page=106 |url=https://archive.org/details/cashbox44unse_27/page/n155 |publisher=Cash Box Pub. Co.}} While engaging in aerial combat, the player-controlled jet flies across open airspace that scrolls indefinitely in all directions.{{cite web|title=Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits - NDS - Review|publisher=GameZone |date=April 9, 2007|url=http://nds.gamezone.com/reviews/item/konami_classics_series_arcade_hits_nds_review|accessdate=2011-04-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110809142455/http://nds.gamezone.com/reviews/item/konami_classics_series_arcade_hits_nds_review|archive-date=2011-08-09|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=Konami Arcade Classics: Well, at least it's classic|website=IGN |date=January 7, 2000|url=http://psx.ign.com/articles/161/161714p1.html |accessdate=2011-04-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728114606/http://psx.ign.com/articles/161/161714p1.html|archive-date=2011-07-28|url-status=live}} Each level is themed to a different time period. Home ports for the Atari 2600, MSX, and ColecoVision were released in 1983.
A top-down sequel, Time Pilot '84, was released in arcades in 1984. It drops the time travel motif and instead takes place over a futuristic landscape.
Gameplay
Players assume the role of a pilot of a futuristic fighter jet trying to rescue fellow pilots trapped in different time eras. The player's jet remains in the center of the screen at all times, and the eight-direction joystick causes their jet to rotate to face in that direction, causing the screen to scroll in that direction to present forward motion.
In each level, players battle many enemy aircraft and the occasional stronger aircraft. After a fixed number of these aircraft are destroyed, as displayed on a bar at the bottom right of the screen, a mothership appears. Once the mothership is defeated, they move onto the next time period. Parachuting pilots will occasionally appear and award players points if collected.
There are five levels: 1910, 1940, 1970, 1982/1983{{efn|As this level represents what was then the present day, all releases of Time Pilot produced after 1982 contain an updated version of the game that changes the year to 1983.}} and 2001. After the fifth level is finished, the game repeats thereafter.
Extra lives are given at 10,000 points, and per 50,000 scored up to 960,000; thereafter, the game goes to "survival of the fittest" mode.
Fighters are destroyed if they collide into bullets, enemy ships, bombs or missiles. Game ends when their last fighter is destroyed.
Development
According to his account, Yoshiki Okamoto's proposal for Time Pilot was initially rejected by his boss at Konami, who assigned Okamoto to work on a driving game instead. Okamoto secretly gave instructions to his programmer to work on his idea, while pretending to be working on a driving game in front of his boss.{{cite web |url=http://www.videogames.com/features/universal/okamoto/oktime.html |title=VideoGameSpot's Interview with Yoshiki Okamoto|last=Kent|first=Steven |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19981207033331/http://www.videogames.com/features/universal/okamoto/oktime.html |archive-date=December 7, 1998}}
Reception
In Japan, the annual Game Machine chart listed Time Pilot as the fifth highest-grossing arcade video game of 1982.{{cite magazine|title="Pole Position" No. 1 Video Game: Game Machine{{'}}s "The Year's Best Three AM Machines" Survey Results|magazine=Game Machine|issue=207|publisher=Amusement Press, Inc.|date=1 March 1983|page=30|url=https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19830301p.pdf#page=16}} Game Machine later listed Time Pilot on their June 1, 1983 issue as being the eighteenth most popular arcade title of the month.{{cite magazine|title=Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型TVゲーム機 (Table Videos)|magazine=Game Machine|issue=213|publisher=Amusement Press, Inc.|date=1 June 1983|page=29|lang=ja}}
In the United States, the game topped the Play Meter arcade earnings chart in February 1983.{{cite magazine |title=The Top 15 Arcade Games: February 15, 1983 |magazine=Video Games |date=April 1983 |volume=1 |issue=7 |page=82 |url=https://archive.org/details/Video_Games_Volume_1_Number_07_1983-04_Pumpkin_Press_US/page/n81}} The Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) later listed it among the thirteen highest-earning arcade games of 1983.{{cite magazine |title=AMOA Votes On Annual Game Awards |magazine=Cash Box |date=October 29, 1983 |page=60 |url=https://archive.org/details/cashbox45unse_20/page/68}}
Computer and Video Games magazine gave the arcade game a generally favorable review upon release.{{cite magazine |title=Arcade Action |magazine=Computer and Video Games |date=16 April 1983 |issue=19 (May 1983) |pages=30–1 |url=https://www.solvalou.com/arcade/reviews/176/493}}
Legacy
= Re-releases =
- Super Famicom as a Time Pilot '95 bonus game in Ganbare Goemon Kirakira Douchuu: Boku ga Dancer ni Natta Wake.
- PlayStation in Konami Arcade Classics, 1999.
- Game Boy Advance as part of Konami Collector's Series: Arcade Advanced on March 18, 2002.{{cite web | url=http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/694/694557p1.html | title=GBA Gems: Konami Collector's Series: Arcade Advanced | work=IGN | date=8 March 2006 | accessdate=2006-09-01 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614000105/http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/694/694557p1.html | archive-date=2011-06-14 | url-status=live}} This version includes a hidden sixth era, 1,000,000 BC, with pterodactyls.
- PlayStation 2 as part of the Oretachi Geasen Zoku Sono series in 2005 in Japan.
- Xbox 360 as part of Xbox Live Arcade on August 30, 2006.{{cite web | url=http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/11668/Time-Pilot-Flies-Onto-Xbox-Live-Marketplace/ | publisher=IGN | work=TeamXbox | accessdate=2006-09-01 | title=Time Pilot Flies Onto Xbox Live Marketplace | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205003151/http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/11668/Time-Pilot-Flies-Onto-Xbox-Live-Marketplace/ | archive-date=2012-02-05 | url-status=dead}}
- Nintendo DS as part of Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits.
- i-mode mobile phones in Japan, 2004.
- Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 as part of Arcade Archives on 27 May 2021.[https://nintendohill.com/2021/05/hamster-brings-classic-time-pilot-84-to-nintendo-switch-tomorrow-as-part-of-arcade-archives/ Hamster brings classic Time Pilot '84 to Nintendo Switch tomorrow as part of Arcade Archives]
=Clones=
Fury is a 1983 clone from Computer Shack for the TRS-80 Color Computer.{{cite web|last=Boyle|first=L. Curtis|title=Fury |url=http://www.lcurtisboyle.com/nitros9/fury.html |website=The Tandy Color Computer Games List}} Two clones, both called Space Pilot but otherwise unrelated, were released in 1984 and 1986: from Kingsoft for the Commodore 16 and Commodore 64{{cite web|title=Space-Pilot|url=http://www.lemon64.com/?mainurl=http%3A//www.lemon64.com/games/details.php%3FID%3D2396|website=Lemon64}} and Superior Software for the BBC Micro. Vector Pilot is a 2011 hobbyist-written clone for the Vectrex console.{{cite web|last=Tuts|first=Kristof |title=Vector Pilot|url=https://tbone1892001.wixsite.com/vectrex-guide/vector-pilot|website=The Definitive Guide to Vectrex Collecting}}
Notes
{{Notelist}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{KLOV game|id=10119}}
- [http://www.arcade-history.com/?page=detail&id=2906 Time Pilot] at the Arcade History database
- [http://www.centuri.net/timepilot.htm Time Pilot] entry at the Centuri.net Arcade Database
{{Konami franchises}}
Category:Arcade Archives games
Category:Multidirectional shooters
Category:Video games about time travel
Category:Xbox 360 Live Arcade games
Category:Video games developed in Japan