We are still waiting on a suitable Amiga AGA emulator with robust recording features before tackling such games.
Time Commando
Time Commando, Original game developed by Adeline Software. Saturn conversion by Virtual Studio and published by Acclaim in 1998 exclusively in the Japanese region.
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Player's Review
"The goal is to become a futuristic computer engineer and restore the cores of eight historical eras. A 3D fighting action game that attracts attention for its unprecedented camera work and scrolling. With over 45 types of weapons and over 80 types of enemies, there's plenty of challenge!"
A late release on the Saturn coming out two years after the Dos and PlayStation versions. Due to a game bug, the game isn't ordinarily completable, a sign of how good quality control. The game has been patched by 'bbayles' to allow progress past Future 2 (level 16). The Saturn game looks and feels unfinished and maybe didn't make the cut for a eu/us release. There is no narrative in the intro to explain what is going on. The game looks notably lower resolution than the PS1 game especially the 3d models for enemies which seem to be missing textures and looking overall flat in the Saturn game. The electric/glow effect on the blue time bubble stuff seem to be missing the white glow texture and is no longer transparent. Overall, the Saturn game feels slower especially when the fmv background is moving and the low framerate can really mess with the timing for attack and defence moves.
In Time Commando you are playing through many different points in history. Whist collect virus infected chips, you are also fighting the local populist of that era with there own weapons. Some rooms are hidden and take a little exploration to find as well as many hidden collectables in the scenery which can offer up weapons or health. Due to the way the camera/fmv moves though, you need to get into these areas quick as there is no way to go back once out of view. In some levels you can cash in memory chips for some extra time. There is usually plenty of yellow and red health pickups as well as pizza shaped parts for extra lives. Some levels contain a scroll that extends your life bar. Considering the amount of kings and warlords you kill along the way, its surprising your future still exists! The combat is fairly simple. Choose the best weapon and keep hitting the enemy till they drop. You can also defend to absorb any attacks. Some enemies can be more annoying than other seemingly able to dodge anything you do. Projectile weapons also need to be manually reloaded leaving you open to attack in a fight. Sometimes it is possible for enemies to hit each other in a crossfire leading them to fight each other but due to time pressure, its best to resolve it yourself.
In contrast to my previous PlayStation longplay of the game, I have made a conscious effort to go for 100% everything this time around while on hard difficulty, not that it makes any difference to the games overall outcome. Modern Wars 1 only has 97% for chips collected. All the hidden ones are found but the game seems think there are visible ones missed, I think this may be a bug in all versions. In future 1, whilst going down the lift, a very mean robot turret awaits. On hard difficulty, while you can get a few hits in, it will fire back and drain your life allowing you to kill it whist invulnerable for a few seconds on your next life. I chose to instead activate the lift ignoring the fight. Only a red health pickup is awarded when defeating it. At the end of the game, I enter a code to show the secret level which takes place in an arena and tack on a couple of the death videos at the very end.
00:00:00 - Intro
00:04:10 - Prehistory Level 1
00:08:55 - Prehistory Level 2
00:15:00 - Roman Empire Level 1
00:25:55 - Roman Empire Level 2
00:35:08 - Japanese Middle Age Level 1
00:41:42 - Japanese Middle Age Level 2
00:48:50 - European Middle Age Level 1
01:01:28 - European Middle Age Level 2
01:14:30 - Conquistadors Level 1
01:23:28 - Conquistadors Level 2
01:39:32 - Wild West Level 1
01:47:35 - Wild West Level 2
01:53:00 - Modern Wars Level 1
02:05:50 - Modern Wars Level 2
02:21:50 - Future Level 1
02:32:01 - Future Level 2
02:43:18 - Beyond Time
02:50:51 - Credits
---------------------------------------------------
02:59:08 - Secret Level: Adeline Arena
03:01:22 - Game Over 1 (All lives depleted)
03:01:39 - Game Over 3 (Ran out of time)
03:02:01 - Game Over 2 (Forgot to put suit on)
A late release on the Saturn coming out two years after the Dos and PlayStation versions. Due to a game bug, the game isn't ordinarily completable, a sign of how good quality control. The game has been patched by 'bbayles' to allow progress past Future 2 (level 16). The Saturn game looks and feels unfinished and maybe didn't make the cut for a eu/us release. There is no narrative in the intro to explain what is going on. The game looks notably lower resolution than the PS1 game especially the 3d models for enemies which seem to be missing textures and looking overall flat in the Saturn game. The electric/glow effect on the blue time bubble stuff seem to be missing the white glow texture and is no longer transparent. Overall, the Saturn game feels slower especially when the fmv background is moving and the low framerate can really mess with the timing for attack and defence moves.
In Time Commando you are playing through many different points in history. Whist collect virus infected chips, you are also fighting the local populist of that era with there own weapons. Some rooms are hidden and take a little exploration to find as well as many hidden collectables in the scenery which can offer up weapons or health. Due to the way the camera/fmv moves though, you need to get into these areas quick as there is no way to go back once out of view. In some levels you can cash in memory chips for some extra time. There is usually plenty of yellow and red health pickups as well as pizza shaped parts for extra lives. Some levels contain a scroll that extends your life bar. Considering the amount of kings and warlords you kill along the way, its surprising your future still exists! The combat is fairly simple. Choose the best weapon and keep hitting the enemy till they drop. You can also defend to absorb any attacks. Some enemies can be more annoying than other seemingly able to dodge anything you do. Projectile weapons also need to be manually reloaded leaving you open to attack in a fight. Sometimes it is possible for enemies to hit each other in a crossfire leading them to fight each other but due to time pressure, its best to resolve it yourself.
In contrast to my previous PlayStation longplay of the game, I have made a conscious effort to go for 100% everything this time around while on hard difficulty, not that it makes any difference to the games overall outcome. Modern Wars 1 only has 97% for chips collected. All the hidden ones are found but the game seems think there are visible ones missed, I think this may be a bug in all versions. In future 1, whilst going down the lift, a very mean robot turret awaits. On hard difficulty, while you can get a few hits in, it will fire back and drain your life allowing you to kill it whist invulnerable for a few seconds on your next life. I chose to instead activate the lift ignoring the fight. Only a red health pickup is awarded when defeating it. At the end of the game, I enter a code to show the secret level which takes place in an arena and tack on a couple of the death videos at the very end.
00:00:00 - Intro
00:04:10 - Prehistory Level 1
00:08:55 - Prehistory Level 2
00:15:00 - Roman Empire Level 1
00:25:55 - Roman Empire Level 2
00:35:08 - Japanese Middle Age Level 1
00:41:42 - Japanese Middle Age Level 2
00:48:50 - European Middle Age Level 1
01:01:28 - European Middle Age Level 2
01:14:30 - Conquistadors Level 1
01:23:28 - Conquistadors Level 2
01:39:32 - Wild West Level 1
01:47:35 - Wild West Level 2
01:53:00 - Modern Wars Level 1
02:05:50 - Modern Wars Level 2
02:21:50 - Future Level 1
02:32:01 - Future Level 2
02:43:18 - Beyond Time
02:50:51 - Credits
---------------------------------------------------
02:59:08 - Secret Level: Adeline Arena
03:01:22 - Game Over 1 (All lives depleted)
03:01:39 - Game Over 3 (Ran out of time)
03:02:01 - Game Over 2 (Forgot to put suit on)
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