Time Killers - why did this great fighter go unnoticed?

[Zap!]

With the exception of Street Fighter II, Time Killers was my favorite one-on-one fighting game. You could cut off your opponents legs, arms, and even heads. Yet it never gained the massive popularity that SFII or Mortal Kombat had. Heck, it never even gained popularity comparable to the Neo-Geo fighters. Why? It was awesome. Or maybe it's just me? As far as I know, it was only released on the Genesis. How is that version compared to the arcade? I would love to have seen it released on a better system (Saturn, N64, etc.). Opinions?

[norkusa]

This was one of my favs back in the day. Sure, Street Fighter was always number one but Time Killers was was a blast to play. The local 7-11 had this for a while back when it was new and I'd play it all the time. I'd always play as the guy with the chainsaw and thought it was great how your opponent could still fight even after you hacked a couple of their limbs off.

I'd love to play Time Killers again but I don't own the Genesis cart and every single TK rom I've downloaded off the net won't work for some reason. :/

[Jed]

I was always the chainsaw guy too. I remember playing this on Sega Channel back in the day, and I was fascinated at the massive amounts of dismemberment that was in the game. I need to find a copy of it so I can play it again.

[RetroYoungen]

Time Killers was just so bad that I loved it SO much. It used to be at the local (tiny) water slides, and I would spend more time in that arcade than I would actually in the water. It was a lot of fun, even if once in a while that Nordic dude would cut my head off with a single move less than two seconds in.

[DeputyMoniker]

Time Killers was covered a few months ago in an issue of Digital Press. I never liked the game. It didnt go by unnoticed, it was just a terrible game. It was just a bloody ripoff of SFII & Mortal Kombat. I consider Time Killers to be one of the worst games of all time but then again, I havent played it in about 12 years. Perhaps I'll give it another shot if I happen to see it around. But for now my memories are of a virtual one button fighting system, crap graphics, one hit kills, slow response and awkward movement.

[googlefest1]

i think its one of the worst fighters out there -- i couldnt stand the game - i knew people that liked it becasue you can hack the other guy up but i just couldnt get into it

i looked at it and said to my self - some @ss licker put this thing together in 10 min to cash in on the violent fighter fad

[pragmatic insanester]

even though the genesis port was supposed to be bastardly, i still want to find and purchase a copy (hinthint).

[Slimedog]

This game was largely unnoticed because it frankly wasn't very good. The fun lies mainly in the dismemberment aspect and that can only go so far. Technically the fighting engine in it wasn't very sophisticated and the one hit kills made it pretty unbalanced. Compared to other fighters at the time, the graphics and sound were substandard at best. That being said, I thought killing a guy with my head because he has chopped off my arms was a pretty neat thing, but honestly these concepts weren't carried over to other games for a reason. An interesting footnote to 2D fighters, but not a classic.

[MegaDrive20XX]

The Arcade version I've seen once. That was pretty neat how the control set up was like. Right Leg, Left Leg, Right Arm, Left Arm.

As soon as a body part was chopped off, you were still okay lol

At the time I thought it was original, a blend of Eternal Champions like gameplay, but with the gore of Mortal Kombat pretty much.

By the time I saw this game again, it was being degraded in an issue of GamePro magazine as the worst fighter ever.

Which ask one question that comes to mind...Who made this game?

[Sotenga]

Bah... Timeslaughter owns this game's arse.

Well, seeing as how I can't even beat the first freaking enemy every time I think it's a good idea to play TK, that turns me off to it. It's not a bad concept, but other violent games involving the use of time travel such as the aforementioned Timeslaughter and the awesome Eternal Champions make this game look like the hind end of a chicken-fried marmoset... whatever the hell that looks like. Anyway, I will give compliments to its sequel, Bloodstorm, which actually held my attention long enough to find all the hidden characters (via savestates, I'm not THAT good) and kick their asses. As much of a Mortal Kombat ripoff as this game can be considered, I guess it has its camp value... just try not to take it too seriously, mmmkay?

[Gamereviewgod]

Wait a minute...

Wait a minute....

Wait...

Wait...

Did I just read Time Killers and great fighter in the same sentence?

[MegaDrive20XX]

Wait a minute...

Wait a minute....

Wait...

Wait...

Did I just read Time Killers and great fighter in the same sentence?

Yes, you have entered a dimension...You unlock this door with the key of imagination, beyond it is another dimension. A dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossedover into . . . The Twilight Zone.....

[98PaceCar]

Time Killers was great, but it's sequel Blood Storm was way better! It really turned into a parody of all the popular fighting games of the day. Yea, it kinda sucks (kinda is the nice way to say it) but it's so bad it's fun!

[Arcade Antics]

Time Killers = complete and utter crap. Easily among the worst fighting games ever. EVER.

Bloodstorm (the sequel) = also crap.

If you want to play a crappy arcade fighter that's "so bad it's almost good," check out Tattoo Assassins. At least you can actually play that one a little bit. Unlike Time Killers.

[98PaceCar]

Time Killers = complete and utter crap. Easily among the worst fighting games ever. EVER.

Bloodstorm (the sequel) = also crap.

If you want to play a crappy arcade fighter that's "so bad it's almost good," check out Tattoo Assassins. At least you can actually play that one a little bit. Unlike Time Killers.

No, the worst fighting game ever was Pit Fighter. That game was the suckiest bunch of suck that ever sucked! Martial Champions is up there in contention too! Either one of those is way worse than even Time Killers!

The problem with Tattoo Assassins is that it was never really released. I knew of 1 complete, dedicated cab in private hands and heard of 2 others with no artwork. I never really heard of too many people that had boards either. Though I do agree with you, it would have been a really good bad game. Has it been added to mame yet?

[davepesc]

I liked time killers in the arcade. Dismemberment = FUN!

The one I never "got" was Primal Rage, where monkeys and dinosaurs with what seemed like 2 moves each snapped and whipped their tails at each other. Now that was a bad fighter.

[fishsandwich]

I played Time Killers at the arcade back in college. I thought it was terrible.

I have it for the Genesis. It's even worse. Terrrible, almost NES-quality graphics. Blecch!

Seriously... take a look at the comparison below. This is supposed to be the same stage on both games, folks. One of the characters si the same, too (Matrix.) Take a look at the Rocket coming out of the ground and the cityscape beyond. There was no need for this shoddy of a conversion!


Arcade version...




Genesis version...

[Arcade Antics]

No, the worst fighting game ever was Pit Fighter. That game was the suckiest bunch of suck that ever sucked! Martial Champions is up there in contention too! Either one of those is way worse than even Time Killers!

I dunno, is Pit Fighter really a fighting game? One the one hand, you do fight other characters... but it's more of a free for all fest than a 1 on 1 fighter like SF, Time Killers, etc. I'm also willing to cut it some slack for being an early (first?) digitized fighter. There's just no excuse for Time Killers - they were cloning two of the most popular fighters of the day and still managed to make an unplayable mess. Pit Fighter is at least a little bit playable.

Either way, here's 200 meseta for dropping one of the greatest all time Simpsons quotes.

@davepesc: I still don't get Primal Rage either. It looks pretty good, but it, like Time Killers, is a sluggish, unplayable mess.

@fishsandwich: The Genesis port of TK was scheduled to hit the stores right after the arcade version, but someone realized how much it sucked and shelved it. Then in the final years of the Genny lifespan, THQ picked it up and released it. Good ol' THQ...

[98PaceCar]

I dunno, is Pit Fighter really a fighting game? One the one hand, you do fight other characters... but it's more of a free for all fest than a 1 on 1 fighter like SF, Time Killers, etc. I'm also willing to cut it some slack for being an early (first?) digitized fighter. There's just no excuse for Time Killers - they were cloning two of the most popular fighters of the day and still managed to make an unplayable mess. Pit Fighter is at least a little bit playable.

You know, as I was typing that I started debate with myself whether or not Pit Fighter is a fighting game or not. I guess it almost falls more into the scroll-to-the-right-and-kill-anything-that-moves category, except that you can't scroll! I believe you are correct, it wasn't the first fighting game (I believe Karate Champ has that honor) and I'm pretty certain it was the first game with digitized players.

Admittedly, Time Killers is pretty bad. I do think that they cleaned up things a bit before Bloodstorm though. It's not near as bad as TK and as a parody game, it's really fun! Fun enough that it will have a place of honor in my multi-jamma fighting cab (along with all 5 MK, KI 1, and SF2 Turbo)!

Thanks for the Meseta! One step closer to my goal!! <evil laugh>

[AB Positive]

Primal Rage is playable if you remove everything you know from fighters save for SF3:TS....

most of the special moves are done by holding buttons down first, doing a joystick motion and then -releasing- the buttons, a style of play somewhat incorporated into Third strike as negative edges. It works, but it's quirky and not for everyone.

*end PR defense*

-AG