Game:

Time Lord (1990)

Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 28:03

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3

Streamed live over at https://www.twitch.tv/chid_255 come join us next time I stream!

I have been haunted by this game for 4 years now, used to play it off and on trying to make it even a little further. Welp, I grinded this game for over 6 hours on Twitch, and, I BEAT IT, FINALLY.

One of the most absurd "video games" ever. I'm sure the guys at Rare had a hearty laugh knowing they released a weapon of mass destruction on child Nintendo players in 1990. Real funny guys, I'm cracking up too, having to replay a 25 minute game for 25 hours, epic, fantastic even. I'm getting a little pissed just thinking about the struggle playing this. Let me start with what makes this game so ridiculously hard.

First, lives, you get 3 lives, then it's back to the title screen, you can get a few more later, but keeping them is near impossible. To beat a level, you need to get 4 red orbs, then fight a boss. These orbs are often really hard to find, sometimes you gotta do obscure tasks that make no sense, like jumping up some pillars to make one appear out of thin air, or kicking the goddamn air to send yourself flying up to find an orb, how, how does anyone think to do that???

Levels are gauntlets filled with enemies hungry to deplete that life bar in just a few hits, knights, wolves, cowboys, aliens, even the Nazis jump in on the action to kick your ass. And some levels like the Dora Marie just go on and on, few HP upgrades, and an end boss that is INFURIATING.

This game relies heavily on invincibility frames, aka, during your attack animation or after you die, you get a moment where you cannot take damage, emphasis on the former. Once your attack animation ends, you get just a moment to get another attack in before your i frames end and you are vulnerable. A few enemies do NOT take that opportunity for granted. They're on top of you in the snap of a finger, too fast to escape, all you can do is hope to get your i frames right so you don't get killed.

The specific moment this reminds me of is the giant clam, the boss fight of the Dora Marie. Dear God, it's awful, you can just see what I mean at this timestamp. 2 hits, dead, i frame abuse, you're gonna need that, a lot. 14:30

I actually like this game despite the difficulty, it's suffering trying to grind to beat it, but casual runs can be pretty enjoyable. The idea of going back in time has great potential for interesting gameplay, and this game does it well. Finding unique weapons based off the time period is a great idea, you get a sword for Castle Harman, a pistol and shotgun for Dead Man's Gulch, throwing daggers for the Dora Marie, Grenades for the frontline trenches, and some crazy futuristic guns when you get back to 2999 A.D.

The soundtrack by David Wise is excellent, the NES sound chip was limited, but David knew how to rock out on this thing, one of the all time best composers on this console, second only to maybe Timothy Follin. The title theme is what comes to mind, this song is jammin! ( https://youtu.be/YJmhVODe47s?si=Sn3Sp1i-7ZpNBZvi )
Castle Harman also sounds great on the old Nintendo as well!

The final boss is pretty hard, but not unfair like the clam. You need to use your i frames, but only to pass though the heads flying at you safely, and not every waking second of the fight, praying you don't miss the input and get blasted for over 60% of your lifebar. The game is good, not amazing as I thought of it back 4 years ago, but worth a try.

7.7/10

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