On another forum the topic came up about time travel related video games, and it is disappointing how few games involve something as interesting as time travel. It's even more disappointing how few games allow you to move forward and backwards in time (i.e. go from 2013 to say 1910) and alter things which then effect the future. Most games involving time travel just use it as an excuse for giving you different era graphics and settings, and don't allow you the freedom to decide when to jump to, or how to effect the future. So, what games involve time travel, and in what way(s)? * Please don't post any spoilers * These are the ones that occur to me. Time travel in story (where you jump between different years, but you, as the player, don't get to choose of your own free will when to go to, it's all pre-scripted); Timesplitters (PS2), Timesplitters 2 (PS2, XBox 1, Gamecube) (great game) Timesplitters: Future Perfect (PS2, XBox 1, Gamecube) (very good game indeed, my favourite cross-platform game of the PS2 generation), Singularity (PC, XBox 360, PS3) (a great game, sort of like Bioshock crossed with Half-Life 2, where you go between the present and fifty or so years ago), Duke Nukem: Zero Hour (N64) (A great game, that only about seven people seem to have played), Duke Nukem: Time to Kill (Playstation), Body Harvest (N64) (A great game, that only about fifteen people seem to have played), Clive Barker's Undying (PC) The Day of the Tentacle (PC) (a funny (humourous) game, where (if I recall correctly) a few things you do in the past do effect the future) Time manipulation, as in you control time in the game including reverse time; Timeshift (PC, XBox 360, PS3) (some very good time manipulation abilities (the best I've seen in any game), which are slow time, reverse time, and pause, and the whole game world acts accordingly. These abilities work very well (and look great too, especially the rain when it's paused or reversed (falling upwards!) and it's great freezing time and killing an enemy, then restarting time and watching him react to the bullet) and it would be a great game if the level design wasn't so varied in quality, and to preserve gameplay the abilities only last for a few seconds then have to recharge themselves for twice as long. The time abilities are brilliant though, it's the sometimes bad level design that stops this from being a classic of the first person shooter genre. Plus the story is an incoherent mess, but it's mainly the tedious levels that occur at parts during the (long) game that stop this game from being what it should be. And to add insult to injury, Timeshift never had it's SDK released, so modders couldn't alter anything, a real shame, as the time mechanics in the game are the best I've seen in any game ever, and good modders could have built a fantastic game around them), Blinx: The Time Sweeper (XBox 1), Blinx 2 (XBox 1), Braid (PC, XBox 360) (a very over-rated game I thought, yes it's very pretty, and clever in parts, but it's not much fun) Time manipulation, as in you can slow down the forward progress of time, not really time-travel (especially since you only slow down time in effect, in reality you speed yourself up so it looks like everything else slows down); Project Snowblind (PS2, XBox 1, Gamecube) (a good game) Perfect Dark (N64, and XBox 360) (on the 360 it's the XBLA port of the N64 game, not the XBox 360 exclusive Perfect Dark Zero, which is *far* inferior to Perfect Dark. Actually Perfect Dark Zero might also allow you to slow down time, I don't remember), Timesplitters: Future Perfect (mentioned above, but you can also slow down time using time grenades), Singularity (PC, XBox 360, PS3) (yes, another repeat mention, and in this game, like Timesplitters: Future Perfect, you have time grenades, in this case it's an effect of the Time Manipulation Device you find in the game, you can also age/make younger some things, but only between the two states of one young age and one old age), Max Payne (PC, XBox), Max Payne 2 (PC, XBox) I've not played Max Payne 3, so I don't know if it incorporates Bullet Time, but I'd imagine it would. Time manipulation, in that you double back in time to assist yourself; Wiwo Dido: the Case of the Broken Time Machine (ZX Spectrum), There's a comprehensive list of time travel related games at; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_containing_time_travel but it contains huge spoilers (with no warnings :evil in the same column where it details what sort of time travel/manipulation the game contains, so the list isn't much use to anyone who's looking for time travel games of a given type but who doesn't want to read spoilers.
Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross are the obvious two being able to visit multiple locations in different eras of time. Then of course there's (The Legend of Zelda) Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask both of which allow for a huge manipulation of time, especially there latter. There's also a small degree of time travel in Skyward Sword as well, but in its own manner, actually there's probably a little bit of time travel in most Zelda games. There's loads more I just can't think off the top of my head.
Sonic Adventure has some in the past. Sonic Adventure 2 had CS, so doesn't really count. Sonic Next/2006, and how... Shadow the Hedgehog Edit: Phantasy Star Zero possibly
Well TMNT turtle in time make you travel. Prince of persia you got a time manipulation. The stupid game of mario's time machine you can enter the era. Another that involve time travel and is old is Time Soldiers. Sonic CD have some kind of time change also. Star ocean and even god of war 2 involve some kind of time travel.
Sonic CD, shocked it wasnt in the list as it was the first game that came to mind Also, it was sonic 2 that was rumored to use time travel at one point in development....not sonic 1
Time Pilot (Konami - Arcade) E.V.O. for SNES and Evolution for C64 and Colecovision. Hi no Tori - Famicon (featured in GameCenter CX) Super Star Soldier - Famicon (featured in GameCenter CX) Time Killers and Kasumi Ninja both feature time travel in their "stories".
XZR & Exile (PCE/CD) - story driven & you have no control on it. I don't want to give any spoilers. Time Pilot (arcade) - just part of the story to go through different eras of air combat Time Traveler - Sega Hologram game where you are just a time traveler traveling without the ability to control it. Power ups in the shmup Sine Mora allows you to slow down or reverse time to make it easier to dodge bullets. Sleeping Dogs has a similar mechanic to Bullet time in Max Payne, but it's not time manipulation, it's like your adrenaline is pumping so hard it just seems like everything else around you is slowing down. Would "Time Mage" type class in Final Fantasy games count? Also, in DJ Hero you can reverse the mix to do a part over to increase score. I'm not sure if this is time travel or if you are just rewinding the mix... Axl Low in Guilty Gear series is a time traveller. Time Killers is a fighting game where all the fighters were picked from different parts in time to fight in a tournament.
It was mentioned in the second post, but if you skipped through and didn't see it then you were right to post the name, as it is supposedly a very good game (I've not yet played it, but the people I know who have all loved it). Other good Zelda games I've yet to try are Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, A link to the Past, and Twilight Princess. I have them all, including Ocarina of Time, but haven't got around to trying them (my gaming backlog is huge, and I have little free time, and I love replaying my favourite games, so my backlog is very slow moving).
Final Fantasy VIII has the whole "time compression" thing, and the Laguna scenes are kinda time travel I guess? Of course, there's a swathe of Back to the Future games, all involving time travel in some form.
Tales of Phantasia, Mario & Luigi Partner's in Time, Time Diver on NES. That's all I can think of this early in the morning
"Time Lord" for NES takes places in various historical times. "Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego", does that count? XD In "Plok" for SNES there are some levels where you play in black-and-white as your grandfather in the past, how about that? "Pushmo" lets you rewind time to undo your mistakes, like in "Prince of Persia". "Crusader of Centy" on Genesis has a sequence where you adventure in the past. The "999" series on DS/3DS has some time travel-y stuff in it but it would be spoilers to explain.
