This game made such an impression on me the first time we went to California Extreme! There was nothing else quite like it, and to this day it’s still such a sight to see. It’s not a great game or anything, it just looks really cool!
Time Traveler is a LaserDisc game not unlike the classics Dragon’s Lair or Space Ace. The game has you controlling a time traveling cowboy as he ventures through time to stop an evil lord from disrupting the flow or time or something? I don’t know the story isn’t important, it’s the presentation that are the really winner here.
Rather than being a large animated game you play like the aforementioned Dragon’s Lair/Space Ace, Time Traveler projects it’s image on a flat screen you look down upon. There are physical objects like cubes and cones that are on the screen that appear to be in the game itself (though the actual video feed overlays the plane the physical objects rest). This is what makes the game really stand out: it just looks really damn cool!
Gameplay-wise you’re coincidentally doing the exact same things you do in every other LaserDisc game I’ve played: Quite Time Events. You will need to dodge quickly using the Dpad to avoid being shot, press a button to draw your gun and fire, and so forth. Being a game of this ilk you’re going to fail. A lot. I played this at California Extreme where there were huge lines, so I felt guilty to have to make other wait. However, at Galloping Ghost there was no line, and I was able to sink more time into it… which resulted in my death an uncountable number of times before giving up on the third stage. These games are unique, for sure, they just aren’t for me.
I have only ever seen this cabinet in those two places: the world’s largest private arcade in Galloping Ghost, and an arcade convention show. I just don’t know what I would have done if I saw something like this in my local arcade growing up. It’s such a neat game and the presentation is unlike anything else! The white cabinet and futuristic font actually still looks good to this day as well!
This one is definitely worth your time if you happen to find the cabinet in your ventures. However, unless you really like LaserDisc games, you won’t really find anything all that new in terms of gameplay.
*Played at Galloping Ghost Arcade in Brookfiled, IL 2019
