Time Pilot

When I first picked up Time Pilot, I wasn't sure what to expect. Most of Konami's arcade games escaped my attention up until recently, so they tend to be a surprise every time I pick one up. Although the game's title kind of gave away its concept, I was only seconds in before I started geeking out over traveling through time and battling weaponized aircraft from five different decades. It's still just as basic of a story as any other arcade game, but the concept just did something for me that shooting aliens without an origin didn't.

When you boil it all down, Time Pilot is a game about shooting and surviving. You are given what seems to be a horizontal view of the sky with 360 degrees of navigational capability in which you must maneuver to avoid enemies and incoming fire. However, you won't be able to win as a pacifist. The game requires you to take out a certain amount of opposing aircraft before it spawns the boss-like enemy that you must defeat in order to travel to the next era. These bosses are relatively simplistic, but you still have to dodge the regular enemies while you try to defeat them, which adds a nice challenge. Normally I try to avoid super challenging arcade titles, as I want to see everything a game has to offer, but I am just not skilled enough to do so. Thankfully, Time Pilot didn't feel as unfair as I was expecting it to, and I ended up doing pretty well once I got used to the controls.

I still wouldn't consider this to be the most accessible of arcade games, but its difficulty is definitely more approachable. Also, the level structure isn't as developed as something like Dig Dug, but it blows Space Invaders out of the water. This, in my opinion, makes Time Pilot a good middle-ground kind of arcade game, giving players good variety and difficulty without getting too complicated. However, I don't think it's a must-play. If you're into arcade games, give this a shot, but otherwise you're probably fine just moving onto the next thing.

The game is available for PS4 and PS5 here (as of 6/24/21): https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0571-CUSA15789_00-HAMPRDC000000001
The game is available for Switch here (as of 6/24/21): https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/arcade-archives-time-pilot-switch/

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