NES Games No One Played: TIME LORD (Nintendo Entertainment System Review)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ต.ค. 2024
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TIME LORD ► There can be only one!
Time Lord | 1990
Similar Games: Wizards and Warriors
#retrogaming #nintendo #nes
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Intro drawing by Ashley Anderson: pressstarttobe...
After years of focusing on the best games for the NES, I decided to change gears and focus on lesser known cartridges that have, for one reason or another, generally escaped the public discussion and general nostalgia. This series highlights many of the relatively unknown, obscure, and unloved titles in the Nintendo Entertainment System's library. Some of these games are at best mediocre. Many are painfully bad, some of the worst NES games around. Most are hilarious for all the wrong reasons! Occasionally, OCCASIONALLY, a handful of them are actually good, borderline hidden gems.
While you won't find any of these on the NES Classic, some of these titles have managed to make their way onto the Nintendo Switch, so if you don't have an original Nintendo console or ROMs escape you ethically or technologically, there are several ways to play them.
Want more? Me too! Until then, lots of other articles where the pictures don't move and words have to be read can be found on my website: top100nesgames.com
/ bigolewords
/ bigolewords
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Oh man this game was a major part of my childhood. For some reason we had Mario 1,2,3, Batman return of the joker, Kirby, and TIME LORD
Other than Time Lord that's a solid lineup!
I only had robocop and godzilal
Same here for me!
Haha!
@@Artsyca I only had Predator and Super Pitfall!
"Angry caterpillar with a mushroom hat" Yeah, that's, uh... That's definitely what that is... Moving on!
When I was a kid here in the UK, the title had caught my eye in a magazine thinking it was Doctor Who related. But it's not. Still I thought it was fun enough when I eventually played it.
I think that happened to a lot of people. I'm almost 💯% that is what made my uncle rent this. Even though we live in America he has been a Dr Who fan for decades. Imagine his surprise when he hit the power button and there was no Tardis
@@keithseratt5926 Yeah, Doctor Who is so ingrained into the public conciousness here that many aspects and terminology from it are used in our common language so almost everyone here knows TARDIS, Time Lord, Gallifrey, Regeneration, Daleks, Cybermen, "it's bigger on the inside" etc and references crop up in all our media and even in political debates sometimes. :P
@@carn9507as a fan across the pond, the first time I saw the name Time Lord, my first thought was also Doctor Who
This game was giving me major Nightmare on Elmstreet vibes and its no surprise they are both made by Rare and David Wise does the music for both. Also I cant be bothered to check, but I'm very sure that the main sprite is literally the same as the main character from Nightmare on Elm Street
Now that you mention it, it does look and feel very similar to Nightmare!
That game has such an LJN vibe to it, especially the maincharacter
I know whaty you mean. The game is by Milton Bradley a company which was more known for their board games and toys rather than video games. They clearly didn't have a lot of experience making video games and it kinda shows with Time Lord.
I had this game when I was a kid. I never could beat the first level but I played it a lot my kid self absolutely loved the concept and I couldn’t count how many hours I spent just staring at the cover of the game would love to have a poster of it. Now that I’ve watched your review I’m going to have to track it down and see if I can finally beat that first level.
Once you know what to do it becomes a little easier, but man it's still insanely hard.
I had this game as a kid also. It was either a birthday or Christmas gift from my grandparents that I didn't ask for or even knew existed until I received it. Never thought that much of it and genuinely forgot it even existed until I started seeing reviews of it recently on YT only this past year. Why is everyone only now reviewing it? Weird. I was like "oh yeah I remember this game.... Barely".
lol
@@BigOleWords insanely hard... Like most NES games 😏
I remember being very young and spending the weekend over at my cousin's house...cool story right? My uncle was in there living room playing Time Lord and it left a huge impression on me, but I never knew the name. For years and years I scoured the internet trying in vain to Google search vague descriptions of the game play that I could remember. Then one day by total chance I was watching one of those Every NES Game Ever videos on TH-cam and there it was...Time Lord.. I've been fascinated with this game ever since I was a child, but honestly I've never played it and if I have it was only for a few minutes. Still it's a cool game with a cool premise though.
That is a cool story though, I think we all have a game in our memories like that, for me it was Crystal Castles in the arcade lol. I remember my cousin and I walking through this little mill town on the river to get to this arcade back in the mid 80s and that game drew my attention for some reason and for decades i could never remember the name of it but remembered it having a trackball 🖲️ so that's how i ended up finding it
Sadly, as one who owned Time Lord growing up, it's better left in the imagination
That would be a hard game to track down based on a childhood memory. "I think there's a guy, and punches or swings a sword....and there's crabs?!"
@@BigOleWords I tried descriptions like wild west game where you collect orbs. It was a nightmare lol
Same here. Think I remembered something about a knight and a sword and a brown pseudo 3-D environment with tall walls.
I knew I could spot it if I saw a screenshot again, but I couldn’t remember what it was called.
I spent at least 15 years before I found it. And then once I heard the music, I knew what it was. I really enjoyed the music.
There's a comedian Brent Weinbach who has a video game music podcast. When someone on the show does something bad they get punished by having to play Time Lord for some specified amount of time depending on the severity of the infraction.
Whoa really!? I love Brett, the Gangsta Party Line will never EVER get old. I need to check that out.
I remember learning all about giant clams and halflings in my history class.
haha
This game became a big thing with my cousins and I a few years back. We learned about it through Legacy Music Hour. It's so bananas, goddamn moon logic!
We play it any time we get together for the holidays now, and get a kick out of showing it to new people. The music kinda shreds too. It's all such a fever dream.
ALSO, love you channel dude!
That's so awesome, what a rad tradition to play this insane game!
And you're the second person to mention that podcast. I love that dude, I'll have to check it out!
Had this when I was a kid. Never did make it past Level 2 though due to how even more obtuse the orb locations were compared to the first level, but I still had fun playing the first. If anything it planted the seeds for my love for fantasy.
I could see the appeal as a kid but damn is this frustrating
Oh, I've seen by the end a cartridge that's, definitely, one of my all-time favorite on NES: Dragon Fighter...! I think it deserves a review from you!
You're in luck! th-cam.com/video/caHKubvuG3o/w-d-xo.htmlsi=b0yGeDo114-WmtLX
Played this at a friends house as a kid, we always got stuck not knowing what to do next with this one. But I always liked the idea of what they were trying to do.
It had potential, extremely confusing potential!
@@BigOleWords haha 😆
I remember being pissed it wasn't about Doctor Who.
"Angry caterpillar with a mushroom hat" ...Yeeeaaah... That's TOTALLY what that guy is. LOL
🐣
The only Milton Bradley game I ever owned was Captain Skyhawk. Surprisingly decent.
Oh man I really liked and really hated Capt SkyHawk. On one hand it was in my cousins game collection and when were kids everything he did/had was COOL. On the other had that game is HARD. So yeah it's fun in moderation I suppose.
Yeah it is!
I like to randomly find Time Lord videos because I have a weird appreciation for this game. And the title music is WAY better than it has any right to be. This was a fun video. GG!
I think you summed it up perfectly, this game had a great concept, and a lot of potential, but a clumsy execution, that needed more time in the oven, so to speak. It was quite hard too, I don't remember ever getting past the Wild West stage, lol.
That stage is the real breaking point as that boss is impossible unless you know you have to shoot it quickly and repeatedly before it regenerates.
I remember there were tv ads for this one and I was actually pumped to play it for some reason! Then the local video store got a copy and I rented it exactly once. What a turkey
I played this game like mad as a kid, desperate to figure out how to consistently get to the second level. I think I managed it maybe one time in ten, when the RNG was favorable enough to me that I found everything I needed. Never made it past the second level, though. Never had much time left, and couldn't exactly practice it.
Amazing how many people have said the same. I could never make it past the first level until this playthrough and I did so by cheating every way I could!
Played that as kid. Back in the day when we'd go to Phar-Mor to rent games.
Time Lord might have been a cooler band name, but homework does suck so at least you were spreading the right message
Yeah it does!
2:30 For anyone who doesn't know, Nintendo of America never allowed N*zi imagery in games at the time, even as bad guys. This came up a few times, like with Bionic Commando and Rocket Ranger. And, of course, Wolfenstein 3D on SNES.
Ol Rocket Ranger, I’ll get to that at some point!
The Flintstones game the main enemy is Hitler,he steals your pets.
This game looks interesting! I really like the style that Rare games had at this era, even if most didn't play super well. I think most everyone met them with DKC, but it's neat to see that their older games also stood out in interesting ways... Also hey I think the protagonist of this game was also in NES Nightmare on Elm Street, that Rare also developed!
Definitely feels very similar to Nightmare
I remember seeing this advertised as a kid but never actually played, or saw proper gameplay of it.
Then a few months ago my friend rom hacked our nes minis with most of the nes library. I gave Time Lord a try to see what its finally like after all these years to satisfy my curiosity and, yeah. It's ok.
I don't mind the cryptic stuff but damn the amount of enemies that just keep coming at you and won't piss off is insane. I've played games with lag and flicker issues with just half that amount of enemies on screen. It's like the devs were testing their programming skills harder than the player.
That’s a good point though, the game does run really smoothly considering everything on screen.
I remember my cousins, who were very below the poverty line poor, bought an NES at a yard sale. The only games they had were Mario 3 and Time Lord.
Wow. They sure lucked out with Mario 3, eh?
Gotta take the good with the bad I guess!
I bought this game at a yard sale in the early 2000’s, I actually liked the game.
I was exhausted after having to shoot that Bandito about a million times.
Yeah he really sucks the fun out it!
"half naked pirates who come rushing out to greet you. Shirts off lads, the Time Lord's here !" 🤣🤣🤣 omg, im wearing my coffee now !!
Thank you, thank you.
I remember holding the sword backswing to stay in an invincible frame. The western part I could never figure out how to get the orb that floats. So frustrating!
Turns out if you jump in a very specific spot and jump repeatedly by firing one of the two guns (or none at all) you can reach it. What a game!
I got this game for Christmas because it was only $10 at the time. My parents weren’t really trying hard to make sure I took care of them when they got old.
Hahahaha
I actually have a complete in box copy of this game that I bought off eBay for like $30 dollars.
Surprised there's no obvious Doctor Who joke here, though.
The Angry Caterpillar With Mushroom Hat
Looks more like an
Overweight Mexican in a Sombrero
I think the canines you're shooting in the Old West are wild coyotes. Which are, in fact, a type of dog (all domestic dogs, timber wolves, and coyotes are the same species as shown by their ready crossbreeding; their having separate taxonomical names is a case of the Grandfather Clause in action and creatures getting common names long before formal zoological study).
I love how even the dumpiest games from that era had amazing, oil-painting style cover art.
It’s so true. This would’ve sold me immediately
Same for a lot of video titles back in the day. Some of the cheapest and schlockiest movies still had awesome posters/video cover art.
I was looking at this just last week, as I've just picked up an NES. I'm glad I just looked at it and walked away now 😂
Haha I mean it’s probably worth it for the silliness :)
So my parents spent something like 120 dollars on this game and no matter how many HOURS I tried, I NEVER got past the Mexican boss on the second stage.
I was convinced I had a bugged game, but years later in an emulator I still couldn't get past him. After 20+ years I finally know why. Regenerating health, without any indication that the only way to beat him is to take damage. Wow.
Excellent intro song though.
So much about Time Lord is patently unfair but that boss of the absolute worst
Man I definitely remember putting a lot of time into this game. Thanks for the nostalgia.
Hell yeah!
Time Lord is one of the
games on the NES
Hahaha yes it is! That should've been the description on the box.
Time Lord could be a reference to Doctor Who which was super popular in the UK. It does sound like an 80's garage band though.
This is one of those "A for effort, C for execution" games. Finding the orbs can be very cryptic but what's very unusual is there are at least two different sets of orbs per level. Set A has the 5 orbs in certain spots, while set B has them in other spots. I'm pretty sure it's random which set you get. So I give the devs props for trying to implement some kind of RNG system in a NES game.
Really?! I watched a walkthrough and the orbs for me were all exactly where that person found them. Interesting...
When I was a kid I wasn't sure if this game was an adaptation of some obscure movie or a sci-fi TV series that I wasn't aware of because it went so hard for this cinematic feel with the whole Dr. Who-esque action hero plot, bombastic intro and every level presented like an episode of a show. Turned out it was an entirely original title but it definitely was inspired by contemporary British television which is very nifty, this might be the first game that attempted to simulate a movie-like experience that modern games do so commonly now.
I assume it was in homage to Dr Who but who knows?
It’s like a 2D TimeSplitters! I’ve never heard of this one.
Haha good call!
Oh, man... it seems like we played this together back in the '90s!! Your impressions are exactly the same WTF ones I had back then. And I really wanted to like this game, as the "misterious" atmosphere and great music really caught me, but damn!! The "wtf do you have to do to get the orb" feeling ALWAYS kicked in, and the sore fingers I got from playing it for too long were hard to stomach. Great review as always!
Glad I'm not ther only one in the sore fingers gang!
No Tardis… or sonic screwdriver…. What kind of Time Lord game is this!?
I remember playing this when I so young (5 years old) but never knew what the name was. thank you 🤓
Love the nod to "Poochie" from The Simpsons. 🤣 I really dig your channel! Keep up the great work!
I'm not even sure that's the first time I've used that bit! And thanks!
@@BigOleWords Yeah, I think I have seen you use it before, but I still like it. I'm currently re-watching The Simpsons and I think that episode is a few seasons away.
oh man i got that at woolworths on a sale when i was a little kid
My friends and I were big Dr. Who fans, and were disappointed that this wasn't about him. It did have Red Dwarves though...
I had so much damn trouble with this damn game I even called the tip line. They were of no help.
We did that with Solstice and they were equally useless.
That MB logo will scare a fool off
I do remember this title in our childhood collection
So happy I found your channel friend 🙂
And I am happy you found it :)
I remember that game...the controls were a bit off on it making boss fights strange. But it was fun.
It’s not without its charms!
Time OF lore.. huh, hadn't heard of that one before. Love the simpsons jokes. Lookin like I'm gettin married on a Thursday end of Feb....might have to put in a special request for that night lol. Great work, Bames.
Oh snap! Congrats Matt that’s awesome news!
I played this game as a child, though I don't think I ever made it past the wild-west stage.
That level is no joke!
"Time Lord" indeed would be a cool name for a band.
Right?!
I don’t know why, but we had a lot of bad games when I was little, and this is one we actually bought new. If I had to guess, it was probably licenses and box art that suckered us into our purchasing choices. I had to get permission to call the tip line for this one, more than once!
Haha nice! We did that with Solstice back in the day.
I've had this game since I was 6 and I've never beat the cowboy level. That boss takes 6000 hits and I just give up.
When I was a kid I couldn’t get a orb on the second level..I tried for hours.
Without the internet I have no idea how anyone could beat this
I remember this as a kid but could never get to one of the orbs. It was always out of reach.
Played it on emu a few years ago and man, it wasn't fun. haha
Thanks for this!
Honestly there's no way I could beat this blind. Impossible.
I really need to check this out, it looks like a fun quick game. Great coverage on this video, i am very amused by your detail.
on a side note lol I made the mistake of watching this on a public TV and now my Mexican dad want's that Bandito as a sticker from me for his car lol @2:47 Tbh that characture is hilarious of it's time. I love it.
Hahaha that's awesome!
I hated that wild West level. The orb that has to be hit to drop, but also goes up higher every time you move closer was so impossible for me. Just couldn't get the timing to work. So frustrating.
Yeah this game is the real deal.
I got this game in an eBay bundle years ago and I have to say….there’s a reason no one played this
Yeah it's less of a pick up and play than a pick up and put away.
Oh man, I remember that game. I don’t think I ever made it past the 3rd level though, lol.
Hard to believe that I watched an entire review of Time Lord without a single reference to or mention of Doctor Who 😉
Always do the unexpected! ;)
Definitely notes of Nightmare on Elmstreet for NES. Definitely the same engine.
You may be right!
I had this game as a kid. The box art was awesome. The actual gameplay I found to be not-so-awesome. I would have preferred if it were a standard beat-em-up rather than a scavenger hunt.
That box art is awesome :)
I always wanted to be a Time Lord; so timey and lordy.
Loved those deep cut Simpsons references 😉
The poochie reference is like the complete opposite of a "deep cut", lol.
@@KingofCrusherhardly 🙄 you think millennials and zoomers watch early era simpsons? This is a joke only GenXers will get 😂
@@doordashdriver yeah bro they do, young people aren't stupid. i've seen this poochie reference in like a billion youtube vids by people of all ages, it's just part of pop culture at this point.
I never beat that bandito, after many many attempts I just figured it was some bug in the code that made him invincible and I never played it again
And why would you think otherwise?! That boss is the cruelest design I’ve ever seen in an NES game.
@@BigOleWords I mean, if there was any indication that he was taking damage I would have beaten him eventually, but he was just this invincible bullet sponge. And there was no internet back then to see what the hell was going on with him
This game was a nightmare! One of only a handful on the NES that I could never finish. I got to the last level a few times but even that was quite a feat.
Hm. Dont have anything to say about Time Lord, but:
Times of Lore is actually one of those *wonderful* "PC to NES" conversions. Its actually an AppleII/DOS action RPG. I have it on AppleII and its a pretty fun game on that platform.
I had no idea it was converted to NES. I dont remember who made it but my immediate guess is Broderbund because they seemed to be a massive fan of NES conversions.
Wonder how good it is - most PC to NES conversions Ive seen suck balls. Times of Lore *may* work tho, based on that its a joystick game.
I have not tried the NES version that I can remember, but I'll report back ;)
It's like your whole channel is just a pipeline into one specific Friend's Library of Terrible NES games.
That friend had great/awful taste!
I had this game too! I looove the music in it. So good
Yes it is!
I had Time Lord. I have no idea why I bought it, I think it I thought it was different kind if game. The game had issues alright. Endless enemies, weird puzzles made to made the levels long and to whittle down your health. But, when I sold it, the guy somehow paid good money for it. And that was back when the SNES came out.
I think he liked the box art.
Sucker! $$$
Time Lord? Does he have a TARDIS
I had time lord, castlevania 3, super mario bros./duckhunt, battle for olympus, circus shooting game (forget what its called) a tarot card game
That was 1990. I was 3.
In 1992, i got sega genesis
In 94 i got snes
I could never finish that first stage and it use to drive me mad but shit I was a lil kid back then
I did the same with the Spiderman game. What else was I gonna do?
I enjoyed this game until I hit the giant dude in the sombrero that you have to fight for all of eternity. That fight single-handedly ruined this game for me. I can deal with cryptic puzzles, but I don't need the god of bullet sponges soaking up my attacks for half an hour. Screw that guy.
Yeah that is a crime against humanity right there.
My mom got this for me in a bargain bin at Woolworth's (probably like $10). Thought the cover looked cool and was intrigued that it was published by Milton Bradley, but I couldn't be more disappointed with the game. Couldn't figure out what to do and was highly disappointed that he wore the generic tank top instead of an inappropriate outfit for each time period (ergo, the suit of armor he wore on the cover for the Medieval era). I probably played the game for a combined total of 15 minutes before shelving it and ultimately selling it in a garage sale.
I got this for a birthday. Could never get past the western level. Still haven't beat it. Lol.
That level seems to have stopped many a child back in the day!
played and beat this game... one of the most solid soundtracks on the NES
new sub btw :)
Agreed on the music, and I have no idea how anyone could ever beat this game without the internet ;)
I played it pretty long as a kid. In Poland it was just like another Pegasus game. It was fun, yet very hard. Never completed it.
Interesting!
I tried to like this game as a kid but it only frustrated me so much. Never made it past the pirate ship. There was this one Orb forever out of reach that I couldn't figure out how to get.
I'm impressed you made it that far!
@BigOleWords when your parents buy maybe 2 or 3 games a year, you try to make the most of it. Lol
I had Time Lord as a kid. It’s definitely a game that existed.
Haha yes it did!
My middle school band's name was Crudefall 😆
Naw that rules
Games like this, which just so happen to straddle the line of playable and crap, always fascinate me. It's like that if they could fix one or two things in the presentation or controls or game length they might have something. But nah, this game got three balls and three strikes.
I assume there’s some production schedule pressure or something. Like they had to know how broken it still was.
Digging the 4x3 format!
Hey thanks! I definitely prefer it for NES footage :)
Make a game intentionally cryptic to make sure NES players took longer to beat it, never was a big fan of that
I loved Time Lord, but everything you said is true.
I love Ironsword, but if someone tore it up I'd probably think that was fair :)
Hey, not sure if I've asked this before, but could you put up a flashing lights warning at the beginning? Not for every video, but some games like this one have A LOT of flashing colors. I don't have epilepsy, but it still gets uncomfortable for me. The moment when the timer runs out and the whole screen shakes and flashes was too much. Maybe just put a small notice before moments like that.
That's all, thanks!
Y'know I'm usually pretty mindful of it but it didn't really occur to me with this one. Next time I'll add something in the intro.
@@BigOleWords Thanks!
The main game I think of on the NES for a nightmare fuel final boss is Monster Party.
Y’know, I’ve never made it to the end of that game!
@BigOleWords get to the end and, well, you probably won't thank me later when you see this one.
Oh dear God. I had this game when I was a kid. It was my most hated game in the collection. Funny thing about childhood memory is I swear the graphics didn't look this bad 😂
Time Lord?!
::TARDIS noises intensify::
I had this game. I got it the same time I got Captain Skyhawks - my guess is they were both on sale at the same time. Loved the music but really didn’t like the game. But when you only have like six games, you put some time into them.
Exactly! I spent way way too many hours playing Talespin even though I hated it. What else was I gonna do?
Interesting to see MB try it's hand at the video game market
They published a few on the NES!
@@BigOleWords lol I actually looked that up after I commented/watched. Seems like it was a half-hearted effort, based on the space between releases, how early they exited the space, and the quality of the game in this vid... still a fun bit of trivia!
This is a NES game that I had no idea existed. Great Video.
Me either until recently, but seems like lots of folks played it as kids.
I could tell that was Rare from the second I saw it. I vaguely remember this one, but I’m kind of ashamed “defenders of dynatron city” was actually taking up hidden brain cells and I remembered I had it the second you mentioned it. Must have been a forgettable game though because the title was all that stuck in my head.
Defenders is pretty rough, but there’s a lot of really good ideas there, just executed really poorly.
I'm sure there are some people who hear the title "Time Lord" and think its a Doctor Who game.... too bad it isn't.
Tis not!
Holy Time Lord, Time Lord, it's Time Lord !
For some reason all I could think of while playing this game was Adam West Batman quotes but with Time Lord spliced in!
I can think of at least two things wrong with that title.
Naked Lunch?!