Time Soldiers

From Sega Retro

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TimeSoldiers title.png

Time Soldiers
System(s): Sega Master System
Publisher: Sega
Developer:
Original system(s): Arcade
Peripherals supported: FM Sound Unit
Genre: Arcade[1]

















Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Master System
US
$39.9539.95[3] 7024
Sega Master System
EU
MK-7024-50
Sega Master System
UK
£24.9524.95[6] MK-7024-50
Sega Master System
AU
Sega Master System
BR
Non-Sega versions

Time Soldiers is a Sega Master System run-and-gun game developed by Alpha Denshi and published by Sega. A port of the developer's 1987 arcade game of the same name, it was first released in the United States and Europe in May 1989[2][7], and was later brought to both Australia and Brazil.

Story

Time Soldiers, Introduction.png

Introduction

The galactic conqueror Gylend has captured five troopers of Earth's defense forces and sent them back through time. Their comrades Yohan and Ben must travel through time with the aid of a device called the "D-Scanner" and face the dangers of each period in order to rescue their compatriots.

Gameplay

The game is an overhead run-and-gun game. It can be played by a single-player (as Yohan) or by two players simultaneously (joined by Ben). The second player can join at any time by pressing  START . Stages are set in one of five time periods: the Primitive Age, the Age of Rome, the World Wars, the Age of War, and Future World. Each time period has three different stages. Before each stage, the player is shown the name of one of the comrades and the period in which that comrade is held captive. The player is then placed into a stage from a random time period. After defeating the mid-boss at the end of the stage, the player is presented with a Time Tunnel, which can be entered to warp to the next time period. When the player reaches the time period in which the captive soldier is located, the player battles an additional main boss for the time period. After defeating this boss, the soldier is rescued. After rescuing all five troopers, players play a final stage and face Gylend.

The characters move in any direction with the D-Pad. Stages scroll in one of three directions (up, left, or right), depending on the segment. The screen follows the characters as they move but does not allow backtracking. The characters can shoot normal shots with 1, which are unlimited. Regular enemies are defeated with a single shot. They can pick up special weapons that are fired with 2. These weapons are more powerful but deplete an energy bar when they are fired.

Characters lose a life when they take a hit from an enemy. They respawn after a brief period of invulnerability if the player has lives remaining. If the player runs out of lives, the character does not respawn. When this happens, players have a brief period in which they can press 1 to continue before the score screen appears and the game ends. Each player can only continue twice.

Items

Items are sometimes dropped by enemies after they are defeated.

Picking up a special weapon replenishes the energy bar. The strength of a special weapon depends on the stage of the current era.

Time Soldiers, Items.png
Tri-Shot
A spreadshot. In the second stage, the distance covered doubles; in the third stage, the shots fly throughout the screen.
Time Soldiers, Items.png
Missile
A missile that can fly over obstacles. In the second stage, the missile flies farther and penetrates through targets; in the third stage, it flies faster and becomes more powerful.
Time Soldiers, Items.png
Energy Gun
A powerful energy bullet. In the second stage, it is twice as powerful; in the third stage, it is three times as powerful.
Time Soldiers, Items.png
Speed-Up
Increases the character's movement speed for a duration.
Time Soldiers, Items.png
Power-Up
Increases the character's weapon power for a duration.
Time Soldiers, Items.png
Warp
Warps the characters directly to the main boss of the era.
Time Soldiers, Time Tunnel.png
Time Tunnel
After defeating a mid-boss, the characters can enter the Time Tunnel to travel to the next time period or ignore it and progress past it to the next stage of the current era. However, the main boss of an era only appears if the soldier that the characters are trying to find is in the current era. Otherwise, the third stage continues into the first and the stage loops infinitely until the player chooses to enter the Time Tunnel.

Stages

The first three soldiers are located in the Primitive Age, Age of Rome, and World Wars eras. To rescue each soldier, the players play through three random stages from these time periods and then defeat the main boss of one of the eras.

The last two soldiers are located in the Age of Wars and Future World eras. To rescue each soldier, the players play through all six stages from these time periods in a random order and then defeat the main boss of one of the eras.

After rescuing all five soldiers, the player plays the Last Battle stage.

Time Soldiers, Stages, Primitive Age 1.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Primitive Age 1 Subboss.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Primitive Age 2.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Primitive Age 2 Subboss.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Primitive Age 3.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Primitive Age 3 Subboss.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Primitive Age Boss.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Primitive Age 1.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Primitive Age 1 Subboss.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Primitive Age 2.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Primitive Age 2 Subboss.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Primitive Age 3.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Primitive Age 3 Subboss.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Primitive Age Boss.png

The Primitive Age
Map: 1️⃣ 

Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Rome 1.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Rome 1 Subboss.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Rome 2.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Rome 2 Subboss.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Rome 3.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Rome 3 Subboss.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Rome Boss.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Rome 1.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Rome 1 Subboss.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Rome 2.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Rome 2 Subboss.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Rome 3.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Rome 3 Subboss.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Rome Boss.png

The Age of Rome
Map: 1️⃣ 

Time Soldiers, Stages, World Wars 1.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, World Wars 1 Subboss.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, World Wars 2.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, World Wars 2 Subboss.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, World Wars 3.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, World Wars 3 Subboss.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, World Wars Boss.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, World Wars 1.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, World Wars 1 Subboss.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, World Wars 2.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, World Wars 2 Subboss.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, World Wars 3.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, World Wars 3 Subboss.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, World Wars Boss.png

The World Wars
Map: 1️⃣ 

Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Wars 1.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Wars 1 Subboss.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Wars 2.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Wars 2 Subboss.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Wars 3.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Wars 3 Subboss.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Wars Boss.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Wars 1.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Wars 1 Subboss.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Wars 2.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Wars 2 Subboss.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Wars 3.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Wars 3 Subboss.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Age of Wars Boss.png

The Age of Wars
Map: 1️⃣ 

Time Soldiers, Stages, Future World 1.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Future World 1 Subboss.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Future World 2.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Future World 2 Subboss.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Future World 3.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Future World 3 Subboss.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Future World Boss.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Future World 1.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Future World 1 Subboss.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Future World 2.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Future World 2 Subboss.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Future World 3.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Future World 3 Subboss.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Future World Boss.png

The Future World
Map: 1️⃣ 

Time Soldiers, Stages, Last Battle.png

Time Soldiers, Stages, Last Battle Boss.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Last Battle.png

  • Time Soldiers, Stages, Last Battle Boss.png

Last Battle
Map: 1️⃣ 

Production credits

  • Programer: Shinichi Tamura, Eiji Fukatsu, Yuji Noguchi, Osamu Iijima
  • Designer: Shinji Moriyama, Tomoharu Takahashi, Takashi Egashira
  • Music: Yuka Watanabe
  • Sound Effect: Hiroaki Shimizu
  • Special Adviser: Kenichi Sakanishi
  • Producer Directer: Tomoharu Takahashi
Source:
In-game credits
Time Soldiers SMS credits.pdf
[8]


Hints

Magazine articles

Main article: Time Soldiers/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Computer & Video Games (UK) #94: "September 1989" (1989-08-16)
also published in:
  • ACE (UK) #24: "September 1989" (1989-08-03)[9]
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Computer & Video Games (UK) #95: "October 1989" (1989-09-16)
Logo-pdf.svg
Enisof a.s offer.png
Print advert in Excalibur (CZ) #12 (1992-09-01)
Enisof a.s offer.png

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
{{{{{icon}}}|L}} Division by zero.
Based on
0 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
ACE (UK)
51
[6]
Ação Games (BR)
75
[10]
Aktueller Software Markt (DE)
63
[11]
Complete Guide to Consoles (UK)
79
[12]
Complete Guide to Consoles (UK)
73
[13]
The Complete Guide to Sega (UK) PAL
73
[14]
Console XS (UK) PAL
36
[15]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
73
[16]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US)
33
[17]
The Games Machine (UK)
78
[18]
Mean Machines Sega (UK)
73
[19]
Popular Computing Weekly (UK)
89
[20]
Power Play (DE) PAL
75
[21]
S: The Sega Magazine (UK) PAL
45
[22]
Sega Power (UK) PAL
50
[23]
Sega Pro (UK)
37
[24]
Sega Pro (UK) PAL
36
[25]
Sega Master System
61
Based on
17 reviews

Time Soldiers

Master System, US
TimeSoldiers US cover.jpg
Cover
Timesoldiers sms us cart.jpg
Cart
Timesoldiers sms us manual.pdf
Manual
Master System, EU
TimeSoldiers EU cover.jpg
Cover
Time Soldiers SMS EU Manual.pdf
Manual
Master System, EU (Sega®); no barcode
TimeSoldiers EU R cover.jpg
Cover
TimeSoldiers SMS EU Cart R.jpg
Cart
Master System, SE (Rental)

Master System, AU (NIAL sticker)
TimeSoldiers SMS AU nial cover.jpg
Cover
Master System, AU (Barcode sticker)
TimeSoldiers SMS AU bc cover.jpg
Cover
Master System, BR
TimeSoldiers SMS BR Box.jpg
Cover
TimeSoldiers SMS BR Cart.jpg
Cart

Technical information

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sega Master System
 ?
CRC32 51bd14be
MD5 dbc9260009dd0838d0e31de51d57d078
SHA-1 89842cb30cc3ba626901a5da41481f6d157ebd15
256kB Cartridge (EU/US)

References

  1. File:TimeSoldiers EU cover.jpg
  2. 2.0 2.1 Computer Entertainer, "June 1989" (US; 1989-06-19), page 16
  3. VideoGames & Computer Entertainment, "September 1989" (US; 1989-0x-xx), page 26
  4. 4.0 4.1 The Official Sega Club, "Issue 4" (UK; 1989-07-xx), page 2
  5. File:BristolEveningPost UK 1989-08-10 Page 83.jpg
  6. 6.0 6.1 ACE, "June 1989" (UK; 1989-05-04), page 50
  7. The Official Sega Club, "Issue 3" (UK; 1989-04-xx), page 5
  8. File:Time Soldiers SMS credits.pdf
  9. ACE, "September 1989" (UK; 1989-08-03), page 82
  10. Ação Games, "Setembro 1991" (BR; 1991-09-xx), page 29
  11. Aktueller Software Markt, "August/September 1989" (DE; 1989-07-28), page 74
  12. Complete Guide to Consoles, "" (UK; 1989-10-16), page 74
  13. Complete Guide to Consoles, "Volume IV" (UK; 1990-11-xx), page 109
  14. The Complete Guide to Sega, "" (UK; 1991-05-xx), page 62
  15. Console XS, "June/July 1992" (UK; 1992-04-23), page 146
  16. Computer & Video Games, "May 1989" (UK; 1989-04-11), page 86
  17. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "May 1989" (US; 1989-0x-xx), page 48
  18. The Games Machine, "May 1989" (UK; 1989-04-20), page 65
  19. Mean Machines Sega, "October 1992" (UK; 1992-09-xx), page 136
  20. Popular Computing Weekly, "August 3 1989" (UK; 1989-08-03), page 15
  21. Power Play, "5/89" (DE; 1989-04-10), page 57
  22. S: The Sega Magazine, "October 1990" (UK; 1990-09-06), page 25
  23. Sega Power, "October 1991" (UK; 1991-09-05), page 60
  24. Sega Pro, "April 1992" (UK; 1992-03-19), page 30
  25. Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 72


Time Soldiers

TimeSoldiers title.png

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