Time Pilot warps onto modern day XBLA
by Ludwig Kietzmann 
{ Aug 30th 2006 at 6:55PM }
Time-traveling, zeitgeist shooting news now, with Konami's 1982 classic, Time Pilot, hitting Xbox Live Arcade today. Much like Frogger, the game has been given a few enhancements, including Xbox Live cooperative and versus play, enhanced sound and somewhat shinier graphics. The latter feature can be disabled if you prefer to keep things authentic -- we find that the retro visuals give a better indication that you've hit an enemy, whereas the revamped graphics have smoke trails that make it easier to spot incoming missiles.
Is Time Pilot worth 400 MS points (or $5 in crazy money)? Well, the answer to that question largely depends on the value you attach to the score leaderboard. If you actively visualize your friends and their pitiful scores sitting in the cockpits of the biplanes, jets and UFOs (from the futuristic 2001 level) you're currently blasting to smithereens, the game is an absolute and horribly addictive blast. In terms of length, however, you'll find that Time Pilot takes very little time to complete, with only one of the achievements posing much of a challenge. The decision's easier if you fondly remember (or scornfully loathe) the game from your earlier, possibly emulated days, but we've been told that today's young people are generally enamored by games that involve shooting things until they spectacularly explode (as depicted in the following screenshots).
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Todd @ Aug 30th 2006 7:05PM
With all of these old arcade games on XBL why don't they have an option to charge 20 points (a quarter) for a single play? How's that for nostalgia?
amba @ Aug 30th 2006 7:24PM
At least they have attempted to give us something more than a crippled port (see Pacman and Galaga for more details). The scoreboard is the XBLA equivalent to a DVD listing 'scene access' as an extra... it is not the reason for buying a game, it is the minimum expected.
GSI @ Aug 30th 2006 8:04PM
How can you cripple Pac-Man and Galaga? I've both of those on my 360 plenty of times and they seem fine. Plus I mean it's not like there was much to those games in the first place.
As for Time Pilot?
I've _never_ heard of this game.
/hides under desk.
As for what Todd said...that actually sounds pretty smart. I think it might actually work if marketed the right way.
Dirk Dorkelson @ Aug 30th 2006 8:14PM
I was irrationally stoked for this game to come to XBLA. It was in heavy rotation on my ColecoVision back in the day, along with War Games, Zaxxon, Donkey Kong Jr., Carnival and Ladybug. (I think I must have been about 8.) I downloaded it upon release last night and was pretty excited to be ranked in the top 50 for a little while. (I'm sure I'm now down in the quadruple digits.)
Then I got beat a couple of times on Vs. mode b/c my opponents would just camp out on the first level to boost their scores. What's the fun of that?
carg0 @ Aug 30th 2006 8:14PM
Everyone knows the majority of these "arcade" games aren't worth the 400 points MS is asking for but it's costing them next to nothing so why not charge as much as you can get. What's the old saying: A sucker born every minute?
That's why every game that's been released on Live is still available at the same ridiculous price (particularly SF2). And since it's nearly been a year now w/o any price reductions, there's zero evidence to suggest there will be anytime soon.
Dirk Dorkelson @ Aug 30th 2006 8:25PM
Cargo,
Come on. It's $5. That's less than two gallons of gas. Or a latte and a cookie. You can't even see a matinee for that.
Also, it's not Microsoft that's "asking for" the $5. It's the developer. Presumably, they could charge less if they wanted. (Although maybe MS has a minimum charge.)
Jay @ Aug 30th 2006 8:31PM
is it just me or do these Xbox Live Arcade games look like cheapo pub games? I don't go to pubs but I help run one with my cousin. theres this machine "the itbox" and the visuals are absolutely on par with these games. naff games I wouldn't spend a penny on, in both meanings of the term.
Mistur @ Aug 30th 2006 10:03PM
You might not spend a penny on it. But alot of the old school gamers will. Time pilot was an awsome game for its time and this version is awsome too.
Most people that are all like "why are all the games on xbox live so old and dated" are the people who weren't born yet or haven't played these games before.
GSI @ Aug 30th 2006 8:42PM
-->"You can't even see a matinee for that."
Ever heard of a $1 theater? :-P
amba @ Aug 30th 2006 10:13PM
#4... Pacman and Galaga on XBLA are worse than their arcade counterparts because they lack a Vs mode, either online or offline.I couldn't care less about getting the best score in the world, but I do care about beating the person next to me one on one.
GSI @ Aug 31st 2006 1:12AM
-->"the people who weren't born yet or haven't played these games before."
...or the kind of people think that a good game has to have high-def 3D graphics and 5.1 sound (and yes there are people like that...unfortuantely.)
Dave Silva @ Aug 30th 2006 10:21PM
Wow. I love this game (well, the GBA port in that Konami Arcade Advanced compilation). But $5 for it is too much...
Still, if I owned a 360 I'd buy it.
GSI @ Aug 31st 2006 1:12AM
@ amba:
Bah...ur just being too picky.
Kid Chemical @ Aug 30th 2006 10:32PM
Konami/Digital Eclipse should be applauded for making an excellent port.
Namco should be taking notes.
carg0 @ Aug 30th 2006 10:48PM
Dirk
"Come on. It's $5. That's less than two gallons of gas. Or a latte and a cookie."
While I can't be bothered to argue with such stupidity the numbers don't lie.
According to an article on Gamasutra (via Wikipedia) 3 million d/l's of Live Arcade games have been made with at least 600,000 leading to purchases.
That's a pathetic 5% meaning that the other 95% of people willing to try out the game: A) thought the games were too expensive B) weren't good enough or C) both
Perhaps that other 95% felt they'd get more value with that "latte and a cookie", eh junior?
OhJustSomeRandomGuy @ Aug 30th 2006 10:52PM
600000/3000000 = 1/5 = 20%.
Not 5%.
Back when I was a kid, they taught math in school. Did that get phased out under Bush's "No Child Left Behind" plan?
trimbandit @ Aug 30th 2006 11:00PM
"According to an article on Gamasutra (via Wikipedia) 3 million d/l's of Live Arcade games have been made with at least 600,000 leading to purchases.
That's a pathetic 5% meaning that the other 95% of people willing to try out the game: A) thought the games were too expensive B) weren't good enough or C) both"
Most developers would be quite happy with a 5% conversion rate. You do not know what you are talking about.
carg0 @ Aug 30th 2006 11:09PM
Well, I see I hooked one moron in responding to that ridiculously obvious mistake. Perhaps I should've made it more deliberate.
carg0 @ Aug 30th 2006 11:10PM
....spoke too soon...
Dirk Dorkelson @ Aug 30th 2006 11:35PM
I agree with whoever said Namco needs to take some notes from Konami on how to port these games over.
However, one thing Konami didn't get right is that Pac-Man and Galaga each come with a gamer pic that you can use. I'd love to have a little fighter plane or flying saucer from Time Pilot or a crocodile from Frogger.
@Cargo,
Your lousy math and logic aside, 20% is actually a pretty decent conversion rate. If it wasn't, we'd be seeing some price drops.
I do agree with you in part, though. SFII should not have been $10. After playing the trial, I won't be buying. However, I have no problem paying $10 for a well done original IP like Cloning Clyde. But $10 is about my ceiling. No Lumines Live or Bankshot Billiards for me.
Dasutin @ Aug 31st 2006 12:48AM
If most of there classic games with a vs mode then yeah 400 points would be worth it. Why bring these games out when you can't even use the most out of Xbox live. It doesn't make sense.
http://www.dasutin.com
epobirs @ Aug 31st 2006 12:56AM
Carg0, for the cost of these games to produce, the XBLA sales rate is quite lucrative. Aside from Capacom taking so long on Street Fighter, a handful of experienced developers can crank out an updated arcade classic in very little time and so very little cost.
We're talking projects budgeted in the mere tens of thousands of dollars. Say Time Pilot cost $50K to produce up to the point it becomes available for downloading, although that is quite high, it only takes 10,000 sales before the game is in profits. Getting 10K adult gamers with good jobs and a nostalgia whim to buy in isn't going to take much effort. This game will be in profits very quickly.
Unlike a retail package it isn't occupying shelf space that is expected to generate a regular contribution to the store's operating costs. There is no reason why Time Pilot shouldn't be available right up to the end of the 360 life cycle and continue on under emulation on the 360's successor. The seeming trickle from ongoing sales over many years to come adds up to quite nice return on investment.
If the game earns Konami $1,000 in 2010, it won't be a huge contribution tot he bottom line but it's pure profit. Likewise for Microsoft's piece of the action.
Accepting your already noted faulty math, reach 5% of a custome base in the game industry is a major success. On the PS2, a game need reach less than 2% of the global installed base to go platinum. (And that assumes a big chunk of the units sold to date replace dead units, just to head off the mandatory 'but.' Anything above 50 million PS2s in use supports the less than 2% for a million seller requirement.) On the least numerous console of the recent generation, the GameCube, 5% puts you over the million seller mark.
People often forget that no matter how well known a game may be, the actual number of units sold is a tiny portion of the potential market. Especially for a long established platform. Getting a million seller early on, such as COD2, GRAW, and Oblivion on the Xbox 360, is an incredible attach rate but only because there is so little competition and the early adopters are hungry for games. Four years from now, having a million seller on the Xbox will take good work but will be less remarkable because it will mean a far lower attach rate per the installed base.
Griffon @ Aug 31st 2006 3:36AM
Feh, they would have had me if they had bothered to update it to HD. I, and MANY others are not going to fork over cash for classics that are not lovingly and car fully update to full 720P beauty.
GSI @ Aug 31st 2006 4:13AM
Blah...that game was boring.
NEXT!
Where the hell is Contra and all the other games that were listed at E3?
Waccoon @ Aug 31st 2006 6:45AM
I want to see Hard Drivin'. At least that game demands the power of an XBox360 to emulate it properly. 5 CPUs, baby!
Frankly, I don't see the point in getting a new game system to play old games unless, at least, you can get them as a collection.
Dan @ Aug 31st 2006 7:31AM
I definitely think that if you didn't grow up with these older games, they're not very interesting.
If you are an older gamer(like me) or are just interested in the history of gaming, they're very worthwhile games. I was in Junior High in the early eighties, so these games are still fondly remembered.
Mostly, I like them because you can pick them up, play for five minutes, and be done with them. I don't need to invest 15 hours in any of the retro games. I don't mind, but I just don't have the time anymore to do that.
KilgoreTrout XL @ Aug 31st 2006 9:23AM
I think these retro title sare all about what you grew up with and what you'd like to experience again. For instance, Galaga was well worth my $5. I was never a huge Time Pilot fan, and so it isn't.
And for the record, I'd probably pay 800 points for a direct port of Double Dragon (probably my favorite coin-op of my younger days.) It seems like a no-brainer, but I haven't heard any announcements about it.
lothar @ Aug 31st 2006 10:45AM
TimePilot was an awesome game from back in the day. I've easily spent more than $20 on this game in quarters , so paying $5 for it isnt that bad.
With the release of the MS XNA I'm sure we're going to see a huge number of games being offered. Due to the nature of XNA we should see apps/games coded by just a single person vs an entire department of a large company. When that happens we're going to see freeware / shareware and reasonably priced games/apps/utils $1-5.
Matt @ Aug 31st 2006 11:48AM
Time Pilot is another great example of an old classic being resurrected on a new platform.
It's also a another great example of an XBL game that really requires a proper arcade stick.
GSI @ Aug 31st 2006 3:05PM
WTH is so great about Time Pilot? I downloaded the demo...gave it a shot...and got bored REALLY quick.
Gimbal @ Aug 31st 2006 4:19PM
Time Pilot was designed by Yoshiki Okamoto, who also made Gyruss, 1942, and many of my favorite games of years past. I love Time Pilot. Not sure everything is exactly right with this version though. It seems way easier than the arcade version ever was. I'll have to mess with the difficulty settings I guess.
If people who have no love of retro-classics have such an issue with games like this, prepare for another round of the exact same comments when Scramble comes out next week. Scramble was the first arcade game I ever stuck a quarter into. Coincidentally it was also the most frustrating game I ever played when I was a kid. Frankly I'm suprised I kept playing video games after that.