Time Tunnel is an action game released by Taito in 1982. Pass the objectives on each stage and then pass through the Time Tunnel! Connect train carriages, pick-up passengers, and transport them to the...space station?! Skillfully change the railway points to maneuverer the train, avoiding any obstacles.
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You know a game is obscure when the original isn't even in Backloggd's database (the other Time Tunnel is an unrelated C64 game). I only heard about this game from LordBBH's Twitch streams, where he plays random MAME games, and this one looked really fun. Turns out, it is really fun.
The game is simple, as every arcade game of the time should be: drive a train forwards or backwards, use the button to adjust the turns in the track ahead or behind the train. Each of the three stages has its own unique mission: pick up train cars, pick up passengers, drop them off at a constantly moving UFO. There are plenty of hazards, including a shapeshifting alien, another train on the same tracks as the player's train, and some giant cows in the first stage. There's quite a bit of strategy involved with avoiding these hazards, including switching the track's turns to keep that train from colliding with it.
Simple, addicting, and unique, everything an early 80's arcade game should be.
The game is simple, as every arcade game of the time should be: drive a train forwards or backwards, use the button to adjust the turns in the track ahead or behind the train. Each of the three stages has its own unique mission: pick up train cars, pick up passengers, drop them off at a constantly moving UFO. There are plenty of hazards, including a shapeshifting alien, another train on the same tracks as the player's train, and some giant cows in the first stage. There's quite a bit of strategy involved with avoiding these hazards, including switching the track's turns to keep that train from colliding with it.
Simple, addicting, and unique, everything an early 80's arcade game should be.