On November 23rd, 1963, 59 years ago, a quirky TV show starring a friendly sexagenarian, his granddaughter, a brace of schoolteachers and perhaps the oddest spacecraft in history debuted in the UK. An Unearthly Child, the first story to star Doctor Who and his companions, successfully bridged the gap between children’s and young adult programming and has exhibited an astonishing range of imagination and storytelling over the last six decades. Travelling across worlds and timezones, the Doctor has encountered dozens of alien species and become caught up in countless dangerous predicaments. Join us as we celebrate Doctor Who Day with some of the very best time travelling videogames available to play right now, for free, on Antstream Arcade!
Let’s begin with a bit of fun. In this unsubtle parody of everyone’s favourite timelord, four time-travelling doctors have drunk rather too many of the neuro cardial cocktails at a party. Having drunk-time-travelled their way home, they’re lost in the space-time continuum—Doctor Why is in Doctor What’s Laboratory. Doctor When is stuck on a hostile alien planet. Doctor What’s totally lost, and where Doctor Where is is anybody’s guess! Can you help these four stranded timelords before their jelly bean reserves run out?
Dastardly aliens have invented a time machine and blasted back into our past to wreak havoc in this spiritual successor to SNK’s ASO: Armored Scrum Object, which coincidentally is also available on Antstream Arcade. But back to Bermuda Triangle – having been defeated during the events of ASO, the Seven Star Alliance are back, or rather back in time, devilishly attempting to rewrite history. As the pilot of one of six experimental ZIG space-time fighters, there’s no choice but to jet back to the past and stop the invaders before they turn their defeat into a stunning victory!
Poor old Jock has found himself carelessly lost in time. The only way this cute droid can find its way back to 2112 is to collect the 32 time rings from each of the three time zones. From an Egyptian 2000 BC to the garish wallpaper of 1980s Surbiton via a Norman house circa 1200 AD, Jock negotiates each area, dodging enemies and picking up the glowing rings. Although he is unarmed, Jock has a helpful power boost ability that can speed him past danger. So let’s help him sneak past the guardians and return to his own century!
The eponymous high-kicking hero is back after having dispatched numerous hoodlums and gangmembers in Renegade and its sequel, Target Renegade. However, this time his enemies have kidnapped his girlfriend and taken her back through time, the swines! Through the Stone Age, Ancient Egypt and a medieval castle Renegade travels, beating up dinosaurs, cavemen, mummies and, erm, jesters as he chases after his girlfriend. Is there anything this martial arts hero wouldn’t do for love?
It’s the 30th Century, and humankind has advanced to an unimaginable degree. Unfortunately, so has an alien race known as The Geeks, and these pesky chaps have stolen one of two experimental time machines under development by human scientists. Having scurried back in time in an attempt to erase human existence, a lone soldier named Prime charges after The Geeks, determined to foil their loathsome plan. From prehistoric times to Egyptian, medieval, feudal Japan and the future itself, the Zone Warrior must prevail if human history is to survive.
Time was definitely on SNK’s mind in 1987: in addition to Bermuda Triangle, it released this run ‘n’ gunner homage to its earlier hit, Ikari Warriors. The evil Gylend has kidnapped several time soldiers and is holding them captive across various timezones. Over a primitive age, a world war age and a sci-fi Future World, the player rescues their comrades while eliminating the hordes of Gylend.
For our final timewarp game, we present the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum title, Hysteria. Once more, some devious villain is changing the future by altering our past. As the sole survivor of the elite Time Corps team (not so elite then, are they? – Ed), the player combats the mysterious entity behind the disruption. Unfortunately, they’re not the only enemy; the local population aren’t too keen on time warriors either and assault the lone soldier at every opportunity as he travels across ancient Greece, medieval England and a futuristic moon base. As with most of these games, our future is in your hands!
Want to talk time travel games, Doctor Who and more with like-minded Antstream Arcade people? Then head over to the Antstream Arcade Discord.
