Time Machine cover art

Time Machine

The Time Machine is the second in the Mysterious Adventure series of text adventures by Brian Howarth. You are a newspaper reporter, come to investigate the eccentric professor who lives all by himself out on…

1 November 1990

Time Machine is an adventure developed by Vivid Image, released 1 November 1990 on Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST/STE and Commodore C64/128/MAX.

Verified Sources: IGDB

What Time Machine is

Time Machine is an adventure game developed by Vivid Image and released in 1990. It is available on Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST/STE, Commodore C64/128/MAX and ZX Spectrum.

The premise, in the publisher's words

The Time Machine is the second in the Mysterious Adventure series of text adventures by Brian Howarth. You are a newspaper reporter, come to investigate the eccentric professor who lives all by himself out on the moors. When you get there, you find the place deserted though. Ultimately you must rescue the professor by finding 3 missing prisms which control his time machine, which are lost in time. As the other games in the series, the game uses an interpreter similar to the Scott Adams adventure engine, and thus also has the same limitations - a basic 2-word parser, limited vocabulary, and brief descriptions. Illustrations are included in ZX Spectrum, C64, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST…
Description from the publisher · source

How it plays

It is played from a side view perspective. Its themes are action and science fiction. It is a single-player game with no multiplayer component.

What it launched against

Time Machine launched on 1 November 1990, within three weeks of Super Mario World, F-Zero, Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe and Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse.

Released around the same time: Super Mario World, F-Zero, Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe, Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse.

Official trailer

Gameplay Video thumbnail

Sourced from the publisher’s YouTube channel.

Screenshots

All media

Quick answers

Time Machine — frequently asked questions

When did Time Machine come out?
Time Machine was released on 1 November 1990 for Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST/STE, Commodore C64/128/MAX and ZX Spectrum.

If you like this

Games like Time Machine

See all