Terminator 2: The Video Games - Retrospective/Review

[@OliverHarper]

Now available to purchase on Vimeo is the digital version of "Here Comes A New Challenger". Digital Version £9.99 vimeo.com/ondemand/herecomesanewchallenger Blu-Ray £19.99 (Limited Stock) tinyurl.com/3wcmmpz8

[@AB0BA_69]

Do you actually play any of the games you make videos about? If you did, then I think you wouldn't just quote the sales copy written by gaming journalists (who you can never count on being truthful because they don't want to risk their developer access). You'd explain that all these games were highly flawed (even the arcade) and some were absolute garbage.

[@blahmcblahface3965]

Nah mate...you don't even know its coin op

[@blahmcblahface3965]

COIN OPERATED

[@Gumblina1]

Terminator 5 review ☠️😎🎬

[@dxqx3794]

As someone who has beat both the SNES and Mega Drive ports I'd like to clarify 9:12: The third level was hard because it was designed poorly, not because of any port limitations. It was the "quarter eater" level on Arcade and it's designed to make you fail. Once the truck starts moving you are only supposed to fire at the Flying HKs that appear from either side of the screen. The T-800s that run in front of the Truck drain your life but they don't damage the Truck at all. If you try to fire at the T-800s your gunfire will damage the truck and make the level near impossible. You MUST ignore them or only hit their heads from the edge of the screen after destroying a Flying HK. You will have to use a Continue when you take too much fire from the T-800 but you won't fail the level. Not a big deal anyway since you can get a additional Continue right before the end of Level 2 (it's like they knew...). For whatever reason this requirement is not explained anywhere except on a few random message boards and playthroughs of the game. Once you figure it out though it's possible to end the level with the Truck intact every time. Beyond that the only difficulty is the last level and that's because on the Mega Drive port you need a ton more shotgun shells to beat it, and if you use too many at the end you can't win. In the SNES port, however, the game is way more generous with the shells from the start of the level and the final confrontation isn't as hard. However, because of closer Arcade accuracy (imo), the Truck level is slightly harder on SNES.

[@Rschr101]

Amazing. Never got past that level on Genesis without the skip level code.

[@DressCode2005]

Playing this at bowling alleys family fun centers skating rinks in the 90s was the good life.

[@Rschr101]

Awesome editing on the intro, as always.

[@daneedwards2644]

I was unaware of how many games were made for this movie. I remember the original arcade game being incredibly impressive. Still really holds up after all these years.

[@mooseyman74]

They lived only to face a new nightmare, the various sequels.

[@ptittannique5621]

The misunderstanding over Sarah Connor's "bangs" (cf. 21:41) is hilarious!

[@masterv8775]

Its a shame they never made a version of T2 on the Sega CD given how good the first entry was. Thats a crowd fund I would donate to!

[@AB0BA_69]

Are you joking? All of the T2 games were various flavors of garbage. A Sega CD game would be mediocre at best. And no, I don't think inclusion of FMV clips would be interesting or innovative. 😂

[@mikenewbold1699]

your a flavor of garbage@@AB0BA_69

[@disistheway2010]

@@AB0BA_69the Terminator games were all pretty mediocre EXCEPT the Sega CD version, which was very good. I think OP is saying that they could have made a great sequel to the Sega CD game

[@scottgauley7722]

@@disistheway2010 Imagine what a killer soundtrack the game would have had. The Sega CD T1 soundtrack is stellar!

[@AB0BA_69]

@@disistheway2010 I'm sorry mate, but you need to take your rose tinted glasses off. The Sega CD T2 game is only good in comparison to the other crap Terminator titles. That game itself is another run-n-gun with bad controls (good luck shooting something when you are on stairs!!) and bit-crushed FMV (joy!).

[@JoeyJ0J0]

I played the Genesis version of T2 Arcade a lot as a kid, That truck level was hard

[@CREATERpl]

In Poland we had a second, pirated and modified version of the game for NES (of which our local, also illegal variant was called Pegasus) with added levels with hand and face puzzles. When you were buying a T2 cartridge, it was a lottery, which version you will get :)

[@windsweeper8002]

I remember getting a Commodore 64 for Christmas 1991 with the Terminator 2 game cartridge. A few weeks later, I bought my favourite movie based game for the 64, Batman The Movie.

[@jonbourgoin182]

Good Lord movie directors and actors showcasing their hypocrisy for video game violence will never not make me shake my head.

[@alienboy1322]

That what happens when you get out of touch adults that don't understand. So it's not that different from today.

[@ChA0s_AgeNt]

Hedz; they do be a-shakin', bruddah.

[@cthewave9955]

9:13 That's right. Screw Level 3. Thank you Game Genie 🙌🏻

[@ErnoSallinen]

This channel just keeps getting better. Thank you for your hard work.

[@LakrimaProject]

I liked NES version of T2 a lot. Had some banger music also told story suprisingly well. I also remember that based on how well you played (by not killing poeple) between levels you could get a different weapon as a reward, best was minigun. Back then all my frineds give up after level 2 (that on bike) as they didnt know you not only need to shoot to open gates but also shoot back to slow down truck. Despite most levels were just 2d platformers there were some veriaty by planting bombs in cyberine labs. Fun game, im shocked only 3 ppl made it.

[@leejones8582]

I miss the 90's

[@georgelea4297]

I had the Spectrum Version, I got it for Christmas and after 30 minutes I'd completed it

[@jonadrimpys]

It's really a shame that T2 was not licensed to a japanese developer like Sunsoft or Konami. They would have made a really great job with the source material. My favorite one is the Nes version, it may be really simple, but the dark and scary atmosphere sold it for me.

[@Pelimuistelot]

I liked the T2 NES game. It had very good soundtrack.

[@foolishoptimist9903]

I loved the NES version when I was a kid. Felt they captured the story really well. One of the earliest games I ever completed. Felt very satisfying to finally beat the T1000.

[@CasperEgas]

T2 The Arcade game also has a pretty good Master System version.

[@flyguy7825]

This is legit one of the best movies to be adapted into an arcade game ever!?

[@MikhailDaken]

Can we please take a moment to appreciate the intro trailer!! That was awesome.

[@dcikaruga]

Alien 3 was a great licenced game on consoles and computers, would love for you to do a video on that.

[@AndyHugRetro]

As a pinball collector it was cool to hear you talk a little more in depth about the pin. Merry Christmas dude

[@neoasura]

It was cool how involved Arnold and James Cameron were when it came to the video game adaptations. I like it when they personally contribute to the games.

[@GameplayandTalk]

Great stuff, Oliver! Loved the background history on each of the games. It's very cool that Midway was able to work directly with the film studio! Probably a once in a lifetime opportunity.

[@jonmurphy4889]

I remember renting the SNES one from my local supermarket I think I was 7 at the time back in '96 and I could not for the life of me get on that bike to make it past the bar section😂😂😂 I've beaten the arcade game quite a few times even once with my Father down Orlando, Florida

[@danielwilliamson6180]

Happy Christmas, Oliver! I was born in 1984 when the original Terminator was first released, and I am a fan of the franchise and I love T2. I've played the 5:53 arcade game and my father owned the Ocean Software game for Atari at 15:17. We have common love for T2. I'd love to watch the movie with you. Great documentary. Happy Christmas, Oliver! Peace!

[@garrettbays6942]

Your straightforward (do I risk saying deadpan?) narration is always a joy to hear when discussing something humorous; specifically, when you mention your stupidity when playing the Gameboy version of the game, and when you mention a later game release that humorously covers the Terminator's private parts. It's always a joy to listen to your videos.

[@stuartbardin3164]

I wish they would make an open world terminator game set in 1984 like the first film

[@milesipka]

They did that... Bethesda made the first ever Terminator game with "The Terminator" for MS-DOS in 1991. Graphics are rougher than Arnie's nutsack...

[@Phoenix2312]

12:06 I loved watching folks play T2 In the arcade... But I HATED playing it, yet was addicted... And YEAH, LEVEL BLOODY 3... Even playing it on MAME these days, I CANNOT GET PAST THAT FUGGING LEVEL!!!

[@carmelosgro6413]

I watched the T2 movie on opening weekend, the arcade machine was popular. My friends and I liked the pinball machine

[@BessieBopOrBach]

The PC version of T2: The Arcade Game is much more than a footnote. It's by far the most arcade-accurate of the ports. The only problem with it is that it required a custom boot disk (!) to operate because the developers either failed to or didn't want to use a DOS extender a la Doom.

[@ArtLike]

Nice retrospective as always, but no mention of how IMPOSSIBLE the Arcade Game was to beat? The last level is a true coin-muncher! And god help you if you happen to let John Connor die by the T-1000 and have to start over. It's downright impossible, and obviously was done to maximize on profits.

[@kylereece1979]

You could always count on Mean Machines! I absolutely love their rock n' roll writing and anarchic analysis to the games, its just as brilliant to read today, as twas over 30 years ago. Their demolition of T2 on the Megadrive was absolute on the money. That repetitive "tune" that plays non stop throughout is the most out of place, unsuitable in game music ever! And Christ on a Bike, the driving levels! I played better , more realised racers on the Atari 2600. Wonderful video. I was looking forward to watching this, and loved every second. Thank You.

[@konserwowy1092]

I had the Amiga version of Ocean's T2 and I liked it a lot. True, the game was simplistic, very short and pretty easy to beat, but I loved the graphics.

[@kylereece1979]

I love seeing pics of early 90s video game magazines that captivated me at the time. Commodore Format, ZZAP 64, Mean Machines. I have Total Recall of buying Commodore Format in August '91, with a classic illustration of Arnie on the cover, with the upcoming T2 game being the highlight. I saw the game pics, mesmerised by how good it looked. Id would be over a year before I got a Megadrive, so the c64 was everything at the time. I played the cartridge version, which avoided the multiloads! I loved it, it was varied, there was something new each level. Bastard Hard to play at times and all that, but I love the film so much it was thrilling to have it!

[@sammylane21]

The Arcade game is still a absolute banger.

[@brandonlordbaltimore5182]

The Arcade version & the Guns you used to fire actually had vibration report when you fired. That game was friggin awesome. So were arcades for that matter. 👾👾👾

[@TheDefinitiveCollector]

I absolutely loved this!!! I'm a big T2 fan and thoroughly enjoyed watching this deep dive!!! Thank you so much Oliver!

[@wstine79]

I remember playing T2 the Arcade Game at Aladdin's Castle and Putt Putt Golf. Couldn't get past the opening Truck sequence. The Sega Genesis port was great, but thd Gameboy version was crap.

[@fakereality96]

The arcade version was definitely a bottomless pit for quarters back in the day. I was so glad when the SNES version dropped.

[@hiltwo]

It's a bad game, but I have sooo much nostalgia for T2 Judgment Day on Mega Drive :)

[@RGF91]

Arcade is goated

[@Spikeland]

I still love the NES version just saying

[@sundaypro]

Yeah a new upload. 🎉🎉🎉 love you channel. Your voice has a therapeutic effect on me.

[@bechtholdillustrator9378]

26:26 The Main Theme of this title is so underrated.Brings you back into the mood instandly. Title had great music in general. Loved it as a kid even if i had a hard time to understand what i need to do.But it was the same with most of the games from that time. That i didnt understand english also didnt help :D The driving sessions were truly horror. Finished it years later and enjoyed the ride.

[@ZyxthePest]

The Gameboy theme sounds like the Thong Song and I will never be able to unhear it.

[@michaelvau4818]

Now that is a real Christmas treat. Thank you.🎉🎉🎉

[@pho3nix-]

These Terminator games always had so much potential, with lackluster results unfortunately

[@Protoman85]

Terminator Resistance is the best Terminator game :)

[@patorjk]

"The Terminator" for Sega CD was a lot of fun. I remember playing that game a lot as a kid. I did a quick search on it and it strangely came out in 1993. Not sure why they didn't base it around T2.

[@CasperEgas]

Once again, a great video!

[@Aeon2Flux]

After Alien 3 and Getting my Sega on my birthday ,T2 the Arcade along with Hard Drivin and Revenge of Shinobi were my XMas gifts 2months after as a kid(spoiled brat i was)..I always just used the Level skip code at the opening T2 title screen . I Would always attempt to beat the 3rd level until the truck exploded 1st or second time to not lose a life, then just skip it and beat the rest with ease.. The chopper and semi chase level can be agitating,but it's pretty doable in the end..Great Video as always Oliver..

[@TheBeird]

11:57 Now I'm wondering why nobody ever did Johnny 5 vs The Terminator. Someone call Frank Miller, tell him to get his head out!

[@TigerNightmare]

I still have my copy of the SNES T2 The Arcade Game. I was excited to use the Super Scope on it as a kid, but they didn't program a calibration system like other Super Scope games did, so the sights didn't line up and you didn't know where you were shooting until after you pulled the trigger. I switched to the SNES mouse and exclusively played it that way.

[@johnkowalsky1988]

Great retrospective! I had the rail shooter on Snes. I could never finish the game. The red pickup truck gives me flashbacks haha.

[@gamertechkid1490]

Dude, top notch subject selection. I played the Sega game and hated the difficulty, but always wanted to try playing it with a mouse. I believe these days there are mods that let you play the Sega Genesis game using a mouse for aiming.

[@fredskull1618]

Pumped a LOT of quarters into the T2 arcade game in the lobby of my local movie theater.

[@Big-GVideo]

Great documentary. Well done Oliver!

[@Morgil27]

When I was a kid, i wanted the SNES port of the arcade game, but instead, my mom got me the _other_ SNES game. I didn't even know there were two different versions on the SNES. Boy, was I disappointed, especially after I could never beat the first level.

[@MaxiZamac]

Such a detailed and great video of this iconic movie. 🙌🏻👏🏻

[@dragondaveltd1992]

Excellent! Let's Go!

[@mannyb7746]

That intro editing for bloody awesome. ❤

[@sfighter0085]

A Belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you Oliver! Great Retrospective/Review as usual. i think the only one of these games I played a lot was the dismal SNES port, I just couldn't get past those damn driving stages. I did play a bit of the NES and Game Boy versions on an emulator on my old computer, while the NES game was meh at best, the Game Boy version was interesting, up until I got the puzzle stage. Terminator 2 is one of my favorite movies growing up, much like Robocop, it had real effect on me. Shame almost none of these games could capture the same essence.

[@WhatHoSnorkers]

Loved the coin-op. I remember the version on my mate's brother's 16-bit, with Arnie shooting tennis balls at cops.

[@oskarlonnqvist7074]

Oh wow! Just got a flashback of this random mall in Finland having a Terminator 2 pinball machine and I loved just looking at it! I tried playing it a few times but I really sucked at it! 😅

[@baifomet6425]

It's so overlooked how this game is the best game adaptation of Terminator 2.

[@WheeledHamster]

Never expected a Digital Foundry cameo.

[@wgibso20]

Robocop Versus Terminator videogame was heavily played in my childhood.

[@wrayday7149]

So .... I'm partial to the SNES LJN T2 game. Had it as a teen, never beat it but damn if I didn't try. The music was good. The environment was destructible. The driving sucked but the thought of driving around the world was awesome.

[@Iceteague1]

So the next one of these would be Jurassic Park?

[@vikingodin1986]

I remember playing the arcade gun game on holiday when i was a kid

[@philipgreen8227]

Merry Christmas to you and your family and friends hope you are having a great day Your channel is very informative Hope it keeps growing in the new year and beyond

[@abadenoughdude300]

I have a soft spot for the SNES T2 game. I know it's terrible and borderline unplayable at times (don't think I ever got past the mall level, even with cheats) but was somehow quite fun blasting everything left and right and I always enjoyed the music. A bit of a guilty pleasure for me lol.

[@randywatson8347]

I have fond memories of the arcade game. Snes had a good port. The PC DOS version from Ocean is hell...

[@patrickdoyle2124]

I'm in the minority who absolutely loved the SNES game. It was a little slow and the gfx weren't the greatest, and yes the driving segments take some getting used to. Very flawed game, but I have a lot of fun playing it.

[@cam1210]

Really great round up of the game and I'm in total agreement with you that the Gameboy version of Judgment Day is the standout version and I also had a soft spot for the C64 version after buying it for a couple of quid in the January sales at WH Smith as it had no box, just the bag the cassettes came in! I'm really surprised the developers of the NES version didn't get a copyright claim against them as the isometric motorcycle level looks to be a rip-off from a C64 game called 'Meanstreak'....maybe this is why that particular level was dropped from the Sega version?

[@Silanda]

I think the T2 Arcade ports play fine, but IMO Probe really dropped the ball with the graphic conversions in the Sega and DOS version. Going with hand drawn sprites rather than colour reduced digitized ones completely changed the look of the game. Imagine if they'd done that to Mortal Kombat. Actually, come to think of it, they kind of did: the backgrounds in Probe's Mega Drive/Genesis MK 1+2 were hand drawn, whereas Sculptured Software's port of 3 used digitized ones.

[@mikeghanley]

I think you could do a whole video on the state of video game journalism in the 90s. We used to obsess over scores, looking at it now it’s almost hilarious how they translated their comments into such specific percentages! Sure this game got 83% overall but this one got 84%…what did that 1% even mean??? It felt like RNGs at times

[@SnakeWorksStudio]

17:24 So what happened with that in the end? was there a recall or anything?

[@davidmarsh7696]

Noticed the price of games according to the magazines at time of release. Taking into account inflation at first glance looks like cost of computer games has really reduced.

[@fuzzytraveler]

Fantastic review! Thanks!

[@danieldevito6380]

I had this game as a kid and could NEVER get past the part with the pick-up truck. I tried COUNTLESS times and failed every time

[@AGoodJoe]

I was 11 and in heaven when this game was released

[@rjspires]

I played the Amiga version of the game. After seeing all the over version, I think it's best version, despite any flaws.

[@arepa13]

Love you videos keep up the great work

[@gamertechkid1490]

Speaking of Short Circuit, you should do a retrospective on that film!!!

[@byronarvanitis1189]

having played the Mega Drive and Amiga versions of the arcade port, I think the Amiga conversion is better in terms of graphics (similar to the PC version) and soundtrack. Although, having to choose between sound FX and music, due to the lack of RAM, was certainly a bummer...

[@BenziBoy]

Awesome video shame about most of the games though 😅. Thanks for the upload man

[@zombie587]

Love it!!

[@bobcharlotte8724]

I was 10 years old at the time and saw an "adult", maybe 25, at my local arcade and he was on a mission.... Wasn't leaving until he finished this. I forget which stage but as playing he past his friend 20 dollars (about 2000 dollars in my eyes at the time hahaha) and said "get me more dollars". I was flabbergasted, mouth open. Floored.

[@Lex-up6mg]

Bought a sega with the terminator from my neighbor when I was in a lil kid(1991). I didn’t beat the game till this year. Cruel game to give a kid.

[@carlosceluriantorreblanca4244]

I love the trailer recreation at the begining! cool

[@richardvowler1109]

Used to love the look of this game but it was so hard as all arcade games are.

[@wraithcadmus]

I had the Amiga version of the arcade, and could just about finish it solo. Far more fun with two players though, and did support two mice which I think was unique feature?

[@fromtheziggurat]

I played this recently for the first time in god knows how many years and did level 2 by muscle memory on my first try. Felt good. 😅

[@NebLleb]

Yeah, the only one worth playing of the lot is the Arcade game. But even then, lightgun rail shooters aren't everyone's cuppa so your mileage may vary. I remember emulating T2: The Arcade and having fun with it. Now with the games of the first two films done, you can move onto the Bethesda and Atari Terminator games! I'm particularly interested in hearing what you think about Future Shock and SkyNET, Oliver.

[@MattGarZero]

I had the NES game. It was surprisingly fun.