THE HISTORY OF TERMINATOR GAMES

SINCE THE DEBUT OF THE 1984 MOVIE, TERMINATOR VIDEOGAMES HAVE APPEARED WITH EVERY SUBSEQUENT INSTALMENT. MUCH LIKE THE FILMS THEMSELVES, IT'S BEEN AN ERRATIC AND SOMETIMES BIZARRE JOURNEY. RETRO GAMER STEPS BACK (OR IS IT FORWARD?) IN TIME TO INVESTIGATE

- WORDS BY GRAEME MASON

Lightning arcs across the dark sky as a garbage truck goes about its early morning duties.

The driver flees as a magnetic ball, a glowing transport of matter through time, materialises, revealing its passenger. It is the arrival of the Terminator, and cinema will never be the same again. Directed by James Cameron and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in the titular role, the Terminator rampages through Eighties Los Angeles as it pursues its singular quest: to kill the mother-to-be of John Connor, the human resistance leader, thus ensuring the machines' domination over humankind forevermore. “I was in Kingston with a friend,” remembers David Perry, programmer of the 1992 Sega game based on The Terminator, “and to get out of the rain, we went into a cinema to watch something called The Terminator. We knew absolutely nothing about it, sat down and watched it in an empty cinema. It blew our minds.”

While The Terminator was a decent-sized hit - especially on video - it wasn't until 1991's sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, that the series properly registered in the public consciousness. “I was lucky enough to see a private viewing [of Terminator 2] shortly before we finished the game,” recalls Jas Austin, coder of the 1992 T2 Game Boy game. “I thought it was a fantastic action film that had a great twist with Arnie being the protector this time around.” Mike Tucker, design director and programmer on Bitmap Bureau's imminent Terminator game, Terminator 2D: No Fate, adds, “I vaguely remember watching the first Terminator movie at a young age, possibly on VHS or late-night TV back in the Eighties. But I distinctly recall going to the cinema to watch the sequel at Southampton’s long-gone ABC cinema. I still recall the hype surrounding the release to this day.”