If I could use only one word to encapsulate Terminator 2D: No Fate, it would be “authentic”: Both in the way it faithfully recreates James Cameron’s seminal 1991 action movie and its nostalgic love affair with the 16-bit era of video games. Movie tie-ins were mostly awful in the early ’90s, but I could easily see myself renting No Fate from my local Blockbuster and blasting through its sidescrolling run-‘n’-gun action in between episodes of Dragon Ball Z and WWF Smackdown.
It’s a brief experience, with the credits arriving in less time than it takes to watch the entirety of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, but No Fate is a licensed video game done right, created with palpable reverence for both its source material and the era of video games it emulates.
No Fate’s story mode opens with a shot of rolling tarmac, as the painted yellow lines in the middle of the road scroll past at regular intervals. If you’re a fan of Terminator 2, this shot will be a familiar sight, albeit one now rendered in gorgeous pixel art, with chiptune music and Sarah Connor’s monologue presented as blocks of text rather than through Linda Hamilton’s hushed tones. It’s also in a different place–on a desert road instead of a Los Angeles freeway–and opens the game as opposed to bookending the movie.
Where it once wrapped up two hours of pure movie-making excellence with a hopeful glimpse of an undetermined and hopefully better future, No Fate warns of the horrors to come–of Judgment Day and the rise of the machines. It’s a scene that wonderfully captures the vibe of Terminator 2 while also putting developer Bitmap Bureau’s own spin on things, remaining authentic and faithful to the source material with an additional sprinkling of unique flavor on top.
This is a common theme throughout No Fate’s story mode. When it’s not a beat-by-beat 16-bit recreation of one of the greatest movies ever made, it’s filling in the blanks and professing its love for ’90s gaming, fluidly shifting gameplay styles to suit the adaptation’s needs.
Take the opening level as a prime example: In a new scene set shortly before the film’s events, Sarah is teaching John Connor how to fight so he can become the soldier he may need to be in the future. This moment of atypical bonding is interrupted when a musclebound thug pays homage to Double Dragon by punching John in the gut and flinging him over his shoulder before walking off. What follows is a side-scrolling action platformer with more than a few similarities to the console and early arcade games of the ’90s.
As you move Sarah from left to right, mowing down bad guys by shooting vertically, horizontally, or diagonally, games like Metal Slug, Super Star Wars, and RoboCop Versus The Terminator come to mind. Movement is responsive, and human enemies go down in a couple of shots, making for some satisfyingly fast-paced action.
After rescuing John, Sarah heads to a Cyberdyne research lab to destroy it, only to be shot, arrested, and sent to the Pescadero mental hospital: a moment mentioned briefly in the film but afforded more prominence here. With Sarah’s plans to prevent Judgment Day foiled, No Fate takes inspiration from Terminator 2’s explosive opening scene, putting you in control of a grizzled John Connor as he leads the resistance in the Future War of 2029.
These levels resemble Konami’s Contra series more than anything, right down to a familiar defensive wall boss fight and temporary weapon pickups that grant homing plasma rounds and split shot fire. Bitmap Bureau introduces a few modern wrinkles as well, such as the ability to take cover and an evasive roll for avoiding enemy fire, though the game gets more interesting once you’re done destroying the various T-800s, Centurions, and Hunter-Killers of Los Angeles’ future.
Once John reaches the time-travel device and sends a T-800 back to 1995, No Fate transitions to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first appearance in Terminator 2 as he emerges in the parking lot of The Corral biker bar–though it’s worth noting that Arnie’s likeness isn’t included, despite Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, and Robert Patrick all starring. From here, the game begins taking scenes from the film and transforming them into playable levels, nailing every memorable moment while adapting gameplay styles to fit each scene.
After a naked Arnie asks for a biker’s clothes, boots, and motorcycle, No Fate momentarily turns into a beat-em-up as you clobber The Corral’s patrons, throwing one onto a steaming hot grill and culminating in a boss fight set to George Thorogood’s “Bad to the Bone.”
Later on, the iconic motorcycle/truck pursuit through Los Angeles’ flood-control channel draws inspiration from Battletoads’ Turbo Tunnel and the bike level from Contra 3: The Alien Wars, challenging you to avoid static hazards while keeping Robert Patrick’s T-1000 at bay–complete with one-handed shotgun reloads that are still the coolest. The freeway chase from later on in the film functions similarly but differs slightly, as you alternate between weaving in and out of traffic and taking control of Sarah as she fires upon the pursuing T-1000-manned helicopter.
Sarah’s escape from the Pescadero Hospital is another highlight, briefly turning No Fate into a stealth game. With the T-1000 hot on your tail, passing through metal bars and melting into the floor, there’s a sudden injection of tension since you have no way of fighting back. Instead, you need to duck into doorways and various alcoves to avoid the T-1000 and bide your time before taking out the hospital’s abusive orderlies. There isn’t an instant fail state if you alert any of the human enemies; it’s just easier to take them out with a swift blow to the back of the head, so being spotted is never frustrating.
This level fits the era, too, even if you might not necessarily think of stealth mechanics when recalling 16-bit games. 1990’s Bonanza Bros was the primary inspiration behind No Fate’s stealth mechanics, but games like Rolling Thunder and Elevator Action Returns were also influential, showcasing the depth of Bitmap Bureau’s love for the era.
While your first venture through No Fate’s story mode covers the rest of Terminator 2, from blowing up Cyberdyne HQ to fighting off the T-1000 in the steel mill finale, subsequent playthroughs allow you to change the future. After all, the game’s title comes from the famous line “there’s no fate but what we make for ourselves.” The future isn’t predetermined, and so the game leans into this ethos, letting you make a couple of different choices to alter events and unlock three alternative endings.
In practice, however, this sounds more interesting than it actually is. The branching paths introduce a few new levels, including an escape from a police station that feels like an ode to the original 1984 Terminator, but the other endings are brief and, much like the ending in the film’s extended cut, can’t compare to the original.
Along with a ranking system, global leaderboards, multiple difficulty settings, and other unlockable modes, seeking out the other three endings adds some replayability to what is otherwise a remarkably short game. My first playthrough took 42 minutes, with that number decreasing with each subsequent completion. The other modes include a Boss Rush, where you try to defeat all of the game’s bosses as quickly as possible, and an Infinite mode that tasks you with walking down an endless corridor, killing as many enemies as you can to achieve the highest score. If you’re interested in leaderboards, you might get some longevity out of these modes, but otherwise, you’ll likely play each of them once just to unlock the rest of the modes.
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Arcade mode adds an extra challenge by removing continues, while Mother of the Future condenses the story mode to only Sarah Connor’s levels, with completion unlocking the hardest difficulty setting. The options are nice, but still just offer different ways to replay the same game. No Fate’s brevity is fitting for a time period where most games had to be finished in a single sitting, but if you have no intention of elongating the experience by unlocking every mode, it’s unlikely you’ll be completely fulfilled.
Those with few qualms about duration will find a game made with evident love and affection for both the source material and the moment in time it was released. Its music is excellent–with perhaps the best rendition of the Terminator 2 theme to date–aiding the game’s visuals in its mission to transport you back to a time when blowing into cartridges and inserting coins were the norm. Whether it’s the T-1000’s haunting fluidity of movement, Sarah Connor’s one-armed reloading of a pump action shotgun, or the way the T-800 clambers onto the hood of a semi-truck to unload an entire magazine into its windshield, Terminator 2D: No Fate recreates the movie’s most memorable moments with pitch-perfect authenticity. It’s a shame it ends far too soon, but this is still the definitive Terminator 2 video game.
