Ice Age? More like Not-So-Nice Age!
Time Gal is an Interactive Movie in the vein of Dragon's Lair, originally developed by Taito for arcades in 1985, with the animation done by Toei Animation with an uncredited Studio Junio.The "plot" revolves around a time bandit named Luda going through different time periods in order to make himself leader of the world in his own time. Another time traveler, 16-year-old Reika Kirishima, aka Time Gal, is out to stop him. There is no hint of this in the actual game, however. Besides the last part, anyway.
The game was eventually ported by Wolf Team to the Sega CD for a Western release in April 1993. It also saw releases on the Pioneer LaserActive, MSX, Sega Saturn and PlayStation. Additionally, Reika has made appearances in Castle of Shikigami 3 and Elevator Action Deluxe as a playable character, and also appears in Arkanoid vs. Space Invaders.
In July 2023, a sequel exclusive to the Taito LD Game Collection called Time Gal Re:Birth was announced and released on December 14th. It follows a new protagonist by the name of Luna who must team up with Reika to stop Luda.
Tropes:
- Action Girl: Reika. She travels through time and space fighting in nothing but a bikini and manages to kick butt.
- American Kirby Is Hardcore: Japanese covers present Reika as an energetic and cheery girl who'll get the job done because she believes in herself. The singular Western cover in existence depicts her as a hard-boiled, no-nonsense agent who shoots first and asks questions later.
- Batman Can Breathe in Space: Reika spends the later stages in outer space.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Like Ninja Hayate, Time Gal shies away from the gruesome yet comical deaths as utilized in Dragon's Lair and Space Ace. Few of Time Gal's game overs explicitly kill Reika off onscreen; most simply have her receiving the blow and then gaining either a shocked or exhausted expression. Most of them also have her turn into a chibi rather than stay an anatomically correct human, presumably to avoid showing a beautiful girl being seriously hurt. The only deaths that explicity kill Reika off are her disintegrating if she shoots the cavemen and her turning into an angel after her ship is shot by a missile.
- Big Bad: Luda is a criminal attempting to use time travel to Take Over the World, with Reika following him to stop his plans.
- Bloodless Carnage: Several of Reika's deaths like being hurled into a whirling propeller or eaten by a shark should be gory, but are done as cartoon slapstick instead.
- Bowdlerize: The U.S. Sega CD version, released in 1992, had the year 666 changed to 999, and 1990 to 1991, the latter due to the unfortunate coincidence of The Gulf War. It also changed the text for a Time Stop option in 1941; the original version had "Pray to God". The U.S. version changed it to "Hope for luck". What's more, if this option is selected, Reika actually starts praying in the Japanese version, while the American version has her say, "Please help!" She turns into an angel in both versions, though.
- The Cameo: Hayate from Ninja Hayate is among the crowd welcoming Reika home and applauding her success.
- Casual Danger Dialog: In B.C. 44, Reika flirts with the man she's fighting against.Reika: Hey, good-looking. You're my kinda guy! Oh, how old are you?
- Catchphrase: "Sore!" (literally "There!" but oftentimes used as a grunt), said by Reika enough times to count.
- Clothing Damage: Some of her "deaths" are this.
- Convection, Schmonvection: The very first level has Reika hopping over lava.
- Defeat by Modesty: Some of Reika's "death" scenes just have her losing her clothes.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The Japanese version
of the Sega CD port has a vocal song, "Exceed the Space Time", performed by the voice of Reika Kirishima, Yuriko Yamamoto. - The End of the World as We Know It: 3001.
- Enemies with Death: The main opponent in 666/999 AD appears to be The Grim Reaper.
- Everything Trying to Kill You: No matter what era, what location, what creature, what person, everything and everybody wants. Reika. Dead. In some cases, it's possible that Luda convinced people that Reika was evil, but still. The only exception seems to be 1941, where everyone is clearly trying to kill each other, and she just happens to be in the way.
- Evil Laugh: Whenever Reika dies, there is immediately a shot of Luda laughing his ass off. Can also count as Game-Over Man if you're on your last life.
- Excuse Plot: A time bandit named Luda is going through different time periods in order to make himself leader of the world in his own time. Another time traveler, 16-year-old Reika Kirishima, aka Time Gal, is out to stop him. There is no hint of this in the actual game, however. Besides the last part, anyway.
- Exposed to the Elements: Even while in the Ice Age or space, Reika spends the whole game wearing a space bikini.
- Expy: Reika's appearance is based on Lum from Urusei Yatsura, and her outfit looks very similar to those worn by the protagonists in Dirty Pair. She received a redesign in Castle of Shikigami 3 to reduce the similarity.
- Fanservice: Reika goes around the game wearing a space bikini and some failure scenes have her clothes torn up.
- Game-Over Man: Luda serves as this if you lose your last life, though it's simply a repeat of the shot of him laughing from any other time you die.
- Genki Girl: Reika. She’s flirty, generally cheerful as she giggles and skips through danger for most of the game, dolling out little quips here and there, with some shrieks of panic when in distress.
- Grandfather Paradox: One death scene has Reika fire her gun into a bunch of cavemen — and promptly dematerialize, having allegedly shot one of her ancestors.
- The Grim Reaper: The main opponent in 666/999 AD.
- Gory Discretion Shot: If Reika gets slashed with a sword, the screen just turns black as a white slash mark appears.
- Gratuitous English: For starters, "Time Gal". Another example would be whenever Reika uses her Time Stop ability; she announces it with a shout of "STOPPU!" She finally says the whole thing before defeating Luda, announcing it with "TIIIIIIIIIME STOP!"note ("Stop" being pronounced properly this time.)
- Humongous Mecha: Appears chasing Reika in 3001.
- Hydra Problem: The aliens in 3999 divide upon being shot. This is a hint that shooting them is the wrong choice, and that the correct solution is to open the airlock on them.
- The Hyena: Despite constantly being in dangerous situations, Reika always finds something to laugh at. However, she does stop laughing when things get too dangerous. This only holds true for the Japanese version, however, as she's a lot less giggly in the U.S. version.
- I Want My Mommy!: Dying in 1941 can cause Reika to cry out "Okaa-san!" ("Mommy!"), "Otou-san!" ("Daddy!"), "Jii-chan!" ("Grandpa!"), or "Baa-chan!" ("Grandma!")
- Major Injury Underreaction: In 500 A.D., there are multiple death scenes involving Reika slamming her body into a boulder while riding a mine cart. In one of the scenes (in the U.S. version), her only reaction is a calm "Uh-oh", said not before, but as she's slamming into said boulder.
- The Many Deaths of You: Oh yes, they're one of the big highlights of the game. Though, getting your boobs whipped or your pants bitten off doesn't really qualify as a "death".
- Minecart Madness: In one segment Reika has to ride a mine cart through an underground area, while bending left and right and sometimes having to jump up or down out of the cart to avoid obstacles.
- Ms. Fanservice: Reika. She wears nothing but a bikini.
- MST: Retsupurae did their usual lampooning of the game here.
- Not Zilla: The first enemy Reika fights, in 70,000,000 B.C., is basically Godzilla without the dorsal spikes. It even has Godzilla's iconic roar.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Reika in some of the death scenes.
- Also, Luda during his death scene. Reika uses her Time Stop to turn his cannon around so that he shoots the core of his fortress, which blows up before he can get away.
- Ow, My Body Part!:
- In the Japanese version, some of the fail scenes in 500 A.D. have a big, fat guy whip Reika's breasts, causing her to sometimes exclaim something to the effect of "Ouch, my boobs!"
- Luda does this as well, right before you defeat him.
- Ray Gun: Reika's primary weapon.
- Red Is Heroic: Reika wears a red bikini bottom, a red bikini top, red armbands, and red stockings.
- Ret-Gone: One of Rika's deaths has her immediately dematerialize after shooting one of the cavemen attacking her in the distant past, apparently having shot one of her distant ancestors.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: Subverted. Reika has no shame running around in just a red bikini, boots, and a sachet, but she suffers Defeat by Modesty in two fail scenes.
- Shout-Out:
- Japan-only: In one of the death scenes in 1588, Reika is chased by a shark. What does she say while this is happening? "JAAAAAAAAAWZUUUUUUUUU!"
- In the U.S. version, when she swings on a vine in 65,000,000 B.C., she attempts a Tarzan scream.
- HIDEBU!note
- Slapstick: Most of Reika's deaths are pretty slapstick-y, although less explicit than those of contemporary Interactive Movies.
- Soft Water: Averted. Some of the failure outcomes show Reika falling from a great height into water, high enough for it to be fatal.
- Stripperiffic: Reika wears what looks to be a space bikini.
- Super-Deformed: Most of the death scenes render Reika as a chibi for some reason.
- Take Over the World: Luda's end goal.
- This Is Gonna Suck: 1941 has a Time Stop option that has Reika stay on the plane that's about to collide with the side of a ship. The face she makes before collision◊ screams this.Reika: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
- Threatening Shark: One chases Reika away in a failure scene, and presumably catches and eats her offscreen.
- Thrown Out the Airlock: The correct solution to defeating the aliens in 3999. And unless you act fast, Reika gets sucked out, too.
- Time Stands Still: Every level has a section where Reika stops time in order to get herself out of a particularly tricky situation (read: you are given a set of choices and must pick the one that lets you continue the level). The rub is that the time stop freezes her as well; essentially, she's freezing time so as to give herself a few seconds to think of an out.
- Too Dumb to Live: Why, exactly, does Reika jump into 1941 on a plane at the battle of Pearl Harbor?!? It's possible that she can control when to jump to, but not where?
- Underwear of Power: Not exactly underwear, but her outfit is nothing but a bikini.
- Uncertain Doom: A few of the death scenes aren't deaths at all. For example:
- In one scene in 66,000,000 B.C., a dinosaur rips her panties off. Embarrassing, but not fatal.
- Another one in 500 has someone whip her breast. Definitely painful, but again, it's not fatal.
- Finally, there's a death scene in 2001 where a thug slices the back of her top in half. Same deal as the 66,000,000 B.C. scene. On the other hand, she does lose her gun along with her undies, and presumably she loses her time gizmo thingy along with her top, so that would make further progress impossible.
- Winged Soul Flies Off at Death: In the 1941 stage, while on the wing of a falling plane, there's a Time Stop moment where you have to choose the correct option to progress further into the level. If you choose the "Pray to God"/"Hope For Luck" option, the plane will crash into the side of a ship, and you see Reika's spirit ascending into Heaven.
- A Winner Is You: Once you beat the game, you get a short scene in which Reika gets a medal for saving the world, and she blows a kiss at the player, with the screen saying, "VICTORY!"
- You Fight Like a Cow: Reika often taunts whatever is chasing her. For example, while being chased by bugs in the year 4000, she says, "This way, this way!"
- Zeerust: 2001 and onward.
