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« on: June 21, 2026, 12:24:18 pm »
41. Terminator 2D: No Fate (Switch)
In preparation of discussing a game based on the Terminator franchise, it's interesting to think about retro throwback games developed in recent years and how those games would have been received had they been released in the era of gaming they received their inspiration from. You have to wonder if a game like Dusk or Earthion been released during the period of gaming they resemble, would those excellent throwback games have become household names within gaming? You then have to wonder if those games would have existed at all back then given how much inspiration they took from other games released during the time periods they are trying to emulate. A person could go crazy thinking about stuff like this. But anyhow, these were thoughts and questions that were on my mind during the couple hours or so it took me to beat Terminator 2D: No Fate.
T2 No Fate looks and plays like a 5th generation 2D action game that would have been right at home on the PS1 or Saturn back in 1997. 2D run and gun games from the mid to late like Elevator Action Returns or Metal Slug 3 immediately come to mind while playing T2 No Fate. Except No Fate is so exceptionally good for a game in 2025, that if this game had come out on the Sega Saturn in 1996 or 1997, I honestly believe this game would have become a highly coveted collectors item worth $300+ and have ended up on a million Best Sega Saturn Games lists and videos. Yes, the game is that amazing...mostly.
The presentation, both from a video and audio perspective is as close to perfect a licensed retro throwback game can get in the modern era. With no hyperbole, No Fate has some of the very best, most detailed, and most source material faithful pixel art graphics I've ever seen. This game is absolutely stunning looking and there wasn't a single undercooked asset, level, special effect, boss, or anything else. The impressive and varied bosses in particular keep this game feeling incredibly fresh during its hour or so playthrough time and I never once found myself feeling like the visuals were becoming stale or repetitive. Perhaps one of the only blemishes this game has to its visuals is the very blaring exclusion of Arnold Schwarzenegger's likeness as the iconic T-800 Terminator. No doubt, this probably came down to a budget issue, however the likeness of literally every other main character from Terminator 2 Judgement Day is present, rendered in gorgeous, highly detailed pixels. Still, even with Arnie's iconic appearance missing, the game still does an incredible job working around this unfortunate omission where the game never really suffers from not nailing the look, feel and vibe of its source material. However, to say T2 No Fate is just a beat for beat adaptation of the movie would be grossly inaccurate.
No Fate takes the player to parts of the T2 story either not explored in the movie or under explored. These include the future war segments as you play as a war hardened John Connor, as well as a bit of a prequel where you get to see how and why Sarah Connor ended up getting shot and arrested, followed by her getting placed in the mental hospital where she starts out in during the beginning of the T2 movie. There is also lore and aspects of the T2 universe brought in from other sources as well that make an appearance. Essentially, if you're a Terminator fan, this game will give you all kinds of goodies you were and weren't expecting.
Like the visuals, the audio in T2 No Fate is spot on. While there is no voice acting, that is completely fine seeing how this game is going for the look and feel of an era where voice acting was still a fairly novel inclusion in CD based games, and No Fate doesn't suffer one bit because of it. Where the audio really shines is in its soundtrack which is a mix of song ripped directly from the movie the game is based on, as well as original/arranged tracks that fit right home with the music you'll no doubt recognize from Judgement Day. It all goes a long way towards nailing that look and feel the game manages to pull off to perfection. Combine that with some excellent sound design ranging from the noise of the plasma rifles from the future wars to the noises of the T-800's motorcycle during the LA River chase scene. It's all great stuff and I honestly don't have a bad thing to say about No Fate's audio.
Where T2 does falter a little is in its gameplay. For the record, T2 No Fate's gameplay is excellent for the most part. While the game is primarily a side scrolling run and gun style game similar to Contra, there are crossovers and tributes to other genres and games (including the aforementioned classic by Konami). This keeps the gameplay of No Fate feeling fresh and interesting from start to finish. One stage you'll be mowing down SWAT members in the Cyberdyne building while arming bombs to blow the building up and in a previous level you were hitting boost arrows and dodging abandoned vehicles as a young John Connor on his dirt bike. The game is constantly switching up gameplay, characters, abilities, and features, while at the same time maintaining a level of core gameplay that keeps things familiar enough to where it won't be too jarring when it does mix things up. Unfortunately, changing up the gameplay depending on who you're controlling or what stage you're on is a bit of a double edged sword and does result in some slightly annoying sections as you adjust to what the next stage of No Fate expects of you as the player.
One other criticism I have of the game are the inclusion of alternative story paths you can take at two different points in T2 No Fate. I won't spoil what these are, but these alternative story paths serve as "what if" scenarios that serve the purpose of increasing the replay value of a fairly short game. Aside from a single level in each alternative scenario and the cutscenes playing out differently, these post game what if parts mostly just recycle parts of the game you've already played, pretty much beat for beat with the exception of you playing as Sarah instead of John or the Terminator instead of Sarah. At least in my option, they really don't justify a new playthrough, especially since these choices don't become available until the last third or so of the game.
A final compliant I have about No Fate, which some might see as a nitpick is the use of continues instead of just checkpoints like most modern games. I completely understand why Bitmap chose to include traditional, old school continues instead of just allowing you to respawn infinitely from the same checkpoint; it makes No Fate feel way more authentic as a game you're supposed to think is from the 90s rather than a game developed 30 years after that. However, I see limited continues as an annoying, antiquated gameplay feature that if anything diminishes my enjoyment when I play older games than one that enhances it. And to be fair, T2 No Fate does have continues throughout the stages, however if you die enough times and use up all your continues, you literally have to start over from the very beginning of the game. I guess one of the only mitigating factors about this is No Fate isn't that hard of a game, at least on the normal difficulty. Still, the continue system kinda sucks.
These gameplay gripes and issues aside, T2 No Fate was a surprisingly good, very feel made run and gun throwback. I pretty much binged the game in a single sitting and found myself thoroughly entertained from start to finish, well, at least for the main game. I genuinely believe that No Fate is the Terminator game fans of the series like me would have lost our minds over back in the mid 90s, and it's a shame this game wasn't originally released back then. While the game is still undeniably fun and amazing to look at in our modern year, this game would have almost undoubtedly become a retro classic had it come out 30 years ago. In 2025, however, I feel like T2 No Fate is far more of an obscure indie game based on a damaged IP whose best days are nearly 40 years behind it. Aside from some beacons of hope, mostly in the form of video games, time has not been kind to the Terminator franchise, and like many other classic Hollywood IPs, modern entertainment industry incompetence has pushed the series to the brink of irrelevancy. But I'm getting off on a tangent here. If you still enjoy the Terminator franchise or old school run and gun games, you owe it to yourself to play what might be the best game based on the Terminator series ever created. (6/21/26) [41/50]
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