Pilot Time is a multi-directional scrolling shooter and free-range aerial combat arcade game developed by Yoshiki Okamoto, published by Konami in 1982, and distributed in the US by Centuri. Debuting in the golden age of video arcade games, this is a time travel themed game that allowed the player's aircraft to move freely through open air spaces that could scroll endlessly in all directions. The video game killer list included pilot time on their list of the TOP 100 arcade games of all time.
The player takes on the role of pilot of a futuristic fighter jet, trying to save his fellow pilots who are stranded in different eras of time. The player must fight off hordes of enemy ships and defeat the mother ship (or "boss") present in each level. The background moves in the opposite direction of the player's aircraft, not the other way around; the player's aircraft always stays in the center.
This game has the player on a journey through five time periods, rescuing stranded colleagues. The player must fight hordes of enemy ships while picking up the paratroopers of friendly pilots. Another 56 enemy ships are defeated, initially 25 on the msx platform, and increased by 5 after each game cycle (end of the last battle against the UFO), the player must defeat the ship for the time being. Once it is destroyed, all remaining enemy ships are also eliminated and the player travels to the next level. All levels have blue skies and clouds as a background, except for the last level which is instead of space and asteroids. The specific eras visited, common enemies and maternal ones are:
1910: biplanes and airships
1940: WWII monoplanes and B-25s
1970: helicopters and large, blue ch-47s
1982 (Konami version)/1983 (Centuri version): airplanes and B-52s
2001: UFOs
The ship will be destroyed with seven direct hits. After all eras have been visited, the levels start over again, but stronger and faster.