Time Diver: Eon Man

Time Diver: Eon Man is a Nintendo Entertainment System video game developed by Atlus for Taito. Despite being completed in 1993, it was never commercially released. The game is completely finished, receiving a four-page strategy guide and review in issue 45 (February 1993) of Nintendo Power. Despite this, the game eventually disappeared from the Pak Watch section and was subsequently unproduced. Time Diver: Eon Man started life as a sequel to Wrath of the Black Manta, according to an interview the Game Developer Research Institute conducted with the game's planner.[1]

Title screen of Time Diver: Eon Man
Developer(s)Atlus
Publisher(s)Taito Corporation
Composer(s)Tsukasa Masuko
Platform(s)NES
ReleaseNA: Canceled (scheduled for 1993)
Genre(s)Action game
Mode(s)Single-player

Story

Earth, 60 years into the future. The world is virtually crime free thanks to the Clear System invented by Kane Nelson, scientist extraordinaire. That is, until a secret organization called Romedrux decides to challenge the system by unleashing a plague of crime. In order for them to succeed, they'll need to prevent the Clear System from ever being invented, and that means eliminating Kane or his ancestors. Los Angeles, 1993. Dan Nelson thought he was an ordinary student living in LA until the day he found himself under attack by Romedrux warriors. During the attack, Dan learns about his future son, Kane, and vows to protect his family past, present, and future. It's a race through time in this new sci-fi thriller from Taito![2]

Levels

Time Diver: Eon Man had five levels set at various points in time. These include: the opening Peaceful (1993), Wild West (1882), Devastated (2052), Devastated (1993), and a Peaceful Utopia version of 2052. For the time, an unusual feature was a randomized stages order, with the exception of Level 1; allowing for some variation when playing through the game multiple times.

Power Ups
Level 1: Peaceful 1993

Weapons
  • Laser: Default weapon you start the game with, useful against bosses.
  • Digger: Allows you to dig through the ground in some areas and kills enemies that touch you.
  • Earthquake: Kills all enemies on screen except bosses.
  • Stop Watch: Temporarily stops time for enemies.
  • Flash: Kill all of the enemies on screen except for the bosses, which take damage.

Items
  • HP Restore: Dropped by some defeated enemies, restores health points.
  • Weapon Restore: Dropped by some defeated enemies, restores weapons points.
  • 1Up: Dropped by some defeated enemies, gives player an extra life.

Versions

There are three known versions of this game. The first two are identical except that the title screen is slightly different. The third was silently released into the Asian game market as Time Diver: Avenger, which was developed and published by Nitra, short name of Nitra Semiconductor Company (九統半導體股份有限公司).[3] The only differences were the title screen, instances of "Eon Man" altered to "Avenger", the copyright listed as 1994 and the Taito logo changed to Nitra.[4] It is unknown if Nitra was another company that bought the rights, a subdivision of Taito developers, or simply a group of hackers (without a Nintendo and Taito license) who got a hold of a prototype copy of the game.

Reproduction

In 2010, a reproduction of the prototype was made available on NintendoAge.com.[5] Only 250 copies were produced.

gollark: Ah, so the be doesn't realize the inevitability of failure, I *see*.
gollark: The defense systems would immediately shunt you into a decoy universe.
gollark: You can't just "infiltrate GTech™".
gollark: ddg! Tarjan's method
gollark: Parse into what? I don't think this is useful or doable.

References
  1. Interview:Shouichi Yoshikawa - GDRI :: Game Developer Research Instiute
  2. Nintendo Power, no. 45, February 1993 Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. 九統半導體股份有限公司,統編:84951448,台北市信義區 – 台灣工商黃頁
  4. "Lost Levels :: View topic - VC Alternative, Week Four: Time Diver - Eon Man". forums.lostlevels.org.
  5. http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=6&threadid=30447 Missing or empty |title= (help)
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