T2: The Arcade Game

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Mega Drive Master System Game Gear
T2: The Arcade Game
System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Sega Master System, Sega Game Gear
Publisher: Arena Entertainment (US/EU) Acclaim Japan (JP)
Developer: Probe Software
Licensor: Midway Manufacturing, Carolco
Original system(s): Arcade boards
Sound driver: Krisalis sound driver
Peripherals supported: Sega Menacer
Genre: Shooting, Action
Number of players: 1-2, 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1994-02-25 ¥8,8008,800 T-81023 US 1992 $49.9549.95 T-81156 US (Menacer) 1992 $89.9989.99 EU 1992-12 T-81156-50 PT 199x UK 1992-12 £39.9939.99 T-81156-50 SE (Rental) 199x AU 199x BR 199x 044220 EU 1993 MK-27061-50 AU 199x JP 1994-02-25 ¥4,8004,800 T-81027 US 1993-09 T-81088 EU 1994-01 T-81088-50 UK 1994-01 £27.9927.99 T-81088-50
Non-Sega versions Amiga Arcade Game Boy IBM PC Super NES

T2: The Arcade Game (Ｔ２ ジ・アーケードゲーム), is a light gun arcade game originally released by Midway Manufacturing in 1991. In its original form, it was simply known as Terminator 2: Judgment Day, being inspired by the film of the same name. When brought to the home the following year, it was renamed, and should not to be confused with different Terminator 2: Judgment Day games released around the same period. Despite the change in title, this game is often referred simply as "T2", which prone to cause confusion.

T2: The Arcade Game was ported to the Sega Mega Drive, Sega Master System and Sega Game Gear. The Mega Drive version of the game is compatible with the Sega Menacer.

A Sega Mega-CD version appears to have been planned (with a US release of August 1993), but was cancelled for unknown reasons.

Story

The story of the game falls in line with the movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day: to save the leader of the Human Resistance, John Connor, and his mother Sarah from the T-1000, an advanced prototype Terminator bent on killing them both. The player takes the role of a T-800 Terminator cyborg, already captured and reprogrammed by the human resistance, and fights alongside them against Skynet in the year 2029. Eventually, the T-800 and John Connor penetrate Skynet's headquarters and destroy the system CPU. Discovering the time displacement equipment, the T-800 is sent back through time to John's childhood, with the mission to protect him from the T-1000 that Skynet has already sent back. In the past, John, Sarah, and the T-800 launch an attack on Cyberdyne Systems in order to prevent the development and creation of Skynet. The T-1000 catches up to the group and pursues them in a police helicopter and a liquid nitrogen truck. The T-800 is able to freeze and shatter the T-1000 with the liquid nitrogen, but it quickly melts and reforms in order to continue its pursuit of John. Ultimately, the T-800 must stop the T-1000 from killing John and blast it into a vat of molten steel to destroy it.

Two endings are possible, depending on the outcome of the Cyberdyne raid. If all equipment is destroyed, the player receives a message that Judgment Day has been averted; otherwise, the company's research will continue and Judgment Day remains a possibility.

Gameplay

The game is a first-person rail shooter. The first half of the game takes place during the human/machine war in 2029, and the second half takes place during John Connor's childhood in the 1990s. Stages scroll automatically. Sometimes a certain amount of enemies or locks have to be taken out to proceed. Various items are hidden that provide benefits such as increased firepower or extra credits. Unlike most light gun games, players are equipped with machine guns that can be fired continuously by holding the trigger on the Menacer or on a control pad. While the gun has unlimited ammunition, it gradually overheats and loses efficiency, so players must let it cool off occasionally by not firing for a duration. Each player has a gunpower gauge that indicates this and decreases as the gun is fired. Players also have a secondary weapon, a rocket launcher in the stages set in 2029 and a shotgun in the stages set in the 1990s, which is fired by pressing the top button on the Menacer or on a control pad.

Each player has energy gauges that indicate their health. If the energy gauge is depleted, the player is defeated and can only continue playing at the cost of one credit. The score does not reset upon continuing. The quantity and positioning of enemies sometimes makes it impossible to avoid damage, meaning the game cannot be cleared without using continues.

The game supports two-player simultaneous play, with both players using control pads or with one player using the Menacer and the other player using a control pad. Players share credits.

Stages

	The Battlefield
	The Human Hideout
	Trip to Skynet
	Skynet
	Cyberdyne Systems
	The game has two endings depending on how much equipment is destroyed in this stage. Only 100% destruction triggers the good ending, which differs only by the text displayed on screen.
	The Freeway
	The Steel Mill

Items

Items are collected by shooting them.

	Extended Rapid Fire Coolant
	Recharges the gunpower gauge and allows the gun to fire for a duration at full efficiency without overheating.
	Rapid Fire Recharge
	Recharges the gunpower gauge.
	Body Shield
	Temporarily reduces damage done by enemies.
	Smart Bomb
	Destroys all enemies on screen.
	Full Recharge
	Fully replenishes the energy gauge.
	Plasma Pulse Energizer
	Temporarily increases the power of the machine gun.
	Rocket
	Each rocket increases the supply of rockets by 3.
	Credit
	Gives the player an extra continue.
	Shotgun Shell
	Increases the supply of shotgun shells by 3.
	Minigun
	Temporarily changes the main weapon into a six-barrel minigun.
	M-79 Grenade Launcher
	Temporarily changes the secondary weapon into a grenade launcher.

Versions

The game is not region locked and thus runs on any region system.

Compared to the Arcade version and the SNES port, the Sega Mega Drive differs greatly in terms of visuals and slightly in content.

• Visually, the game now mainly features pixel artwork instead of digitized graphics. The palette has also been considerably brightened for unknown reasons.
• In terms of content, enemy layout has been altered, there is no wall and no resistance soldiers before stage 1 boss, no elevator in stage 3 (also missing in the SNES port), some missing speech samples (most notably in the final stage after meeting the T-1000 for the first time the liquid nitrogen fight), no enemy helicopters in the Cyberdyne stage, no rope SWAT in the Cyberdyne stage and final stage. This list is incomplete.
• The ending cinematic has been replaced by a single picture of John Connor (also in the SNES version)

Magazine articles

Main article: T2: The Arcade Game/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Main article: T2: The Arcade Game/Promotional material.

Physical scans

Mega Drive version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) 79 №6, p56/57 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) 85 №6, p56/57

	82
Based on 2 reviews

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 50 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 60 Alaab Alcomputtar (SA) 80 Aktueller Software Markt (DE) 62 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 55 Cool Gamer (RU) 60 Computer & Video Games (UK) 90 Electronic Games (1992-1995) (US) NTSC-U 88 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU) 60 Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK) 72 Game Power (IT) 71 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 95 GamesMaster (UK) PAL 80 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 50 Joypad (FR) 83 Joystick (FR) NTSC-U 80 Mega (UK) PAL 82 MegaTech (UK) PAL 86 Micromanía (segunda época) (ES) 89 Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL 75 Player One (FR) 85 Play Time (DE) 62 Sega Power (UK) PAL 88 Sega Power (UK) PAL 89 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 94 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 92 Sega Zone (UK) PAL 89 Sega Force (UK) PAL 92 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 54 Supergame (BR) NTSC-U 91 Supersonic (FR) 86 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 84 Video Games (DE) PAL 78

	77
Based on 33 reviews

T2: The Arcade Game

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, PT
Cover

Mega Drive, SE (Rental)
Cover

Mega Drive, AU
Cover

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Cart PCB

Master System version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Joypad (FR) 69 Score (CZ) 53 Sega Magazin (DE) 38

	53
Based on 3 reviews

T2: The Arcade Game

Master System, EU
Cover
Cart

Master System, AU
Cover

Game Gear version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 58 Consoles + (FR) 79 Computer & Video Games (UK) 80 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 50 Joypad (FR) 75 Player One (FR) 70 Power Unlimited (NL) 90 Sega Power (UK) PAL 64 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC 71

	71
Based on 9 reviews

T2: The Arcade Game

Game Gear, JP
Cover
Cart

Game Gear, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Game Gear, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 a1264f17 MD5 3c2666bcc3c42a4218e46c5aba2bca15 SHA-1 85cc1cf3379d3ce23ca3c03d84fe6e2b3adc9c56	1MB	1992-10	Cartridge (US/EU)
?	CRC32 5e6fe52c MD5 a8116b3d4cb98089cfa78fe4a7f9e5bb SHA-1 64d0778d38b5eb0664c1b85e0689de637a416654	1MB	1993-12	Cartridge (JP)
?	CRC32 94255703 MD5 eac97bb10a17764668a35598fe41de26 SHA-1 87660389d70d73e5f0f68d672a0843712f7c4c85	1MB	1992-08					Page
?	CRC32 93ca8152 MD5 f1983c31f965aa8de77df64483883550 SHA-1 cfa4a899185fced837991d14f011cdaca81e9dd7	512kB		Cartridge (EU)
?	CRC32 0b1ba87f MD5 95c43a0846089717fca37c4d26373973 SHA-1 a56fc1154709cae443efeed6e6310cc059396605	512kB		Cartridge (JP)
?	CRC32 9479c83a MD5 d459d14baddfa9f8a69e91f79be71b9b SHA-1 12b6f5542b6cebfe872096eab2a885d297eefa2f	512kB		Cartridge (US/EU)