admin Terminator 2: Judgment Day hit theaters in July 1991, at the height of an era when a tie-in game or two was released for every blockbuster movie. T2 was certainly no exception to this trend, and it arguably did better than most films in terms of video game adaptation thanks to its smash hit light gun arcade game, using digitized footage and brutal action to capture some of the film’s look and feel.
However, the numerous home games it received were largely a disappointment; some of them had interesting ideas, but none managed to distill James Cameron’s pulse-pounding sci-fi sequel into an action game worthy of the movie. T2 name. But as that film teaches us, our fate is not yet certain, and now, almost 35 years after its release, we have Terminator 2D: No Fate. This new action side-scroller isn’t just a great video game adaptation of the film; it also immediately stands out as one of the best arcade-style run-and-gun shooters of all time.
The emphasis there is on ‘arcade style’. This year has brought us a number of majorly licensed 2D action games—Shinobi: art of revenge, Ninja Gaiden furious– but those games ultimately complicated the arcade-style action of their predecessors in ways that I felt diluted their core identities and made for less immersive experiences. No fatehowever, is simple, brutal arcade action in the best way.
In many ways it feels like a product of the era that gave us classics like the Early Years In return for games and Metal snailalthough the folks at developer Bitmap Bureau cleverly build on and refine what the best run-and-gun games of the ’80s and ’90s did. Some members of this team have been making games since the Genesis and Amiga era, but they don’t try to unnecessarily complicate what already works in games like Contra 3: The Alien Wars; they’re just trying to make it as exciting and compulsively playable as possible. And boy, did they succeed.
No fateThe film’s 15 stages are a mix of scenes taken straight from the film brawl in the biker bar where the naked T-800 looks for some clothes, some boots and a motorcycle; the attack on Cyberdyne– and scenes that go beyond the story of Cameron’s film, including some “future war phases” where you play as John Connor and fight your way through a machine-filled, post-apocalyptic Los Angeles. Your first successful runthrough on the game’s medium difficulty will only take about 45 minutes, which may sound too fleeting for a $30 game, but I recommend you consider this game if you have any love for action games in your heart. This is a game you’ll want to play again and again for many reasons.
First of all, the controls here are absolutely amazing. Your movements are so precise, so responsive that it feels like a dream, and every weapon you use, from Sarah Connor’s pistol to John’s futuristic pulse rifle, is powerful and satisfying to wield. However, don’t confuse this with a game where you simply run to the right and keep shooting. Enemies and environmental hazards keep you on your toes, encouraging you to sometimes defeat an enemy, sometimes slide to send a grenade flying back to him, and sometimes take cover in a doorway as bullets fly by.
Moreover, the game shakes up the action nicely from phase to phase. This is a run-and-gun at its core, but the aforementioned bar brawl instead plays more like a beat ’em up, and in some stages you’re on a motorcycle or behind the wheel of a police van and forced to avoid hazards on the road, while also fending off the T-1000 that gives chase. There’s also Sarah’s stealthy escape from a mental hospital, in which you feel the chilling presence of the T-1000 stalking the halls.
No fate is a game in which you naturally feel that you are getting better as you play; you’ll learn to navigate the patterns of the big, impressive bosses more skillfully and get through tricky sections unscathed. The reward for mastery is quite satisfying in itself, but since this is a game with arcade-oriented design principles, that better performance also results in higher scores. The longer you go without getting hit, the bigger the score multiplier you accrue, and this is a game that really makes the pursuit of higher scores fun and exciting, because that bigger number is really an expression of your increased skills.
Speaking of mastery, once you’ve mastered the game’s normal difficulty setting (called “No Problemo”), you’ll want to try out the harder versions, “Hasta La Vista” and “Judgment Day.” These don’t go the boring route that so many games take with tougher settings to simply give regular enemies more health, but instead change up the game in meaningful ways with tougher enemy placements and behaviors and trickier boss patterns to navigate. These adjustments breathe new life into the game’s challenge and give you even more satisfying situations to overcome.
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Quote from the back of the box:
“I need your clothes, your boots, and your copy of Terminator 2D: No Fate, available in stores now!”
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Developer:
Bitmap agency
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Type of game:
Sick arcade style run-and-gun.
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I liked:
Stunning pixel art, breathtaking bosses, excellent controls, varied gameplay, satisfying scoring system, great difficulty settings.
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I didn’t like it:
The developers clearly didn’t get the rights to Arnie’s likeness.
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Platforms:
PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One/Series X|S, Switch (played)
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Release date:
December 12, 2025
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Played:
~10 hours, completed all paths in story mode on normal difficulty with an overall S rank (but I need to get a higher score!)
The levels are lively and never stay too high, but there are still a few fun secrets lurking here and there. And there are a few different routes you can take through the stages of the game, with the route you choose being determined by choices you make at a few key moments. Depending on what you decide, a full playthrough could include as few as 12 stages, or as many as all 15. It’s fun to see what surprises the alternate routes have in store: one optional stage is a clear homage to one of the most memorable scenes from the first stage. Terminator flick – and to see how they deviate from the film’s storyline.
Terminator 2D: No Fate excels at every level. It has absolutely stunning pixel art that brilliantly captures the visual identity of the film. (This aspect of the game is overseen by Henk Nieborg, one of the medium’s great veterans.) The moment-to-moment gameplay is as good as any of the very best and most legendary run-and-gun games of all time. The action is wonderfully varied and just challenging enough to make you want to master it. And once you do, it offers new levels of difficulty that change things up in interesting and valuable ways.
In 1991, a great opportunity was missed: the chance to create an action game for home consoles that would unleash the enormous potential of the Terminator 2 license. But finally, Bitmap Bureau has righted this wrong with a game that almost feels like a classic from a bygone era. If only we could send it back in time so we could all have enjoyed it in 1991.
