It Was The Best of (Video Game) Times... Quiz

Answer: Save a ghost

The ability to save ghosts was new to the "Mario Kart" franchise with the Nintendo 64. Since N64 cartridges can save game data, players could participate in their favourite tracks in order to beat scores and times and create a ghost of themselves to beat for successive instances.

The ghost feature appeared in subsequent games in the series including the "Double Dash" and "Wii" versions and is often a definitive way of claiming true game records.

Answer: T.T.

T.T. is the only playable character in the game who isn't an animal; he's actually an over-sized, walking clock. Much like "Mario Kart 64", the game has the ability to temporarily save ghosts (until you shut off the game, that is), but once you reach a certain threshold, T.T. will always spawn on these individual tracks (accessed through the Tracks menu or after speaking to T.T. in each respective world). Beating T.T. in each track won't accomplish anything until all of them are done, in which case he joins the playable characters.

The only other unlockable character is Drumstick the rooster, but to get him you have to run him over.

Answer: Three days

The major hitch to the game is the fact that Link only has three days to prevent the Skull Kid (in possession of the evil Majora's Mask) from making the menacing moon (just look at its face) crash down onto the land of Termina. The sneaky bit is the fact that Link's Ocarina of Time, previously seen in the aptly-titled "Ocarina of Time", can bring Link back to the moment he stepped into South Clock Town smack-dab in the middle of Termina thus resetting the three-day clock. Clever players can also find out how to slow down or speed up time.

Another clever mechanic is the ability to alter paths and events as Link goes on. Defeating the first major boss, for example, will remove the poison from the Southern Swamp, but once you go back in time, everything will revert back to harsher times.

Answer: Half-Minute Hero

Developed by Marvelous Entertainment (known for other titles like the "Harvest Moon" series) and published by XSeed for North American audiences in late 2009, "Half-Minute Hero" makes it seem like RPG developers are getting too smart for their own good.

The main game involves beating a quest within a time limit of thirty seconds. You still complete battles and objectives, but you have no more than half-a-minute to do it. The point is to refill your timer before it runs out by appealing to the Goddess of Time.

This sneaky approach won awards after its release due to its new idea and mechanics. The game also features a multiplayer option.

Answer: True

Set in a farming/plains town known as Inaba, the characters of "Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4" need to solve the mystery behind the serial killer known for mutilating his victims. Coincidentally, the victims have a tendency of appearing on the mysterious 'Midnight Channel' on foggy nights.

The characters need to watch the channel at this time to find out who they need to save next, and they find themselves needing to visit the local department store, Junes, to find a TV big enough to enter the Midnight Channel realm.

The game is also notable for following a daily schedule. The player needs to go to school, do jobs, mingle, and save the world. Of course, this needs to be moderated to get the optimum result to the game.

Answer: Ten seconds

With the mythical Dagger of Time and the power drawn from the Sands of Time, the Prince of Persia (in its first game in a trilogy, the "Sands of Time") can rewind any scenario if the dagger is charged enough to prevent his own death, get an upper-hand, or solve puzzles. Collecting sand from enemies to refill the meter is important though as not collecting it can revive the opponent.

This mechanic was dropped from future games in the series though the original "Sands of Time" (for Gamecube, Playstation 2, and other consoles) is often regarded as one of the best.

In 2010, Jake Gyllenhaal was cast to play the Prince in a film adaptation of said game. "Sands of Time" was followed by "Warrior Within" and "Two Thrones" before the "Prince of Persia" name was once more reinvented by Ubisoft.

Answer: BioShock

This genre opposes turn-based games (ie. "Final Fantasy") in which players take turns with opponents allowing for time between attacks. Sure, it's not realistic, but it allows for precise strategy and planning. Real-time simulation games such as "Starcraft" and others rely on a 'play-on-the-fly' approach in which players need to make decisions that could impact their experience in the game by the second.

While some RPGs have made an attempt to portray realistically-timed battles, this type of game is usually pushed to the PC or online platforms.

For example, games like "Command and Conquer" in which players can LAN or battle over the internet are often in real-time to allow for fairness. "BioShock" is nowhere near this genre- it's a first-person shooter.

Answer: 'Before Time'

While Chrono and company tend to travel as far back as the Prehistoric times of 12,000 BC, they don't go to a time before the construct of time. They do, however, go to the End of Time, a small location at which they can access all earlier time periods of the game.

In the year 1999 AD, the evil Lavos plans to destroy the world, but traveling to the futuristic 2300 AD, medieval 600 AD, and present-day 1000 AD and beating enemies in the way can make things right. The characters must travel through specific portals throughout the game to make their way through the different time periods.

This SNES game, released in 1995, was followed by a Playstation sequel known as "Chrono Cross". "Trigger" is widely regarded as one of the most prominent RPGs on the SNES and was re-released on the Nintendo DS in 2008.

Answer: Fifteen minutes

Due to the specifications regarding the Nintendo Virtual Boy and the necessary components, the handheld came with the selectable option to pause your game every fifteen minutes in order to 'cool down'. The gimmick with this unit was to portray realistic 3D graphics (by this, I mean those red-and-blue, classic images) for mid-nineties markets in video gaming.

The ironic thing was that most kids were about ready not only to take a break, but to stop playing by their first pause. The system was a tremendous flop, and while the Virtual Boy is now a collector's item, players stuck with Game Boys and Sega's handheld, the Game Gear. Nintendo bounced back, as usual. Game Boy Pocket showed up the year the Virtual Boy was discontinued (one year after release) in 1996...and it omitted the auto-pause timer.

Answer: Pac-Man

Although video game timing records are always set to be beaten, only a handful of players have ever collected every fruit, dot, and ghost in the classic arcade game "Pac-Man" and reached level 256 before the game comes to an end. Nonetheless, the feat was completed in a time of three hours and forty-two minutes.

After the mid-2000s, the "Guinness Book of World Records" began to recognize time and point scores for various games to collect and release in annual installations. The first person to complete "Pac-Man" with the complete score did so no less than a year before (and in five and a half hours, no less).

Not only are records achieved by "Pac-Man", but the game itself is commonly regarded as the most well-known (and timeless) arcade franchises ever released.