The Terminator movie franchise has had a rocky relationship with video game adaptations over the years, with many being cheap cash-ins during the 16-bit era, all trying to capitalize on the juggernaut that was Arnold Schwarzenegger during the height of his popularity.
- The Escapist recaps
- A better name would have been “Sarah Contra 3”
- Terminator 2D: No Fate is a product of a different time
- Terminator 2D: No Fate does a bad job with its limited content
- Ask The Escapist
The last thing anyone can accuse Terminator 2D: No Fate of is being a cheap cash-in. This is a game produced with love for the source material and for the era of gaming that Terminator 2: Judgement Day was born alongside. While it may carry negative traits from that same era, its pure passion makes it a strong contender for the best Terminator video game ever made.
The Escapist recaps
- Terminator 2D: No Fate is a 2D run-and-gun shooter based on Terminator 2: Judgement Day.
- Terminator 2D: No Fate will be released on December 12, 2025.
- Terminator 2D: No Fate is coming to PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. It can be played on Nintendo Switch 2 via backward compatibility.
- Terminator 2D: No Fate shows events outside of Terminator 2: Judgement Day, but doesn’t dip into the other films in the franchise.
A better name would have been “Sarah Contra 3”
Terminator 2D: No Fate is a 2D run-and-gun shooter with racing segments, heavily inspired by the Contra series, especially Contra 3 on the Super Nintendo. The story not only depicts the major events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, but also adds numerous scenes that show moments hinted at in the film.
On the minuscule chance that the reader is an alien lifeform who has never seen Terminator 2: Judgment Day, I’ll do a rapid recap of the story (also: welcome to planet Earth). Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a time-travel story in which humanity is nearly wiped out by sentient robots in the future.
The only hope is a resistance movement led by John Connor. The machines send the T-1000 back in time, which is a Terminator made of liquid metal, to kill Connor while he’s still in his teens. Connor, in the future, also sends back a machine, a T-800, an outdated Terminator that has been reprogrammed to help humanity. The story shifts to the present day, where John Connor and his mother, Sarah, must team up with the T-800, despite the encroaching, inhuman T-1000 outclassing it.
Terminator 2D: No Fate shifts between different characters as it tells the story of Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Starting with Sarah Connor, the narrative jumps back and forth through time, with the future John Connor fighting machines, a teenage John Connor escaping his assassin, and the T-800 blasting anyone who gets in his way.
Terminator 2D: No Fate is broken up into levels, though once the story has been completed for the first time, it’s possible to go back and make choices at select moments that put the player on a new path, unlocking new levels and content.
When I mentioned the similarities between Terminator 2D: No Fate and Contra 3 earlier, I wasn’t kidding. The gameplay is beat-for-beat the same, right down to Spreader Guns and bosses that will look extremely familiar. It bears mentioning that Terminator 2D: No Fate is a lot easier than Contra 3, except on the hardest difficulty modes, with the player having a health bar and Continues that can be earned in each stage.
Terminator 2D: No Fate is a product of a different time
The developers of Terminator 2D: No Fate must be commended for the game’s visuals. The sprite work and backgrounds are gorgeous, perfectly emulating both the source material and the SNES/Amiga aesthetic.
A ton of work went into making Terminator 2D: No Fate, with each playthrough feeling like taking a time machine back to the past and flipping on a game rented at Blockbuster’s, one that needs to be finished in a single weekend before it has to be returned.
While Contra 3 has been cited many times as an inspiration throughout this review, Terminator 2D: No Fate features numerous nods to classic games, including racing segments straight out of Battletoads and base exploration that resembles Elevator Action. This is a product of pure joy for anyone who looks back on the 16-bit era with fondness.
The first playthrough of Terminator 2D: No Fate is unadulterated fan service, evoking the film’s carnage and bloodshed. It’s hard to gauge just how much fun I had on that first run, smiling at all of the little nods to the film. Terminator 2D: No Fate nails all of the biggest moments, while the stages that exist outside of the canon go a lot more arcade, with massive, bombastic foes that take a lot of firepower to destroy.
While Terminator 2D: No Fate has several playable characters, there isn’t much difference in their playstyle, with Sarah Conner having a deadly melee attack, future John Connor throwing grenades, and the T-800 having a massive health bar that takes a long time to deplete. It would have been nice if they had been differentiated more, especially John Connor, as his stages tend to be the hardest, so he could have used another trick in his arsenal.
Terminator 2D: No Fate does a bad job with its limited content
Terminator 2D: No Fate has one huge issue that might turn people off at launch: the content. Like many 16-bit-era movie adaptations, Terminator 2D: No Fate is an abbreviated retelling of a two-hour movie. This means that the player can complete the story in under an hour, assuming it’s finished in one.
While Terminator 2D: No Fate does have branching story paths, the first one doesn’t happen until the player examines the T-800’s chip, which means the player will need to complete the first few stages over again to see all the new content.
The different story paths only offer a few extra stages or switch out one character for another, with a few extra foes thrown in. The small amount of content in Terminator 2D: No Fate mimics the games of its era, but it also means it’s very short, with a ton of recycled stages that are mandatory to see everything.
Terminator 2D: No Fate is best enjoyed as a short love letter to one of the greatest action movies of all time, with a ton of love poured into every pixel. Those who love the franchise and have despaired at the lack of great games will find a lot to love here. Anyone who isn’t a die-hard Terminator fan but loves the 16-bit run-and-gun era should also like it, but only if they go in knowing that their time with the game will likely be as brief as the second film itself.
Ask The Escapist
While the game features appearances by actors from the films, they don’t return to reprise their roles, nor does it use clips of them speaking.
No. The game is single-player only, so those hoping for two-player Contra-style modes are out of luck. This is a shame, but it wouldn’t have made sense to include multiple characters in every scene, as in the level where Sarah Connor escapes from the hospital.
No. Terminator 2D: No Fate is clearly inspired by Contra and is being referential, but it’s not directly stealing any content from the series. Konami was also “inspired” by many franchises, especially the Contra series, and by Arnold Schwarzannger, so it has no room to complain.
It does not. This is a huge shame, as a level based on the music video would be awesome, but the licensing costs were likely well beyond the game’s budget.
Last Updated On: Dec 12, 2025 8:00 am CET