Play Bill & Ted's Excellent Video Game Adventure Online

Bill & Ted's Excellent Video Game Adventure came out on the NES in 1991, developed by Sculptured Software. It was one of those many licensed games from the era, based on the goofy time-travel movies, and it tried to capture that specific brand of slacker humor on the 8-bit hardware. You knew what you were getting into with these kinds of titles; they were often a mixed bag, but they had their own strange charm.

You control either Bill or Ted, moving them screen by screen through different time periods. The main goal is to gather historical figures like Socrates and Genghis Khan by finding the right weird bait to attract each one, like using a football for Lincoln. You have to avoid getting thrown in jail, which sends you back to the start, and carefully manage a limited supply of quarters for the time-traveling phone booths. The game is slow and methodical, almost like a puzzle, where a wrong move can really set you back. It feels like a strange, thoughtful adventure that makes you plan your route more than you'd expect from a game about two dudes who say "excellent" a lot.