Play Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure Online

I remember playing Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure on the NES back in 1991. It was published by LJN, a name you'd see on a lot of movie tie-in games for the system. This one was their take on the time-traveling duo, fitting right in with the era's mix of platformers and adventure games.

You control either Bill or Ted, viewed from above, as you explore different time periods screen by screen. Your main goal is to find historical figures and bring them back to 1991 for a school report. To do this, you talk to characters for clues, but they might also throw you in jail or take your money. You collect items like keys to escape jail, and things like firecrackers or cassette tapes to deal with enemies; the tapes make enemies dance, while textbooks clear the screen. Finding the historical figure is only half the job; you also need to locate a specific "historical bait" item hidden in the level to convince them to follow you. After that, you pilot the phone booth through a pipe maze to travel in time, spending coins to change direction; if you run out of coins, you have to replay the level. It can feel a bit slow and repetitive, but there's a certain charm in figuring out how to round up each famous person.