Right on Time

This article is about the video game. You may be looking for the magazine story.

Right on Time is a TV Plug and Play video game released by Jakks Pacific and developed by HotGen in 2006.

Plot

Welcome to the Island of Sodor, it's nearly time for the party and Thomas has his work cut out for him gathering supplies and helping his friends. Capture runaway diesels, pick up cargo from Cranky the Crane, bring coal to stranded engines and clean up after those pesky coal trucks. Follow Sir Topham Hatt's directions while exploring the island to help Thomas become a useful engine.

Gameplay

The player can play as Thomas, Percy, James, Emily or Molly and help them do various jobs on Sir Topham Hatt's orders. The joystick is used to move the engine to where they need to be.

Along the way, useful tickets can be picked up and used to collect tokens for unlocking other engines. Other power-ups include speedups and freezing time.

Characters

Sir Topham Hatt
Thomas (playable; does not speak)
James (playable; does not speak)
Percy (playable; does not speak)
Emily (playable; does not speak)
Molly (playable; does not speak)
Cranky (playable in 'Cargo Delivering' only; does not speak)
Troublesome Trucks (non-playable; do not speak)
Annie and Clarabel (non-playable; do not speak)
'Arry and Bert (non-playable; do not speak; not named)
'Arry and Bert's triplet (non-playable; does not speak; not named)

Locations

Games

Balloon Catching - Help collect all the balloons that are scattered around the island.
Finding Freight Cars - Find the freight cars and take them to a certain station.
Collecting Passengers - Collect passengers from one station and take them to another.
Collect Presents - Find and collect the presents.
Diesel Catching - Catch the diesel engines and take them to the Engine Depot.
Lost Engine - Find a lost engine that has run out of coal and help get it back on track.
Troublesome Trucks - Go to the Coaling Plant, catch the runaway Troublesome Trucks, take them back to the Coal Shed and clean up all of the coal that they have spilt.
Cargo Delivering - Go to Brendam Docks to collect the cargo from Cranky and deliver it to a certain station.

Trivia

Sir Topham Hatt is voiced by Robin Smith in the US version of the game, where in the UK version he is voiced by David Holt.
The image of Sir Topham Hatt is taken from Coal and mirrored.
This game uses most of the location names from the Railway Series.
The gameplay is similar to the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive game.
The background used for Brendam Docks is a stock image from Thomas and Trevor. Also, the background used for the Engine Depot is a stock image from Thomas, Percy and the Coal.
Some versions do not have a map, but some other ones do. Also, in some versions, Percy and Molly's faces are different, and Percy's front running board is different as well.
'Arry and Bert are accompanied by a triplet whenever the player is assigned to Diesel Catching.
An image of a Wooden Railway Cranky is used whenever the player is assigned to go to Brendam Docks.
If the player is assigned to Diesel Catching, the player cannot go back to the engine depot to change characters.
To access the debug mode, at the "TV Games: Plug it in & Play" screen, hold Up, press and hold A, release Up, press Down, then release A.
The files in the game refer to an unused character called "Mazy" or "Macy"(This can be heard at value 139)
In the files/sound test a clip for unlocking Thomas can be heard, this goes unused since Thomas is the starting character. (This can be heard at value 138)
Also in the files is unused clip of Sir Topham Hatt mentioning Maithwaite. (This can be heard at value 098)

Goofs

James and Percy's whistle sounds are switched.
Emily has Thomas' whistle sound at three half steps higher in pitch, while Molly has Henry's whistle sound at a half step higher in pitch.
James' dome is much closer to his funnel. Also, he appears to have Gordon's tender painted red.
When loading cargo at Brendam, the tender engines are missing their tenders. In the same game, Percy's wheels are painted black.
The naming of stations in the game is quite odd; Lakeside and Glennock are both narrow gauge stations, and Barrow is not even on the island.
In this game, all of the stations look inaccurate to their true appearances in the Television Series and the Railway Series.
Emily and Molly's buffers are black when they should be silver.
'Arry, Bert, and their triplet are missing the "Sodor Ironworks" writing on their sides.
Annie and Clarabel are missing their faces and their names written on their sides. Furthermore, Clarabel faces Annie instead of away from her.
In the Engine Depot, James's wheels are red.

Right on Time

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