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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

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.
  • Several pre-release descriptions of the game describe a task where the player must clean dirty tracks, but this never happens in the actual game. It's likely that this task was planned but scrapped.
  • While playing the game, the player can collect an "extra time" powerup, however it doesn't seem to actually do anything as there is no time limit for completing tasks.
  • 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.
  • The Engine Depot goes by two names in game: Sir Topham Hatt calls it the Engine Depot in the Diesel Catching mission; however, he also refers to Tidmouth Sheds in the Lost Engine minigame. After rescuing the lost engine, they are unlocked at the Engine Depot.
  • '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.
  • Unused voicelines in the game refer to an unused character named Maisy. Not much is known about this character, but she seems to be a steam engine, as the voiceline mentions her needing coal. (This can be heard at value 139)
    • It is unlikely that this was an earlier name for Molly, as Molly would have already existed for over a year when the game file was added.
  • 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 an unused clip of Sir Topham Hatt mentioning Marthwaite. (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' portrait and in-game model have a shorter running board, which is more accurate to his basis and not his design in the Railway Series or the TV series.
  • Due to graphical limitations, a few visual errors occur during gameplay:
    • James appears to have Gordon's tender painted red
    • 'Arry, Bert, and their triplet are missing the "Sodor Ironworks" writing on their sides.
    • In the Engine Depot, James's wheels are red.
    • In the Cargo Delivering minigame, Percy's wheels are painted black.
  • Why Tidmouth Sheds is referred to by "Engine Depot" is unknown, but considering the fact that the shed(s) is not situated around Tidmouth, but rather near Ffarquhar, Hackenbeck, Wellsworth, and Killdane, it is only assumed that this geographical error is the reason.
  • James' dome is much closer to his funnel.
  • When loading cargo at Brendam, the tender engines are missing their tenders.
  • 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 either of their appearances in the Television Series or the Railway Series.
  • Emily and Molly's buffers are black when they should be silver.
  • Annie and Clarabel are missing their faces and their names written on their sides. Furthermore, Clarabel faces Annie instead of away from her.
  • Killdane is improperly spelled with one "L" when it should be spelled with two.

Gallery