A most excellent trip through time is getting the 16-bit treatment. The first trailer for Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure: Arcade has arrived, introducing a new side-scrolling video game based on the 1989 comedy starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter.
Bill S. Preston, Esq. and Ted “Theodore” Logan are heading back to the past, and this time, players can join them on the adventure. We have the first trailer for you to check out. Fingers crossed this doesn’t send Downey into a rage. He hates Bill & Ted. What did they do to his childhood? We’re not sure.
The trailer revisits several familiar moments from the movie, rendered in colorful pixel art. Bill and Ted find themselves back in the Old West with Billy the Kid, crossing paths with Napoleon, squaring off in medieval times, and encountering Ludwig van Beethoven. There’s even time for a little Ziggy Piggy ice cream action. Rufus, the time-traveling guide played by the late George Carlin in the original film, also makes an appearance near the beginning of the trailer.
The familiar movie dialogue is part of the appeal, with lines including “Greetings, my excellent friends,” “We’re with you, Billy the Kid,” and “We’re in the middle of a war, dude.” The trailer also leans on the original film’s soundtrack and recognizable exchanges, which should make the trip especially nostalgic for anyone who grew up watching Bill and Ted save their history grade.
There is one detail worth clearing up about the advertised voices of Reeves and Winter. Although the campaign describes the game as featuring the stars’ voices and says their pixel-art counterparts will have their voices, the trailer appears to use dialogue taken directly from the original movie. That is different from the actors returning to record new performances for the game. Their original work is being carried into this new format, but there is no indication so far that either actor recorded fresh voice-over sessions.
Developed and co-produced by Art of Play Interactive, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure: Arcade is planned as a 15-level, 16-bit side-scrolling action-adventure. Players can control Bill or Ted on their own, or bring a friend along for local couch co-op. The pair will travel through history in search of famous figures they need to recruit for their school report, including Billy the Kid, Socrates, Napoleon, Beethoven, and Genghis Khan. Each historical character comes with a distinct minigame challenge, while the game also promises a story mode, an unlockable arcade mode, and additional minigames.
The project is being developed with Roditeli Productions, Infâme MKT, and Creative Licensing Corporation. The announced platforms are PC through Steam, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Series X/S.
Fans won’t be able to pick up the finished game just yet. The developers are planning to launch a crowdfunding campaign through BackerKit in February 2027, with digital and physical game editions, apparel, merchandise, and other rewards intended to help fund development. The game itself does not have an announced release date.
For now, fans can watch the first trailer and follow the official BackerKit pre-launch page for campaign updates. Bill and Ted have another history assignment ahead of them. Hopefully, this one doesn’t require a phone booth.
