Forget Terminator – remember when Marty McFly travelled back to the year 1885, where Doc Brown was living as a blacksmith and Mary Steenburgen was supposed to die –and then she didn't and the whole future changed – but it was okay, because she fell in love with the Doc and had kids and they flew around time in their kick-ass flying, time-travelling train while Marty got a big, black truck and the hot broad from Fast Times at Ridgemont High? That was awesome.

Then there's 'The Terminator': a movie about a robot from the future, sent to the past to prevent humans from stopping the robot uprising. It was pretty good, too – maybe not Hoverboard and Flux Capacitor good – but good nonetheless. The movie went on to spawn the superior 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day', which stands as one of the all-time great sci fi-action movies, as well as a so-so third film, TV series and now a very cool looking fourth instalment called 'Terminator Salvation'.

But the franchise also gave birth to more than a dozen games. Some appeared in arcades, some ran on DOS – and others were available on consoles and even on pinball tables. In this feature, we touch on a few of the highs and lows for the famed series in anticipation of the release of Terminator Salvation. Patrick Kolan