 According to Harry Lafnear, "Time Bandit" was based on the 1982 arcade game "Tutankham" and was originally called "Pharaoh".The Atari ST and Amiga versions have visual similarities to "Gauntlet", but "Gauntlet" was released in late 1985 after development of "Time Bandit" was complete.Lafnear estimates that 75,000 copies were sold, mostly for the Atari ST.

Jerry Pournelle of "BYTE" named "Time Bandit" his game of the month for September 1986, stating that the ST version "is the best arcade-type computer game I have ever seen".