"[5] Kenneth Yeung of Capybara and artists Mike and Vic Nguyen brainstormed as a three-person team and decided to make a time-traveling side-scrolling shooter, "a Contra game where you can go back in time.

[5] They added Greg Georgiadis as a designer and Jason DeGroot as a musician, and decided after 20 days of work to pursue the project seriously.

[5] Capybara president Nathan Vella told Polygon that they wanted players to discover the game organically without having the concept spoiled.

[5] He also felt that the direct approach to gamers would create a small but loyal fan base, which the company preferred over broad marketing.

[5] By PAX Prime 2012, Capybara had removed mechanics where charging attacks depleted the time-life meter, and added multipliers (across multiple lives) for consecutive kills.

[7] In 2012, Super Time Force demos appeared at the Los Angeles iam8bit, Polygon's E3 party, and the annual Evolution fighting game tournament.

Super Time Force received favorable reviews from critics for its story, characters, colorful pixelated graphics, references to pop culture, and the unique ability for players to rewind back where they left off after their character dies using its game mechanic on each level's area as its checkpoint.

Critics have pointed out some mild flaws in that its repetitive life-saving throughout the game's time-out layers was seen somewhat confusing and overwhelming, but still found its gameplay an enjoyable experience.

[25] Arthur Gies of Polygon was impressed by its often nonsensical narrative and concept and described it as "The dumbest smart shooter I've ever played.

"[18] In a 2013 interview with ScrewAttack at PAX, Capybara president Nathan Vella was asked about the game's character Zackasaurus sharing some resemblance to late 1980s and early 1990s personas.

Several characters from Super Time Force are also featured as part of a downloadable skin pack for the sandbox game Minecraft.