Robotron:2084 - Wave 100ers

[ArcCsc]

I finally busted loose yesterday to 114 after being stuck for a month with a best of 42 on the xbox 360, constant meltdowns when a good game would go in the 30s. Does anyone remember what their average game was when they first passed 100? I'm usually getting 25-37 on decent runs. I really don't understand the massive highs and lows in this game...one run you'll have an amazing game and then the next few weeks are just crap.

I really would like to loop the game one day, but I don't know if i'll ever have that kind of game again. It feels like I should be getting at least 50s+ if I can hit 100

[hanasu]

You may want to check out this site (http://www.robotron2084guidebook.com/gameplay/) if you haven't already. Has some helpful info, videos, etc. including wave by wave strategies. Good luck! Also check out Ken House's gameplay if you can find it somewhere, he recently got to 100 million and is a true master.

[bcass]

Aren't there supposed to be emulation issues with the XBLA version?

[opt2not]

I usually just play for 2 hours max these days, which gets me to around the 8 million mark, 1 loop. I play on my original Cabaret/Mini cab, and don't have a high-sitting chair, so it gets a bit tiring to play for too long.

Mind you, I can't be sitting when I play this game...I flinch too much at the near-misses LOL



First time I looped the board I was through the roof! Then eventually I got good enough to keep going indefinitely, which made me think "I could attempt a world record...let me look up the current score". When I saw it was over 340 million, I did the math...if it takes me 2 hours to get 8 million, there was no way in hell I was going to try to attempt a multi-day marathon!

For me, the hard parts are Wave 40+. Once you get to the point where the Tank generators are in every stage, it starts getting serious.

But I still say it to this day: Robotron giveth and taketh away. I feel ya on those highs and lows.

[Dave_K.]

I can't recall if I ever looped it on defaults, but after playing the crap out of my Robotron cabinet many years ago, I just switched it to 10 difficulty and never looked back.

[1500points]

Hey, nice to see you guys talking Robotron.
I am the caretaker of that Robo guidebook site, and it's a work in progress as players provide new strategies or content.
All are welcome to share in the continual transformation of it.

XBOX does have a very tough version of the game since they are using an early emulation concept which is highly inaccurate in the way it processes the "off-CPU" graphics. If you are good at the XBOX version, you'll completely smoke a real machine when you get the luxury of playing one. I also have an accurate feeling MAME148 version posted on the site so you get the real machine gameplay experience at home on PC.

The true "1-credit" marathon on difficulty 5 is Ken House who did it recently as part of a 100million gauntlet challenge, around 23-24hrs.
The old TG allowed multi-credit restarts for marathons, ie Eric Ginner's 112M game in 1982 took several restarts with the score accumulated.

Difficulty 5 is a gateway "drug" for the adrenaline junky. Difficulty 10 is where the true master's play. Currently the Vid Kidz Extreme (VKE) challenge on difficulty 10/3man start/50k bonus for lives is where the competition is. and no one has yet cracked the 1 million mark. Still waiting for that extreme master to arrive on the scene!

[PC Engine Fan X!]

One year at the California Extreme show, there was a guy playing on a full-sized Robotron upright with a score over 7 million -- it was quite something to see a good Robotron player showing his mastery indeed.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Dave_K.]

Currently the Vid Kidz Extreme (VKE) challenge on difficulty 10/3man start/50k bonus for lives is where the competition is. and no one has yet cracked the 1 million mark. Still waiting for that extreme master to arrive on the scene!

I believe this is how the Robotron competition was setup at last year's California Extreme. I remember walking up the cab and thinking this was pretty brutal (no extra lives), but quite fun for such a short burst of time. At least this way nobody is hogging the machine for hours on defaults.

[opt2not]

Currently the Vid Kidz Extreme (VKE) challenge on difficulty 10/3man start/50k bonus for lives is where the competition is. and no one has yet cracked the 1 million mark. Still waiting for that extreme master to arrive on the scene!

I believe this is how the Robotron competition was setup at last year's California Extreme. I remember walking up the cab and thinking this was pretty brutal (no extra lives), but quite fun for such a short burst of time. At least this way nobody is hogging the machine for hours on defaults.

The 5-man Tournament, difficulty 5/5man start/ 0 bonus settings are pretty fun too. Quick games, and really gets your heart racing right off the start.
That VKE challenge is pretty nuts.

Hi 1500points, can't mention Robotron online without you showing up.

[1500points]

ha, I had randomly checked on the website to make sure it was still running and this backlink was on the list. Always fun to have some Robo talk.

You guys probably saw that the Jarvis post-mortem vid is online now, search YT, from the San Francisco developers conference. it is full of Robo history and technical goodness.

PS- Paul Dean was the mastermind of the 3 man extreme CAX event and here is a write-up about it with some pictures and the mega cool poster they did for it http://www.robotron2084guidebook.com/ga ... axextreme/

[hanasu]

Yeah Ken's record is definitely the de facto record. That 300+ million stuff is BS.

[1500points]

Thought you guys might enjoy this little bit of pop-culture.
These particular trading cards will be available if you happen to be near SE Iowa, August 2nd for the ICON art gallery event in Fairfield, Iowa.
There will also be a mini-robo machine available for free play running the 19-1 PCB with x-arcade modded joysticks, better than nuthin'.
Cheers.

[ozzie_owl]

I'd love a Robotron cab.

I usually just play for 2 hours max these days, which gets me to around the 8 million mark, 1 loop. I play on my original Cabaret/Mini cab, and don't have a high-sitting chair, so it gets a bit tiring to play for too long.

Mind you, I can't be sitting when I play this game...I flinch too much at the near-misses LOL



First time I looped the board I was through the roof! Then eventually I got good enough to keep going indefinitely, which made me think "I could attempt a world record...let me look up the current score". When I saw it was over 340 million, I did the math...if it takes me 2 hours to get 8 million, there was no way in hell I was going to try to attempt a multi-day marathon!

For me, the hard parts are Wave 40+. Once you get to the point where the Tank generators are in every stage, it starts getting serious.

But I still say it to this day: Robotron giveth and taketh away. I feel ya on those highs and lows.

[1500points]

the 2nd Robotron Gauntlet occurred last weekend at TGL. David Gomez pushed the envelope to 150 million on 1 credit over 33 hrs. Ken House clocked the lives in the Goldilocks zone so his game ended shortly after 100mil but he was going strong until the game tagged him.

The TIE-DIE romset is now released, too.
You can watch playback of the various players including randomly interspersed commentary by both VidKidz. The full 33hrs is temporarily available at the twitch links half-way down this page- http://www.robotron2084guidebook.com/ga ... 00million/

More about the tie-die romset here- http://williamsplayersunite.com/main/ro ... on-extras/

[ProjectAKo]

First time I looped the board I was through the roof! Then eventually I got good enough to keep going indefinitely, which made me think "I could attempt a world record...let me look up the current score". When I saw it was over 340 million, I did the math...if it takes me 2 hours to get 8 million, there was no way in hell I was going to try to attempt a multi-day marathon!

Isn't the 325m WR score BS though? It has an 8 in the tens place and 0 in the ones place which should be impossible to achieve as all the scores are divisible by 25. Then again I'm just speculating and going on what others have said, not being into Robotron myself.

[1500points]

the 8 was just a typo between the score getting documented, mailed or phoned in and recorded on the Tandy Model III index card database program.
But the score itself is suspect based on the time and physical exertion involved in a score that large.
The other fact is that between 82-84 Twin Galaxies rules allowed multi-credit cumulative scores for marathons like Robotron so all scores from then were under multi-credit rules.

This new era of players adhere to 1 credit scoring, no resets. Twin Galaxies has been resurrected and will soon be allowing the player community to create new and relevant scoring tracks. The robo-community will be asking for a 1 credit marathon track in the near future.

So that old news is just that, old news. Hope to find and meet lots of new players of robotron as time progresses from this new 2015 updated release of the 1982 romset.

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

I'd love to have a Robotron cab too. It's probably the oldest game I really enjoy. I don't see how someone can keep playing that long to hit those scores. You'd think fatigue would set in or needing a bathroom break would would do them in.

[1500points]

New Dr. J inspired shooter coming in the future for consoles- http://www.polygon.com/2015/2/12/802758 ... s-new-game

[opt2not]

New Dr. J inspired shooter coming in the future for consoles- http://www.polygon.com/2015/2/12/802758 ... s-new-game

I'd die happy for an updated Robotron or Smash TV.

[CStarFlare]

This thread reminded me that I've got an SNES port of the game sitting next to me. Gave it a go - lots of fun. How well is the SNES port regarded? For some reason I'd rather play with a pad than my keyboard.

[ProjectAKo]

the 8 was just a typo between the score getting documented, mailed or phoned in and recorded on the Tandy Model III index card database program.
But the score itself is suspect based on the time and physical exertion involved in a score that large.
The other fact is that between 82-84 Twin Galaxies rules allowed multi-credit cumulative scores for marathons like Robotron so all scores from then were under multi-credit rules.

This new era of players adhere to 1 credit scoring, no resets. Twin Galaxies has been resurrected and will soon be allowing the player community to create new and relevant scoring tracks. The robo-community will be asking for a 1 credit marathon track in the near future.

So that old news is just that, old news. Hope to find and meet lots of new players of robotron as time progresses from this new 2015 updated release of the 1982 romset.

True I heard about that. Some of the old scores are multi-runs with starting over for various reasons like the enforcer in the corner glitch.

[1500points]

I am not familiar with a SNES port of the game but will have to check it out.
I recently bought a Robotron 64 cartridge on ebay and dusted off the kids N64 console.
The controller is sketchy but the game itself is innovative and fun, plus it has an official ending at 200 waves.
Rather impressed and it has a Smash TV feel, but incorporates a lot of innovative things like galaga style bonus stages, or even a black widow style phase of waves.

[1up]

I have Robotron 2084 on the PS2 compilation 'Midway Arcade Treasures Vol. 1'. Does anyone know how accurate this version is?

[1500points]

I have Robotron 2084 on the PS2 compilation 'Midway Arcade Treasures Vol. 1'. Does anyone know how accurate this version is?

all of the midway collection are based on very defective emulation which probably stems from the Digital Eclipse releases. It is going to be way off just like Xbox live arcade is.

[1up]

I read that the XBLA version was way more difficult than the actual arcade version, so the PS2 version is the same? What's the best port of Robotron 2084?

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Do any of the console ports of Robotron let you use two controllers to aim and shoot like Smash TV on nes? I always wanted to try that on Smash Tv nes, but I never got around to getting a four score. Really cool feature though.

[1500points]

Most any robotron-esque game I've ever tried is dual joystick so not sure which ones wouldn't be. They'd be unplayable in general.

yes, the console versions are all derived from that original Digital Eclipse version. And they have never tried to correct or update it since the original offering for the Williams compilation on PC. Too bad, but apparently the people that put that out don't actually play or research the game to understand they have faulty emulation of the real hardware...namely the video processing/blitter which happens off the CPU.

I am currently trying to find and play all of the Robotron ports/varied games.
Have an Atari 5200 in the mail.
N64 Robo 64 is quite entertaining but it's a variant.

So far Atari 7800 is the closest simulation of robotron. actually it is a brilliantly accurate simulation.

If you want to experience close to accurate experience using the real gamecode you'll have to use newer mame that is tuned.
See full details here- http://www.robotron2084guidebook.com/te ... emulation/

[apatheticTurd]

Most any robotron-esque game I've ever tried is dual joystick so not sure which ones wouldn't be. They'd be unplayable in general.

He's talking about using two separate controllers for a faux-twinstick setup.

Robotron 64 has this feature (pretty good game btw), but I don't know about the modern rerelease of Robotron.

[1500points]

ah, I see.
like you'd do on Atari 7800 with using both joysticks.
that midway arcade origins for xbox 360 doesn't even let you remap the controls so you can get away from the analog joystick settings from one joystick.
Looks like they slapped that together and didn't focus on details for each separate game....

[opt2not]

Robotron 64 has this feature (pretty good game btw), but I don't know about the modern rerelease of Robotron.

Hell no. I have to completely disagree with this, Robotron 64/Robotron X is not a good game at all. I was disappointed with a few things that really turned me away from the game:
- The tilting camera, especially when you traversed to the lower portion of the screen and the camera would come too low and obscure the enemies coming at you (hard to gauge distances)
- the Floating/rotating family points were so distracting and budget looking, they really didn't even try
- flying enemies in the later levels - this was a big one because it changes the way the game fundamentally plays. This requires you to actually stop and wait till they float to the ground before you can hit them!
- The art-style was not translated well from the original, and didn't convey the clarity and instant recognition of enemies the way the original did. This is essential for a crowd shooter like Robotron, and it really shows that the devs did not really understand the core essence of the game.