I <3 Robotron 2084

[AraraSPAMWitch]

Couldn't find a proper Robotron 2084 thread, so I figured it's cool if I make this...

So yeah, I had this massive craving to play Robotron 2084 and since I don't know of any machines within walking distance, I had to MAME it. I really wanted to do the whole twin joysticks deal though (wasn't gonna compromise with some using button layouts as directions crap) and after thinking for a few minutes I hooked up two sf4 360 TE sticks to my laptop and used the sticks on both. It was fucking rad--I had to keep my hands somewhat unnaturally far apart, but otherwise it felt awesome. Anyone else try this, or better yet make a dual-sticked joystick to play this and other similar games? I'd love to just make a Robotron stick, but I'm probably too lazy to even try...

But yeah, every time I play Robotron I remember how damn good it is. It's so intense that not a single second is ever wasted. The recent Geometry Wars games do a passable job of capturing some of Robotron's frenetic appeal, but they lack that added element of rescuing civies which makes Robotron so damn insane and satisfying. (Any other arena shooters utilize a similar rescue element? I'll admit to being no expert on the genre) Anyway, when the mind-control dudes take over the humans and send them flying at you flashing neon it just scares the hell out of me.The game is just nuts--I really haven't played anything quite like it.

So yeah, Robotron 2084 rant over, that game is flipping sweet, I think everyone will agree

[ASK]

Offtopic forum maybe?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

On early Sunday morning at about 1am PST, I was watching this guy play on a dedicated Robotron upright brought in for the 2009 California Extreme show. He had a score of 6,000,000+ points easily...caused my jaw to drop. After watching him play for several minutes, I could tell that he was a very good player. It was insane to see him wade though a wave with the Tanks and pick them off with shooting their bouncing bullets and all. And no pause button to contend with using a PC with Mame emulation either. Yep, Robotron: 2084 is one of those games that doesn't ease up on the higher waves...it's the difficulty factor that just might do the player in instead. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[brokenhalo]

this game is so damn hard. i've been playing it on xbla and i have yet to see the 10th room.

[AraraSPAMWitch]

Offtopic forum maybe?

Nah, should be cool, there's a robotron vs. smash tv thread floating around on shmups chat and that didn't have any problems.

But damn, PC Engine, I would've loved to see that guy play. Watching videos online is cool and all, but seeing that kind of play in person must be incredible. The game really doesn't give you a chance to breathe--you have a second or two in between waves and then BAM it's droids everywhere again.

I didn't know they made an XBLA version. Is it the same as the arcade? If it is, I'm kind of tempted to buy it, despite the fact that I dislike dual-stick controls on the 360 pad. And yeah, the game is ludicrously hard. At a convention in philly I made it to maybe the 12th wave on a cab set to free play, but I attribute that to sheer dumb luck since I've yet to replicate the feat again. Now that I got my two-stick setup though I might try and beat that.

[Game Rogue]

Offtopic forum maybe?

I didn't know they made an XBLA version. Is it the same as the arcade? If it is, I'm kind of tempted to buy it, despite the fact that I dislike dual-stick controls on the 360 pad. And yeah, the game is ludicrously hard. At a convention in philly I made it to maybe the 12th wave on a cab set to free play, but I attribute that to sheer dumb luck since I've yet to replicate the feat again. Now that I got my two-stick setup though I might try and beat that.

In my 80's arcade days I was able to play Robotron as long as I wanted; once I even played in for 21 straight hours when going for the Twin Galaxies World Record. It came to a quick ending with a score around 250 million when my free men flipped over to zero and I was unable to gain another 25k for the next free man.

I've played (still play) the 360 version and it is (IMO) doubly more difficult than the original arcade – especially at the higher waves. For me, it’s very frustrating to manage a high score of 1.8 million (around wave 60 -default settings), knowing what I was able to get o' so many years ago.

[brokenhalo]

It came to a quick ending with a score around 250 million when my free men flipped over to zero and I was unable to gain another 25k for the next free man.

you got to love old school arcade hardware and the funny stuff it can do. at what number does your life count flip over to zero?

and if you have any general advice on how to approach this game i'd be all ears.

[BBH]

In my 80's arcade days I was able to play Robotron as long as I wanted; once I even played in for 21 straight hours when going for the Twin Galaxies World Record. It came to a quick ending with a score around 250 million when my free men flipped over to zero and I was unable to gain another 25k for the next free man.

I don't doubt that you were able to play for 21 hours straight, but there's no way your score was 250 million in that much time. Anyone that can marathon it is going to average 4 to 5 million per hour...

[Enhasa]

5 man rule WRU

[Doctor Fugue]

Indeed the XBLA version does seem harder on default settings. Many expert players could live "forever" on the default arcade setting and had to set it to level 10 for a reasonable challenge. But it seems only real masters can achieve the same endless play on XBLA. It goes without saying I am neither a master nor an expert, as I have only managed to reach Wave 29 on a few occasions on the Xbox 360. I would love to score a million points once before I die.

AraraSPAMWitch, I recommend getting the XBLA version. The controls are not ideal, but I do like using the dpad and buttons. Since your character movement is generally continuous, the dpad is not terrible (it shows more weakness in games where tap-dodging is required). Also, I believe it only costs 400 points and it is really nice to have a version of Robotron at your fingertips whenever your console is on.

And, it is worth mentioning that Robotron: 2084 is the greatest game ever made.

[BrianC]

I just picked up the Atari 7800 version recently. Very nice port, though I found it awkward to play with the stock controllers without something to hold them down. However, I just put a genesis pad in the left port (easier to use with my left hand) and a genesis stick in the right port and I lasted for 20-30 levels, longer than other setups I tried.

[brokenhalo]

I just picked up the Atari 7800 version recently. Very nice port, though I found it awkward to play with the stock controllers without something to hold them down. However, I just put a genesis pad in the left port (easier to use with my left hand) and a genesis stick in the right port and I lasted for 20-30 levels, longer than other setups I tried.

they were planning on releasing a plastic dock that you could place your 7800 controllers into for dual-stick play, but the idea never got to market sadly.

[Dave_K.]

No doubt, Robotron is the first true manic. I own the original orange/yellow label cab, which has default difficulty set to 5. The bug fixed blue label version has default difficulty set to 3. So perhaps a lot of people played the blue label back in the day, while the XBLA version is using the proper 5 for default? That said, most owners of the cab are able to marathon the game even at 5, so typically set their machines to 10 for a challenge. I've never played long enough to reach 256 men, but have seen the enforcer bug reset my game more times than I care to mention.

[BrianC]

I just picked up the Atari 7800 version recently. Very nice port, though I found it awkward to play with the stock controllers without something to hold them down. However, I just put a genesis pad in the left port (easier to use with my left hand) and a genesis stick in the right port and I lasted for 20-30 levels, longer than other setups I tried.

they were planning on releasing a plastic dock that you could place your 7800 controllers into for dual-stick play, but the idea never got to market sadly.

Not for 7800, but they did make something similar for the Atari 800 and 5200 versions.

[ROBOTRON]

Best coin-op ever made.

[brokenhalo]

http://www.tripoint.org/robo/robotron.html

the above link has some general strategy on the game. also, the computer used an 8 bit processor, so the 256th man would instead be 0. that's just so wrong. the guy who wrote the above page says he could flip it over at around 25,000,000 (a 6 hour game).

[louisg]

What's the best home port of this? I'd love to play a slightly more mellowed-out version-- I can't really keep up with the arcade one!

Hrm.. maybe I'll just give myself more lives.

[BrianC]

What's the best home port of this? I'd love to play a slightly more mellowed-out version-- I can't really keep up with the arcade one!

Hrm.. maybe I'll just give myself more lives.

The Atari 7800 version is a very nice port and is a slight bit more mellow than the arcade on the default difficulty. It didn't come out in EU, though.

[KidQuaalude]

Best game ever.

[Game Rogue]

In my 80's arcade days I was able to play Robotron as long as I wanted; once I even played in for 21 straight hours when going for the Twin Galaxies World Record. It came to a quick ending with a score around 250 million when my free men flipped over to zero and I was unable to gain another 25k for the next free man.

I don't doubt that you were able to play for 21 hours straight, but there's no way your score was 250 million in that much time. Anyone that can marathon it is going to average 4 to 5 million per hour...

I may have been a little ambitious on that score – my feeble mind, and excitement on contributing a post made things fuzzy; that and it was obtained 27 years ago. Your right about the score… at around 10 million for every 2.5 hours I was somewhere north of a high 70 million score.

My bad and apologies for the confusion.