Masterpiece: <em>Robotron 2084</em>

<em>Robotron 2084</em> helped create the genre of twin-stick shooters, and it still stands as one of the best examples of the art form. <em>Robotron 2084</em> is a masterpiece.

<a href='http://meincmagazine.com/gaming/news/2010/07/masterpiece-robotron-2084.ars'>Read the whole story</a>

 

[Pasta Man]

Ahhh...the memories. I mowed many yards to get money to dump into this game.

 

[Penforhire]

Oh yes, though I was also a big fan of Defender, lol. There was a very zen moment in this game, shooting your way to the edge through some of the massive horde levels!

Berzerk felt to me like the daddy for this game, despite having a single stick. That early voice synthesis was creepy!

 

[patbingsoup]

The sounds and visuals make my ears and eyes want to bleed, respectively, in the best possible manner. I want to play.

 

[Taracta]

Defender is the Greatest. Game. Ever! What do you mean by confusing Ben?

 

[Ben Kuchera]

It seems simple now, but when the game was first released many thought it was too complex for most gamers and it was thought its prospects for commercial success were low.

 

[solomonrex]

Come to Rochester, NY, where I just ploughed token after token into a perfect working copy at The Museum of Play's arcade exhibit. I was reacquainted with Robotron, Tetris, Missile Command, DigDug, Ms. Pacman and Tron.

And you know, my childhood memories aren't that accurate. The Tron cabinet is the best part of that game. Robotron holds up well, I agree. Tetris does, of course. Missile Command and Space Invaders are still great but I'm not as good as I remember. Pacman, the racing games (pole position) and Star Wars, Star Trek, not so much fun to me. Btw, if you're in the area and you have a small child, it's a perfect way to experience the games again. I can't stand Daytona's graphics anymore, but for my son, it was like a carnival ride.

http://www.icheg.org/

 

[keath]

Robotron had great controls. One of my favorites from the era. The best game Williams made though was Joust. Fantastic cooperative two-player game. Still a lot of fun today.

 

[BarnyMiler]

@Ben: Bliss is finding an arcade with a well-maintained machine that still runs on a single quarter.

Agreed. Honestly, do places like this exist anymore? Aside from the occasional one-off machine in some dusty pizza joint? The whole 'arcade' concept is so passee it makes me want to cry.

And SmashTV owns all.

 

[zod000]

I had no idea the same man was behind Defender, Robotron 2084, and Smash TV. All great games, I just play smash tv to this day.

 

[GozGeek]

The Dave & Busters in the Polaris Mall in Columbus, OH has an all in one arcade cabinet with several of the classics, including Robotron 2084. It plays really well.

 

[RickTempest]

Robotron had great controls. One of my favorites from the era. The best game Williams made though was Joust. Fantastic cooperative two-player game. Still a lot of fun today.

Went to post just what you said and thought I should read first. Joust ruled the roost.

 

[brainychimp]

more retrospectives like this, please!

 

[dvessel]

It seems simple now, but when the game was first released many thought it was too complex for most gamers and it was thought its prospects for commercial success were low.

I remember the button layout being more complicated than it needed to be. Stick movement only on the y axis and button just to change x axis and another for boost in that axis. If I remembered correctly, it would still be awkward for anyone playing today.

 

[kuniklo]

Greatest video game made yet. A minute to learn, a lifetime to master.

 

[endekks]

I had difficulty getting Joust down well. But yeah, Robotron was king. And the sounds! To this day I still love those SFX. I mix them into my DJ sets every now and again - and if memory serves, DJ Shadow is known to drop hose in as "bleeps" for expletives for his radio friendly material from time to time.

Nice article, though. What prompted you to write it? Was it something at E3, or did you see it recently?

 

[[S]Replicant]

Robotron was my second favorite of the Williams games. Awesome game, still have fun on it any time I see an arcade unit somewhere (fairly rare!). Never really got the hang of Defender/Stargate, although I loved trying -- too many controls to simultaneously coordinate.

My #1 favorite Williams game was Sinistar. Still love the "I hunger", "Run coward!" and other cool little voice bits.

 

[BeerdedOne]

Ah, there is a Robotron 2084 in the Ground Kontrol arcade in Portland, OR, along with a myriad of other classic machines:

http://groundkontrol.com/arcade/index.php

 

[Alfonse]

When you pick up a game for the first time, you're often subjected to tutorial levels or sections that hold your hand until you master the game's mechanics... and these sections can last an uncomfortably long time.

No, we can't have that. We can't actually introduce the gameplay to the player; that might help them get better at the game at their own pace. And we can't allow that.

People do this these days because:

1: It's good game design. Period.

2: Games aren't pay per play anymore. That's the only legitimate reason to just hurl someone into the gameplay.

This is obvious stuff. Teaching the player how to play the game is a categorically good thing.

I will never understand the fetishizing of the bad gameplay that arcade games exemplify. These were games designed to take your money! Everything about them existed solely to achieve this purpose. And before you ask, yes, I did indeed play many of those games when they were new (though not Robotron). That doesn't change the fact that they're bad gameplay. Seriously people, get past your nostalgia filter.

 

[c600g]

Bezerk is indeed a parent to this game in my mind as well. I can still remember some of the synthesized voices from that game:

"Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!"
"Chicken, fight like a robot!"
"Destroy the humanoid"
"The humanoid must not escape"

And that freaky bouncing, invincible smiley face that "encouraged" you to leave the level ASAP.

 

[Ben Kuchera]

1: It's good game design. Period.

If you think it's good design to explain to the player how to DUCK or SHOOT using a forced tutorial or voice-over we're going to often have disagreements about this hobby of ours. Maybe have a section where the narrator says they're going to "calibrate your systems" and that's how the tutorial is done? You're right. It's obvious stuff. That's why it's so terrible and boring.

 

[Miwa]

It's very hard for me to decide between Tempest and Robotron as the greatest game ever.

It's a real treat when I find a playable machine that actually works right.

It's probably my most played game on my MAME cab.

 

[jandrese]

Berzerk even talked in attract mode:

"Coin detected in pocket"

Also, I agree that Defender wasn't too hard (even for primitive 1970s brains), but the control layout was decidedly obtuse. To this day I'm not sure why they made changing direction a button when there was a perfectly good joystick right there on the cabinet.

 

[Taoism]

Seriously people, get past your nostalgia filter.

Well who pooped in your DigDug?

 

[fxds]

Eugene Jarvis and Dave Theurer were two of the highest gods of my teenage years, though I didn't know their names at the time.

 

[Zalen]

This game was THE game for me. I did learn that it had only 300 levels and it flipped back to #1 after that. So playing is endless

1 quarter and 3 hours = approx. 500 levels !!

 

[alienlogic]

I 2nd what Miwa said, it's a toss-up between Robotron and Tempest. Simple gameplay, perfect execution, completely absorbing in a stream-of-consciousness, pure nervous reflex sort of way. The world outside the monitor didn't exist until "GAME OVER" was on the screen and I was out of quarters.

 

[skicow]

No, we can't have that. We can't actually introduce the gameplay to the player; that might help them get better at the game at their own pace. And we can't allow that.

People do this these days because:

1: It's good game design. Period.

Yeah, it's a good thing they have the forced tutorials at the beginning of CoD (or any other FPS) because players have no idea how the controls work on those games....oh wait.

 

[skicow]

Robotron had great controls. One of my favorites from the era. The best game Williams made though was Joust. Fantastic cooperative two-player game. Still a lot of fun today.

Went to post just what you said and thought I should read first. Joust ruled the roost.

Ha! I see what you did there.

I agree, Joust was their best game -- play it weekly on my MAME cabinet.

 

[GwT]

Wow, Robotron, Joust, Berserk and Tempest. Memories of college. 3.2 beer. Having the reflexes to actually play the game. I could never play Defender, and gave up after a while.

 

[VideoGameTech]

Berzerk even talked in attract mode:

"Coin detected in pocket"

Also, I agree that Defender wasn't too hard (even for primitive 1970s brains), but the control layout was decidedly obtuse. To this day I'm not sure why they made changing direction a button when there was a perfectly good joystick right there on the cabinet.

Bingo! The gameplay of Defender wasn't bad, but I remember back then looking at it, trying it, and thinking "fooey, this sux." Sadly it was the control scheme.

And yes, Robotron 2084 rules them all !!!!! The remake for PS2 completely failed because it did exactly the opposite - new enemies kept dropping into the level while you played. I haven't enjoyed a twin-stick game as much until Super Stardust HD - which even though it drops in new enemies during the level, somehow never feels cheap or unfair. Even when it's kicking my ass.

 

[endekks]

Yeah, it's a good thing they have the forced tutorials at the beginning of CoD (or any other FPS) because players have no idea how the controls work on those games....oh wait.

The tutorials can be needlessly long, but a lot of shooter will switch up what the buttons do. Click left thumbstick to reload, or is it X or is it the right bumper, etc. Games could stick to the loading screen control display most times, afaiac.

 

[Taracta]

I remember the button layout being more complicated than it needed to be. Stick movement only on the y axis and button just to change x axis and another for boost in that axis. If I remembered correctly, it would still be awkward for anyone playing today.

Up/Down Joystick, reverse, thrust, fire, smart bomb and hyperspace (teleport) buttons if I remember correctly. The buttons were self explanatory. Hyperspace (teleport) was only for emergencies because you would die if you teleported into an object.

What trip most people up is that they got confused by trying the continually thrust while firing as the fire button only releases a single shot(?) when depressed. They should switch to rapid taps of both the thrust and the fire button when they need to fire. The holy grail of most Defender players was to have the fire button when depressed continuously fired. I did find a machine that had this feature but it was a useless feature because you would be moving too fast, holding down the thrust and the fire button, to play the game properly.

 

[Ribs]

It's worth nothing that Midway is selling Robotron, as well as other classic games like Joust. Just google Midway Arcade - their bundles are pretty reasonably priced.

I didn't grow up during the arcade times, but Robotron is currently my go-to game when I need to kill some time or just zen out for a while.

 

[jimCA]

This is obvious stuff. Teaching the player how to play the game is a categorically good thing.

I will never understand the fetishizing of the bad gameplay that arcade games exemplify. These were games designed to take your money! Everything about them existed solely to achieve this purpose. And before you ask, yes, I did indeed play many of those games when they were new (though not Robotron). That doesn't change the fact that they're bad gameplay. Seriously people, get past your nostalgia filter.

IIRC, Robotron was before the era of the the money eaters that pretty much were designed to be so hard so they could take a quarter or more ever 2 min. The early era games (say, for the most part, pre 1987ish) were geared to be played for as long as you were good enough to keep going. If you sucked, you were poor. The rest of my comments are focused on this era before the "insert to continue" M.O. became prevalent. Some of these early games had it, but it wasn't being abused _yet_.

A tutorial would not fit the format. It's great for the noob, but it would drive the skilled player away because you'd have to suffer through it. AND it would add to the dreaded queue time.

As Ben pointed out, there wasn't too much to learn in terms of mechanics for most of these games (Joust being one of the exceptions). Learning the games was supposed to be simple. Mastering the game was supposed to be very hard.

From my point of view, bad game play is forcing you to spend 20 minutes or _more_ running your avatar across empty space/plains because the MMORPG designer couldn't figure out how to compress that time meaningfully (missing both good game play from the computer game perspective and RPG perspective). Or... spending endless hours "crafting".

Requiring your players to be skilled at the game isn't the same thing as bad game play. That's what people wanted at the time, so it was good game play for the time. Whether people want that now is a different point altogether. We WANTED "Nintendo Hard" because you proved your chops by how long you could run without feeding more quarters.

Robotron, Defender, Joust all +++++++ in my book. Never played SmashTv that I can recall.

 

[JackOfSpeed]

Indeed, this one holds a fond spot in my childhood days at the arcade. I did love the dual sticks, and kind of forgot this was the predecessor of the style. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[VideoGameTech]

No, we can't have that. We can't actually introduce the gameplay to the player; that might help them get better at the game at their own pace. And we can't allow that.

People do this these days because:

1: It's good game design. Period.

Yeah, it's a good thing they have the forced tutorials at the beginning of CoD (or any other FPS) because players have no idea how the controls work on those games....oh wait.

The ones that work best don't have tutorials - in the early levels (which aren't just stupid tutorial levels) they show you the controls as they become needed, and ramp up the gameplay along the way. Seems like a natural way to learn the game to me.

But I do miss the days when games weren't so complex... 4 buttons, 4 shoulder buttons, twin analog sticks, a D-pad for additional functions, hold this button to change control mode, sheesh. I want to point, shoot, and blow stuff up!

 

[TinglingSensation]

"After a while, players begin to look through the screen..."

Oh man, I distinctly remember that sensation! I knew I was going to get my quarter's worth if I felt my eyes defocus and I was seeing everything at once in a kind of fuzzy peripheral vision kind of way. Trying to shift my focus around the screen to look at everything always got me killed fast.

 

[Taracta]

Berzerk even talked in attract mode:

"Coin detected in pocket"

Also, I agree that Defender wasn't too hard (even for primitive 1970s brains), but the control layout was decidedly obtuse. To this day I'm not sure why they made changing direction a button when there was a perfectly good joystick right there on the cabinet.

They joystick only went up and down and there are nuances with the separate thrust and reverse buttons that using a four/eight way joystick won't emulate.

 

[bapenguin]

I had no idea that Robotron and Smash TV shared some of the same creative minds. Both some of my favorite games of all time.