I never really saw the appeal of Robotron 2084. I must have played it back in the day, but it got filed into the back of my mind. If someone asked me about it years later, I would say "oh yeah. That's an old arcade game," and that was about all I knew about it. I've listened to retrogaming radio, and Shane is the first person that comes to mind when I hear Robotron because I think he is the only gamer I know that likes it. I only mention this because Matt already did, and I had to laugh.
Where does Robotron stand in gaming history? Ms. Pac-Man? Check. Galaga? Check. Robotron? "...you mean with Rick Hunter and the huge ship that could transform?" Some games stand alone in their class. You could argue that Pac-man style games (Super Pac-man, etc) may have improved upon Ms. Pac-Man (which improved upon Pac-Man), but Ms. Pac-Man gets the nods. Numerous vertical scrollers can take Galaga to lunch, but scroller fans will continue to play Galaga. I think Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga have just cemented themselves as staples of their genre.
Robotron? I think it has been greatly improved upon and somewhat forgotten. There are several other games that have created a gaming formula only to be outgrown by a new game that expands on those ideas years later. I believe it was Scott Sharkey of 1up.com's Retronauts that once gave examples of evolved game types that oftentimes overshadow their gaming ancestors. One example he used was "why play Double Dragon when you can play Final Fight?" Say what you will about which one you might prefer - nostalgia being an obvious ingredient -, but you have to acknowledge that Final Fight does make a lot of improvements upon Double Dragon.
So what about Robotron? This is one particular game where I have to chime in Sharkey-style with "Why play Robotron when you can play Smash TV?"
Smash TV was an arcade game that could easily swallow your quarters - not necessarily because it was so much fun, but because it was hard. Or at least that is how I remember it. When I really took to liking it was with the SNES version a few years later. A college roommate of mine had it for the Super Nintendo, and it turned into a 2 player co-op *staple* for us. It represented a high-paced game that required good, coordinated teamwork in order to get through it with 2 players. If you had two people that knew what they were doing, it maintained a pretty high energy level for you. Simple words like "cover", "yours", "help", and "AHH!" were all that were needed to help direct your teammate. After you beat the game, it would unlock an even faster mode for you to play (at least on the SNES). That upped the energy level even more. I assume you guys are familiar with the game, so I am not going into the gameplay details. It is simply an example of the aforementioned evolution of a genre. In this case, the "multi-directional move and shoot."
I realize that there are probably tons of people that couldn't care less about that double joystick, crazy movement sort of game, but I would say Smash TV is a great example of a two player cooperative game - something that is oftentimes hard to find nowadays.
(Speaking of crazy and double joystick, Crazy Climber is an interesting arcade game worth mentioning. It doesn't really fit into your 360 degree shooter classification, though)
Good luck with the time crunch.
I never really saw the appeal of Robotron 2084. I must have played it back in the day, but it got filed into the back of my mind. If someone asked me about it years later, I would say "oh yeah. That's an old arcade game," and that was about all I knew about it. I've listened to retrogaming radio, and Shane is the first person that comes to mind when I hear Robotron because I think he is the only gamer I know that likes it. I only mention this because Matt already did, and I had to laugh.
Where does Robotron stand in gaming history? Ms. Pac-Man? Check. Galaga? Check. Robotron? "...you mean with Rick Hunter and the huge ship that could transform?" Some games stand alone in their class. You could argue that Pac-man style games (Super Pac-man, etc) may have improved upon Ms. Pac-Man (which improved upon Pac-Man), but Ms. Pac-Man gets the nods. Numerous vertical scrollers can take Galaga to lunch, but scroller fans will continue to play Galaga. I think Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga have just cemented themselves as staples of their genre.
Robotron? I think it has been greatly improved upon and somewhat forgotten. There are several other games that have created a gaming formula only to be outgrown by a new game that expands on those ideas years later. I believe it was Scott Sharkey of 1up.com's Retronauts that once gave examples of evolved game types that oftentimes overshadow their gaming ancestors. One example he used was "why play Double Dragon when you can play Final Fight?" Say what you will about which one you might prefer - nostalgia being an obvious ingredient -, but you have to acknowledge that Final Fight does make a lot of improvements upon Double Dragon.
So what about Robotron? This is one particular game where I have to chime in Sharkey-style with "Why play Robotron when you can play Smash TV?"
Smash TV was an arcade game that could easily swallow your quarters - not necessarily because it was so much fun, but because it was hard. Or at least that is how I remember it. When I really took to liking it was with the SNES version a few years later. A college roommate of mine had it for the Super Nintendo, and it turned into a 2 player co-op *staple* for us. It represented a high-paced game that required good, coordinated teamwork in order to get through it with 2 players. If you had two people that knew what they were doing, it maintained a pretty high energy level for you. Simple words like "cover", "yours", "help", and "AHH!" were all that were needed to help direct your teammate. After you beat the game, it would unlock an even faster mode for you to play (at least on the SNES). That upped the energy level even more. I assume you guys are familiar with the game, so I am not going into the gameplay details. It is simply an example of the aforementioned evolution of a genre. In this case, the "multi-directional move and shoot."
I realize that there are probably tons of people that couldn't care less about that double joystick, crazy movement sort of game, but I would say Smash TV is a great example of a two player cooperative game - something that is oftentimes hard to find nowadays.
(Speaking of crazy and double joystick, Crazy Climber is an interesting arcade game worth mentioning. It doesn't really fit into your 360 degree shooter classification, though)
Chris Kennedy, Editor
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Email: chris@armchairarcade.com