In 1982 Williams Electronics, Inc. changed my world of video games forever. It was only a couple of short years after Pac-Man (1980) made the “more than 2 directional” joystick famous that Robotron introduced the first widely accepted 2-joystick game, one for movement and one for fire. Now I’m sure many of you are screaming at me that I don’t know what I’m talking about and that there were tons of games with joysticks before Pac-Man and other games preceding Robotron with two joysticks. Before you yell at me, calm down take a chill. I am aware of this. I am speaking about the Video Game world at large back in the early 1980s. The average person who played these games was not a game researcher with Google at their side, they were casual players that had fun playing the games. So, that said don’t bust my chops about details, I’m trying to convey an experience.
Still to this day there are not many games that can get my heart rate going like 3-5 minutes of Robotron will. This is a testament to it’s old school, high paced game action. Levels are fast usually less than 2 minutes, this game was designed to be a pure quarter pumper. In Robotron 2084 your mission is to save the last human family, a seemingly large family with tons of cousins, uncles, great uncles, etc. while not touching any of the other objects. The Robotrons become increasingly aggressive as you face more varieties with each level. After 255 levels the game starts with Level 1 and your score is unaffected, so there is no real end to the game unless you count making it this level. I maybe get to level 20-30 on average, so I’m no expert player, still this game remains one of my favorite of all time.
If you want to try Robotron 2084 for yourself it is available for most platforms including of course MAME. If you are a youngster out there who has never heard of this game I encourage you to experience this rapid fire, adrenalin pumping, assault on your senses. After your heart rate returns to normal after a bunch of plays realize how many quarters us children of the 80’s pumped into this machine and be thankful that you can play it pretty much for free or a low cost for unlimited plays.
For the technical details of the game check out this link.
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