Retroist Robotron 2084 Podcast – The Retroist

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Arcades in the early half the 80s had a constant flow of new machines. Some were food, you would play them a few times and forget about the, but other’s attracted a crowd. Robotron 2084 attracted a crowd. I can still remember trying to catch glimpse of the screen while adult after adult kept playing the game. Eventually I made my way to the screen and put my quarter in. The experience was intense, but I was hooked.

On this episode of the Retroist Podcast, I am going to discuss this arcade classic. I start off talking about what an incredible workout the game could be before moving onto the game itself. Then I go over the games evolution, the company and people who made it, its reception, scoring, the world record, and much more.

The thing about Robotron that makes it so good is that it’s a lot of fun when you start out and you’re just shooting everywhere. But the game is at its best when it is completely out of control. When you do not expect to survive, and you sometimes do. So the challenge of making this game is to funnel and control the chaos, giving the player of the game just amount of agency to win. But it’s always a tightrope that they’re walking. And they do it so well with colorful graphics, amazing sound, wonderful level design in a great package. So if you haven’t played Robotron in a while, never played it before, go find a way to do so. It’s one of the great games of the early 80s, and it’s worth your time.

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This is the 343rd episode of the Retroist Podcast and episode 18 of the new season.
Here is the promotional video they did the game. It is something.
This podcast was supposed to come out last month and I didn’t plan on releasing it back to back with Golden Axe, but here I am going just that.
I had a section where I talked about a kid who tore open and arcade version of Robotron by the joysticks. It was going to be my story, but opted for another one.
Try playing the game 2 player with one person shooting and the other controlling movement. Its wild.
Had about 90 seconds more about the creators and a minute more about the companies. Cut that all down.
Not much self-contained retro audio for this one, so I needed to feature some other robots. I hope you like my choices.
I got to play Robotron 2084 on a recent arcade outing in NJ. It had been a while and while I did better than I usually do, the high scores at this arcade, Billy’s Midway were out of this world.
I did mention the world record. I don’t often do that because it changes and I don’t want to have to go back and edit it. Still, I always want to include it and I decided to do it. I cut out 15 seconds of me explaining that decision.
Maker sure you play this game with the sound on, it adds a lot to the game.
Bonus Clipping should be up at the same time the episode comes out and see if people prefer it that way.
Music on the show is, as always, by Peachy.