Robbo (1989)
Genres:Puzzle
Themes:Action, Science fiction
Game modes:Single player
Story:Robbo is an action puzzle video game designed by Janusz Pelc and published by LK Avalon in 1989. It was originally released in Poland for the Atari XL/XE computers. It was later ported to other computer platforms and also released in the United States as The Adventures of Robbo in 1993.
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Robbo is an action puzzle game developed by xLanD Computer Games and published by Epic in 1993 on DOS. A lost piece of the Epic Games shareware back catalogue, Robbo aka The Adventures of Robbo is a remake of an earlier game also named Robbo that released in 1989 and sees the title character Robbo exploring top-down mazes in real-time, collecting bolts (to finish the level) and batteries to power his blaster while avoiding various enemies and hazards in each level.
I actually own this game in it's cardboard box release (the one used for the boxart picture in this entry), which came with a single solitary floppy disk, but I can still remember the extremely chirpy, upbeat tune that plays on the title screen. Surprisingly the game actually came with some voice acting which was particularly rare for a budget shareware game, with the intermissions speaking out "Now Entering System A" or whatever level you were on, "a bolt" or "a battery" as you picked up various items and an endless amount of "Poor Robbo" statements that would announce whenever I was destroyed by an enemy, hazard or just pressed escape to reset a level after screwing up a block-sliding puzzle.
The graphics were charming and colourful and the game plays fairly well, the only real detractions being the lack of in-game music (excluding title screen) and the inclusion of the random block. The Random Block, a bright yellow 3D-esque question mark added essentially a small gamble you could take as on touch it would transform into a random object from the game be it:
- Good (a bolt - one less to collect to exit the level or a battery - extra firepower to blast through enemies)
- Neutral (a push-block or teleporter)
- Bad (an enemy or trap that would often shoot or kill you almost immediately)
Even though there are better games like Chip's Challenge for example and other far worse games in this style , this is still a lost part of Epic's back catalogue that deserves to be remembered and preserved.
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