Robotron 2084
Entry updated 2 April 2015. Tagged: Game.
Videogame (1982). Vid Kidz (VK). Designed by Eugene Jarvis, Larry DeMar. Platforms: Arcade, Others.
Robotron is a two-dimensional arcade game (see Videogames) in which the player must defend the last human family against unending waves of hostile Robots. The game is notable for its frantic pace. Enemies attack continuously from all sides, while the player must use two joysticks to fire and move simultaneously. Where the designers' earlier game Defender (1980) is about speed and freedom, Robotron concentrates on confinement and desperation. The game scenario prefigures The Terminator (1984); in the year 2084, the Robots have rebelled and conquered the world. The player's nameless character is a Genetically Engineered superhuman, but as the game continues and more and more Robots appear, it becomes clear that there is no hope of survival. Robotron is perhaps the most striking expression of technophobia in a Videogame to date.
Related works: Blaster (1983 VK, Arcade, Others) designed by Eugene Jarvis, Larry DeMar is a three-dimensional space game set in 2085, in which the player (presumed to be the last human) must shoot their way through waves of Robots to reach a planet called "Paradise". Robotron X (1996 Player1, PS1; 1997 Win; vt Robotron 64, 1998 N64) is a remake of the original using three-dimensional graphics. [NT]
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