RoboCop (Arcade) Playthrough - NintendoComplete

A playthough of Data East's 1988 license-based arcade action game, RoboCop.

Played on the machine's default settings.

RoboCop, Omni Consumer Products' cyborg wondercop and hero of Old Detroit, starred in countless action games in the late 1980s across every imaginable platform, and Data East's original arcade adaptation of the 1987 Hollywood blockbuster is among the best of them.

It's simple and straightforward, and it makes no bones about what does: it allows the player to step into Robocop's cement shoes and wreck anything that moves. Each level involves Murphy moving left-to-right, punching and shooting at everything until you reach an ED209, which also then should be punched and shot at to proceed. Variety isn't this RoboCop game's strong suit, but it doesn't really need it. It doesn't last very long, but it keeps up the excitement for the twenty minutes that it requires of you to finish it.

RoboCop controls about as smoothly as you could expect from a cyborg that likely outweighs a Subaru Justy. He responds well to your commands, but he moves as quickly as a slab of cement laid on grippy rubber feet. Thankfully, no matter how much the screen floods with bad guys and bullets, there's generally a way to get through every situation. The challenge comes from figuring out how to navigate the chaos rather than from fighting clunky controls.

And finally for a game from 1988, RoboCop puts on a very nice show. The RoboCop sprite looks cool (notice how it's not just mirrored when he turns around?) and the backgrounds look great - I always loved the city skyline, especially you see out the window just before the finale. The sound is the real star, though, with a number of lines sampled directly from the film and a fantastic FM-rendition of the film's main theme featured throughout.

Data East was on a roll with their games in the late 80s, and RoboCop sits comfortably alongside games like Bad Dudes, Caveman Ninja, Vapor Trail, and Captain America, all of which are known for their quality and for the roles they played in shaping Data East's reputation.

Robocop served the public trust well here. Great game!
_____________
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

NintendoComplete (http://www.nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!