Robotron: 2084

1001 Video Games

The Arcade version of Robotron 2084 appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Inspiration

The game was inspired by the arcade game Berzerk and the Commodore PET title Chase.

Control scheme

The original arcade version of Robotron: 2084 was played with two joysticks, one to move and one to fire. The Atari 5200 version of the game also uses this same control scheme; to make operating two 5200 joysticks easier, a special "controller holder" was bundled with the game. Robotron: 2084 is one of two Atari 5200 games to utilize this, the other being Space Dungeon.

Atari 7800 launch title

Robotron: 2084 was one of the "Fabulous Eleven" launch games for the Atari 7800.

PC quality conversion

This is one of the better Atarisoft conversions; everything is very faithful to the original, single joystick control is very good, and there is practically no slowdown on a 4.77MHz machine. This is notable because the Atarisoft conversions of the early 1980s varied wildly in quality, from faithful to extremely poor.

TI-99/4a / ZX Spectrum port

Atarisoft planned to sell a cartridge conversion for the Texas Instruments machine and the in Interface II form for the ZX Spectrum, but the releases were cancelled. The game is nevertheless in circulation in prototype and image form.

Awards

• Game Informer Magazine
  • Issue 100, August 2001 - #72 in Top 100 Games of All Time poll

Information also contributed by PCGamer77 Servo, Trixter and FatherJack .