Any info on the NES robot?

[BLIX]

When the NES first came out my mom got me the version with the robot and gyromite game. Ive never seen another one of these robots, where they rare or just crappy and went away. Just wondering if theres any info on these?

[Nukey Shay]

Just a gimmick that went awry...they had to stop producing them or risk WW3.

[BLIX]

Hmmmm, Oh well Ive still got mine, only used him once. He wasnt to fun.

[Nukey Shay]

My little sister liked it...but I won't go there.

[ubersaurus]

they aren't very common, I believe only the first run of NESs had them packed in.

[liquid_sky]

From classicgaming.com... neat sidenote.

 

R.O.B. was just a gimmick to sell the NES to stores that hated videogames, because they weren't "videogames," they were "robot games."

[AtariKen64]

i think they are bothe rare and crappy, but id never give mine up! the whole premise of the robot is flawed since each game would require new peices that would just get lost easily, hence 400$ stack ups on ebay.

 

my guess is someone will eventually homebrew a rob game, someday

 

the last sighting of rob was in startropics!

[Adrian M]

I have a fully functional and complete ROB robot. No I do not plan on selling it.

 

The only thing that ROB does in any game is to activate the A and B buttons on the gamepad. The gimmick was that you had to go through a lengthy and cumbersome process for him to do it, by either spinning gyros in a spinner, picking them up, and dropping them onto the button activators, all in realtime while you were playing the game! Anyone who could beat Gyromite with ROB is a gaming god! Of course, its much easier for a human to simply play with two controllers and this is much quicker and easier

 

Setting ROB up is a chore in itself. Getting his eyes to register perfect alignment with the screen is no easy task. When is little red LED on his head was flashing, you knew you had it right. THey also included a pair of stick on "sunglasses" (polarizing filter) if there was too much light in the room. And the whole setup took an insane amount of batteries!

 

The coolest thing about ROB though is that he WIRELESSLY accepted commands via the screen! Pretty amazing in itself given the time he was released! The concept was rather simple (the screen flashed a certain amount of times very quickly when you activated the ROB mode in a game), but executed pretty well considering. I found it more fun to operate ROB in the TEST mode in Gyromite since you didn't have to worry about being eaten alive by the SMICKS in the regular Gyromite game.

 

If you can find one, ROB is well worth it. He came packed in the NES Deluxe Set and he also was sold separately in a box approximately the size of two Gamecube boxes stacked together.

 

If anyone has a complete Boxed copy of Stack Up, let me know and I'll pay $$$$$ for it.

[Junie]

The Robot doesn't appear to be Rare, I thought about getting on myself. I found a few for sell for $15.00 each at various websites (No auctions), no manual, game, or box.

[jsoper]

Someone posted once that he used to have his ROB in front of the TV all the time to see if he ever reacted to normal shows. Apparently the Star Trek Next Generation pilot gets him pretty excited.

[Adrian M]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Junie:

The Robot doesn't appear to be Rare, I thought about getting on myself. I found a few for sell for $15.00 each at various websites (No auctions), no manual, game, or box.

---

 

If you get ROB without the various setup components (gyroscope spnner, the various tray mechanisms, the claws, etc) then you can get him pretty cheap. I heard they break very easily, since the internals consisted of a very cheap motor. To be honest, I only used mine about 5 times before putting him into permanent retirement...that is one loud motor, almost like the Sega Dreamcast CD drive.

 

If you get him complete and fully functional, then you're looking at a higher price. If you're thinking of getting one, I would suggest you buy now, since there appears to be alot of interest recently. Even the first issue of the Official XBOX Magazine had ROB as part of a true gamer's setup.

[goatdan]

ROB's aren't horribly rare, but they aren't horribly common either. Basically, the whole issue is that they don't do anything much. They do move around, but not anything exciting.

 

Personally, I have two of them. One of mine has the whole Gyromite setup in functional condition, but I have no clue if ROB himself works (I didn't even know I was getting him in the auction!) I won him in the infancy days of eBay for about $12.00. My other one I picked up when the Nintendo was dieing for $15.00 and he works perfectly, as far as I can tell. Never tried him with a game, even though I have both of them.

 

The coolest feature about ROB is that he looks darn neat. I had my two with me at Jagfest 2K1 last year in the GOAT Store's display, and people always commented about how they were watching them.

 

One person noted that it looked like the "evil empire was taking over... with really cute robots."

[Adrian M]

quote:

---

Originally posted by GOAT Dan:

ROB's aren't horribly rare, but they aren't horribly common either. Basically, the whole issue is that they don't do anything much. They do move around, but not anything exciting.

 

Personally, I have two of them. One of mine has the whole Gyromite setup in functional condition, but I have no clue if ROB himself works (I didn't even know I was getting him in the auction!) I won him in the infancy days of eBay for about $12.00. My other one I picked up when the Nintendo was dieing for $15.00 and he works perfectly, as far as I can tell. Never tried him with a game, even though I have both of them.

 

The coolest feature about ROB is that he looks darn neat. I had my two with me at Jagfest 2K1 last year in the GOAT Store's display, and people always commented about how they were watching them.

 

One person noted that it looked like the "evil empire was taking over... with really cute robots."

---

 

I also happen to agree with you. While ROB is nothing more than a plastic rail that uses a cheap motor to raise/lower/swivel the torso portion, there's no denying the fact that he's just so damn cool looking. My original ROB that came with my 1987 Deluxe Set is one of those items in my personal collection that will NEVER be sold, no matter what the price is. I've kept him propped up on my computer desk for several years now after taking him out of the Deluxe Set box.

 

The best part is, I have the full Gyromite setup (my Gyros even have the "Danger, do not touch" protective paper on them!) and that I know that he works perfectly. I always hesitate to buy an extra one on ebay because you never know what condition he'll be in.

 

Someday if I see a non-working ROB in great condition I may buy it just to have.

[Kenshi]

Nintendo did have some pretty cool accessories. Remember the running pad? I loved playing Track Meet with that thing. I wouldn't mind seeing what I can do on one now, except I'd probably tear it up being a bit heavier than I used to be and all. I always wanted to try a Power Glove too, but never got to. Did those work well? Some told me they didn't.

[Uncle Duke]

I heard the power gloves were cheaply made and broke easily, and didnt work right. I would still kill to have one. My brother saw one in a Goodwill for ten bucks, but my mom would let him get it. I always thought they were pretty cool looking.

 

"I love the Powerglove...Its so bad..."

-Lucas (The Wizard)

[Skatepunk60]

Yeah it was cool my friend bought it when it first came out (The powerglove) and we would try to play other games with it , It was REALLY fun. My cousin used to be into nintendo and had a ROB but i was scared of it because i was little when it came out and i used to beat the crap out of him but it would be cool to get one , just for nostolgic purposes

[K3V]

I picked up a ROB from the local flea market for $5, just on nostalgia alone. I have no idea if he works, ans he has no other parts, but he's just so cool looking and reminds me of my youth so much that I had to have it. Now he sits atop my subwoofer and glares at me whenever I'm watching TV/playing games, etc

 

-Kevin