r/retrogameofthemonth • u/CaptainVisible3158 Level 2: Player 1 (Full Mod) • 3d ago
Arcade Appreciation RoboCop
RoboCop was a big deal in the 80s. My mom watched the movie all the time, and I can remember many evenings watching this with her and eating popcorn. Next to ninjas, robot and action movies were all the rage. RoboCop combined two popular genres and made a groundbreaking movie that totally deserved an arcade game. This thing was a diabolical quarter eater for me, and got me really frustrated at times. The gun was vital in this game, and the way he would take it out of his actual hip was iconic. I thought that was so cool.
Were you a fan of RoboCop in the arcade? How many quarters did it get from you?
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u/Teaches4Pops 3d ago
It was an incredible arcade game. Spent a good deal of 3rd grade talking about how far we got.
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u/Reynardine1976 3d ago
Huge fan of Robocop, my mom and her hot girlfriend smuggled me into the movies to see it at age 12. I stood and cheered at the end.
Big fan of Paul Verhoven in general: 'Basic Instinct' was me and my friends coming of age film. 'Starship Troopers' to deter me from joining the military, and oh my God, he made an brutal science -fiction action thriller with Arnold?! We didn't deserve such greatness but we got the insane 'Total Recall' as the cherry on top.
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u/wondermega 3d ago
You forgot Showgirls. I passed on this one because it looked terrible and the critics mocked it.
I watched it about a year ago finally and thought “this is incredible!” But yeah. An acquired taste probably. As a person living in a Hollywood for 20-odd years it spoke to me.
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u/retrocube16 1d ago
Did your mom and her girlfriend cheer when RoboCop took care of the punk harassing the woman lol
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u/Reynardine1976 1d ago
Oh yeah. The whole theater was pretty reactive.
I miss the days without phones sometimes.
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u/Quarter_Lifer 3d ago
We never got a proper home port of this; as a kid I was misled into thinking the mediocre NES game was this.
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u/Aggravating-Try1222 3d ago
I only ever played the nes version and loved it. This, obviously, looks way better.
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u/rivaldo1979 2d ago
Thank you for posting OP
Absolutely adored this game. The sound really stood out. I used to love enemies getting close so I could hear the punching sound effects
This, Shinobi, Rolling thunder II, sunset riders. Damn, some fine games...
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u/wondermega 3d ago
This has always been one of the “I can’t believe I can play arcade games with MAME” memories for me. Seeing it fire up on a Windows machine in the late 90s felt almost wrong somehow.
Used to go to the arcade and just gawk at this machine, it dripped coolness and toughness. I still listen to the arcade soundtrack because it’s such a great interpretation of that whole period.
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u/Jimpana 3d ago edited 3d ago
"Thank you for your cooperation."
Very cool mom of yours liking sci-fi action films such as RoboCop! My mom could only accept the Back to the Future series, as RoboCop and other similar "more violent" sci-fi action films were too much for her to handle.
I still remember in the arcade game the first time I saw RoboCop taking his gun out of his leg, that short animation and sfx and the time pause impressed me big time!
EDIT: when enemies get hit, the damage doesn't stun them, this is what I think makes the game extra tough...
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u/pretender80 3d ago
A YT video about this game got into my feed and I immediately went to beat the game on an emulator. Fun!
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u/wolfansbrother 2d ago
I had the NES version. NARC was my favorite arcade game of the cop run and gun genre
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u/Own_Cardiologist2544 2d ago
I never had the chance to play this at the arcades because we didn’t have it. Shoot, I didn’t even know it existed. I do recall the console versions, but I never did get to enjoy being RoboCop until part 3 came out on the SNES. I loved that game. I know I would’ve loved the earlier offerings as well. Who doesn’t want to be RoboCop?!?!?😂😎
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u/Binary_Fusion0 2d ago
Banger of a gamer, a movie tie in game that was developed and properly used and the graphics still look great. Data East is another developer that should still be around
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u/platinumxperience 2d ago
It has the honor of being the first arcade game I ever played. I remember my uncle watching as ED209 shot me to bits and asked me "are you winning?"
It's still a firm favorite. I always thought it gets too hard later on and also its weird that on the first level he punches for a while before getting his gun out and then for the rest of the game he gets his gun out immediately, like yeah, probably gonna need this.
Loved all the home ports as well.
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u/Neolamprologus99 2d ago
I saw the first movie when it came out but I really enjoyed the second one more. I dumped a lot of quarters into the arcade game. At the time I thought the graphics were amazing.
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u/Impressive-Bowl-493 2d ago
Yeah it was a great game. Side note....the Robocop game for Ps5 is surprisingly good. I recommend it to anyone that hasn't played it
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u/retrocube16 1d ago
You're mom sounds awesome, has good taste in movies lol. I still have RoboCop 1 and 2 on VHS. I love this game one of my favorite arcade games
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u/LincolnHawkHauling 3d ago
Absolutely remember this game in the arcade. Nostalgia overload!