Ok, everybody knows the ROB (Robot operation Buddy). I've seen some from US, I wonder if in Japan exist the same ROB with the Famicom colors and besides Stack-up and Gyromite exists more games for it.
Regards!
same games, different color scheme to match famicom. its called famicom robot
I've heard that Pipe Dream (or some game) works with ROB, but I don't know if that's true & how.
I don't know anything about ROB -- never been interested. But I once found a piece of info about something similar to ROB called "Spyborg" (HVC-009), which was supposedly in development but was scrapped. I wonder if it's just some internet myth or truth.
yeah, wtf is spyborg, can you elaborate?
I honestly don't know much more than that. I think, since ROB is HVC-012, Spyborg, if real, was likely the original robot, later changed to ROB. I found out about this possibility when working on our HVC codes list.
Spyborg - now why does that ring a bell?
http://nindb.classicgaming.gamespy.com/nus/images/cam/nfx_1a.jpg
Apparently that thing is based on real life! :o
But no matter what you call it, ROB was little more than a dumb, poorly implimented and poorly marketed/supported product. Just like the Vurtual Boy, the e-Reader and GB Micro. I look at it as a sign that Nintendo isn't the great company that people think it is, they are capable of mistakes too.
I see it as a sign that says you shouldn't rush things.
Just because they make mistakes doesn't mean they aren't a great company. They saved the video game market after Atari's mistakes. They created the most popular portable gaming system ever. Nobody is perfect, everyone makes mistakes.
You gotta admit, playing Gyromite two player with ROB is bad ass.
I remember first playing Gyromite; I used to think it was strictly a 2-player game, then realized about ROB.
As far as I'm convered, the only thing Gyromite is good for is the first gen ones that have the Famicom adaptor in them. I've actually got my Gyromite board left over. Does anyone want it? I'll sell it for $1 plus shipping.
You anger me. >:(
:D
Quote from: Jedi QuestMaster on April 19, 2007, 06:17:14 pm
I see it as a sign that says you shouldn't rush things.
I agree with Jedi in this one. Nintendo always was a bit ahead of itself with its inventions and products. But what fails then usually becomes popular later on, as far as Nintendo goes. Nintendo's mistake is releasing something innovative before its time.
Quote from: satoshi_matrix on April 19, 2007, 06:11:05 pm
But no matter what you call it, ROB was little more than a dumb, poorly implimented and poorly marketed/supported product. Just like the Vurtual Boy, the e-Reader and GB Micro.
Actually...
Quote from: http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/july03/25smartest/index22.shtml
R.O.B. ... was a product designed for one thing and one thing only -- to allow Nintendo's salespeople to approach big retailers like Toys R Us and say "Oh, no this isn't a video game. It's a toy." They even built a whole marketing campaign around it that drastically de-emphasized the role of the TV in the product and played up the robot and light gun.
If it got large retailers to sell their consoles, I would hardly call it "dumb".
Good point, Ugly. I hadn't heard that before. Nice marketing strategy. I wonder what other releases by Nintendo were nothing more than marketing. I know that the blue disks and "disk faxes" and tournaments were largely for marketing, and this may be why this Nintendo "internet" failed to catch on until more recently with the Wii/XBox Live, etc.
The "Its a toy" apporch was the US marketing strategy in 1986 in respose of the after effects of the crash of '84. But didn't the Famicom robot dabut in Japan in 1983, essentially before the crash? What was the Japanese marketing strategy behind it?
I have heard that the Japanese ROB is White with Maroon arms and is silent is this true?
It is white-ish with maroon arms.
Is It Silent?
It's just as noisy as the US version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36IqLjR3dW0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36IqLjR3dW0)
I want one, but I can't find one in stores. All of the robots on YHJ are over 10000 Yen. :-\
I finally just picked up one of the Japanese ones yesterday when I found it for a good price. I'll snap some pictures later and post them for posterities sake along with the block game it came with. Looks pretty neat.
If you don't mind... how much was it? And was it in the original box?
I love the Famicom Robot - and I love it even more after they put him in smash bros brawl.
Both the US and the JP colour scheme is there, though they changed the design a little.
Still meaning to get one, the Famicom one is cooler and has nicer, uniform labelling and decals.
And it's own box ;)
I think Spyborg was the prototype of R.O.B or a codename to the Asscessory.