Developer: Hudson Soft Publisher: Jaleco Release: 12/88 Genre: Action
I am a fan of Bomberman. But I was not always a fan of the little fellow. His first NES adventure had the spark of a good idea but was bogged down by insane repetition. Let’s be honest, the game was slow as hell. Robo Warrior was what I was expecting Bomberman to be. I will always remember Robo Warrior as the game I should have bought when I was 10. Once upon a time I had $50 in birthday money and the world was at my fingertips. Instead of going with my gut and buying this I bought the Uncanny X-Men. Yeah that game. It is a decision that still haunts me to this day. It would be many years before I would get around to Robo Warrior and am glad to say it is a solid game like I thought it would be.
Robo Warrior is a spinoff of the Bomberman series and is known as Bomber King in Japan. The planet Atlile was created to solve the overpopulation problem on Earth. However the evil Emperor Xur of the Xantho Empire conquers the planet and takes control of its weather control system. You play ZED, a cyborg sent to defeat Xur and rescue the people.
The mechanics of Robo Warrior are very similar to Bomberman but more versatile. For one you have a gun. The reason being bombs are limited and have ammo in this game. While that may seem limiting enemies spawn infinitely and always drop more. After planting a bomb the game automatically forces you back a step to avoid the explosion. Bombs always explode in a 3×3 grid and sadly do not increase in size with power-ups. That is an issue I will detail later. You have a life bar that also doubles as health/timer. Your energy slowly depletes over time and while there are plenty of items to replenish the meter it remains annoying.
The Bomberman games have a wide variety of items that modify your bombs. Robo Warrior is similar but goes even further in that regard. Some of the power-ups are indispensable such as the hyper missile that tears through all blocks in a straight line. The mega bomb destroys all blocks on the map, clearing a path and revealing any items underneath. Naturally the game is stingy with these as they are game breaking. Energy fully restores your life meter and is surprisingly plentiful while the shoes increase speed but are useless. The tertiary items like the life vest, lamp, and candle are mandatory for progress. Luckily the frequent underground areas are chock full of these items.
The goal of each stage is to find the key to reveal the exit and leave. The key is always near the exit making it impossible to end up stuck. Reaching that point is the hard part. In your path are rocks, stalactites, and blocks that must be destroyed to create a path. While you are doing this enemies spawn endlessly, one to attack and to also replenish your bomb stock. It sounds straightforward but the game throws numerous curve balls. There are walls that require multiple bombs to destroy as well as water that requires a temporary life vest. Some levels are dark zones necessitating a candle or lamp to light your path. Juggling the various items gives the game an adventure feel that its mother series lacks. So while the various elements can be a bit much you at least have the tools to handle it all.
Robo Warrior is not difficult so much as it is tedious and frustrating. The emphasis on clearing debris to find items and create a path to the exit is monotonous because of your small explosions. At first the maps are compact and a little wide. But soon they span multiple screens with the most unbearable arrangement of bricks possible. To make matters worse some stages require finding a chalice to reach the exit or the map will repeat. Compared to the key which is always near the exit the chalice can be anywhere. It is bad enough you have to slowly trudge your way through these expansive maps. But forcing players to literally destroy the majority of the map for one item is obnoxious. By the mid game it becomes so tiresome I almost gave up.
Yet in spite of that I still found myself continuing onward. The level design has its ups and downs but when it is good it is really good. When the blocks are within reason creating your own path or searching for items is legit fun. Apparently someone on staff must have realized the tedium that creeps up as there are a decent number of stages that are clear fields all the way to the exit. These pop up more toward the end when they are truly necessary to break up the monotony. The boss battles also become more frequent after the halfway point and are welcome. They strike a nice balance between challenge and skill and are one of the game’s highlights.
In Closing
Robo Warrior is a game of highs and lows. At its lowest you might wonder why you playing the game. At its peaks it is a fun evolution of the Bomberman formula. Had they ironed out the game’s few flaws it could have been special. It will have to settle for pretty good instead.
