RoboWarrior (NES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
655A playthrough of Jaleco's 1988 NES game, RoboWarrior.
RoboWarrior (originally called Bomber King in Japan) is an interesting mash of up different ideas. Hudson's hand in this one is pretty clear from the beginning: the Japanese name's resemblance to Bomberman aside, RoboWarrior does adapt some elements from the classic puzzle series - you wander around a maze, clearing a path to the exit by blowing up everything in your away while making sure you don't catch yourself in the blast. The other non-Bomberman parts seem to most closely mimic elements of Milon's Secret Castle: there are entrances to secret areas hidden everywhere that can't be found but through thoroughly testing everything in sight, areas that require special items to get through, and a rudimentary level-up system (based on your score). Last, and probably most notorious of the game's elements, is the energy meter. Remember Adventure Island, where the timer was always counting down, and you had to constantly find fruit to keep it full unless you wanted to die when it ran out? Well, that super fun game mechanic makes a return here, too. You'd best scarf down those batteries when you find them! Yum. Finally, I could swear I keep hearing elements of the Xexyz and Starship Hector soundtracks here - anyone else?
I've been uploading a lot of Bomberman stuff lately, and since this is to some extent related to the series, I thought that now would be a good time to upload it. I like it quite a bit, but man did it kick my rear end as a kid. Between the constantly decreasing energy bar and running out of candles in the dark cave areas, it seemed virtually impossible. After several years (and a careful read of the instruction manual and a LOT of practice), I've come to realize that the difficulty level really isn't that bad here, as long as you set yourself up properly for the latter half of the game where enemies will nail you left and right nonstop. The first few areas really demand that you hit the underground areas as much as possible to get a good stockpile of weapons going (this also really helps build your score to increase your defense level - the highest level requires a score of 1.2mil), and then make sure that you stand on every magic water square you come across - if you find a water tile that makes the screen flash when you stand on it, switch over to your status screen, and you'll notice that the number of nearly all the items you were carrying has doubled (and maxes out at 99). As long as you have these stocked well by the time you are at the halfway point, you shouldn't have too much problem seeing the game through to the end.
The soundtrack is awesome, and the graphics are nicely done and a huge upgrade over the original MSX version's. The controls are really funky at first (this seems to be a thing with games published by Jaleco!), but you really need to get used to (and make use of) how your guy is pushed backwards when he drops a bomb - if you aren't anticipating this, blowing yourself up is all but assured.
On one last note, Hudson didn't shoulder the development duties alone on this one - it was codeveloped with Aicom, who in time became a quite well respected force on the Neo Geo, but also did a number of popular NES games (Amagon, Mafat Conspiracy, Vice: Project Doom). They also handled the Sunsoft-published sequel to Robo Warrior, the Game Boy game Blaster Master Jr. (JP: Bomber King Scenario 2).
It's quite a good game, but until you "get it", it can be extremely frustrating. It's *not* a Bomberman, and it doesn't feel like one, but it is still quite a good one that feels quite satisfying to beat.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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