Posted by Druin on 11, 2001 at 6:38 AM:
In Reply to: Re: Nintendo's R.O.B. (Off Topic) posted by AUX on 10, 2001 at 4:33 PM:
: What was it supposed to do? I remember seeing it in commercials for the NES way back when.
I Still have mine in working order too, I never was one to discard much of anything. I remember back seeing those commercials and combined with the high tech way things could look on TV, and my young age, it looked like it was almost a scary creature in the commercial, I don't remember much but I think there was a scene where there was a facial view of the robot and it looked intimidating.
I had the Deluxe Nintendo with the gun and robot, and duck hunt and Gyromite included. I still remember the price tag, $259. I am glad I got it back in the days before they started making those guns with the HORRID orange instead of the slick gray shades. What the hell was up with that orange color on the guns?
I never had the Stack Up game but I have all the parts for Gyromite, and basically the Robot controlled the A and B buttons of the player 2 control pad. The robot has 5 slots that the interchangeable attachments lock into. Gyromite had 3 attachments that combined, took the 5 slots around the base of the robot. It could open and close a gripper, the head could slide up and down the neck, and of course twist left and right. In Gyromite, control pad 1 allows you to move the character around and pick up or drop items. There are red and blue pillars that block his path, and those are controlled by the A and B buttons of control pad 2. So if you are trying to walk past an area that's got a blue pillar, you press whichever button is required on control pad 2. The robot was meant to control the pillars for you.
There are 2 "Gyro's" that the robot can use. They are little discs with a pointed tip that you can just spin and they'll stay spinning a while until they fall over when slowing down. The robot's gripper can pick them up and move them. One of the 3 robot attachments is a little motor box that runs on a D battery. The robot can move a Gyro over and drop it in that device and it activates the motor and starts spinning the Gyro. WHen it's going fast enough, the robot can pick it up and it freely spins still in the gripper. He can then move it to one of 2 other locations. These locations are interchangeable part #2 on the robot, taking up 2 of the 5 slot spaces. One is a big red lever and one is a big blue lever, on the same piece of plastic. Also fitted in this plastic is control pad #2. It slides into a holding tray. All the levers do is they are attached to tiny pieces that can press the A and B buttons when the lever is down. The robot spins up a Gyro and drops it on the red or blue lever and its weight presses and holds the control pad button as long as the Gyro is spinning. You can get 2 Gyros going and press both Red and Blue levers and activate both pillars in the game (sometimes you have to) but you have to try not to let the Gyros slow down. You have to keep bringing them to the spinner thing and get them spinning again. Sometimes that means making your character accidentally get squished when you remove the gyro.
The 3rd and final accessory on the robot for this game, taking up the last 2 of 5 slots, is just the holding tray for the 2 gyros when not in use.
It was a little frustrating to bother using the robot, even back in the day, so I would just use my feet on the red and blue levers with the control pad in it. I think I'll take a picture of my Robot and post it!