Mr. Robot, Level 'E'

FINALLY! A level without those cursed fireballs. But... maybe it's a bad trade-off? NEXT new feature: trampolines. Sure, they're fun and all, but... probably something you wouldn't want to have in a factory, let alone a robot factory. That's just me, though. And unlike OTHER video game blogs would, I'm not going to give you a detailed map on how to complete this one. I say, suffer in solitude like a real gamer should.  One of the reasons I don't get that much traffic... :(

Mr. Robot, Level 'D'

Oh, this is my favorite level so far.  As you might be able to guess, you've got your permanent platforms with the dots in 'em, and then there's these series of one-use platforms!  You have about four seconds to use them, and then you better jump quick!  The only question is: what do the fireballs do?  I mean, if you use the platform, and manage to avoid the fireball, do they just hang there in the air?  Let me double-check that... strange!  They might get blown up by the activated bomb platforms, but they definitely follow their (new) given restrictions!  Also, this was the first level where I discovered that you make a different sound when going down a ladder!  Man, the things you can do with 8 to 16K... maybe 32.

Mr. Robot, Level 'C'

...why am I thinking of BurgerTime all of a sudden? Must be hungry. Anyway, on to the next level of this sprawling epic called Mr. Robot. And... SPOILER ALERT. These series of horizontal white lines are "up" escalators. More Video Game Showmanship 102 at work here. Introduce your new features in the early levels, and B) when you do, try to make the whole level just about them. You don't want a lot of needless clutter in your levels, even though any gamer worth his weight in salt and fat can handle the clutter... frankly, the clutter's a hell of a lot more fun! Ah, but there's a down side to this level. You'll never guess what it is in a million years... that's right! You have to be careful which girders to visit first! Visit the highest ones first, and you're trapped! You must rely on your falling abilities to survive this one, Mr. Robot. Because, as a robot, you can fall all you want... provided it's within your narrow height restrictions. Much like Bounty Bob. Sorry... I know, I keep going back to that one far too much. Well, for me, he's a video game touchstone, what can I tell ya. Mario of the original Donkey Kong fame is far more sensitive. That Mario can't fall at all, but can jump down to a slightly lower girder if need be... ooh! I just remembered. The rotund fella from Spelunker is a little different. He also can handle falls of a specific height, which many parts of the maze are predicated upon (an easy way of saying "You can't go back after this!"), but anything beyond that, and BOOM! Dies in mid-air! Which makes sense in a way; we can't have the guy falling down a mine shaft and spoiling too much of the level in advance, now can we? The hero of H.E.R.O. solves many of these concerns with his powerful heli-pack. On the other hand, Jack of Jet Boot Jack is also quite sensitive and can't handle the slightest fall over a precipice. Can't hit his head, can't ever run out of fuel... despite these extreme sensitivities, the game play on that one is still worth it!

Mr. Robot, Screen 'B'

...wasn't that the name of that show with those guys? Oh, yeah! Haven't seen the entire series yet on sale at Fred Meyer (TM), for example. Well, it's the new way they do things in Hollywood. ANYWAY, back to this humble game. I still don't get it... you can walk through layers of these platforms, but you have to jump up to get to the next higher one. We're going to ignore the third dimension here, even though it stands to reason that a robot factory would be in three dimensions. That's one of the reasons why Lode Runner is such a beloved classic. The action takes place in an ant farm, and they don't try to pretend otherwise. Anyway, back to the principle of showmanship in video games. With a game like this, pushing its 16K to the absolute limit, you invariably have to introduce your new features as early on as possible. This time: moving walkways, for lack of a better term. Thankfully, they don't go too fast, so you can walk against them... and you have to. Sorry, SPOILER ALERT. This isn't Level 3 of Hard Hat Mack, after all! Love that game. Why can't I be instead... oops! Sorry. I mean, its three levels are fun and all, but... how are you supposed to keep a gamer on the farm with just three levels? I mean, that's confidence. Okay, I'll spare your curiosity a little... yes, you can fall if you go right instead of left when you're on that little "escalator" staircase near the tippy top of the screen. Not so bad, really! In this game, you die a noiseless, colorful death when you make a stupid mistake like that. Almost worth it! No stupid questions in video games, just stupid deaths.

Mr. Robot, Screen 'A'

...oh, right! My new series; almost forgot. Well, what can you say about the first level of any game? Keep it nice and easy. Don't wanna scare people off! Hmmm... the guy looks like a much larger version of the guy who pilots the ship in Astro Chase, n'est ce pas? Nice, straightforward level; only one path to take... oops. Well, it comes up a lot later on. Sorry to ruin the surprise. SPOILER ALERT. So we got the fireballs from Donkey Kong (TM), the power pills from Pac-Man, the falling onto lower platforms from... Miner 2049er, Bounty Bob Strikes Back and countless others. Yessir, off on a great, rousing adventure! (...I hope)

Atari Emulator -> Ron Rosen's "Mr. Robot (and his Robot Factory)"

Boy, you'd think that a robot factory would be naught but a Capitalist's paradise... just keep the raw materials flowing in, and nothing but hassle-free electric workers coming out! But the fireballs seem to have free reign of the place. Thank goodness for all the power pills that can temporarily empower Mr. Robot to permanently dispatch with them. Alas, the robot factory has many rooms and, barring the presence of a qualified OSHA representative, Mr. Robot has to look over every last centimeter of each of the factory's twenty-six rooms. Fortunately, there are Pac-Man-ish dots on each precarious platform that needs to be traversed. These white dots are eager for the attention; I don't remember another game where you can jump and "eat" a dot just before your jump is completed! Unfortunately, the creation of new robots isn't simple, and each room in the factory has a new feature that needs to be negotiated... hmm! This would make a great video game, wouldn't it? Of course, this was 1982, so the art of Atari (TM)(C)(R) video games was still in its proverbial infancy. Go figure.  And the art of the video game theme song even greater into an infancy; why, the theme music of this one literally sounds like that old classic song, Baby Face!  But these programmers were quick learners, and by the time we get to 1984 and 1985, we get true classics like Boulder Dash (C)(R)(TM) and... Pastfinder(R)(TM)(C)? What year was that again? According to Atarimania, 1984. Jet Boot Jack (R)(C)(TM) was 1983, but it's got some slick game play to it, which can kind of be a lot to ask for, if you're playing on a non-Alienware PC like myself. You know... some might say (cynical types, mostly) that this is just a cheap ploy to have a lot of posts, and I'm better than that... NO I'M NOT.

For more information on classic game programmers, go to this here web site called "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers," apparently compiled by James Hague, a proud member of said list!