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Robotron: 2084 Robotron: 2084 - Japanese Logo - Katakana / Kanji

Robotron: 2084 - Cabinet - Video Game Marquee

Description

The object of the game is to save the last human family although it seems they had a really big family and kill anything or anyone who gets in your way. Two joysticks are used for play control one for movement and the other for firing.

Robotron: 2084 was produced by Williams Electronics, Inc. (1967-1985) in 1982.

Williams Electronics, Inc. (1967-1985) released 215 machines in our database under this trade name, starting in 1959. Williams Electronics, Inc. (1967-1985) was based in United States.

Other machines made by Williams Electronics, Inc. (1967-1985) during the time period Robotron: 2084 was produced include: Cyclone (1981), Barracora, Jungle Lord, Pharaoh, Hyperball, Varkon, Thunderball, Bubbles, Joust, and Sinistar

Specs

Name Robotron: 2084
Developer Williams Electronics, Inc. (1967-1985) (United States)
Year 1982
Type Videogame
KLOV/MOG # 9347
Class Wide Release
Genre Shooter
Monitor
Conversion Class Williams
# Simultaneous Players 1
# Maximum Players 2
Game Play Alternating
Control Panel Layout Single Player
Controls
  • Joystick: 8-way - Move
  • Joystick: 8-way - Fire
Sound Amplified Mono (one channel)
Cabinet Styles
  • Cabaret/Mini
  • Cocktail
  • Upright/Standard
Instructions Robotron: 2084 Instructions Image
Control Panel Robotron: 2084 Control Panel Image

Game Introduction

The enemies in the game are called Robotrons and there are five different kinds of them: Grunts, Brains, Enforcers, Tanks and Hulks. There are also three different kinds of human family members who must be rescued including women in pink dresses, men in blue suits and boys in red shirts.

Game Play

Each kind of Robotron has a different way of attacking you and also different point values. Points are also scored by destroying the missiles that they fire at you, by destroying other enemies that appear during each wave and by saving humans.

  • Grunts (100 points) do not shoot but they will attack in large numbers.
  • Brains (500 points) can fire Cruise Missles (25 points) at you and turn humans into Progs (100 points).
  • Spheroids (1000 points) can create Enforcers (150 points) which fire guided mines (25 points) at you.
  • Quarks(1000 points) will create Tanks (200 points) that will try to run over you or fire Bounce Bombs (25 points) at you.
  • Hulks are indestructible and will kill humans as they approach. Your blaster will only halt them as long as you are shooting them.
  • Obstacles such as Electrodes in your path can be removed by firing at them with your blaster.
  • Humans are worth an increasing point value. The first human scores 1000 points, the second is worth 2000 points and so on until the point value reaches 5000. The point value will remain at 5000 for all the remaining humans in the same wave. When the wave is completed or you have been killed, the points awarded for saving another human will be reset to 1000.

During each wave, you must destroy all the Robotrons (with the exception of the indestructible Hulks) and rescue as many human family members as possible in order to proceed to the next wave. When you complete wave 255 it will appear as if you just started the game! Wave 1 starts it all over. Your score will be unaffected.

Robotron: 2084 KLOV/IAM 5 Point User Score: 4.24 (35 votes)

Fun Factor: 4.28

Overall Like 4.38
Fun (Social) 3.52
Fun (Solo) 4.35
Collector Desire 4.53

Technical Rating: 4.30

Gameplay 4.44
Graphics 4.12
Originality 4.67
Sound/Music 4.32

Personal Impressions and Technical Impressions each account for half of the total score. Within the Personal Impressions category, Like carries a little more weight than the other factors.

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Cheats, Tricks, Bugs, and Easter Eggs

There is a bug in Robotron that can make the game crash when you shoot into the corners. This is said to be avoidable by turning the fancy attract mode of the game off.

In wave five, the first brain wave, a mistake in the brain's algorithm can help you gain a vast amount of points. There is one Mikey with lots of Mommies. However, the mistake in the algorithm causes the brains to seek out Mikey rather than the Mommies. Therefore, if you can keep the brains from getting to Mikey without picking him up yourself (at least until you rescue all the Mommies), you stand to gain a huge amount of points (up to 5,000 points for each Mommy).

During the tank wave, try to avoid shooting the tanks shots for as long as you can. If the tanks fire 20 shots that do not hit anything, the tanks will cease firing.

There is an easter egg hidden in the game with the games credits. To exploit this easter egg, you must execute the following commands during gameplay

  1. Move the "move" joystick right and the "fire" joystick up and press the one player start button.
  2. Move the "move" joystick up and the "fire" joystick down and press the two player start button.
  3. Move the "move" joystick down and the "fire" joystick up.

When the last sequence has been entered, the credits will be displayed until the "fire" joystick is moved from the up position. These sequences must be done within a quarter of a second of each other. You can hold a sequence as long as you like, but when you let it go, you must execute the next sequence within a quarter of a second.

Images

Trivia

The game was programmed by Eugene Jarvis.

The unique dual-joystick control was created because of two occurrences: Jarvis liked the game Berzerk, but hated the joystick and button run-and-shoot configuration, and the fact that Jarvis's right hand had been broken in a car accident shortly after he finished creating Stargate.

The human characters in this game are named Mommy, Daddy and Mikey. The idea and the inspiration for the character Mikey was from the 1970's commercial for Life cereal.

Conversion

By swapping the twelve program ROMs and the one sound ROM, Robotron 2084 can be made to play Joust, Stargate and Splat without any hardware modification other than to the controls. With a little more work you can add Defender, Bubbles and Sinistar.

Miscellaneous

Play the game online requires Shockwave at www.shockwave.comswcontentrobotron

VAPS Arcade/Coin-Op Robotron: 2084 Census

There are 15,220 members of the Video Arcade Preservation Society / Vintage Arcade Preservation Society, 9,649 whom participate in our arcade census project of games owned, wanted, or for sale. Census data currently includes 166,619 machines (6,982 unique titles).

Very Common - There are 810 known instances of this machine owned by Robotron: 2084 collectors who are active members. Of these, 734 of them are original dedicated machines. 27 of them are conversions in which game circuit boards (and possibly cabinet graphics) have been placed in (and on) another game cabinet. 46 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

For Sale - There are 27 active VAPS members with a Robotron: 2084 machines for sale. There are 2 active VAPS members with a Robotron: 2084 circuit boards for sale.

Wanted - Very Popular - There are 106 active VAPS members currently looking for Robotron: 2084. There are 2 active VAPS members looking for Robotron: 2084 boards sets.

This game ranks a 94 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census ownership records.

This game ranks a 93 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census want list records.

Rarity and Popularity independently are not necessarily indications of value. [More Information]

Flyers

Technical

The ROM revisions are as follows

Yellow Orange

  • The default difficulty is 5.
  • The demo calls the Quarks "Cubeoids".
  • The default high score is 131682.

Blue

  • The default difficulty is 3.
  • The default high score is 151782.
  • The "shot-in-the-corner" bug is fixed.

Fixes

A common problem with Robotron machines is that the game resets when powered up. This is due to the 5v dropping too low on the CPU board. This can be fixed by reflowing solder, replacing connectors or just cleaning the bent connector pins.

Manuals

Foto-Finder® (Books)

  1. The Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256) Page: 121; Color photo Price guide: No
  2. Arcade Fever Sellers (ISBN 0762409371) Page: 110; Color photo
  3. Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256) Page: 121; Color photo

Additional References (logged in members often see more)

  1. 3D Model (External): Cabaret (ccbb7220a428b8b8b56265edc340dccf)
  2. 3D Model (External): Upright (a301e7ab39a6209210145cc1b33dac39)

Arcade Map - Play This Game

Our members have reported that Robotron: 2084 is playable at 2 locations:

Name Location State Country Details Check-ins
Level One Bar + Arcade 130 Hutchinson Ave, Columbus Ohio United States Unknown 0
Upstate Pinball & Arcade Museum 109A West Trade St, Simpsonville South Carolina United States Arcade 2

eBay Listings

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Robotron: 2084 Full Size Arcade Machine

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$1,989.99

Robotron: 2084 Countertop Arcade Game Machine

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Robotron 2084 Premium Arcade Marquee For Restoration Backlit Sign

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Williams Robotron Manufacturer Stickers

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Auction Results

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Auctions Recap

Year Count Median $ Average $
2016 1 460.00 460.00
2018 1 2,124.00 2,124.00
All Years 2 1,292.00 1,292.00

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