R.O.B. and Gyromite, how the NES conquered America!

Anche in that fateful Christmas of 1985 the shop shelves filled with toys, with consoles on the road to oblivion (did someone say Atari?) and not knowing those ready to conquer the overseas market: but in the States, just as in Europe after all, it was very different products that dominated the scene. The toys that the kids wanted to find wrapped under the tree were not plastic artifacts with which to play on TV, but rather super-cool giant robots or legendary soldiers and gigantic aircraft carriers with which to dominate invented oceans on the living room carpet.

Nintendo, to spread the Nintendo Entertainment System without suffering a spectacular flop, decided that fighting G.I. Joe and Transformers would be counterproductive; it would be better to act with the most famous Trojan horse in the history of video games: it was called R.O.B., and its arrival in America meant above all entering legend.

The years from 1983, corresponding to the video game crash that hit every sector of the industry, to the mid-1980s were fertile ground for those who knew how to seize opportunities from the debacle of giants like Atari and beyond: Nintendo launched its NES in America with this accessory, which today is questionable in terms of its actual practical usefulness, but which served to literally introduce the console into stores: the Robotic Operating Buddy, a name that evoked vibes of friendship and technology at the service of fun, was in fact a toy equipped with mechanical arms, but since it was part of a bundle, the Deluxe Set, you had to buy the console to get it. It makes us smile today, but at the time distrust of screen entertainment had soared to record highs, and dispelling it was no easy task: only two games were marketed for the R.O.B, Stack was the first, then came Gyromite, an atypical platform game that only makes sense when enjoyed in combo with our friendly buddy. 

Essendo una periferica Nintendo proprio come la mitica Zapper, anche ROB funzionava esclusivamente con i televisori a tubo catodico: con dei sensori piazzati all’interno dei suoi occhi, poteva ricevere i segnali dallo schermo e di fatto “interagire” con ciò che accadeva sullo schermo, piazzando dei vassoi di diverso colore sui giroscopi: in Gyromite, lo scopo del gioco era liberare il livello dai candelotti di dinamite. Con il timing corretto (e credetemi dato che l’ho giocato a iosa, non è affatto facile padroneggiare i comandi vista la loro macchinosità) R.O.B. apriva i cancelli per permettere al professore di avanzare, ecc. Gyromite si presenta ai nostri occhi con personaggi carini, il classico level design del Nes con i suoi otto bit e pochi ma azzeccati colori, cancelli (ovviamente rossi e blu come i pulsanti che Rob è in grado di premere grazie ai nostri comandi) sui quali riverserete amore e odio: la sua struttura rompicapo garantisce un livello di sfida accettabile, tutto sommato. 

As you can imagine, the R.O.B. had a very short life in stores despite the good sales it achieved: no other titles were released and the peripheral fell into obscurity, until, from a simple stage prop, it managed, with the passage of time, video game archaeology, and the fans’ genuine love, to find its rightful place in the hearts of enthusiasts.

In Super Smash Bros Brawl, in conclusion, you will be able to use him as a playable character, and who knows, this time his gyroscopes might prove useful for defeating your opponents!