Arcade Video game published 38 years ago:
Robby Roto (c) 1981 Bally Midway.
When playing this game. YOU are ROTO's mentor. He takes his directions ONLY from YOU and will do your bidding exclusively. YOU determine the strategies he will use to defeat the evil monster VOLTAR who has invaded the Earth, stealing all types of treasures and burying them deep within the earth. VOLTAR also takes hostages and seals them in vaults deep within the earth.
There is only one way to save the hostages and recover the stolen treasures. We must send in ROTO. He will follow VOLTAR right into his own home tunnels to rescue the hostages and recover the stolen treasures VOLTAR has salted away.
To say the least, this makes VOLTAR more than just a little bit upset with ROTO. To help protect his stolen treasures and kidnapped hostages. VOLTAR has developed a breed of giant SPIDER that can sense ROTO's location and that can also travel through solid earth. These SPIDERS attempt to corner and capture ROTO. And to direct their hunt for ROTO, VOLTAR turns himself into a TROLL that can travel through solid earth.
If and when ROTO is captured by the SPIDERS or the TROLL, he is forcibly ejected from VOLTAR’s tunnels and you loose one player.
As your skill level increases and you get into the higher racks of the game, the ability of the SPIDERS and the TROLL to sense ROTO's location increases. This makes ROTO's chances of survival considerably smaller And VOLTAR, being what he is, has reinforcements in the form of a set of disembodied TEETH that he can call on to help him track ROTO down and put the bite on him. These TEETH also have the ability to travel through solid earth.
ROTO has no reinforcements he can call on to help him defend himself against his enemies. He has ONLY YOUR SKILL at maneuvering and forming strategies plus one use of the MAGIC button (which makes ROTO and any hostages he has with hlm invisible to all monsters for a short period of time) per rack to keep him safe as he carries out his rescue missions.
Bonus ROTOs are awarded to you periodically throughout the game: after you complete every third rack of the game. Each recaptured treasure and rescued hostage has an assigned point value as listed below. In the 2 times and 3 times racks, the values of all items are doubled or tripled respectively.
- TECHNICAL -
[Game No. 530]
[Upright model]
Dimensions: 69,75 in. High x 24 in. Wide x 27,25 in. Deep
Bally Midway Astrocade hardware
Main CPU : Zilog Z80 (@ 1.789773 Mhz)
Sound Chips : (2x) Astrocade (@ 1.789773 Mhz)
Screen orientation : Horizontal
Video resolution : 320 x 204 pixels
Screen refresh : 60.00 Hz
Palette colors : 256
Players : 2
Control : 4-way joystick
Buttons : 1 (MAGIC)
- TRIVIA -
Released in June 1982 (titlescreen says Copyright 1981). Approximately 2,000 units were produced.
The author of Robby Roto, Jamie Fenton (Jay Fenton), acquired the rights to the game after it did not do well in the marketplace.
- SCORING -
MULTIPLIER DETERMINATION:
3 Hostages together: next maze is 2x Maze.
3 Hostages together 2 mazes in a row: next maze is 3x Maze.
HOSTAGE
Pick up each time (1x point value): 100 points.
Pick up each time (2x point value): 200 points.
Pick up each time (3x point value): 300 points.
Out of door (1st Rach - 1x point value): 200 points.
Out of door (2nd Rach - 2x point value): 400 points.
Out of door (3rd Rach - 3x point value): 600 points.
Etc..
TREASURE VALUES
2nd Maze (1x point value): 200 points.
2nd Maze (2x point value): 400 points.
3rd Maze (1x point value): 400 points.
3rd Maze (2x point value): 800 points.
3rd Maze (3x point value): 1200 points.
4th Maze (1x point value): 600 points.
4th Maze (2x point value): 1200 points.
4th Maze (3x point value): 1800 points.
5th Maze (1x point value): 800 points.
5th Maze (2x point value): 1600 points.
5th Maze (3x point value): 2400 points.
6th & beyond (1x point value): 1000 points.
6th & beyond (2x point value): 2000 points.
6th & beyond (3x point value): 3000 points.
ALL ROOMS ENTERED VALUES
1st Maze (1x point value): 5 points.
2nd Maze (1x point value): 10 points.
2nd Maze (2x point value): 20 points.
3rd Maze (1x point value): 20 points.
3rd Maze (2x point value): 40 points.
3rd Maze (3x point value): 60 points.
4th Maze (1x point value): 30 points.
4th Maze (2x point value): 60 points.
4th Maze (3x point value): 90 points.
5th Maze (1x point value): 40 points.
5th Maze (2x point value): 80 points.
5th Maze (3x point value): 120 points.
6th & beyond (1x point value): 50 points.
6th & beyond (2x point value): 100 points.
6th & beyond (3x point value): 150 points.
- STAFF -
Designed and programmed by : Jay Fenton, Pat Lawlor, Dave Nutting
- CONTRIBUTE -
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