Robo Army

Robo Army was released at a time when the beat-em-up genre was still king of the arcade. The mighty Street Fighter 2 had just released a few months earlier that same year, and Fatal Fury's debut on the Neo-Geo was a scant three weeks away. Despite the game's good looks and large sprites, Robo Army didn't exactly inspire the hearts and minds of arcade goers or operators. Poor sales and middling reviews in the arcade killed any chance of ports to popular consoles of the day. In fact, the game was lost in obscurity until 2017 when the Hamster corporation released it as part of their Arcade Archives series for digital download on modern platforms. Robo Army isn't a bad game, but when compared to the likes of Konami's and Capcom's brawlers from the late 80's and early 90's, it's easy to see why the game was less than the sum of its (robo) parts.

Our story begins with two police officers being captured and turn into cyborg warriors by a mad scientist. Escaping before a control chip was implanted, our heroes Maxima and Rocky are out to prevent the mad scientist from achieving world domination through his Robo Army. 

Fun Trivia: Despite Maxima sharing the same name of a popular King of Fighters character, these are not one and the same person. Maxima from KOF was inspired in part by designs from Robo Army, but they have a very different backstory. Maxima's Robo Army buddy Rocky is actually featured as a selectable "another striker" (extra character) in the King of Fighters 2000. 

The general game plan in Robo Army is similar to other SNK brawlers from the era: A attacks, B jumps, and C is a special attack. Like most brawlers, your normal means of attack is tapping on the A button to create an auto-combo. Jumps are super floaty, and have a good deal more start up than what is comfortable when being surrounded by enemy robots. You can press A and B together to do a quick turn punch to hit enemies behind you, but this move is hardly useful when surrounded by enemies. The special attacks don't use a portion of your life bar like other brawlers; rather, each player has a special attack meter that sits below the life bar. The six segments of the special bar are color coded, and as you use your special attacks they become less and less effective. At full power, Maxima can unleash a huge energy wave in front of and behind him. The next level down unleashes a shorter energy blast directly in front of him. For the least powerful special attack, Maxima can electrocute an enemy that is in punching range. 

Like most games from the era, you have three lives per credit. With each life you have an energy bar with five segments, and each hit you take will deplete one segment. Along your journey certain enemies will drop life capsules to refill lost energy, or "CYBER BALLS" which refill a stock of your special gauge. You can also collect a special cyber ball that transforms Maxima or Rocky into an invincible robo-tank for a short while that will run right over any foe in your path. 

Robo Army isn't the most difficult game on the Neo-Geo, but like most early releases on the hardware it feels a bit wonky. Hit detection is hard to discern, with little player feedback to let you know when you've landed a successful attack. Enemy robots have no hit stun either, so when you do land a successful attack the bad guys couldn't care less and just hit you right out of your combo string. If hit stun were a thing, and player feedback was retuned to be more responsive, Robo Army would actually be much, much better.

Graphically the game matches most early Neo-Geo titles with big, colorful sprites and detailed backgrounds. There is a decent amount of animation given the size of the rom cartridge, and everything moves at a brisk pace with little to no slowdown no matter how many sprites are on screen. Sound design is pretty decent, with good sounding explosions and lots of metal hitting metal. The music, on the other hand, is completely forgettable. 

Robo Army is a fun game despite its drawbacks that are inherent in most early Neo-Geo releases. It's worth a playthrough with a friend, or by yourself as a relic of the bygone days of the 90's arcade era - but not much else. Unless you grew up with a Neo-Geo and have nostalgia for the game, there isn't much here to interest new or younger players today. 

So, what's it cost? Well, despite it being a more common game on AES in both the Japanese and Western territories, Robo Army continues to rise in price. A complete Japanese edition will cost around $400-$450 with the US version right around the same price. That said, modern gamers who think getting a Neo CD will net them some of the consoles best titles for a fraction of the cost will be surprised here as Robo Army is one of the more rare and expensive releases on that platform. Coming in around $300, it is marginally less than a complete AES copy. The best bang for your buck version on Neo-Geo hardware is the MVS, but it is still oddly expensive. Thankfully, you can try out the game for a scant $8 in the Arcade Archives series, or play it on one of SNK's console-on-a-chip solutions like the Neo-Geo Mini or the Arcade Stick Pro. 

Robo Army is a worthy addition to an established Neo-Geo collection on any of the three hardware variants, but make sure you have other, more sought after games in your library first. Robo Army is 100% a relic of days gone by, and sadly doesn't have a lot to offer a more discerning modern audience.