MAME World Record: Robotron [Solid Blue Label] TGTS 813,500

[@SanjaySingh-oh7hv]

Wow, just wow. Some brilliant playing that is a joy to watch. That rescue of Mikey on wave 12, just pure heroism. Amazing reflexes, and real-time strategic planning, and tactical decision making and risk management. I've never seen such disciplined playing. Many people could reach 10 million on Robotron, but getting to wave 10 without losing a single man is a small miracle unfolding for all to see. Thank God for KZbin to be able to see superhuman talent like this.

[@SanjaySingh-oh7hv]

Just a quick follow on. The 5 people left over from wave 20 could have pushed an already incredible score even higher to 838,500. But few people would have tried to leave one enemy around in order to collect them. Again this is an example of the brilliant decision making that led to this high score.

[@44justwoot44]

This was my all-time favorite video game in the early '80's in Norfolk, VA at Flipper McCoy's game room. I turned a quarter into hours of mesmerizing fun. I would go home after a session (sweating profusely!) and practically hallucinate from the visual and auditory overload. I had high score on Robotron 2084 forever. I sucked at the likes of Defender, Missile Command, Joust, and others. I killed at this one, though! Thanks for sharing!

[@MrErikchaugen]

Robotron was my all time favorite,arcade game too!I never got past level 18,though!

[@rsbroc]

That's where I used to go back in the 80's. I really miss the those days.

[@lonewolfnightsterryder5955]

44justwoot44 I recently found a little arcade that has the original stand up game. Its a few miles away but well worth the drive to go set the high scores. back in the day I played over 8 hours on one quarter till I finally got bored and walked away. Greatest game ever!!! I would walk away to go for a break and let my buddies play till I came back and the had lost tons of lives. I would just get them back over and over.

[@Gunther-pr8jd]

With the nearby Putt-Putt Golf And Games, that was a fun little corner of Norfolk. I believe the Flipper McCoy's in Virginia Beach is the only remaining location.

[@narika14]

@@lonewolfnightsterryder5955 - holy shit! You were that good? My fav game of all time. I still have it here at home for my Atari 7800 game console. Just need to find a way to secure the two joysticks to a table or something solid. Also, hook it up to the stereo system, and turn up the sound!!! Love this game!!!

[@mimigbnyc]

Thank you for uploading your play. I’ve never forgotten this game from 35 years ago and watching you get to the levels I never saw was a great ride. I tried to understand your strategy but gave up and just appreciated your mastery.

[@roba1899]

God I love the analog tones of this game .. nevermind the gameplay itself

[@VolNick1]

I was really good at this in my youth. Literally turned it over in the scoring, setting it back to 0. On a recent trip to San Francisco found an old video game warehouse at Fisherman's Wharf. Put my quarter in and game was over at the brain level.

[@ProLogic-dr9vv]

Go to a health food store gets some raw bee pollen it's a light yellow dry powder slightly sweet chalky taste oh you will need to be in good physical condition for this. One level tablespoon full in a glass of some fruit guce and on a good day you will KICK that games electronic but again....

[@ShotOfSelf]

Most unique advice for succeeding at a videogame I have ever read, thanks for sharing. My recommendation would be to find a good home port to practice on before going back to San Francisco ever again.

[@narika14]

@@ShotOfSelf - I have an Atari 7800 game console, Robotron is one of the game cartridges that I have. Still works fabulous today.

[@ShotOfSelf]

narika14 Purty cool. I’ve got a Genesis that gets more play than any other system and it’s still running strong. Old stuff was built to last, well most was. 🤗

[@myblacklab7]

Buy a Ouija Board, replace the scrying device with a small drone, put the scrying device inside a Robotron cabinet, and you will be destroying Robotron once more!

[@snixelpig]

This and Defender my favorite childhood games. You sir are an insane player.

[@roba1899]

Yep .. Tempest and Yar's Revenge too.

[@DFNUVS]

Snixelmix Nyx YEP ✅ SAME HERE! 💪🏽👌🤓

[@brantnuttall]

And those are the two games that I could never master. (or even get decent at!

[@lens2optic]

The greatest pure arcade shooter ever made .

[@gynandroidhead]

The 8X8 shooting/firing offering makes this game an absolute classic. The problem was finding a machine that actually allowed you to access all 64 combinations. Williams games were never my real strong-suit, but for this game I had a respectable skill level.

[@narika14]

What do you mean by "accessing all 64 combinations"? By my observations, there are ten different waves that just repeat, getting progressively faster and more difficult. As an example, on wave 9, I call this "the borderless". It repeats every ten waves, so at wave 19, wave 29, etc. But they get more difficult everytime.

[@Andrew-xl3gr]

@@narika14 I think he means finding a machine where none of the joystick positions are broken

[@dylanmiller6335]

If you mean just one that fully works I work at an arcade that has one and it’s my favorite and kept in top order since the owner loves the classics and since we have hardcore robotron players that come by regularly to play for hours

[@gynandroidhead]

@@dylanmiller6335 I was referring to playing these machines when they were contemporary. Several of the retro arcades I go to take top-notch care of their inventory, and Robotron is one of them because it is obviously one of the most popular machines patrons play.

[@dylanmiller6335]

@@gynandroidhead same we have 3 repair guys that come in regularly (3-4/5) on weekdays to fix any issues and as a robotron lover I know immediately when something is off since working there I get to play it free regularly and it’s in my assigned row of games I have to test while on shift (still can’t get past lvl 2 on donkey Kong junior though haha) and have to learn the games if someone wants to know what to do for certain levels if they get stuck or just want some tips Also why I’m watching these types of videos about the games I have to test haha

[@rsbroc]

I used to play this game so much,and got so good that I would draw a crowd when I played. I would often trip the score back to zero.

[@secondmethods]

255 right , yup me too.

[@taketheredpill1452]

that's a cool memory. The only crowds I earned were ones for mockery....

[@floatingeggyt9397]

Best game ever

[@GavinFreedomLover]

I kind of learnt a new method watching this guy.

[@musicfan1517]

Amazing! Ive gotten 10,000,000 before on easier settings, 3,000,000 on a similar setting to this at 25,000 an extra man, but only made it to the first daddy wave a few times on one man, this guy is unbelievable! Awesome especially on the tank waves! I've only met one other guy who was maybe as good, in NYCity ...The game was on this setting, I believe (I can't be sure because it was at an arcade, but the speed looks about the same from memory)...It was 25,000 an extra man, but the move control didn't function properly (often "stuck" briefly), but the guy still had no problem making 10,000,000 with extra men off the board.

[@zamiadams4343]

My fav arcade game of all-time, totally out there in on its own in terms from non-stop gameplay, Eugene Jarvis who designed it is a genius imo. This is off the scale, thanks!

[@stevegarcia9098]

I have my own Robotron machine in my living room. Best I've done is a little over 1.1 million on level 10 difficulty. I can play forever on the easiest settings.

[@oldiesmusic76]

Try getting a million by the 30th wave or less. Tons of people points you'll need!!

[@jigokurakuzero]

Just started playing Robotron 2084, and this game is by far my favorite

[@TonyBone21]

This is a amazing. This is the sound track of my youth -- the tech sounds of arcades blaring their action in symphony.

[@perfectionbox]

I've seen good players but this guy is on another level 😳

[@Hologhoul]

It looked, sounded and played fantastically well! And it still holds up great today, which is incredible. I was enjoying it on PS2 recently until the CD drive broke! Incredible playing here, making the impossible look easy.

[@Pat0123_MasterDuck]

Even though I'm 14 now, I'm still passionate about old games... to that extent I loved it

[@jimmycypher1919]

Call of duty my arse! Robotron is STILL the reigning champion game for "most shots fired per second." And that's what it's all about. Live long. Prosper. Blow shit up! Bravo on a game well played ;-)

[@carcillian]

I remember this in arcades as a kid and the audio alone was amazing.

[@andrewhopkinson8736]

I think the fact that it could only play one sound at a time added to the insanity.

[@spockmcqueen]

The great thing about the game Robotron is that no matter how good you think you are at it....there is always someone better. THAT is what makes it the best arcade game ever made.

[@myblacklab7]

I dunno - is there somebody better than this guy?

[@nviso209]

MAD skillz Yo! Robotron 2084 is such a MASTERPIECE! & Eugene Jarvis F'n GENIUS!

[@benb3316]

Congratulations! Love it! One of my favs from way back.

[@mikeville66]

Guys - this is John McAllister ('redelf1968' here on KZbin) playing. He's a well known CAG player who has also taken down the classic 80's arcade Marathon records on Asteroids and Joust. He also has the Robotron 5-man arcade WR (1.250M) - it's here on YT. The default difficulty (5) plays faster/harder on MAME, that's why this score is so much lower than the arcade one.

[@MrJimmyRivers]

Its hard to find a Robotron nowadays that plays great. People have different joysticks on some of them and it's impossible to get a million points because of that

[@sternzbt]

This person is really good! Didn’t even die the first time until Wave 10 and very impressive saving all those family members to rack up extra points.

[@unebonnevie]

Your playing reminds me of the marines. LEAVE NO HOSTAGE BEHIND! You make your family (in the game) proud! :-)

[@musicfan1517]

The guy I met in NYCity had a very interesting style, he would sit and fight it out in one spot,(always safely off the walls, of course), move a little distance, do the same, until he had cleared enough to finish the whole wave (except for the tank waves, of course)...On that sticky movement control machine (level 10), I'm guessing, because I was used to playing on a level 10 machine at UC Berkeley when I visited NY that time, he averaged clearing a wave to a wave and a half without dying, is what I remember...

[@KlaasBaas]

now this is some hardcore electronic music

[@maynk7096]

Only 80's kids remember .

[@Luisdefunes1]

I´ve the same settings but it doesnn´t move as fast. Is this because the recording?

[@Zenoxasdf103]

I still play it today on a MAME format. Best arcade game ever!

[@nor123ron123]

Any idea if there is a robotron 2084 knockoff for the ipad?

[@timtim7348]

Wonder what he used as the controls for the game

[@stevend813]

How did you get to the game adjustment menu????

[@turnertalking]

Has it been mentioned before that the tanks ball projectiles disappear quickly than say the Xbox 360 downlaoded version?Those tanks are hard to kill due to the scramble in avoiding the projectiles.

[@MAMEWorldRecords]

@inlovewithmarie This is on tournament settings.. no free men awarded and it's set at super high internal difficulty. The factory settings world record is around 300m+. The internal settings are listed in the video description

[@dutchman063]

Best i've ever seen played....good job! .i use to play this game for hours on end back in the early 80's ..plated it again today after 30 years and made it up to 350K

[@Luisdefunes1]

At least you are sincere. There are many multimillion-point players out here.

[@markstephen9808]

Brilliant playing. As perfect as a human can be. My friend Ace was just as good.

[@timtalton1709]

Where did this start? Me at the mall in front of a missile command console, trading bubble yum for quarters.

[@musicfan1517]

Sorry dude, I didn't realize you were playing level 5, the machine the guy in NYCity was playing was most likely a level 10, which was also the level the machine I got 3,000,000 on at 25,000 an extra man...This was all in the 1980s, so please forgive my mistakes...Still, very impressive!

[@cocacolakid45]

Love this game, always have. Nice Game John. awhile back we talked about the glitch and i had no clue what you were talking about being it was 30 years ago, but i have been reading up on it and i just got my Mame up and running one week in i had it happen, so i know exactly what you were talking about. i thought it was fixed on Mame guess not. i did miss this game so. again great score.

[@weedmanwestvancouverbc9266]

Absolute Madman

[@oldiesmusic76]

Not bad!!! You left some good points on the table in wave 20 though.

[@MAMEWorldRecords]

Im sure there is someone better out there somewhere. Usually the case. Also worth nothing, Robotron is MUCH harder in MAME then it is in the arcade due to the way it's emulated as well.

[@nightowl8936]

If its level 10 difficulty and no free men, you are right ... thats quite a score. But I'd like to try sometime ... how does one register and authenticate with MAME World Records to prove the truthfulness of any game with MAME so that if this record is beaten, it will be recognized as such. And how long would it have taken to get 300 million on Robotron. As I recall it takes about 4 hours to get 10 million and roll the machine, Are you saying someone played for SIX DAYS?

[@DFNUVS]

THE BEST GAME THEN AND NOW! 👀😳💪🏽✅ I USED TO PLAY THIS FOR HOURS IN THE ARCADE GAME ROOM. IT LITERALLY KEPT YOUR HEART RACING AND IMPROVED YOUR REACTION TIMING. I WAS AFRAID MY WEAK HEART WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO TAKE EVEN WATCHING THIS GAMEPLAY UNFOLD AS MY EYEBALLS TRIED TO FOLLOW EVERY MOVE AS IF I WAS CONTROLLING THE JOY STICK! LEVEL 25 WAS ONE OF MANY OUTSTANDING MOVES TO CLEAR THE BOARD! 😳😱😍💪🏽🤓😅✅👀

[@timtalton1709]

Where are the extra men? At what scores do you achieve those?

[@oldiesmusic76]

Normally it's every 25,000, but he intentionally turned them off to achieve the highest score without extra men. 813K is VERY hard to do, even at difficulty 5

[@puglifeX]

Robotron 2084 has also been my best Arcade Classic game, my record on an actual machine was 3.7mill wave 137 when I was 16 years old, M.A.M.E emulators work slower on old pcs, so i only managed to go over 10mill wave 400 using keyboard . extra man every 20k and level 3 with 20 men at the start about a year ago, stopping at 400th wave with plenty extra men

[@biokemical]

Hey how did you get to "Game adjustments" menu at the start?

[@nightowl8936]

Hi. Thanks for your reply. Watching this vid again, I can see some brilliant playing and precision on the part of this player. I'm mightily impressed, but if I practice I stand a chance. Maybe one game in 100 would come close.

[@h1rysan]

where are the outlines on level 9

[@MAMEWorldRecords]

Record your game play and submit to Twingalaxies or MAME Action Replay. I don't authenticate records, I merely pull from these two sources as they are the most frugal when it comes to score verification for the MAME platform

[@djpricekut517]

what version of mame is this?

[@mrmike1296]

nicely done OWNED

[@unebonnevie]

This is INSANE! YOU'RE GOOD! BEYOND GOOD!

[@roba1899]

The sounds alone are intoxicating ..

[@_Majoras]

"the game starts at wave 25, anything before that, is warm up" and your playthrough video upload is where?

[@tpalmen]

Played this game in 1984 for 8 hours at a bowling alley Washington State. Had over 8 million points and finally gave it to a kid that was watching me.

[@MegaSpriggsy]

+tpalmen ???? Takes 1 hour to score 2-3 million. 8 hours should attract about 20 million

[@crillkatt4865]

+Paul Spriggs tpalmen is only one of those guys here on YT who remembers everything wrong. Dont pay any attention to him. Just plain stupid and not cool at all even if that was his intention. Pathetic

[@tpalmen]

Hey dick, I was 17 years old now 49, just the best I could recall. Tool

[@crillkatt4865]

Then I was right then. So many comments like yours remembering everything so wrong. Whats the point even posting? It's not to late to start gaming and make the claim though.. :-)

[@tpalmen]

wow, a little sensitive are we. just chill crill.

[@kepler240]

this game is freaking relentless.

[@appdevman]

I got frustrated using the keyboard; my fingers kept criss-crossing. With the correct controls however, I can't see it being much worse. I rarely saw the cross-screen bullet-speed shots from the enforcers, which I get almost constantly on the cabinet emulated version at work. Those shots are so brilliantly fast, they are almost instantaneous - you can't even move to avoid them. This game is still my fav of all time :p

[@roygoodhand1301]

How about the spoof of this, Llamatron, please?

[@SquirrelTheater]

Holy shit this game was HARD!!! Whoever is playing is a master!

[@Pje3ski]

Best game ever made. Excellent, it’s funny how differently people play. Never thought about the 5 man total but when my brother and I would play in the arcade we would be extremely upset if we didn’t make it to wave 11 on the first man, I remember him hitting wave 19 one time. But that was on liberal skill level 3. We were the best in that arcade at this game. I remember having to use the restroom and had someone asked some guy to play while I went to the restroom, he said I don’t know how to play this. I said it doesn’t matter, I just want you to hold the game for me so I can get it when I get back in a few, probably had a hundred extra men. Rolled it past wave 256 a few times, rolled the score and the first time I got upset because I thought it wouldn’t show it as the high score so i just let the xtra men die off and put my initials in. I had the high score on the game for a few months with the lowest score on the board. Then I decided I was going to hit the arcade as soon as it opened and play it till it closed. Did it. Can’t remember the score unfortunately but from about 9 am till 1am I played on one quarter.

[@narika14]

I was rootin' for ya, buddy!!!

[@georgeshelton6281]

I learned that when you play this game, you get the strategy. But this game doesn't have a certain original sound. That's when the game ends.

[@yamaha44ish]

Best game ever, tempting to spend two grand to have my own.

[@williejohnson5807]

here are some facts about the real arcade version that i played back in the eighties:2 times i played until i scored over 10,000,000(ten million).it took me roughly 3 hours to do it both times(not in the same day mind you).after wave 500 the wave counter and waves went back to wave 1.and the score counter went back to zero after 9,999,990.and if you people want to talk about difficult,i played a robotron in georgetown ky that you could only move n,s,e,and w.no diagonal directions.

[@juni674]

Dude you are insane. LOL Nice game.

[@ProLogic-dr9vv]

You Be The MacDaddy Of Robotron.

[@ONESIMPLYDOES]

I need this soundboard

[@Sattlen]

i remember playing this when i was a kid good old times...

[@unterjettingen]

unbelievable game play !

[@lechiffre5078]

Playing a game like that requires both loads of skill and a bit of luck. Nice job! I have done a little better with 5 men difficulty 5. 943,000 points (Mame). I remember playing over and over and over until I started to hate doing so. It became work and torture so I stopped doing it because I love the game so much and just wanted to have fun. I have several other personal records. 511,000 give or take on my first man. I was as nervous as shit realizing that I may make it to the Mikey wave. Rolling the machine 10,000,000 points while I moved with my left hand while my friend fired with his right hand. Rolling the score even though the stupid machine wouldn’t fire down, diagonal down left or right. That was interesting. 1,417,000 with 12 men difficulty 8. That was something memorable. Rolling the machine on difficulty 10, 30,000 per free man. That was pretty torturous. Bringing to the world the 9 wave special. Too much fun. I still play today but my reflexes aren’t what they used to be. I claim they cheat, but the truth of the matter is, I am getting old.🥺

[@teresawright4454]

Got this on the old arcade greatest hits snes n64 to much fun

[@jimmylovesbikes]

solid blue label on MAME crashes on me randomly before 3million, but yellow/orange label works fine

[@Sissom]

I bet this dude rules at Geometry Wars.

[@colejk67]

Awesome game play. Miss this game.

[@dean0903]

NZ Auckland 1985 the best game ever I was up there with the best, also not long after this I started smoking weed then my gaming skill reflexes turned to shit.

[@ORIGINALGAMESONLY]

wow tgts this was with no extra men allowed awesome

[@sekayseki5549]

Epic gameplay!!!

[@jimg.708]

Elven magic- indeed... And damn- wave 19- that wasn't your fault... motorola's lack of CPU processing power + satan on that one fo sho... I bet you negate that enforcer shot- on the real hardware. Thanks for sharing with us... well done!

[@nightowl8936]

I double checked the game settings. Its NOT level 10 difficulty. Its level 5, which is still no joke, but more reasonable.

[@crowndroyal]

wish i could play this online somehow was one of my fav arcade games

[@DwDrake2000]

You can play it here. www.vizzed.com/playonlinegames/index.php?ref=495276

[@MegaSpriggsy]

It isnt difficulty 10, its 5

[@nor123ron123]

This guy is incredible!!!

[@FreedumbFighter29]

No joke....IMPRESSIVE

[@furiousstyles81]

i have the real arcade game of this. you dont have to put a quater in it works evrytime along with joust and rampage! i will never sell it!

[@warrenmcgovern8231]

Geez, and I thought I was good at this!

[@MrFatherkarras13]

I agree I have broken 1.5 million dozens of times, My high score is a little over 1.75 million wave 56. Myself I like to smoke a fat bowl, crank Diary of a madman, and kick this games butt.

[@NitroModelsAndComics]

Well played...

[@teddymills1]

I could play Defender and Stargate, but never did learn Robotron. I think it was because at certain level, the high attrition rate, no matter your skill. Plus this was insanely difficult.

[@jeffw1267]

Me too. Stargate was supposed to be the hardest arcade game but I could play Stargate all day on a quarter. But not Robotron. If Robotron had the Inviso feature, then I'd have had something.

[@lechiffre5078]

I was the opposite. Always revered those who could play those 2 games well.

[@MegaSpriggsy]

The problem with this is that its not representative, as the game is being played under conditions using alien tactics and "not as the author intended" so to speak. It is pretty much the luck of the draw if you are a good player. All about what brain waves you are presented with. Having said that this guy is just an incredible robotron player and an excellent point presser.

[@mattgiguere5638]

INSANE GAME!! I DON'T GET IT!! HELP ME!

[@ZylonBane]

Great gameplay. Shame about the aspect ratio of the video.

[@chip1gray]

man dont know how you can play this even back in the day i found it hard to actualy see the screen

[@itsthatkidagain7050]

The effects already look expensive.

[@jmez927]

NO EXTRA MEN!!!!

[@turnertalking]

I was the local Ms. Pacman champ.

[@prath000002]

if this is mame i dont see how you can be so accurate with your movements talk about hard i just started playing this game but man is it addicting allthough I think I would like to play with joysticks