RoboCop 2 (NES) Playthrough

A playthrough of Data East's 1991 license-based platformer for the NES, Robocop 2.
Following about a year after the film's theatrical release, the NES adaptation of Robocop 2 ended up being the second, and final, Robocop game for the 8-bit console to bear the Data East name.
The first RoboCop NES game ( • RoboCop (NES) Playthrough ) was a loose reinterpretation of the hit Data East arcade game created by the company's long-time go-to developer SAS Sakata. It had its flaws, but it was solid, fun game that was generally well-received.
Fast-forward two years to the release of RoboCop 2 and the picture was somewhat less rosy. For fans of the original game, it was apparent from the instant you plugged the cartridge in and hit the power button that something had changed.
Something big.
Why did the music sound like it was coming from an English 8-bit micro? Why was RoboCop teal and sparkly? Why was the game a generic platformer featuring an ice-skating cyborg that could jump six feet straight up in the air from a standstill?
Then you died twenty times in the span of five minutes and turned it off in a fit of frustration...but then you came back to it a while later and picked up on an important detail on the first screen that you hadn't noticed the first time around.
"GAME DESIGN © 1990 OCEAN SOFTWARE"
Yeah, Data East published it, but game was created by Painting by Numbers under contract with Ocean, a company known for its scummy business practices, a few good computer games, and a whole lot of shoddy, half-assed ones. A game by Ocean, whether it was developed in-house or otherwise, usually looked and sounded good no matter the platform it was running on, but the gameplay was rarely up to the standards that console gamers had become accustomed to. Of course, you'd expect there to be a chasm in quality between a computer game that went for $10-15 brand new and an NES cart priced at $40+.
I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this.
The Commodore 64 version of Robocop 2 sold for about $12 when it was released in 1990. The NES game, which is virtually identical to the C64 one save for the inclusion of in-game music and slightly nicer graphics, went for $45.
I don't know how C64 fans felt about Robocop 2, but no matter how good it might've been, a game developed to sell at a $12 price point is not going to deliver the level of quality one would expect when paying nearly four times that amount.
So, big surprise. Robocop 2 is crap. The controls are some of the worst I've come across in a platformer: RoboCop slides around like his feet have been slathered in Vaseline, he drops like a stone when he jumps, there's a lot of input lag, and the collision detection is a cruel joke when you're being forced to punch something. Then there's the endless parade of cheap traps that'll kill you in a single hit, the game's refusal to tell you what requirements need to be met to finish a level until you're already at the end, the multitude of hidden "bonus" areas that you're required to visit in order to progress, and the slider puzzles.
Did anyone ever like slider puzzles? Like, at all? Everytime I come across one in a video game, I feel like I'm being punished. I know I can't be the only one.
The graphics are kind of cool. They're extremely garish and the backdrops tend to obscure important details, but the style is unique for an NES game and the animation is fairly smooth. The music is alright, but the blippy arpeggiated chords start to grate on the ears after awhile.
If you're hard up for a platformer and have already exhausted the NES's line-up of A, B, and C-listers, then maybe you'll find something here to justify the effort. Everyone else is going to be left unsatisfied and disappointed by Alex Murphy's failure to serve the public trust this time around.
Do yourself a favor and play the arcade game instead.
_____________
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (www.nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!

[@razorchance6976]

Robo ice skater, where the whole environment is covered in ice, if you're a fan of ice physics, then we got a great treat for you 😂

[@zerox2355]

That game was filled with pure fun no matter how much you played, you never got bored all the other 8 bit games were also full of fun. But today pc games don't have that same excitement.

[@brettbarnett3465]

3:42 I just about fell out of my chair laughing because that came out of nowhere with absolutely zero warning. You’re doing fine then CRUNCH!

[@Sana-Operator]

Holy shit, the nostalgia is killer.. I haven't seen this or heard this sound in 20 years 😂

[@NintendoComplete]

Unless you're really into the idea of playing as a Mountain Dew Berry Monsoon colored RoboCop, you'd be better off with the arcade game.

[@HrvojeGrahovac]

The arcade version of 2 is better

[@brianrich6711]

Nicely played as always. This game was definitely not an improvement over the 1st game.

[@dtyodeller]

That’s not the color that he is on this at all.

[@Shredderrr93]

So many secret levels and loops in this game …. Always a fantasy what would come next … Nostalgic 🎉😢😮

[@rockmanzeromodernday941]

This game was a nightmare. I couldn’t even pass the second level.

[@Loader2K1]

Personally, I think this game might have solidified my hatred for Ocean.

[@jcdenton2819]

Lolwut, this is MUCH easier than 3rd one.

[@user-ru8uc9jg1e]

😂😂😂😂 самая лёгкая игра

[@Peter_Morris]

I always wondered why this game was so radically different from the first one. I’d rent Robocop several times, but I’m positive this one was rented once. It may even have been one of those rare times where we took it back and asked mom to get something else. And that was always a risky move.

[@Grandtheftauto1998]

And to think i wanted to play this when i was younger, thank goodness i never did.

[@NintendoComplete]

I did too. The photos in Nintendo Power looked good and I didn't think that it could be as bad at their ratings made it out to be. Then I played it and immediately understood why it got those scores. Lesson learned.

[@Grandtheftauto1998]

@@NintendoComplete Yea we all play horrible game's every now and then and i've played a lot of them growin up.

[@cricketboy1984]

The palette of colors they chose for this game, looked like they belonged in an old DOS game.

[@QkiJose]

As a kid I've never passed the 2nd stage. The game was waay a nightmare, even its controls.

[@rjcupid]

Ocean, the OCP of video game developers.

[@DREADFALCON13]

They're like the British equivalent of LJN.

[@rjcupid]

@@DREADFALCON13 Good call.

[@xxHUNGRY4THETRUTHxx]

Does Murphy take his oil baths before he goes to work? I suggest he settle that for after his day is through. I mean the whole platforming seems to be on ice.

[@BB-te8tc]

I think I rented this and Darkman as a kid multiple times solely for the soundtracks.

[@dewoiski]

The first RoboCop game I played was the arcade game, really cool but hard as nails! The second one was the pc version from DOS, the midi sound was torture, it sounded like someone was scratching a board with their nails! Good memories! 😁

[@NintendoComplete]

Both of the arcade games were great. Oh man, the Dos version actually had midi support? I'm surprised. I figured it would be one of those horrible bleepy games that abused the internal PC speaker.

[@enriquerodriguezjr4466]

It looks like Robocop is really flipping the bird lol!

[@figment1988]

What killed it for me was the ridiculous tasks which require your attention and quickness (remember, you got a time limit), as well as the lack of friction Robo has which makes him feel like he's Gumby.

[@larrylaffer3246]

Ocean Software definitely have their unique style. Especially in their 2D Platformers. For another such title look at their version of Darkman.

[@asteroido]

Good memory! Darkman is a great game! Data east push nes to the limit with some games.

[@skylinefever]

The AVGN showed how many people from Robocop II NES made Darkman NES.

[@MegaIceLynx]

Rented this game a few times. Hoping I could figure it out and finish it. Never happened, but I still went back for it.

[@RealMonkeyLent]

I love that title screen, slick awesome and badass

[@kudus9235]

In my childhood I was able to finish only the half of this game. Today I realise that I have no idea how it was possible that I had so much patience to do it...

[@karlazamudio6022]

If you have never seen robocop the first 2 are worth the watch

[@UnderratedLessons]

This game's ending ost was way too much amazing..

[@Omarencarnacion1]

awesome one man!

[@NorthernIrelandConflictVideos]

many great memories playing this

[@jacobitejim790]

man that looks so cheap and nasty compared to RoboCop by ocean, wasn't really a nes fan , but love the old classics and watching the playthroughs, , give us a Megadrive Rings Of Power play through if u are doing requests😀, love the channel by the way .

[@rogeliolarronda]

The resemblance to Peter Weller at 10:52 is UNCANNY.

[@californium252cf]

Very cool game!

[@richardklein408]

Jumping Robocop is absolutely absurd. Funny to watch though

[@NintendoComplete]

Makes you wonder how he's not breaking any paving stones or metal walkways.

[@paulocarvalho7877]

Thinking the same thing here. A more cannon-wise game would have a small jet pack for jumps like a smaller version of the one seen in Robocop 3 movie.

[@AG-ld6rv]

Wow bro, how could you leave that first nuke behind?

[@ariflhakim875]

03:42 XD

[@danielshottopics8187]

This Game Look Cool I wish I Played it on the NES.

[@fotoshopfin1105]

Robocop on ice

[@dreamgames3357]

Я помню,как это проходил.Самая хардкор сложная играна денди!Я доходил до последнего босса.Но его не проходил вроде бы

[@CliffuckingBooth]

I still have this game on cartridge :) Tough but classic.

[@stuartwalton-wr7mx]

I'm not to sure if you slide in robocop 1 but in this one I can definitely see it 😬

[@rhuttrho88]

*DROP IT!😁😃😉*

[@NintendoComplete]

Can't shoot a kid, can you, fucker? 🤣

[@Slawek361]

Lol, final boss was called "Robocop 2" That's was my second game on my all life on "Pegazus" in my country in Polish, i didn''t know then it was on NES.

[@colorsafebleach5381]

Well, in the movie he was introduced as Robocop 2.

[@randy7894]

Of all the robocop games (And I played about 12) This one is my favorite by far. Awesome atmosphere. The end boss is ass. Never finished it.

[@NintendoComplete]

Did you ever play the PC version of Robocop 3? That was a really cool game. Hella impressive, too.

[@randy7894]

@@NintendoComplete I did, but really not my cop of tea though.

[@marcelosoares7148]

Now that Rogue City is out, did your opinion change?

[@randy7894]

@@marcelosoares7148 nope :)

[@c0mpuipf]

playing this game for nostaliga's sake on retrogames; using your walkthrough and it helps a lot in dealing with the rage; just a small thing i noticed: on that fucker at 19:22 you can crouch and spam 'punch' and it just fucks off without having to time the punches to that 0003ms where you can do damage; fuck this game

[@retro3188]

Very cool! (Is it just me, or does the audio sound like it came from the Commodore 64?)

[@Dorian_Scott]

Funny you mention that because this is actually a port of a C64 game.

[@figment1988]

Yep. Composed by Jonathan Dunn

[@joshuastreich5638]

Back In 1987 The Famous Movie Robocop Came Out! I Was So 😊! Back In 1991 The NES Game Robocop 2 Came Out! I Was So😊 As Well!

[@morechuchoggaming4800]

The first RoboCop game I played was the first NES game

[@conta7619]

Parece o darkman, já fiquei com medo de jogar 😂😂😂😂

[@justinm1882]

sweet

[@c1slo]

Pamatuju si ji, celou sem ji dohral jako malej, ale tolik hodin u toho stravenych

[@britneyspearsvillarosa]

The first Robocop game I played was Robocop for NES

[@_.Alucard._]

We had so many ugly games back then and we were able to complete them.

[@alonelypotato2788]

i love how they call robocop..."robocop 2" robocop : my friend call me murphy...u call me robocop 2

[@WillBurgify]

This is like Robocop on acid

[@High_Voltage_Rock]

10:56 Uhhh, se mató el Robocop! 🕳️

[@imperfectxennial3008]

First NES Robocop game was much better imo

[@demolitionboys7403]

SEGA génesis sin duda es el mejor

[@jolupakagames6977]

😃😃😃😃

[@WanderlustZero]

looool they edited out the smoking villains. Classic Nintendo

[@SomeOrangeCat]

Man, Europeans love their janky collect-a-thon platformers, don't they?

[@BlastPain]

R2 is as good as R3 but this music makes me sick. never had a chance to play R2 back in my childhood days

[@Dorian_Scott]

Oh god. This game looks so bad, it makes the first NES game look like a freaking masterpiece.

[@magacop5180]

Part 1 was so terrible I didn’t think they’d make part 2

[@crisssmolina]

26:39 what is this about?

[@Loader2K1]

I'm late to this video, but I'd just like to say that I absolutely LOATHED this game as a kid. The now-defunct Data East should be ashamed of themselves for putting their name on this piece of garbage by letting Ocean publish it instead of just making the game in-house like they did with the arcade version. Well, needless to say, you've made this game look unbelievably easy despite the fact that this game is unfairly hard. Keep up the good work.

[@bestchannelintheworld]

It's funny how GTA 4 was praised for having the exact same inertia when Niko takes forever to stop and turn around (GTA 5 was even heavily critisized for removing this inertia), but in Robocop 2 it's bad? I'd say it's just a design choice, and a very logical one knowing how heavy the main character is. The game is bad for other reasons of which there are dozens.

[@solarflare9078]

Whoever praised that in GTA4 is just dumb. I hate those double standards those people have

[@badacid8685]

Robocop is so slidey 🤣

[@ivervj2923]

This game sucked back then, it still sucks today and it will continue to suck until the end of mankind.

[@Metalman200xdamnit]

The Angry Video Gamer has spoken.

[@alexh2790]

I actually didn't hate this as a kid aside from the instant kill grabby things later in the game. I gotta say getting to grips with the way Robo moves is like running with a rucksack and made Mario 1 all the easier for me.

[@edparadis6685]

The only thing good about this game is the title screen and the end boss fight otherwise this game bites the big one bad

[@edwinwestres]

Y al final no sale nada interesante y tanto esfuerzo para este final monse.

[@jabetitbasen]

Same crap as Darkman...

[@NintendoComplete]

Yeah, pretty much. The same people made that one.

[@alexkidd8772]

I never played this one but i did play Darkman all the way to the end. It was soul-crushing.

[@jabetitbasen]

@@alexkidd8772 True, but an insane masochism makes you want to finish these disgusting games too!😑

[@bestchannelintheworld]

Darkman had much better music.

[@Jac2Mac]

@@NintendoComplete One can only wonder why Data East didn't do the Robocop 2 games for NES and Gameboy themselves with SAS Sakata developing them.

[@edwinafamefuna4383]

This is too much platforming in a Robocop game. The arcade version is much better. Robocop 3 on gen 4 consoles played great too.

[@pookieizzy7]

...Yeah the arcade game was WAY better than this. This version, I truly could NOT get into. I mean at the very least, Robocop 2 had 2 players on Arcade so yeah build your own headcanon there. And this version of Cain... Is he supposed to be the Rat Exterminator cause I swear...and then you got MP versions of ED-209, the Zilla of all US mechs known in all pop culture history. For a bonus stage, nah..give me the shooting gallery from 1 and speed that up a bit and it would've been decent. Far as the franchise have went, Robocop 87 was fine, 2 and 3 were utter shit, Prime Directives was okay, the animated series was a poor bastardized version of its former self. I would've been okay for Robocop vs. Terminator as a movie and that remake...just no. NO. The only upside of Robocop is without him, there'd be no Space Sheriffs or Metal Heroes since he was the father of that genre of tokusatsu.

[@gastonxavi]

dispara con una glock... q feo juego!

[@Metalman200xdamnit]

Oh God,did this game suck. Slippy controls,crap platforming,and tons of crap that made no sense.

[@cratedivizion]

Just played through this the other day. Actually really dug this one. Just like darkman. Got robocop 3 coming in the mail 📬