Rise of the Robots
Description official descriptions
Electrocorp, the world's leading manufacturer and developer of advanced robotics ran the Leader Project to develop a multi-task, ultra-intelligent, self-aware robot to manage every aspect of the factory plant. The end result was the Supervisor Droid, a machine capable of assuming any form and accessing any database. But when an EGO virus infected the Supervisor's self-awareness it started to consider its need above of those of the company, infecting the other robots in the plant and declaring itself their leader. Electrocorp then sent its top-secret ECO32-5 Cyborg to infiltrate the plant and destroy the supervisor.
Rise of the Robots is a versus fighting game. The player controls the ECO32-5 Cyborg and must fight all the other robots in the plant until finally meeting the Supervisor Droid. The controls consist of 3 buttons for punches and 3 buttons for kicks (one for each in the Game Gear version), and jumping, moving, crouching and blocking are performed with the directional pad. The Cyborg has two super moves, the Turbo Head Butt and the Shoulder Barge. The player can choose the difficulty, number of rounds and time limit for the fights, as well as turn turn the super moves off.
The game has three modes: mission, where the player fights each robot in a fixed order; training, where the player can fight any robot in any desired order; and two players versus mode (absent in the Game Gear version), where the second player chooses any of the enemy robots to fight with. It features an AI system that reacts to the player style, 3D rendered cutscenes and the title song was composed by Queen's guitarist Brian May.
Spellings
- ライズ オブ ザ ロボッツ - Japanese spelling
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Credits (DOS version)
85 People (35 developers, 50 thanks) · View all
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Reviews
Critics
Average score: 51% (based on 54 ratings)
Players
Average score: 1.8 out of 5 (based on 109 ratings with 10 reviews)
The Good
The CGI looks really cool for 94, hi res and sharp with smooth animation.
The Bad
Has the worst combination of slow movement, limited moves, nothing but charge attacks. etc. Truly unplayable.
The Bottom Line
This game had so much hype based mostly on it's cool pre-rendered graphics. it's so unfortunate that the game has the worst gameplay since pit fighter, possibly even worse.
DOS · by Sic Coyote (48) · 2025
Probably the worst fighting game EVER in the history of gaming.
The Good
Ha! You've got to be kidding me, right? I mean, admittedly the graphics are quite good (something along the lines of Killer Instict, only a few years earlier), but it's just SPRITES, for *'s sake.
*The Bad
Arrrrrrgh! Where do I start? I mean, Rise of the Robots beats the likes of Sango Fighter, Super Fighter, Stick Fighter 2 (I'm not kidding) or even FX Fighter in the "worst game in the history of mankind" category. Dude, it's even worse than Arcade Volleyball, which actually had some kind of play value.
Well then. Shall we?
- The worst programming in a fighting game to date. Especially considering how early of a game it is, SVGA on a 486? I mean, sure, there's
The 7th Guest , but DUDE, THIS GAME SUCKS! - Oh, the all-so-beloved secret moves. Hmm. Perhaps it was just the demo version, with its magnificent two robots, that had so little interesting moves to keep you busy that you'd probably fall asleep before even a single round is over.
- Music? Sound? Get outta here.
- Story! Bwahahahaha! (did this game even have one?)
The Bottom Line
In Cartman's terms, "LLLLLLLLLAME!"
DOS · by Tomer Gabel (4534) · 2000
And all this time I kept thinking there was worse!
The Good
Well, the CD makes a nice coaster. If not, you can use it to play frisbee with your dog. Or you can just leave it to rot on the shelf of your local store.
The Bad
In short: the fact that it exists.
I mean, was Mirage SERIOUSLY thinking this was an awesome game? What were they smoking when they thought people would actually PLAY this? I mean, the gameplay is some of the worst I've ever encountered; AI is about as dumb as a doorstop, and you can just smack an opponent down with the same move OVER and OVER and OVER....you get the idea. And they don't even bother trying to fight back half the time!! These stupid opponents must like the feel of being kicked in the face repeatedly, no wonder they're all inept.
The sounds, music, and graphics? I'll handle them all at once: they all SUCK. Sounds are all generic and uninspired, the music is crap, and the graphics are even worse.
And one last thing I hated about this game: the hype that surrounded it. People, it doesn't take much to take a pile of horse dung programming, slap it onto a CD and market it as the game to end all games. And that's exactly what happened here.
The Bottom Line
I don't care just how curious you are about this game; treat this game like a horrible skin rash. You don't want to see it, and trust me, you'll be much better off if you don't.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to find a much better fighting game for my PC...
DOS · by Satoshi Kunsai (2007) · 2001
Trivia
Animation
Instinct Design, the developer for Rise of the Robots, claimed that the game would feature 100 frames of animation per robot, with a special key frame system to ensure fluidity of movement. In reality, the game utilized 3 frames of movement for the robot punching, kicking and whatever else.
Cancelled Sega CD version
There was actually a Sega CD version in development, which was going to be published by JVC, but it was never released. A preview video exists, but it doesn't show anything from that version, other than a box cover. The "Work in Progress" footage shown was in fact from the DOS version.
Cover art
Game covers mentioned that Rise of the Robots contained music by rock guitarist Brian May. While technically true, the only Brian May music you hear in the game is an approximately 5-seconds long guitar solo at the beginning. Brian May was penned in to produce the entire soundtrack, however completion was delayed and the soundtrack was not completed in time for the games release.
Extended CD-32 version
In October 2015 an extended and corrected "Special Edition" of the CD-32 version of Rise of the Robots was released. This fan made improvement by Earok is fixing some gameplay issues like the difficulty level and also adds aesthetic features like new backgrounds or the inclusion of the intro of the arcade version. This version can be downloaded for free.(Source: Unofficial CD32 Ports)
PC version differences
Rise of the Robots on PC was released on floppy disks and CD-ROM. The CD-ROM version had an animated intro instead of the stills as seen in the floppy disk version.
Information also contributed by CaptainCanuck, M4R14N0, n-n, Roger Wilco, and Verm --
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Zhentarim7.
CD-i added by Corn Popper. Amiga added by Rebound Boy. Amiga CD32, Game Gear added by Kabushi. SNES, Genesis added by Satoshi Kunsai. 3DO added by Terok Nor.
Additional contributors: Alaka, Rik Hideto, Jo ST.
Game added May 31, 2000. Last modified February 21, 2025.