Atomic Robo-Kid

n/a

NTSC-U NTSC-J
Atomic Robo-Kid
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Treco
Developer: Khaos
Original system(s): Arcade boards
Developer(s) of original games: UPL
Sound driver: SMPS Z80 (banked)
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Official in-game languages: 日本語 English
Release Date RRP Code JP 1990-12-14 ¥6,800 (7,004)6,800e T-24013 US 1991-02 $49.9549.95 T-24016
Non-Sega versions Amiga Arcade Atari ST Commodore 64 PC Engine X68000

Atomic Robo-Kid (アトミック・ロボキッド) is a Sega Mega Drive shoot-'em-up game developed by Khaos and published by Treco. A port of the titular 1988 UPL arcade title Atomic Robo-Kid, the game was first released in Japan in December 1990, and was later released in the United States in February of the following year.

Story

Earth outpost colony Terra-12 has been bombarded from space with strange radiation. The radiation is hideously mutating all of the transplanted life on the colony, and a fleet of hostile aliens has the radiation wave and invaded the planet. The small battle robot called the Atomic Robo-Kid is tasked with saving the colony. Along the way, Robo-Kid learns that he must find and rescue Eve, a female biodroid who has the ability to cure the mass mutations.

Gameplay

The Merchant

The CPU

The game is a side-scrolling shoot-'em-up in which the player controls the elephantine battle robot Atomic Robo-Kid against an alien invasion. Stages do not scroll automatically, as they do in most shoot-'em-up games. Stages consist of battling through hordes of enemies to reach the portal at the end, which is usually defended by a larger enemy. Most portals lead to another stage, but some portals lead to a fight against a massive alien "governor," which is followed by a duel against another robot resembling Robo-Kid. After these fights, Robot-Kid converses with the "CPU" and receives more information about his mission. Some stages end with multiple portals, giving the player the choice over which zone to enter next.

Robo-Kid initially cannot fly but powers up his thrusters upon picking up one of the two unmarked red crystals at the beginning of the first stage. While on the ground, he can jump with or take off with . While flying, he can move in any direction using the D-Pad (and faces left or right depending on which direction he was last moved in). He lands again when he touches the ground. Robo-Kid shoots with . Unlike most shoot-'em-ups, he can shoot both forwards and backwards depending on which direction he is facing. He can lock the direction he faces by holding , which also locks the direction of fire. Robo-Kid can collect four special weapons. The first power-up picked up replaces his default weapon; subsequent weapons are added to its arsenal and can be cycled through by pressing while flying.

A friendly robot resembling a dinosaur, called "the Merchant," appears in some stages. The player can choose destroy this robot, but if it approaches Robo-Kid, they begin to talk, and the player is taken to a store to purchase weapons and shields. Every item costs an extra life to purchase.

Robo-Kid is destroyed by a single hit from an enemy projectile. Colliding with an enemy knocks him back but does not destroy him. He can acquire shields that act as hit points by collecting power-ups. These shields go up when he takes a hit, protecting him from destruction, and Robo-Kid can have as many as three shields at a time. When destroyed, Robo-Kid restarts the stage at a predetermined checkpoint if the player has extra lives left, losing the equipped weapon. The game ends if the player runs out of lives but can be continued for a credit. There are three difficulty levels (Easy, Normal, and Hard), which affect the number of starting lives and credits.

Weapons

	Laser
	Shoots a light laser.
	Fission Gun
	Shoots a heavy laser that penetrates through targets.
	Missile
	Fires missiles that explode in an area after striking a target. The missiles travel about half the width of the screen and can be aimed in eight directions by holding the D-Pad while firing (regardless of which direction Robo-Kid is facing). They neutralize enemy projectiles upon impact. Missiles do heavy damage but have a slow rate of fire.
	3-Way
	Shoots three lasers in a spread, one straight ahead and the others angled 45-degrees up and down. The lasers travel the full distance of the screen. This weapon has a very fast rate of fire.
	5-Way
	Shoots a short-ranged blast of five stacked lasers. These lasers travel about half the width of the screen.

Items

Crystals can be shot to change them into a different item.

	Fly
	These non-hostile robots can be destroyed to release an item.
	Atomic Engines
	Collect at the beginning of the game to give Robo-Kid the ability to fly with .
	Fission Gun
	Acquires the Fission Gun weapon.
	Missile
	Acquires the Missile weapon.
	3-Way
	Acquires the 3-Way weapon.
	5-Way
	Acquires the 5-Way weapon.
	Shields
	Collect 4 to gain a shield that automatically activates when taking otherwise fatal damage. Robo-Kid can have as many as 3 shields at a time.
	Speed-Up
	Increases Robo-Kid's movement speed, up to 4 times.
	Rensha
	Enables rapid-fire by holding .
	Portal
	Enter a portal to be transported to another stage.

Stages

	Act 1
	Act 2
	Act 3A
	Act 3B
	Act 4
	Act 5
	Act 6
	Act 7
	Act 8
	Act 9
	Act 10A
	Act 10B
	Act 11
	Act 12
	Act 13
	Act 14
	Act 15
	Act 16
	Act 17A
	Act 17B
	Act 18
	Act 19

Versions

The Mega Drive version appears more zoomed out than the arcade original and lacks a time limit for stages.

Magazine articles

Main article: Atomic Robo-Kid/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Main article: Atomic Robo-Kid/Promotional material.

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 70 Aktueller Software Markt (DE) 85 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 68 Complete Guide to Consoles (UK) 82 The Complete Guide to Sega (UK) 82 Cool Gamer (RU) 20 Computer & Video Games (UK) 77 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 65 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 53 Génération 4 (FR) 76 Famicom Hisshoubon (JP) NTSC-J 50 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 60 Joystick (FR) 84 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) NTSC 56 Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J 62 Mega (UK) NTSC 60 MegaTech (UK) NTSC 82 Mean Machines Sega (UK) 82 Power Play (DE) 69 Sega Power (UK) NTSC 50 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC 37 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 51 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 58 VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (US) NTSC-U 70

	65
Based on 24 reviews

Atomic Robo-Kid

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Technical information

Main article: Atomic Robo-Kid/Technical information.

References

NEC Retro has more information related to Atomic Robo-Kid Special