RoboCop Versus The Terminator

Plot

In a future where John Connor's human resistance is losing to Skynet's machines, a soldier named Flo discovers that Skynet's foundation relies on the cybernetics used to create RoboCop. Flo travels back in time to destroy RoboCop and prevent Skynet from ever being built. Skynet, learning of this, sends Terminators to stop her. RoboCop meets Flo and fights alongside her against Terminators, OCP forces, and other threats.

While investigating a Terminator inside the OCP building, RoboCop connects to a console to reprogram security, but it is a trap that digitizes his mind. His body is taken apart and used to construct Skynet. As Skynet rises to power, RoboCop's digitized consciousness takes over an abandoned robotics factory, rebuilds his body, and begins fighting Skynet in the future. He destroys Skynet's central processor and then helps humanity recover from the devastation.

The story takes place a few years after RoboCop's creation. SAC-NORAD hires Cyberdyne Systems to build Skynet, and Cyberdyne uses RoboCop's technology in its design. When activated, Skynet becomes self-aware and launches a war against humanity. In the future, Skynet sends multiple Terminators back in time to cripple the resistance. After destroying one Terminator, RoboCop goes to Delta City and confronts RoboCain. Following RoboCain's destruction, RoboCop fights his way to the OCP building and defeats all the Terminators there. He then takes down an ED-209 unit reprogrammed by the Terminators and plugs into a console, unknowingly giving Skynet useful information. This leads to his trap and digitization. In the future, RoboCop reassembles himself, battles through the Terminator-infested wasteland, and destroys Skynet for good.

Development

The 1992 comic book series RoboCop Versus The Terminator was the starting point for a video game of the same name. Virgin Games bought the license for $2 million, but the game could not use the comic’s story. Development happened inside Virgin at the same time as Disney’s Aladdin. John Botti was the lead designer and coder.

Tim Williams, who worked with him, said that because Aladdin was a bigger project, RoboCop Versus The Terminator felt like the ugly stepchild when he joined the team, but he was thrilled to design his own game. To figure out what made gameplay addictive, Williams and Botti stayed up late playing Contra III: The Alien Wars. They decided that “vectored bullets” were the key and made that a core mechanic. To save time, the game used Dave Perry’s Mega Drive engine, which had recently powered Cool Spot and Global Gladiators.

Botti had his own tools from earlier work, but he said Perry’s engine was clean and had been used on other Genesis games. He improved it by adding a linked-list sprite object, which allowed for huge monster bosses at the end of some levels. The game had more gore and violence than most Genesis titles at the time. Botti recalled that the team was around 22 years old and wanted as much blood and gore as possible.

Reception

The Super NES version of RoboCop Versus The Terminator received a 5.8 out of 10 from Electronic Gaming Monthly’s five-reviewer panel. Mike Weigand, who scored it a 5, noted that while the comic-book-style cutscenes were fresh, the game lacked intensity. The Game Gear port fared slightly better with a 6.8, and Weigand felt it held up fairly well, though he pointed out slowdown, visual breakup, and overly high difficulty. Electronic Gaming Monthly also named the Genesis version the Bloodiest Game of 1993. Nintendo Power reviewed the Game Boy edition, praising its graphics but criticizing its lack of strategy, challenge, and stiff controls.