R.O.B.

Overview

Designed by the late Gunpei Yokoi, and released in 1985 in Japan as Famicom Robot and the United States as R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy), this accessory worked with only two games on the NES: Stack-Up and Gyromite. R.O.B. functions by processing flashing commands from the television screen through a set of light-sensitive sensors. These commands are translated into movements though a series of weights, allowing R.O.B. to "play" against the player using a standard NES controller. R.O.B. was instrumental in marketing the N.E.S in the United States as an "Entertainment System" and not a video game console. This was crucial to Nintendo's success due to the Video Game crash of the early 80s.

Cameos

See also: R.O.B. (character)

• R.O.B appeared in Super Smash Brothers Brawl and Mario Kart DS as an unlockable character. In addition, R.O.B. also features heavily into The Subspace Emissary, the adventure mode found in Brawl.
• R.O.B also appears in F-Zero GX, Kirby's Dream Land 3 and the WarioWare games.
• Though the likeness is not there, R.O.B. also appears as the robot R.O.B. 64 in the Star Fox games, starting with Star Fox 64. He sends bombs, wings and lasers to the character if they accept his transmission.
• In Pikmin 2, ROB can be found as a treasure on the planet.

Trivia

• R.O.B. bares a striking resemblance to several later movie robot characters, such as Johnny 5 (in the Short Circuit films) and WALL-E.