RoboCop (Commodore 64)

It's hard to believe that in 1988-1989 they were still publishing games on the Commodore 64 before other platforms. 1989 was probably the last big year for the Commodore 64. After that, the number of games published for the C64 fell off a cliff while 16-bit platforms like the Atari ST and Amiga limped along for several more years. Meanwhile, DOS based games were skyrocketing. But in 1988, RoboCop was published for the Commodore 64 before those other platforms.

The version of this game I remember most is actually the original arcade game that was published the previous year. For a while, this was one of two arcade games at a store within bike riding distance from my house. I put a number of quarters into that thing but it never seemed like I really made it very far.

RoboCop was a fairly typical side scrolling shoot-em-up but it was pretty well done and did a fair job of following the plot of the movie from what I recall. As far as movie licenses go, RoboCop was one of the rare ones that was pretty good, at least as an arcade game. Unfortunately, this didn't carry over as well to the Commodore 64 version. The graphics weren't bad but as hard as the arcade version was, the Commodore 64 version was even harder.

RoboCop was also released on DOS based PCs, the Atari ST, and Amiga, as well as a few other computers and the NES. The DOS and NES versions weren't really any better than the Commodore 64 version overall. If you are looking for a home version to play, your best bet is probably the Atari ST or Amiga versions. Those look and play a lot more like the original arcade.