Robot Arena: The Original Bargain Bin Banger

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  • čas přidán 13. 06. 2024
  • Robot Arena: Design & Destroy was a surprising bargain bin hit from 2003. It's a simple game that works as it should, and it fills a niche that still remains to this day. While I might be partially blinded by nostalgia, there is no question that developers Gabriel Interactive have never been able to top the success of this game. Besides, with a non-zero playerbase in 2024, it's already more successful and long-lasting than most of the crypto junk I usually play.
    Sit back, relax, and enjoy another Retro Review.
    Hand model in the thumbnail is by David Fischer and is used according to the CC Attribution license. sketchfab.com/3d-models/first...
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    Chapters:
    0:00 Introduction
    2:20 Basic Gameplay
    8:24 The Bot Lab
    18:14 Robot Arena 1
    21:02 Robot Arena 3
    27:48 Closing thoughts
  • Hry

Komentáře • 492

  • @kocokan
    @kocokan Před 4 měsíci +705

    A game 20 years ago is way more fun than all nft games combined

    • @SweetTodd
      @SweetTodd Před 4 měsíci +14

      It needs a steam os port

    • @TheNameIsSR
      @TheNameIsSR Před 4 měsíci +9

      ​@@SweetToddyou mean Linux port?

    • @fernadogonzalez2940
      @fernadogonzalez2940 Před 4 měsíci +24

      @@TheNameIsSR both

    • @jauwn
      @jauwn  Před 4 měsíci +101

      yeah unfortunately I don't think anyone has ever managed to get the game to run properly on Linux

    • @TheNameIsSR
      @TheNameIsSR Před 4 měsíci +2

      @@fernadogonzalez2940 that would be the same thing though, but I get what you're trying to say

  • @DarkOmegaMK2
    @DarkOmegaMK2 Před 4 měsíci +442

    Robot Arena is a classic, which is why i am proud to announce the release of the ROBOT ARENA NFT COLLEC- *gets shoved into Metal Skull arena's pit by a robot*

    • @SweetTodd
      @SweetTodd Před 4 měsíci +12

      Imagine if it was an Easter egg where there's also an NFT-themed robot team

    • @ShinoSarna
      @ShinoSarna Před 4 měsíci +26

      Each robot is an NFT, and it costs as much to mint as it would cost in real life to buy all the parts. If the robot is destroyed, NFT is burned.

    • @DarkOmegaMK2
      @DarkOmegaMK2 Před 4 měsíci +18

      @@ShinoSarna Sounds like a good investment to me! All risk, no reward!👍

    • @ShinoSarna
      @ShinoSarna Před 4 měsíci +13

      @@DarkOmegaMK2 Have fun staying poor! FungiBots will soon be the next AOL! Or even the next PDF!

    • @DarkOmegaMK2
      @DarkOmegaMK2 Před 4 měsíci +10

      @@ShinoSarna The next RAR?

  • @planescaped
    @planescaped Před 4 měsíci +85

    "We simply cannot afford to pass up the extra visibility we'll gain from having a new release title available during the Steam summer sale"
    Uhh.... guys, ya know that is *the worst* possible time to release a game right? People are looking for sales, not new releases. There's a lot more traffic during the sale season sure, but I guarantee you they're not looking at the new releases tab.

  • @thelordofhats
    @thelordofhats Před 4 měsíci +38

    Getting destroyed by the unstoppable juggernaut that was Emergency is a shared memory of thousands of kids.

    • @jauwn
      @jauwn  Před 4 měsíci +11

      it still fucks me up to this day

    • @05Matz
      @05Matz Před 4 měsíci +13

      You'll be happy to know that Emergency is actually cheating, a little! @@jauwn
      IIRC it's one of the few default bots with the glitched default armour type people call 'double strength aluminum' and similar names (available by just never selecting one). It displays as and has the same weight as aluminum, but significantly more HP!
      Emergency's also got additional metal plates mounted in strategic locations, so with those combined it's surprisingly tanky on top of just being a very well-built bot!
      Presumably they changed the stats on aluminum armour at some point in development but forgot the default for not having made a selection was a separate listing.

    • @jauwn
      @jauwn  Před 4 měsíci +14

      I knew about the glitched armor on your own bots but I had no idea Emergency used it too! What a fun fact

  • @DStecks
    @DStecks Před 4 měsíci +174

    Oh my god I would have been OBSESSED with this game as a kid

    • @jauwn
      @jauwn  Před 4 měsíci +65

      Youre never too old to be obsessed with robot arena

    • @Spec1alDel1very_
      @Spec1alDel1very_ Před 4 měsíci +7

      the builder looks so good for something back then. i was pretty young when i saw the show on tv, never saw any games, especially not This gem

    • @MrKubaxius
      @MrKubaxius Před 24 dny

      Well, I was obsessed with this game as a kid, and I am glad Jauwn reminded me about it ❤

    • @mmmcola6067
      @mmmcola6067 Před 12 dny

      I got obssesed with Quake when I am fuck ton younger than it, so theres that.

  • @Gatorbox
    @Gatorbox Před 4 měsíci +146

    I found a big box copy of Robot Arena 1 at a software store back in 2001. Played the hell out of it. I knew it wasn't a good game but I still loved it. When RA2 was announced I convinced my parents to let me cut school for the day so I could go to CompUSA and buy it the day it came out. RA2 was a big deal to me, many of the friends I made 20 years ago are still my friends to this day.
    I was big into modding the game. (I am the "Radio F" mentioned in the part description for the AI parts I see you patched in, lol.) I released expansive AI mods to the game that featured dozens of new robots to fight. For the game's 20th anniversary last year I released the final installment of the AI pack, something that had been in development hell for 19 years.
    I also beta tested RA3 before its release. There was a lot wrong with the game to put it lightly. I diligently noted everything I ran into and submitted the reports to the developer... they addressed a grand total of 0 things I noted. Why even bother having testers if you're not going to fix anything?

    • @catsinbed7634
      @catsinbed7634 Před 4 měsíci +11

      Man, just to think we might have already talked on the GameTechMods forum like 20 years ago (check my other comment on here for context)...imagine, that's kinda crazy, haha. So cool to hear your story with the game!

    • @Gatorbox
      @Gatorbox Před 4 měsíci

      @@catsinbed7634 There is definitely a non-zero chance of that! I was on all the boards back then, AceUplink, ARC, RA-Reborn, and the official boards on the RAcom website. I was actually a mod on AceUplink for a fleetingly brief and tumultuous time. XD

    • @keith_5584
      @keith_5584 Před 4 měsíci +18

      I have so much hate-r-aid for current gen software devs and Windows 10 (forced migration/pushing a data collection revenue model) Devs just either refuse to listen, cannot stop adding useless features/moving gui objects around, or if they are a good one, getting bullied by publishers/management. (to be clear the bullying if not their fault)
      It is very depressing to have had massive enthusiasm, put your all into trying to either help or volunteer your time to do things like beta test, and then have them not even have the respect to tell you they arent interested. I mean an outright rejection is better than making you eat dead air.
      The only way I know you can really stick it to them is decompile their game, fix it, and give back to the other users for free. It is so bad sometimes people will line up to donate.

    • @WiscomptonBoys
      @WiscomptonBoys Před 4 měsíci +13

      Hi RadioF! I love that I run into you on various corners of the net related to robot combat.
      Clutch1 back in the day, here. Gosh the days playing RA2 was so awesome… so cool to see a video about it coming out in ‘24.
      Hope all is well, cheers.

    • @johnalogue9832
      @johnalogue9832 Před 4 měsíci

      @@keith_5584 Open source it all! Pretty sure at least part of the problem is just business in general (especially tech) being so horribly consolidated by investment firms and...just hardcore hyper-capitalists out to take the fewest risks for the biggest returns. The easiest way to do that is to treat your employees like machines and your customers like marks for a scam.
      Windows 11 chased me to full-time Linux desktop last year and I have no regrets.

  • @JWhite-qi5zv
    @JWhite-qi5zv Před 4 měsíci +20

    11:16 You can do WHAT to the bot??? 😳

  • @GrumpyIan
    @GrumpyIan Před 4 měsíci +50

    I think robot combat is slowly making a comeback with 3d printing, rc equipment, and Arduinos being pretty affordable. The 250lbs monsters certainly cost a ton but the smaller classes you can make with a pretty small budget.

    • @tklots4708
      @tklots4708 Před měsícem +1

      It absolutely is! I have been building some 150g bots for the last year or so

  • @TheDominusIgnis
    @TheDominusIgnis Před 4 měsíci +39

    Another fun thing to note about Robot Arena 2 is the game has an extremely dedicated modding community. Not only is the DSL mod used by the majority of the playerbase to expand bot but there are mods allowing you to play robots from Robot Wars, Battlebots and more 😊
    Was surprised but happy to see this as i recently enjoyed your nft games video! Your video is a fun, nicely informed video on the Robot Arena series! RA3 will always hurt as someone who played it when it was new 😅

  • @UranusKiller
    @UranusKiller Před 4 měsíci +85

    Man, I feel like I just got back from school, my hot pocket is in the microwave, and I'm throwing MiB into the VCR!
    Love that 2000 era is considered retro now. I'm finally old!
    🎉🥳🎉

    • @jauwn
      @jauwn  Před 4 měsíci +21

      Hell yeah! It’s finally our turn to say “…back when I was a kid…”

    • @busterbackster1
      @busterbackster1 Před 4 měsíci +4

      Man don't remind me

  • @Joshdoingthings1
    @Joshdoingthings1 Před 4 měsíci +11

    When you make a “bargain bin” game that’s so good and entire community is created around it and someone like me, who was a good couple of years away from being born when it came out, can call it one of his favourite games of all time is astounding.

  • @DettOWO
    @DettOWO Před 4 měsíci +50

    Oh god, I had Robot Arena 2 (or Design & Destroy) as a kid when I didn't understand English properly so I just hit buttons and whatever I was allowed to do. Never really dug into the meat of this game but just had childish fun creating stupid monster robots that didn't work at all in the Bot Lab. If I recall correctly, the game also had local multiplayer but you had to give your custom robots some weird inputs so two people could play on the same keyboard.
    Thanks for unlocking another memory!

    • @jauwn
      @jauwn  Před 4 měsíci +11

      Yeah I had originally had a quick section in the video where I explained how to do local multiplayer with the different key bindings but ended leaving that on the cutting room floor.
      The game was so fun! In hindsight it doesn’t have a whole lot of content but the freedom you have makes that small amount of content highly replayable

    • @DettOWO
      @DettOWO Před 4 měsíci +1

      @@jauwn This game, CIV IV in Hot-Seat and TOU were childhood bangers when a friend came over! We didn't care how wonky it was or how little content there actually was, we were just happy to have fun!

    • @BalthazarB2
      @BalthazarB2 Před 4 měsíci +2

      Man, I had a bunch of fun games as a kid, especially those to play with friends. Real shame that I never got to play this game, would've been so cool.

  • @IanThatMetalBassist
    @IanThatMetalBassist Před 4 měsíci +28

    Pro-tip, if the camera keeps getting lost, lock the game's FPS to 60. For whatever reason on modern systems the camera desyncs from the gameplay at higher framerates

    • @draketurtle4169
      @draketurtle4169 Před 3 měsíci +2

      If I ever try to run it on my system I’ll keep that in mind.

  • @hellogoato
    @hellogoato Před 4 měsíci +16

    Love this! My uncle was actually on the team for Overkill, one of the robots on Battlebots in the early 2000s. Was cool as hell to see that on TV as a kid, and games like this only fed that excitement and interest. The amount of effort and quality into games like this feels so very of its time too, for some reason it felt like tons of devs back then weren't afraid to try and punch above their weight.

    • @jauwn
      @jauwn  Před 4 měsíci +4

      That’s so awesome!!

  • @bewilderbeestie
    @bewilderbeestie Před 4 měsíci +52

    I used to love Robot Wars (the UK version). Sadly, I found that the more popular it got, the more like a sport it became, complete with wrestling-style intros and stuff, and the more my interest waned. I never even knew there were spinoff games.

    • @jauwn
      @jauwn  Před 4 měsíci +29

      Nowadays robot combat is kind of boring as a spectator since the robots move so outlandishly fast the fights are over in a second. Sure they still have heavyweight classes but the most competition is at the micro bot level. So I'm not sure if this will ever come back as a "mainstream sport", it really was a product of 1999-2003 and then it just died

    • @The8thHost
      @The8thHost Před 4 měsíci +11

      I was also a Robot Wars fan, and honestly I still really enjoy Battlebots, I know people beef on it due to Discovery meddling, but the heart of a bunch of nerds super excited to throw colossal death machines at each other still really shines through and I find myself rooting for teams!

    • @arostwocents
      @arostwocents Před 4 měsíci +3

      ​@@jauwnmost of the fights in NHRL go the distance from what I have watched , or close to it. It's way more interesting than how boring RW/BB was after the first seasons once designs were all the same and no damage was seen. The return of Robot Wars was excellent on British TV but it didn't get the viewers and ended - i thought battlebots was still going on in the US?

    • @jauwn
      @jauwn  Před 4 měsíci +4

      Battlebots is still going but without "late night cable" being a thing anymore, the shows are relegated to the Discovery Plus platform. So they exist but it's way more niche then it was when back in the early 2000s when there was nothing else to watch

  • @rzdakira
    @rzdakira Před 4 měsíci +11

    How is it that I have never heard of this game? I was crazy for combat robots when I was a kid and it had motivated me to pursue engineering and formed the person that I am now. I know I would've played this game so much as a kid

  • @Sliphantom
    @Sliphantom Před 4 měsíci +9

    I was not expecting this video, but it's a pleasant surprise. This game was so much of my childhood. My brothers and I spent countless hours building all sorts of different robots (many of which based on stuff we saw on Robot Wars and Battlebots), and to this day we still boot whenever we get back together. Truly a unique game - for all its flaws (and there are many) I've yet to see a game do robot combat as well as Robot Arena 2 did.

    • @q09z
      @q09z Před 4 měsíci +1

      wedge

    • @jauwn
      @jauwn  Před 4 měsíci

      @@q09z😂😂😂

  • @Mouse117Inc
    @Mouse117Inc Před 4 měsíci +14

    Modding this game for modern systems is a must and greatly expands the scope including adding old robot wars robots like Razor.

  • @rudeboyspodcast
    @rudeboyspodcast Před 4 měsíci +60

    Love this style of video, Jauwn. You really got the whole package here!

    • @jauwn
      @jauwn  Před 4 měsíci +26

      Thank you! Always trying to do something a bit new with each video so that I don’t stagnate talking about NFT crap

  • @mivic440
    @mivic440 Před 4 měsíci +8

    God, this game was my freaking childhood.
    The dopamine hit of getting doing damage to the enemy internals and you see the sparks fly when it happens. Oof, that's the shit right there.

    • @jauwn
      @jauwn  Před 4 měsíci +3

      it's SO satisfying

  • @mivic440
    @mivic440 Před 4 měsíci +4

    ALSO, the game had these cheat codes that let you attach stuff like a hover-craft engine and a freaking cannon (among other things but I forget all the stuff that gets added). Of course it wasn't allowed in multiplayer, but it was ridiculously fun to use and absolutely broken as hell.
    I miss the days when game devs put cheats into their games like that.

  • @Bomberman66Hell
    @Bomberman66Hell Před 4 měsíci +6

    I love seeing you cover these bargain bin early 2000s games. Please keep doing it Jauwn, I love the crypto game vids but these are awesome too.

  • @redwolf92
    @redwolf92 Před 4 měsíci +2

    Old school Battle Bots is a certified hood classic.

  • @PopADoseYo
    @PopADoseYo Před 4 měsíci +6

    I loved this game. My brother and i played it all the damn time. Seems like just yesterday and now im 32 years old!

  • @wynngraves
    @wynngraves Před 4 měsíci +4

    robot arena seems to have the same kinda soul as roller coaster tycoon. great video jauwn! break free from the blockchains, its way more fun to hear you passionate

  • @Kauk77
    @Kauk77 Před 4 měsíci +4

    Thank you for doing this, this is so nostalgic. I remember spending countless nights with my friend just coming up with robot designs. The moment I figured out how to route controls to steer bots (by peeking at the premade bot designs which is something you can do by manipulating the files), my mind was blown. I haven't had the same enduring sense of discovery in any game before or since.

  • @werlmb
    @werlmb Před 4 měsíci +4

    I'm so happy to see a video about this gem of a game, I still to this day think it's the best Robot Wars-type game out there, even better with the Robot Arena 2 DSL mod. If you haven't heard the absolute banger that is the main menu music, what are you doing, the mod is free and comes with a download of the game

  • @ZoraHimself
    @ZoraHimself Před 4 měsíci +14

    The old intro is back, yay
    Great video as always, it's simply amazing how many obscure, but very good nonetheless, games there are
    These video reviews are always a joy to watch, thank you, Jauwn

  • @Asaku17
    @Asaku17 Před 4 měsíci +8

    Love this review! I like seeing non nft reviews from you :D And this game struck nostalgia, haha!

  • @ThatCreepyReading
    @ThatCreepyReading Před 4 měsíci +1

    I love this video, I know you normally do NFT stuff but THIS Is quality. Thanks my man.

  • @saltshakerstudio2190
    @saltshakerstudio2190 Před 4 měsíci +2

    Glad to see the intro come back! Great video as always

  • @boopsnoot3142
    @boopsnoot3142 Před měsícem

    Im glad Im not the only person that got deeply relieved at the reveal in the second half. I knew I wasn't crazy.

  • @QueenVoodo0
    @QueenVoodo0 Před 14 dny +1

    As someone who was big and still somewhat apart of the RA2 community, I love this game finally getting love!

  • @shadogiant
    @shadogiant Před 2 měsíci +1

    i remember this game! so much fun for this engineer. Even the cannonball cheat weapon was fun.

  • @XionDarkblood13
    @XionDarkblood13 Před 4 měsíci +1

    Man the way this game was described I would think it was Armored Core. Haven't played the new one (yet) but I remember sinking hundreds of hours in AC2 back when I was a kid on my PS2. I also fondly remember the PSP game AC Nexus (I think) but it had the crazy gameplay feature where you could program the AI to pilot your bot for you and given the limited control space on a PSP it was something I tried immediatly and it was honestly kind of more fun that way. You felt like an engineer designing your robot and not only were you tinkering with the parts but also working to make the AI use the design to your vision and intent. Watching the cinematic camera dance around to catch the action as your bot battles and having the nail biting thrill of seeing if your combination of AI programming and mech design won out and finally getting more prize money for that next upgrade and then having to sit down and tinker with it again was just amazing.
    Great video and glad to see a more real world version of robot battles is still so popular!

  • @thesuspiciousorange2526
    @thesuspiciousorange2526 Před 4 měsíci +2

    the saddest part of RA3 is they literally could have just ported RA2 over and just updated the graphics and added a couple QOL adjustments, called it good, and it would have been a smash hit.

    • @jauwn
      @jauwn  Před 4 měsíci +5

      This is 100% true and I think that’s what they tried to do originally since it re uses a lot of the same parts from RA2 but at some point they really screwed up

  • @newtwoup4293
    @newtwoup4293 Před 4 měsíci +6

    thank you jauwn for battling these bots

    • @jauwn
      @jauwn  Před 4 měsíci +3

      you are very welcome

  • @novalinnhe
    @novalinnhe Před 4 měsíci +1

    BRUH!!! Thank you so much for the UK Robot Wars shout out, that was one of my FAVOURITE shows as a kid!! COME ON HYPNODISC!!!!

    • @novalinnhe
      @novalinnhe Před 4 měsíci

      P.S. The intro on this video is my favourite of your intros :D

  • @patp.7110
    @patp.7110 Před 4 měsíci +1

    YOU BROUGHT BACK THE OLD INTRO! Love your content and the insane growth your channel has seen, keep it up! :)

  • @GronTheMighty
    @GronTheMighty Před měsícem

    2:52 ohhh yea that nostalgia feel..
    I can almost feel my little sister breathing down my neck wanting to see more robo carnage!

  • @InvadeNormandy
    @InvadeNormandy Před 4 měsíci +3

    Holy heck, this game and Roboforge got me into being an engineering dork. I LOVED the entire genre of "make robots to smash into each other but like be smart about it."

    • @05Matz
      @05Matz Před 4 měsíci

      Oh cool, I played the demo of Roboforge -- always wanted to get back into it, but never figured out how to get the free version that's being distributed now working under Wine, and I don't have any Windows machines any more.

    • @InvadeNormandy
      @InvadeNormandy Před 4 měsíci +1

      @@05Matz
      If I remember correctly Roboforge basically runs entirely in Java, So that may help narrow down the compatibility. I think also if you can get a linux environment that is happy to run a lot of XP era games it should truck along just fine.
      The altervista site for the game should be the most up to date.

  • @scottyoung4414
    @scottyoung4414 Před 2 měsíci

    This just got me hyped for the next season of Battle Bots. What a beautifully simple premise, the spectacle of blood sports without the moral qualms of things actually dying needlessly

  • @Space_Reptile
    @Space_Reptile Před 4 měsíci +3

    worthy of note is Robot Combat might be a bit off the mainstream, Battlebots is still going to this day on TV and NHRL is free to watch on CZcams consisting of smaller, but just as competetive weighclasses

  • @kristiangregory4860
    @kristiangregory4860 Před 4 měsíci +1

    I think I remember making a metal shoebox with long axes off the long sides and high power wheels on the short sides. I set up a command to let it turn in place, and I'd just dervish, and anything that got close enough would get pummeled.

  • @MrDSkinny
    @MrDSkinny Před 4 měsíci

    Dude you have no clue how long I've had this game in the back of my mind since i was young. Could not for the life of me remember the title

  • @PraetorDragoon
    @PraetorDragoon Před 4 měsíci +2

    Why do i feel nostalgic for a game i didnt knew exists?

  • @mikeberg6407
    @mikeberg6407 Před 4 měsíci

    I discovered your channel through the algorithm feeding me the nft videos but im subscribing because of these retrospectives sprinkled in. Congrats on blowing up over the last year. The way you flow talking about either sibjects is very enthralling.

  • @CraftMine1000
    @CraftMine1000 Před 4 měsíci +2

    How... Have i never heard of this masterpiece?

  • @TKAandMore
    @TKAandMore Před 4 měsíci +2

    Most nights it was either this or RCT2. Thanks for dredging up some good memories

    • @jauwn
      @jauwn  Před 4 měsíci +2

      RCT2 was great, I played that a ton as well. RCT3 came out just a year after RA2 but I didn't really like it as much as the 2nd and 1st games in the series; quite a bit changed. It had a nice charm to it though, and some of the custom rides people have made are pretty impressive.

  • @liastaob
    @liastaob Před 4 měsíci +2

    This oddly reminds me of the game "The Movies"; another game that did something awesome 20 years aho, and has never really been remade

    • @jauwn
      @jauwn  Před 4 měsíci

      Yeah that game was crazy too. I might review it in the future but it’s a bit less obscure

  • @corsaircarl9582
    @corsaircarl9582 Před 4 měsíci +1

    BBCs Robot Wars had my boy FANG, he was a tiny little guy with a pneumatic fang, this little fucker was so bad ass it took out one of the big ass house bots by popping its tires and hydraulic pumps.
    Miss that little bastard.

  • @bobjoe9575
    @bobjoe9575 Před 4 měsíci +1

    I had a technology class in middle school and one of the stations was just playing this game, best class ever.

  • @SeventeenthSquid
    @SeventeenthSquid Před 4 měsíci +2

    I played the shit out of this as a kid, loved it so much! The building system was genuinely great, especially for the time.

  • @TheActualAnthonino
    @TheActualAnthonino Před 4 měsíci +1

    I must say, I've really been enjoying these retro reviews you've been pushing out! Unlike a lot of game reviewers who don't really review the games they're talking about and just make vague criticisms and jokes, you're quite thorough with what your reviews on the games in an entertaining and engaging way.
    I can't wait to see what you have next in this series!
    And, if it isn't too much of an ask, do you take suggestions?

    • @jauwn
      @jauwn  Před 4 měsíci

      Hit me with suggestions!

  • @HankMan64
    @HankMan64 Před 4 měsíci +11

    I have always loved battlebots, great video!

  • @DeathMetalDuke27
    @DeathMetalDuke27 Před 4 měsíci

    Just discovered your channel yesterday and have been binging your videos ever since! You've earned yourself a subscriber and I hope u reach that 100k mark!

  • @puppable
    @puppable Před 4 měsíci

    I spent so many hours as a kid making goofy robots in Robot Arena 2. Loved the freeform design they introduced with that one, and I basically stuffed my hard drive with mods once little me learned how. RIP Lu Tze.

  • @MarioWorlder123
    @MarioWorlder123 Před 18 dny

    All I ever remember from Gabriel Interactive was one of their many John Deere licensed games. Had no idea they had something that was more than just old farming sims!

  • @joshrodgers9366
    @joshrodgers9366 Před 4 měsíci +1

    i still remember playing this game in 2003 with my dad cuz he loved robot wars. good times
    edit thanks for also showing some of RA1 i had almost completely forgotten RA1 that was probably the first video game my eyes ever saw. my dad liked playing that game and would be holding me while playing it sometimes. i still remember that cover art picture. wild. thanks for the nostalgia trip

  • @williamdrum9899
    @williamdrum9899 Před 4 měsíci +2

    I'd love to see you review the Lego PC games of the late 90s. Not sure if they're too mainstream for this channel though

    • @jauwn
      @jauwn  Před 4 měsíci +5

      oh just you wait... i absolutely will review them all but I want to try and do them all in one mega-video. I had every single Lego game growing up and those were my absolute favorites

    • @woldemunster9244
      @woldemunster9244 Před 4 měsíci

      @@jauwn Check out MattKC and his insane Lego reverse-engineering project.

    • @williamdrum9899
      @williamdrum9899 Před 4 měsíci

      @@jauwn That's wonderful!

    • @jauwn
      @jauwn  Před 4 měsíci

      I have seen that!

  • @ceddavis7441
    @ceddavis7441 Před 2 měsíci +1

    Glad your growing from your nft roots. Old fun games sound nice

  • @BridgetGX
    @BridgetGX Před 4 měsíci +1

    I'm JUST NOW HEARING ABOUT THIS?!
    I'm gonna have to try this out, this looks REALLY fun

  • @Coboxite
    @Coboxite Před 4 měsíci

    As someone that spent a good chunk of my early internet life going balls deep into the stock and DSL metagame it still holds a place in my heart despite no longer playing it once everyone started to focus on the IRL format that I'm partially responsible for
    If you get the chance, look at the some of the more extreme stock designs, there is a legitimate beauty in their intricate chaos

  • @Songbearer
    @Songbearer Před 4 měsíci +2

    Would love to hear more about the TCs for this game! As a kid I adored Robot Wars and even though the game was mid I still put a ton of time into it. The madcap creations in the robot battling genre really set the stage for me to start making weird gizmos and gadgets in 3d modeling!

  • @Bobothefish13
    @Bobothefish13 Před 4 měsíci +2

    I know that the NFT takedowns are the bread and butter of the channel but damn these cdlebrations of creativity are my favorites.

    • @jauwn
      @jauwn  Před 4 měsíci +7

      Once you've spent enough time in the mud, you learn to appreciate a clean experience even more

    • @Bobothefish13
      @Bobothefish13 Před 4 měsíci

      @@jauwn Hah, a comic i used to read had a character who loved terrible coffee more than good coffee because a terrible cup evokes memories of everything better but the good one is just there by itself.

    • @jauwn
      @jauwn  Před 4 měsíci +3

      No way, really? I’m legitimately the same way - I love terrible coffee because it brings back memories of when I worked a shitty office job and lived off of the terrible coffee

    • @Bobothefish13
      @Bobothefish13 Před 4 měsíci +1

      @@jauwn Hah it was a prequel book to the D&D based webcomic Order of the Stick...though admittedly the main villain was the bad coffee enjoyer. The ability to find the good in the bad has always resonated with me even if I am not great at it myself.

  • @its_me_jp_
    @its_me_jp_ Před 4 měsíci

    Love watching you review a game that isn't just a scam! Can almost hear the change in your voice when you talk about this versus all the nft games!

  • @Omapk
    @Omapk Před 4 měsíci +1

    I remember getting this game and Majesty in the bin at dollar general.

  • @DakarrtheTerminator
    @DakarrtheTerminator Před 17 dny

    Bot Arena 3 was a lovely classic in the same vein. Loved it to bits

  • @Swqnky
    @Swqnky Před 4 měsíci

    This video had memories rushing back to me of a PC Small Soldiers licensed game that I had growing up. Build your solider toy out of various good guy/bad guy parts and weapons and then battle on a kid's bedroom desk. I have to check and see if it's on myabandonware or something now.

  • @absolutelyNOTchicken
    @absolutelyNOTchicken Před 4 měsíci

    this game set me back a whole $3 on ebay in 2007, i had played the first one and had no idea a sequel had been out for 4 years

  • @johnalogue9832
    @johnalogue9832 Před 4 měsíci

    I can't believe I've never heard of this. Really, far ahead of its time given the popularity of physics-based sandbox building games.

  • @zakattk001
    @zakattk001 Před 4 měsíci

    Lol the random Toledo shout out at 16:00

  • @romulusnuma116
    @romulusnuma116 Před 4 měsíci +1

    One of my favorite games still chasing the high of the building and fighting systems

  • @rodrigograss3580
    @rodrigograss3580 Před 4 měsíci

    I absolutely loved this game when younger...thank you for covering it

  • @cornobjects1173
    @cornobjects1173 Před 25 dny +1

    Oh shit, I remember playing this as a kid in typing classes, since absolutely no one involved gave a damn about keeping things on-track, especially not the teachers. I still ended up learning how to type super-fast, but not from that class or the method they were trying to teach (my go-to now is a "raptor claw" type thing with only index/middle fingers and thumbs). All that class taught me was combat robots are sick as hell, and I have zero regrets.
    Thanks for reminding me what this game is called, Jauwn, gonna see about picking this up again.

    • @icantthinkofagoodusername5564
      @icantthinkofagoodusername5564 Před 24 dny

      How did robot arena 2 get inside the school computer?

    • @cornobjects1173
      @cornobjects1173 Před 24 dny

      @@icantthinkofagoodusername5564 Not sure, this wasn't a regular elementary school though if I recall right, it was one of those community class things where you sign up and go there of your own volition.
      If I were to guess, I'd assume it was either a kid bringing in the stuff to install it via physical media, or the internet there not being restricted because the people running the place didn't know jack about IT, as was and still is often the case.

  • @medea27
    @medea27 Před 4 měsíci +2

    Perfect example of how fun game mechanics are far more important than flashy graphics. I wish I knew about this game back then, I would have played the hell out of it _and_ used the sound effects as audio for my PC system notifications. 😉
    I miss those good old days of drag & drop audio files, both into & out of games... with games like this I'd often throw a few extra music tracks in so I didn't get sick of the in-game soundtrack playing on repeat for hours at a time. Nothing worse than ruining a kick-arse soundtrack by listening to it so much that it loses all meaning.

    • @jauwn
      @jauwn  Před 4 měsíci +2

      Totally! The ability to easily modify the files is so so fun and something missing from many modern games.

  • @WhaleNamedJonah
    @WhaleNamedJonah Před 4 měsíci

    When I saw the video name, I was excited to see someone review Robot Wars, a game I played obsessively when I was 6 years old. I was REALLY disappointed to see it was some other game I'd never heard of, so the twist reveal halfway through the video had me literally cheering at my screen. Thank you, Jauwn!

  • @Niko-bb4bg
    @Niko-bb4bg Před 4 měsíci

    ”I must say, I was impressed that she made proper use of the word myriad in her suicide note"

  • @xAng3lxHD
    @xAng3lxHD Před 4 měsíci

    I just found you and I'm glad I did, I really like your videos!

  • @fatrobin72
    @fatrobin72 Před 2 měsíci

    As someone who owned all the robot wars games... and this one... so many memories.

  • @ethanreynolds4942
    @ethanreynolds4942 Před 4 měsíci

    Battle bots was my childhood. How did I never hear of this game!?! I would have lost my mind!

  • @knightsurda
    @knightsurda Před 4 měsíci

    I have my cd in a slip case somewhere with the cheat code for money written under the flap. God it was such a joy to mess around with.

  • @Parolol
    @Parolol Před 4 měsíci

    The combo of the UI, the visuals, the physics etc reminds me of SO many old pc games I obsessed over as a kid. These things just have a *vibe* to them.

  • @BrandonAbden
    @BrandonAbden Před 4 měsíci +1

    I won a tournament in this game in a middle school engineering class. My design was a big titanium box covered in spikes. people would try and hit me and they'd end up spiking themselves and giving me tons of points

  • @Magmagan
    @Magmagan Před 4 měsíci +1

    YESSSS
    I LOVED Battlebots as a kid and had TONS of fun on RA2!!
    The DSL and BBEANS and idk community are really cool but they've been at it for so long that all their builds are hyper-optimized 😅
    I am going to be checking RR2 ASAP, thanks for the rec Jauwn! ❤

  • @darkmoon1892
    @darkmoon1892 Před 4 měsíci

    The Jauwn Cube was too pure for this world 😞

  • @rewenemp
    @rewenemp Před 4 měsíci +1

    YES! Another obscure video game deep dive from Jauwn! I’ve been scratching at my neck, jonesing for my next hit ever since Diggles!

  • @ethanreynolds4942
    @ethanreynolds4942 Před 4 měsíci

    I would have never guessed you were a crypto channel! This is where it's at though. I could watch you do these all day.

    • @jauwn
      @jauwn  Před 4 měsíci

      Well not really a crypto channel. An anti-crypto channel

  • @LordCrowstaff
    @LordCrowstaff Před 4 měsíci

    I absolutely love the many-bladed paincube

  • @wombatgirl997
    @wombatgirl997 Před 4 měsíci

    Love this game. Spent a lot of time with it as a kid. I always started with Walrus and just put a ton of ice picks on the front rammer. I could easily beat everything except Grizzly (that bot was always OP in my opinion). Really enjoyed playing their "career mode" because there was a glitch where if you closed the game in the between match repair screen you could reset the repair clock but keep all the repairs you made, so it was possible to always be completely repaired between rounds. Also I remember if you made a very light robot with a very powerful drivetrain you could actually drive up the wall and around the ceiling because the physics engine was a bit janky.
    EDIT: speaking of robot combat games, does anyone remember Roboforge? It was like this game except you had to program an AI for your bot. I tried to play it but could never figure it out. Seems like the kind of thing that people who are smarter than me would have a ton of fun with.

  • @sugar-luv
    @sugar-luv Před 4 měsíci

    this is making me feel nostalgic and ive never seen or heard of this game LOL great video! :)

  • @olenhol2przez4
    @olenhol2przez4 Před 4 měsíci

    For me, bargain bin deal, it would be Warrior King(s) and Killing Floor.
    Both games in diferent years have been found by me in barging bin at my local shop for price of a energy drink.
    Loved and still love both of them

  • @TheRenofox
    @TheRenofox Před 4 měsíci

    This game was incredible. I can't comprehend why no other game has made the building part of a robot building game so well.

  • @Lowblockify
    @Lowblockify Před 4 měsíci

    Aww man. I used to rent these two games from our library in the early 00's. Robot Arena 1's "military" opponent scared me (and my brother, who played coop with me at the time) because they insinuated that he normally uses explosives and miniguns in his bots but didn't for our fight. I miss these kind of games especially for what they did with the hardware at the time. Seriously watching these had me going through a nostalgia memory dump of moments I had forgotten from over two decades ago.

  • @darkal9805
    @darkal9805 Před 4 měsíci

    What I love about Robot Arena 2 is how much this game is a glitchy, unfinished mess where you can create some pretty impressive designs if you know what you are doing or listen to the community. Some glitches I remember:
    * The 7kg razor tip is more powerful than the 30kg sledgehammer due to how damage values work.
    * Want to stack Batteries? Just get a pixel-perfect position over the first one and save space
    * Don't select your armour type when creating a bot, and you'll have a machine with the strongest armour in the game. This is referred as Double Strength Aluminium by the community
    * All motors consume the same amount of power, so stick on those Powered Z-Teks without any worries.
    * Want lower wedges? Just use a servo and adjust the position. Don't power it for the best results

  • @SomeGuyFromCrowd
    @SomeGuyFromCrowd Před 4 měsíci +1

    I loved playing this game as a child!

  • @PugsyP
    @PugsyP Před 4 měsíci

    Hidden memory unlocked, thanks, downloading it!

  • @shrug_shrugsly
    @shrug_shrugsly Před 4 měsíci +1

    98k subscribers!! It is, what, less than six months ago you were at 3K and I was so excited to see you go up to 4k!!!!!! Now you’re at 98k?!?!?! Holy smokes, you are crushing it!!! So so so impressed and you definitely earned them and more!!!

    • @jauwn
      @jauwn  Před 4 měsíci +2

      🎉 yeah the growth this year has been tremendous! It's also great to see so many of the same commenters all these months later, including yourself. It's a great feeling to know the OGs are still around!

    • @shrug_shrugsly
      @shrug_shrugsly Před 4 měsíci

      @@jauwn we’re not going anywhere :) glad to have been here to see the magic 🪄

  • @fatersteve
    @fatersteve Před 4 měsíci +1

    I had never heard of this game before. This was an entertaining and well made review, thanks! 👍

  • @emrickazor2610
    @emrickazor2610 Před 4 měsíci

    This game looks fantastic. How have we not seen anything like this in modern times??