Comments on: Robot Attack http://www.trs-80.org/robot-attack/ TRS-80.org is a source for information about the Radio Shack TRS-80 line of computers, hardware, and software, with articles, interviews, and more! Sat, 21 Jan 2012 03:40:25 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Mark McDougall http://www.trs-80.org/robot-attack/comment-page-1/#comment-44243 Mark McDougall Sat, 14 Jan 2012 07:00:16 +0000 http://www.trs-80.org/robot-attack#comment-44243 I recall the pitch/tempo of "Player 1" being randomly set each time!?! Obviously "Player 1" was used at the start of each life, as well as being combined with "Great Score", another reason it sounded so disjoint. But I still recite it in my head - and sometimes out aloud - as you have described, a higher pitch "Game Over" and a slower, low pitch "Player One"! People think I'm strange... I was way more proficient on the TRS-80 arrow keys than I was with a joystick back then. In fact, to this day I believe the layout of the arrows on the TRS-80 Model I/III keyboards was way superior to the 'cluster' layout on the PC. The only advantage to the PC layout is it leaves one hand free for multiple keys, whilst the TRS-80 pretty much restricted you to the SPACEBAR and perhaps the ENTER key if you need all 4 arrows. I thought the key mapping for Penetrator was brilliant, Eliminator was a little more challenging! I still can't use a PC keyboard for 8-way shooters... Big Five Software was without a doubt a cut above the average TRS-80 game publisher, and Robot Attack was one of the best of the best. It's one of my 'go-to' games when I've running a TRS-80 emulator and feel like a quick blast from the past... I recall the pitch/tempo of “Player 1″ being randomly set each time!?! Obviously “Player 1″ was used at the start of each life, as well as being combined with “Great Score”, another reason it sounded so disjoint. But I still recite it in my head – and sometimes out aloud – as you have described, a higher pitch “Game Over” and a slower, low pitch “Player One”! People think I’m strange…

I was way more proficient on the TRS-80 arrow keys than I was with a joystick back then. In fact, to this day I believe the layout of the arrows on the TRS-80 Model I/III keyboards was way superior to the ‘cluster’ layout on the PC. The only advantage to the PC layout is it leaves one hand free for multiple keys, whilst the TRS-80 pretty much restricted you to the SPACEBAR and perhaps the ENTER key if you need all 4 arrows. I thought the key mapping for Penetrator was brilliant, Eliminator was a little more challenging! I still can’t use a PC keyboard for 8-way shooters…

Big Five Software was without a doubt a cut above the average TRS-80 game publisher, and Robot Attack was one of the best of the best. It’s one of my ‘go-to’ games when I’ve running a TRS-80 emulator and feel like a quick blast from the past…

]]> By: Chrisco http://www.trs-80.org/robot-attack/comment-page-1/#comment-44209 Chrisco Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:45:26 +0000 http://www.trs-80.org/robot-attack#comment-44209 Robot Attack!!!! Great score PLAYER 1!! I think my parents got *real* sick of hearing those words but I couldn't get enough of it. We never had a joystick so it was all up/down/left/right arrow buttons for us but pretty soon you got used to combining them to move and shoot diagonally. This game was likely the first case in the world where sentences were made up from a set of recorded single words and because words recorded individually had no context the sentences sounded strange - but back then it was 'cool' strange. In "Great score Player 1" the Great score part was said in an excited, almost yelling tone which was a completely different tone to the 'Player 1" which was in a lower and more serious tone. Robot Attack!!!! Great score PLAYER 1!!

I think my parents got *real* sick of hearing those words but I couldn’t get enough of it. We never had a joystick so it was all up/down/left/right arrow buttons for us but pretty soon you got used to combining them to move and shoot diagonally.

This game was likely the first case in the world where sentences were made up from a set of recorded single words and because words recorded individually had no context the sentences sounded strange – but back then it was ‘cool’ strange.

In “Great score Player 1″ the Great score part was said in an excited, almost yelling tone which was a completely different tone to the ‘Player 1″ which was in a lower and more serious tone.

]]> By: Eric http://www.trs-80.org/robot-attack/comment-page-1/#comment-30242 Eric Sun, 24 Apr 2011 11:25:19 +0000 http://www.trs-80.org/robot-attack#comment-30242 This is great!. For some reason I was thinking back to High School in 82 and we had just got a new computer lab (pretty impressive for a High School back then!). We had gotten Model IIIs with the speech synthesizer and all the bells and whistles. We also had a copy of Robot Attack! Unfortunately never got to play it because it was hogged by the guy who brought it in and his cronies. Why I remember this is for two reasons: 1) I heard it so many times I still can recall it as clear as yesterday. The little voice speaking "Robot Attack!". 2) A guy in our class named Tracey became hooked on the game playing it all the time before during and after school, between classes, study hall etc.. It was an early case of video game addiction. I wonder if his parents wondered how he could spend three periods a day and time before and after school in the computer lab and still get an E? LOL Thanks for creating this page and giving me a chance to waste your time with my trivial, but I feel worthwhile, story! Seriously nice site! This is great!. For some reason I was thinking back to High School in 82 and we had just got a new computer lab (pretty impressive for a High School back then!). We had gotten Model IIIs with the speech synthesizer and all the bells and whistles.
We also had a copy of Robot Attack! Unfortunately never got to play it because it was hogged by the guy who brought it in and his cronies. Why I remember this is for two reasons:
1) I heard it so many times I still can recall it as clear as yesterday. The little voice speaking “Robot Attack!”.
2) A guy in our class named Tracey became hooked on the game playing it all the time before during and after school, between classes, study hall etc.. It was an early case of video game addiction. I wonder if his parents wondered how he could spend three periods a day and time before and after school in the computer lab and still get an E? LOL
Thanks for creating this page and giving me a chance to waste your time with my trivial, but I feel worthwhile, story!
Seriously nice site!

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