Playing some Robotron on JROK? Yes.

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Now that everyone is getting JROK boards in their hands, is anyone actively playing some Robotron?

I had stopped playing it all together until I got one of the new JROK boards. Then Cliff Clavin talked me into playing again.

It's kinda cool that the boards "normalize" the gameplay so we can compare notes on how we are progressing on our abilities, even though we live a thousand miles apart.

I've been trying to conquer the 40 waves on each difficulty level. Have done it up to difficulty 5. Now working on difficulty 6. (3man start/25k bonus)

cheers!
 
Do you find that having played it on easier difficulties has helped your skill? I've read that on the guide, but haven't tried it myself. I play on 5 right now, and some days I have it, and others I just suck, lol.
 
Robotron is such a personal challenge for each player. for myself, I learned the game in a year and only accomplished it by varying the difficulty level to keep myself out of any comfort zones.

If you play on different platforms like new mame, old mame, 19-1, xbox 360, and even real robotron. the variations in gameplay and difficulty are all over the place.
so the difficulty level is very subjective and all comes down to perceptions of how fast this or that happens on the playfield.

I'm a supporter of varying levels to keep it entertaining. but the next expert who likes to "zone out" when playing a long game will disagree.

Eugene Jarvis is a fan of difficulty 10 play and he's still chasing his first 1 million game. He's currently in the high 900ks.
I figure if I do this difficulty ramp up challenge maybe I'll get above my current top around 720-750kish? who knows. it's all a heckuvalotta fun regardless. :)
 
mine came up defaulted to 3 man start/25k bonus player/difficulty 5 which is consistent with the blue rom set.
 
Case in point: my best game is a little over 1million, posted a week or two ago. Last night I played a few games after coming home from a rotten business trip, and I scored 360k, 280 something, then 175k and went "Oh F it!" and went to bed...lol

I still hate this high score hack...hope someone un-does that and offers the roms.
 
ha ha, nothing like a good swift kick in the jimmy by the game.

I go through that, too. Cliff can chime in about that pain, too.

man, there are times were I can't get past the low waves. like the other night after driving 6 hrs on the interstate. I figured a game would relax me, instead it just ripped me cuz I my reactions were in the dirt.
 
nope still using the real deal, Jrok board arrived, was tested, then put back in the box :D
 
Robotron is never the game to unwind with. Honestly this game is super difficult, and just makes up for that by giving a ton of lives. Because of this, the is inherently something that pisses you off when your not on your A game :p For me I have to be calm and maybe a little sleepy, and then I can zone out while playing.
 
Working to complete my CP. I'm building this one to specs that accommodate general purpose 2P gaming because I want to be able to switch out boards on my Dynamo cabinet and not have to mess around with switching out the CP. If I get ambitious enough, I may make a proprietary Williams-only one, but for now, that's not in the cards. At least all the sticks are leaf, as to get the real feel of Robotron and the other games.

So, this one will incorporate MULTI-WMS JAMMA Button Mapping (see WSF 1.1 boardset manual)

Here's my general layout (not to scale. see attached) 3rd stick in the middle is for one-player gaming when the game calls for it. One issue I'm having is that I don't know where to put the 3 buttons on the right-hand side for the middle stick. I don't want to line them up vertically between the middle and right stick, b/c a lot of games don't work right with that setup, and I know that will be uncomfortable.

The greyed out B1, B2, B3 buttons are where I'm "thinking" of putting the second set of 1P buttons. The line and black dots on the lower part of the CP is where a hinge HAS TO connect to the pullout drawer on in my Dynamo cab on the backside of the CP. The slight overlapping of buttons on that line representing the hinge isn't a concern, b/c it's showing what the full button size will be on the front side; so if those three buttons are in that location, it wont affect the hinge. Any suggestions on the second set of 1P buttons?

BTW, I've already drilled holes for the left side 1P stick, buttons and the middle stick so far.
 

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first off terry. have you physically laid this out with the joystick base and the button nuts? unless that panel is really wide you might run into physical limitations depending on the bases being used?

did you layout those button nuts on a table and feel if it seems like your hands and fingers fit the ergonomics of the setup?

i've made some CPs at times that once i did them they felt wrong or a stick was in the way of a button or other weird unpredictable logistics....
 
Robotron is one of those where it seems like the original layout and controls were accidently or deliberately "perfect". When I built my original Multi-Williams I didn't have leaf switches so I used competition microswitch joysticks. High score was about 180K. I got some used leaf switches and my score went up to 250K. Adjusted them and it went to 300K. Then I got some 4" shafts and my score went to 425K.

Then I stopped playing for a while and now my score is back around 200K :(.

ken
 
first off terry. have you physically laid this out with the joystick base and the button nuts? unless that panel is really wide you might run into physical limitations depending on the bases being used?

did you layout those button nuts on a table and feel if it seems like your hands and fingers fit the ergonomics of the setup?

i've made some CPs at times that once i did them they felt wrong or a stick was in the way of a button or other weird unpredictable logistics....

The CP is not very wide. It's only about 24 inches long. But, yes, I've put all the joystick bases on top of the uncut control panel and did a joystick/button layout test. I laid multiple sheets of paper to fit the width of the CP, measured and drew the button holes where appropriate. The most comfortable layout for the second set of 1P buttons is definitely to the far right, underneath the 2P buttons. The idea for the 1P buttons underneath the 2P stick is purely for proximity purposes, but right now, the far right 1P buttons make the most sense to me.

Also, the left and middle sticks can/will be linked, so Robotron movement can be accomplished with either stick. Also, if need be, the middle stick can be completely removed and replaced with a button or a button-hole cap if I want to just concentrate on 2P games for a while. Like I said, this one is being built for diversity in gaming, and it's not like I can't run over to Menards at any point, grab a new sheet of MDF and build another one later.
 
looks good to me then. those two grayed out 1p buttons directly under the stick on the right....are you sure there is room for that? i bet it ends up being right where the stick base is.

about all i know for sure is that robotron sticks being 10 inches apart and "centered" with the screen feels best. but if you aren't OCD about symmetry then it should be good.

for defender don't let the reverse button be any farther than it needs to be from the short joystick or it'll feel odd and throw off your gameplay.
 
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Hey, the perfect thread for me.....

An unnamed member....(cough 1500points) hooked me onto playing at level 10.....Unfortunately, level 10 is brutally hard and it chews me up and spits me out....I find I will have 10 terrible games of 150,000 and then one decent game at level 10 resulting in much hair pulling and quiet cursing....

I think switching levels back and forth is very difficult as the game play changes dramatically. You have to play much different at level 5 than you do at 10....I think I do myself a disservice playing different levels as it seems to result in me doing poorly at both levels...

I think its quite difficulty to have one panel work for all games....The defender and stargate panels are very difficult to replicate using robotron 8 way joysticks....You have to be able to hit the reverse with delay when you are in the heat of battle....If you are using 4" joysticks then your hand is just too high off the panel....

edit: One change which I think would allow neo geo or other cabinet with standard 4 or 6 button layouts would be to allow the left 8 way joystick to either change directions or change directions and move....For example, if you wanted to go left in defender, you could simply push the joystick left and press thrust or even just push it left....this would eliminate the need for the reverse button and even the thrust button...While it may not satisfy the purist, it would make it easier to play on a regular cabinet with a standard button layout....It negates the need for a brand new panel....
 
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looks good to me then. those two grayed out 1p buttons directly under the stick on the right....are you sure there is room for that? i bet it ends up being right where the stick base is.

about all i know for sure is that robotron sticks being 10 inches apart and "centered" with the screen feels best. but if you aren't ADD about symmetry then it should be good.

for defender don't let the reverse button be any farther than it needs to be from the short joystick or it'll feel odd and throw off your gameplay.

You're probably right about the 1P buttons directly under the stick. It was just a thought, but I think putting them on the right side will be the best option, albeit nothing like the original Defender/Stargate layout, but at least I'll be able to play them. I've played enough Robotron on my Arcade Legends machine (too hard/too fast emulation) to know that I'm okay with the sticks being in normal 1P/2P positions. Yes, centered sticks about 10 inches apart is best, but I'll live with this layout for now.

There's no short stick in this layout either (don't kill me), so I'll have to live with some variations to accommodate diversity.
 
You're probably right about the 1P buttons directly under the stick. It was just a thought, but I think putting them on the right side will be the best option, albeit nothing like the original Defender/Stargate layout, but at least I'll be able to play them. I've played enough Robotron on my Arcade Legends machine (too hard/too fast emulation) to know that I'm okay with the sticks being in normal 1P/2P positions. Yes, centered sticks about 10 inches apart is best, but I'll live with this layout for now.

There's no short stick in this layout either (don't kill me), so I'll have to live with some variations to accommodate diversity.

you should try a short shaft zippyy stick for the defender up/down. in a 3/4 in panel it is just right and gives you the ability to get the reverse button just the right distance to the right. the stick isn't bad for playing pacman/donkey kong stuff either, so it isn't a wasted 7-10 bucks
 
I find I will have 10 terrible games of 150,000 and then one decent game at level 10......

ha, one "decent" game???? and what is that definition? isn't it almost 800k or so on difficulty 10. That's pretty serious gameplay. ;)
 
Eugene Jarvis is a fan of difficulty 10 play and he's still chasing his first 1 million game. He's currently in the high 900ks.

Thats pretty funny. After all these years he's still trying to break 1 million points on skill level 10.

I was able to get over 2 mil on JROK's older board on skill level 10 before I sold the machine.
 
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