(don't worry, I'm about to move on to a newer version)

Definitely allow L+R/U+D

Robocop for GBC is a top-down shooter based on this familiar license, made by Mirage Interactive and published by (the one and only) Titus. It doesn't have much internet documentation on it... made this run without FAQs to resort to.

This game is a pretty good quality work, in some ways... for a GBC-era game, it has an alright script, and the music is seriously very danceable (or "urgent"). It is a somewhat frustrating experience due to the large maze-like levels and the very slow movement pace of Robocop. Also, the difficulty can be overbearing. I probably wouldn't have played it all the way through if it weren't for the glitches.

Fun fact: this was the first game Krzysztof Wierzynkiewicz made music to, according to his portfolio at least. Today, he is involved in making music to the Witcher series of games.

About tricks & glitches of this run:

The biggest single glitch here is just a simple L+R glitch. Pressing to three directions at once doubles Robocop's speed without affecting camera speed. If you catch up to the edge of the camera view while doing this, and there is an adjacent room to the direction where you are going, you warp to the next screen immediately. Warping allows getting past most troublesome walls... it's truly a miraculous glitch, and once having first seen it I was sold. Just had to TAS this game then. It's worst flaw is that it requires some room, and therefore can't be done everywhere in the game. Also, you can get easily stuck in the collision if you warp to a bad position.

Note: I've in the past called this glitch "screenwarping", and I still don't think it's a bad way to call it. A sort of wordplay with warp and screenwrap... w/e

It's possible to end up outside camera using the movement glitch, either by going past the view edge when there is no adjacent room, or glitch moving through a NPC or an enemy while going over the edge (which disables the warping effect). This can also occur naturally if you glitch-move through some exits. Fortunately the camera fixes itself once you change 'maps'... this occurs naturally, in some levels more than others.

If you go past the end of a room while doing the above, Robocop ends up at the opposite side of the same room. It did not come in handy while making this run.

While glitch-moving through NPCs (something that is not possible with normal moving) or when in tight spots (including brushing against the camera side in the right circumstances), Robocop's speed slows down to the normal rate. This I avoided whenever possible by walking diagonally for two frames at the last possible moments before slowdown, then continuing glitch-moving. However, there is one hidden advantage to the slowdown mechanism, and that is that the camera will not move while it occurs, sometimes giving you leeway in the space that is required for doing the warping glitch.

While glitch-moving, your shots fire to strange (but fixed) directions. Sometimes this is useful, allowing you to keep moving while retaining your doubled speed, but sometimes it's just annoying. A special mention goes to your rocket launcher, which seems to turn into a glitch launcher when glitch-moving. Most directions make rockets disappear promptly, some directions cause glitched fire pillars to appear. Finally, one direction makes the rockets fire in a very strange arc so that they wrap through the screen multiple times (??) so fast you can barely see them at 100% speed. As cool as it sounds, it doesn't seem to be particularly useful against bosses...

Simply pressing L+R will cause Robocop to fake "die" over and over again.

Even dying enemies will block your path for some time. Therefore manipulating enemies to completely stay off your path is more valuable than shooting them from a distance. Sometimes it isn't possible, though.

There are some 'exits' in the levels which can't be warped to, but have to be manually accessed.

Boss HP in this game is strange. There probably is some sort of frame rule/limit to these encounters, because you can kill a boss with a varying amount of bullets and still end up winning at the same frame. I don't know the specifics, though.

About Hard-mode:

On Hard-mode, you have one life less before a game over. You have less bullets for your special weapons. There are (two times?) more enemies in the levels, and their positions are fixed (unlike in Normal-mode, in which re-entering a room can cause the enemy to spawn to an alternate location). Random item drops seem to be rarer. Bosses may or may not have more life.

Level-by-levels:

Let's-a-go!

Police Station(s):

This is a place visited once before each level except the last one. You see those messages that pop up at the bottom of the screen? You can't go nowhere until they disappear. Moving the cursor and choosing the next area pre-emptively (in addition to pressing A/B properly) allows me to skip two of these slow messages, saving seconds per station visit. Unfortunately I always have to talk to Lewis, check my messages and visit the laboratory before I can start the mission. There isn't much time to save here otherwise... maybe just make sure that the cursor is as far to the right as it can before you check your messages so you can reach the laboratory message sooner.

I like to think that the music here is how it always sounds inside Robocop's head. It's from first person 'n' all...

Mission One - Downtown

After a short scene, the actual level begins. The objective is to find two items from the map, then go to the pier and watch the crime lord Nexx frustratingly escape the law's shiny metal ass grasp.

Most of the time is spent warping around. In the fight towards the end, I not only fight against the four fellas but also against the screen boundary, which I must bring with me if I want to do the last meaningful skip of the level which throws me back to the pier in no time.

The second-to-last yellow-shirted mook of the level is the biggest regret I have in this level, because he ends up in the way and I suspect (in hindsight) I could've started firing at him a bit earlier.

Mission Two - Municipal Dump

In this level, you are supposed to rescue 10 hostages. Robocop finds another way to save the day, rescuing 0 hostages and making the bad guys surrender for no reason at the end.

Manipulating the second baddie to aid me with warping is the only way to make this route work. I avoid bullet hits by quickly moving sideways, but I only do this as long as the screen boundary keeps moving - otherwise it would waste time. More warping around... at the end, those blue things are some sort of electric 'mines' which hurt Robocop. It's fastest to just walk through them. Barely made it!

Mission Three - Warehouses

Robocop is supposed to go and find Nexx. He does just that, and shoots down Nexx's inactive pet ED-209's in the process. Nexx escapes again.

In some levels, like this, glitch-moving causes this strange upgrade message to stay at the bottom of the screen for longer than a few frames (which it would normally show).

This was a very simple affair. Most re-records were spent on the boss "fight" at the end. The ED-209's really are totally inactive, a result of skipping too much in the level. You are practically euthanizing them.

Mission Four - Treatment Plant

Robocop is once again after Nexx. He fetches some evidence from a computer, then has a chat with Nexx.

There exists a potential warped route inside the factory if you manipulated the guard to a correct position in the screen before the bulldozer guy. Usually this kind of routes do not save time in the end because the NPC move so slow, but I'm not 100% sure about this one.

The skip which gets you to the area where Nexx is I almost thought wasn't possible, but it was after all. Normally you'd have to go activate a computer elsewhere to turn off damaging steams which prevent your passage here... too much trouble, just walk through the wall instead.

Mission Five - Platform

Robocop goes to a platform and finds out the terrible secret behind some neuro-chips at the cost of his (one) life.

This is an interesting level, composed of several mini-maps instead of a large 4x4 grid. It's like a building with many floors. This means that your capacity to warp wherever you like is inhibited.

In the first floor, you have to reach an exit that is a few screens away. Simply warping doesn't seem to be an option. In the way, I skip a scene of the whole place rumbling ominously with glitch-moving.

For some godforsaken reason, dying right inside the building drops you down a few floors closer to where you are headed. This is very good.

Then, it's the first time to fight "Mind", or as named here, Cyborg Boss. I don't have much special weapon ammo, so it's up to my trusty pea shooter handgun to do most of the dirty work.

At the last level, it is possible to avoid some navigation by manipulating the scientist to come next to the middle corridor - you can talk to him through the wall. I don't think you could win time with this, but you never know.

Mission Six - Town Hall

Robocop has to go and arrest Nexx (who escaped from prison) and talk to the highly suspicious corporate mascot/politician DeMarco about his evil employers. Nexx is assassinated (outside camera). Then Robocop finds DeMarco, and their conversation doesn't make too much sense because I did things out of order.

This was the hardest level to make in the run. Has civilians, has cramped spaces, has more than one map, has out-of-camera sequences, has deadly enemies in abundance.

In the end I show off the rocket glitch which makes the rockets fly through the screen oddly.

Mission Seven - Residence

Robocop goes to re-arrest DeMarco, unknowing that he too was assassinated for knowing too much, and then Mind comes and frames Robocop for the whole thing and sends out killer droids after... my apologies, none of this actually happens. Robocop just flies around, gets bruised, and then shoots some big robot thing, end of the level.

Another pretty short, fun level. You only have to activate a computer at the upper right room of the map to have the boss spawn. Death abuse is used to go right back to the boss. The boss is inactive because of too much warping...

Mission Eight - OCP Tower

Robocop clears his befouled name and takes care of the vigilante A.I. Mind.

This level doesn't have a map, but after some testing I found this fast route to the final boss. Robocop unleashes a torrent of rockets, and having given his best, collapses into a smelly pile of scrap metal.

Thanks

DarkKobold: Alright, I really enjoyed this run - you glitched past a majority of the game, die close to 100 times to entertain, and look like a block of garbage from mega man 3 half the time. I enjoy these glitched runs, and I think it makes a good addition to the site.

mmarks: Added DailyMotion Module
mmarks: Added Youtube Module + Streaming DailyMotion