R.O.B - The robot that rescued video games from death

In 1983 occurred one of the worst events in the history of video games, the famous "crash" that took this industry to a really terrible time, 70% of people who tried a game console did not want to know about them, leaving an indelible black spot in the history of all America.

In spite of all these events, a western company that had some experience in the world of video games would create one of the most impressive strategies, with the purpose of people regain confidence in these entertainment items, under this inspiration created Robotic Operating Buddy or also known as R.O.B.

R.O.B is a peripheral designed for the Famicom in Japan and for the Nintendo Entertainment System in the West making it clear that this was not a video game console, but an entertainment system, obviously this was said for the purpose of people trying their product because they did not want to know anything about video games.

The operation of R.O.B. was very simple, he had to operate the control of the console with certain accessories and in turn be in front of the television, through his eyes which had photo-receiver sensors received the flickering signals from the TV, this made him execute certain movements that allowed you to move forward in the game, in short he was your video game partner.

R.O.B. you could buy it with a set that came with the NES or individually, in addition, it was only compatible with two video games, one was Gyromite and the other Stack-Up. In each of them you needed the help of R.O.B to be able to finish them, although if you had someone to help you in your adventure was not indispensable the robot.

The acceptance on the part of the people was incredible, a good quantity of units was sold and it fulfilled its main objective, to recover the confidence of the public gamer. As time went by, the idea of continuing to use it with other games was discarded, because the Nintendo Zapper was the favorite peripheral, however, does not detract from the merit of being the robot that rescued the video game industry.

With time Nintendo wanted to rescue the image of R.O.B, so the idea emerged to incorporate him as an eligible character in some of their most successful games, the first of them was Mario Kart DS, opening the curiosity of players of the new generation, then include him in one of their most successful games, Super Smash Bros, specifically from the Brawl version of Wii.

It is impressive the level of ingenuity that a company can have to prove that video games were not dead, I have always considered Nintendo the innovator in this industry, thanks to their excellent creations we have been able to enjoy a large number of game modes.

Thanks to R.O.B that black spot of 1983 would only remain as a bad year, making grow the gamer heart of several children and young people of that time, which today are parents and even grandparents, sharing that great feeling to the new generation of being a true video player.

Finally, I share one of the best videos I've seen about R.O.B, it's not only informative, it also has a very good sense of humor, it's Angry Video Game Nerd, believe me that if you haven't seen it you're going to like it a lot, I hope you enjoy it.