I never played with a Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em robots game as a kid, it seemed ok but too static for my tastes. Now here is an arcade game coming out this summer in Japan that takes robotic boxing and brings it to the arcade for what I imagine and hope will be a much more dynamic experience than Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots was.
The game is GearRobo (maybe, the translator says GIAROBO but the website shows a number of gears all over
the place so we’ll assume GearRobo) and is by Metro Corporation. It looks like your character takes seat inside a robot (so maybe it’s really mech-boxing) that then jumps into a boxing ring to beat the living daylights out of your opponent. From the control panel it looks as though there is nothing to control the movement of your robot but obviously you control the punches. There are two large buttons on the panel, which are probably for your left and right fists. The game also dispenses some sort of collectable card at the bottom, shaped like a gear with a character from the game on it. There is probably more to the game but my limited Japanese fails me at figuring out what it is – I would add some foot pedals to the game for some movement but that’s just me. This is one of the many games that will probably only see a release in Asia but either way it looks fun.
rockem sockem rules