In lieu of the robotic arcade goodness I posted about the other day, I am happy to receive a tip about one of the games I mentioned in that post, Robo-Basho(tm), has been upgraded and is currently testing in the Chicago area. v2.0 of the game features several improvements over the previous version that had been tested about two years ago and if testing continues to go well, we have been told that Robotic Amusements (creators of Robo-Basho) hopes to have a release for the game in place soon. As such I will put Robo-Basho on the list of Upcoming Titles for 2009 and we will be sure to inform you about when it becomes available for purchase in the US and maybe even Europe.
Robo-Basho involves two player-controlled robots (instead of the three used int he previous version) that duel against each other in a battle where you attempt to knock the other player’s robot over. It is a form of robotic sumo wrestling you could call it and the robots can get back up by themselves once knocked over. Gone from V1.0 of Robo Basho is the rising platform and the console-like controllers – in are more arcade-like controls (which have been fine tuned to be more precise and simplified for players so that even small children can enjoy the game), better reliability, a big LCD screen for the scoreboard and a lower price. Check out the very short videos below for a better idea of what to expect.