Smash Advent Calendar - Day 13 - R.O.B

R.O.B is the subject of Day 13 and clearly it's an odd character. It doesn't come from a game, not originally anyway, instead being a peripheral for the NES and Famicom. It was an absolute travesty of a device, being clunky, slow and unresponsive but nowadays serves as an icon of sorts in the late 2000s, appearing in Brawl and Mario Kart; it really shows that Nintendo is okay with jabbing a little fun at itself. R.O.B was a surprise reveal but fans of Nintendo and professional players alike to to it.

When it comes to how R.O.B looks and plays, it's safe to say that it's unique. Tilt and smash attacks often involve spinning around at tremendous speeds and making use of some invented laser and jet abilities, all things that have nothing to do with R.O.B (because that thing never span more than a centimeter a minute) but it all makes R.O.B special. R.O.B's movements are surprisingly fluid and you can feel the impact as you hit others with explosive face lasers and giant flares from its exhaust - all which make it satisfying to play.

R.O.B's special moves are also great fun and fairly effective too - its Neutral+B is a laser that penetrates opponents and gains power the less frequently you fire it, which is interesting. Side+B flings R.O.B forward whizzing its arms around at an angle controlled by the player, which is particularly satisfying when mixed with R.O.B's final smash which sees a laser continuously exude from its body. Up+B activates a jetpack with some of the best recovery in the game balanced superbly with it dealing no damage and disabling air-dodge in its duration. Down+B is similar to Peach's, pulling out an item-projectile, though this one can be charged beforehand to deal more damage. It's also a fun reference as the item is a "gyro", which were involved with the peripheral for one of its compatible games.

How can stiff arms and a pair of eyes have so much personality?

When it came down to gameplay, R.O.B held its own. As mentioned before, its projectiles are varied and effective in equal measure, able to keep opponents guessing and always anticipating a charged Neutral+B. These allow R.O.B to keep a good distance. It also has a decent speed and range, meaning approaching isn't too hard - and R.O.B's power means it's worth the approach as well. One thing that R.O.B lacks a little in is the KO department. Now, this shouldn't be buffed too much otherwise R.O.B could get too good, but perhaps we could see a little more power in a forward smash and a slightly bigger vertical range on the up smash hitbox.

To conclude, I think R.O.B should join in the next Smash Bros. roster as it was truly a unique sort of character and brings a special, referential and unorthodox playstyle to the roster. Still, even with all that the chances of a return are unclear; R.O.B has fell out of favour post-2010, appearing less and less in games. Even the latest Mario Kart games have seen him fall from the playable characters. Hopefully Smash 4 will see the return of R.O.B and see him boosted as a funny little icon of Nintendo again.

What do you guys think of R.O.B? Was it a good addition to Smash Bros? Or did you feel that it was too obscure? Let me know in the comments below and leave a comment on facebook.