# Robocop Arcade Game Pickup! **Source:** RetroRalph **Type:** video **Published:** 2024-02-13 **Duration:** 9m 33s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7InOJPOtOE --- ## Analysis RetroRalph showcases his recently acquired RoboCop arcade cabinet by Data East (1987), discussing the original film's impact on him as a child and examining how the game translates the movie experience. He reviews the cabinet's condition, artwork, and gameplay mechanics, noting the extensive use of movie audio clips and assets. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] RoboCop arcade game was released by Data East in 1987 — _Direct statement: 'RoboCop by Data East. It came out in 1987.'_ - [HIGH] The cabinet was purchased for $400 without the PCB — _Direct statement: 'My buddy Matt sold it to me for $400 without the PCB.'_ - [HIGH] The RoboCop arcade game incorporates extensive movie assets and audio clips from the original film — _Speaker states: 'one of the awesome things about this game is there's so many movie assets as far as the audio clips and things like that that are from the actual movie itself.'_ - [MEDIUM] The game becomes less challenging once you memorize where everything is located on the playfield — _Speaker opinion: 'once you memorize where everything's at it's kind of like it becomes a lot less challenging.'_ ### Notable Quotes > "RoboCop by Data East. It came out in 1987. You can see it has the awesome Data East curved marquee." > — **Jon (RetroRalph)**, ~3:20 > _Direct identification and appreciation of the cabinet's distinctive Data East design elements_ > "one of the awesome things about this game is there's so many movie assets as far as the audio clips and things like that that are from the actual movie itself." > — **Jon (RetroRalph)**, ~7:30 > _Highlights the game's integration of authentic film content as a key appeal_ > "I'm so stoked to have this in the collection. To be honest, because it's one of those cool ass games that happens to be from a cool ass movie. So it doesn't get much cooler than this to be honest." > — **Jon (RetroRalph)**, ~7:10 > _Expresses enthusiasm about the acquisition and theme-gameplay synergy_ > "I wonder how much the new RoboCop game costs for licensing. I'm sure it's like millions of dollars production cost versus, versus, I'm sure this was like, not even a big deal back in the day." > — **Jon (RetroRalph)**, ~7:50 > _Reflects on licensing cost differences between vintage and modern arcade game production_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Jon (RetroRalph) | person | Content creator, arcade collector, host of RetroRalph channel; purchased RoboCop arcade cabinet | | Matt | person | Arcade collector and friend who sold the RoboCop cabinet to Jon for $400 without PCB | | Data East | company | Historic pinball and arcade game manufacturer that produced RoboCop arcade game in 1987 | | RoboCop (arcade) | game | 1987 arcade game by Data East based on the RoboCop film; features extensive movie assets and audio clips | | RoboCop (film) | product | Original 1987 sci-fi action film produced by Orion Pictures; source material for arcade game; had significant cultural impact | | RoboDoc | product | Recent documentary about the making of the original RoboCop movie; referenced as recent release | | Orion Pictures | company | Production company that made the original RoboCop film; likely licensed IP to Data East for arcade game | | RetroRalph | organization | YouTube channel focused on arcade game reviews, pickups, and gameplay | ### Topics - **Primary:** Arcade cabinet acquisition and condition assessment, Data East arcade design and cabinet aesthetics, Film-to-arcade game adaptation and asset licensing - **Secondary:** RoboCop film cultural impact and nostalgia, Arcade game emulation vs authentic hardware, Arcade collection curation and acquisition strategy ### Sentiment **Positive** (0.85) — Speaker expresses genuine enthusiasm and nostalgia about both the RoboCop film and arcade cabinet. Appreciation for the game's design, art direction, and film integration. Minor frustration with cabinet condition issues (bondo damage), but overall very positive tone about the acquisition and the game's quality. ### Signals - **[licensing_signal]** Licensing costs for arcade game IP in 1980s were minimal compared to modern production, reflecting different corporate IP protection landscape (confidence: medium) — Speaker speculates: 'millions of dollars production cost versus, versus, I'm sure this was like, not even a big deal back in the day. But that was before big corporations like, owned the crap out of everything.' - **[market_signal]** Secondary market arcade game acquisition at $400 for RoboCop cabinet (Data East, 1987) indicates continued collector interest in licensed arcade titles from major IP franchises (confidence: medium) — Speaker purchased well-preserved RoboCop cabinet from collector friend and actively discusses its value and appeal in collection context --- ## Transcript Hey guys, welcome back to the channel. Today's video we're going to talk all about RoboCop the arcade game, but before we get started there was a Documentary that just came out called RoboDoc and it was all about the making of the original RoboCop movie and man I don't know about you guys, but this movie freaked me the heck out as a kid There was just so much extreme violence in it and I want to say I was maybe only eight or nine when I saw it And I probably saw it when it was on HBO and I probably snuck watching it because it was rated R I don't think my parents probably would have wanted me to watch a rated R movie at that point in time. But man, did it haunt me and stay with me for a really long time. Two of the scenes in particular that I'll never forget is one when Murphy dies. The way Murphy dies and the way he's murdered is completely insane. And these gang members have like no regard for his life. So at that point, I became very emotionally connected to Murphy as a character and wanted him to get retribution for what these guys did to him. and they did it in such like a heinous way and just with no regard for him the other scene that i just will never forget is uh the toxic waste scene when the skin is hanging off and man it's just it haunts me man it's just not good uh one more scene real quick before we go is the one that he's they're showcasing ed 209 in the executive boardroom right and this poor guy's like hey hold this gun up to ED-209 and threaten it. And sure enough, ED-209 completely freaks out. The technology's not ready, and it murders this guy right in front of everybody. And there's this scene that I never caught as a kid that I did when I just rewatched it where they're like, get a medic in here. And I'm thinking to myself, okay, that's funny, only because he's gonna need more than a medic, right? This guy isn't looking so good. He's torn to shreds. Somebody want to call a goddamn paramedic? Let's go, Johnson! But anyway, so more recently I picked up RoboCop the arcade game. So what I thought would be fun is share this little story with you and then we'll go into the garage and check out the video game. Like, did it live up to the hype of the movie and did it translate well to a video game? Let's go in the garage and check it out. All right guys, let's go into the garage and check out RoboCop. So we haven't really gone into the garage in a little while, I don't think. Well the last video we had the I sold everything I didn sell everything There actually quite a few games still left in the garage and there a bunch that right in this room right here which is my room downstairs but let's uh let's check this out. I'm gonna give you a quick two second tour and then um and then what we'll do is I'll show you Robocop. So I'm gonna flip my light around so you can see a little better. So see it's not bad man. I still have a decent arcade. It's not all schlubbed out But anyways, we're not really here to see the rest of the games. We're here to see RoboCop. So here it is RoboCop by Data East it came out in 1987 you can see it has the awesome Data East curved marquee I'm a big fan of this curved marquee look a lot of their games came in this cabinet the cabinets kind of no frills it's just a standard cabinet and it has sort of like a almost like a movie poster type thing that goes on the side that's the only artwork that this thing came with but it did have some generic data East artwork too on the on the control panel it actually had data East right here in the front of the cabinet and then it has almost this star space like design which is kind of just more of a default artwork graphic in my opinion and then you have you know your jump and shoot buttons your player one player to the joystick which is actually a really nice feeling joystick and that's kind of it this one has some issues with it my buddy Matt sold it to me for $400 without the PCB I happen to already have a RoboCop PCB because you know why wouldn't you just have a RoboCop PCB doesn't everyone just have PCBs laying around but I went through a PCB collection phase this is a little piece of bondo I think I'm assuming he he did this or someone else did it maybe he got it this way so i'll probably fix that eventually but yeah it's looking pretty good the monitor's nice on it the bezel has this really cool like some movie clips from the from the movie all around it which i think is a cool touch you know it's it's interesting how data east probably worked with um orion at the time or not or yeah it is orion orion that that made the movie it'd be interesting to see like you know how much did they pay or have to pay for this license like was Was RoboCop really popular at first or did they get it before it got really big as a franchise So anyways that it That the RoboCop cabinet It in really good shape We do a little bit of gameplay and then I give you some of my final thoughts on RoboCop. Before we do any gameplay of RoboCop, I wanted to show you this game is very easy to emulate. So if you want to experience the game and you don't have the real arcade cabinet, I'm going to show you it running on the Rec Room Masters really quick. So you can see, let me flip this around there we go so you can see what it looks like here this is with that marquee that i for some reason can't remember the name of the company that makes this so i'm sorry i don't know why i'm kind of brain dead lately for whatever reason so i've been working a lot but anyways you know you can see they have the bezels on the side it's being presented in somewhat the right aspect ratio but yeah i mean so you can play it under emulation if you want it's it's pretty easy to emulate but that's not what we're here to see we're here to see robocop on what is this thing called why can't i remember what it's called in the comments please tell me i can't remember the biz buzz no what is it called hold on is it the uh bit kit no not bit kit bit kits that pcb with like all the retro 80s games on it. I don't know why I can't think of the name of it. Okay. Wow. Wow, that's concerning. That's really concerning that I can't remember the name of that thing. Bitpixel? Is it Bitpixel LCD? Bitpixel. I don't know. I don't even know if that's it. All right, let's play some Robocop. Protect the innocent. Uphold the law. okay here we go we are in front of robocop and i'm pretty stoked to have this in the collection to be honest because it's one of those cool ass games that happen to be from a cool ass movie so it doesn't get much cooler than this to be honest and one of the awesome things about this game is there's so many movie assets as far as the audio clips and things like that that are from the actual movie itself. You can hear every now and then Murphy will go, drop it which I could just hear that all day which is super cool But yeah this game is a little less fun when you have infinite lives you know because when you when you get a game like this and you playing from home and you're not playing with coins it does become a little bit easier to play but I will say that the games once you memorize where everything's at it's kind of like it becomes a lot less challenging but what I find is cool is the fact that they put incorporated so many the movie assets in into the game, you know? And at the time, you gotta think, I wonder how much the new RoboCop game costs for licensing. I'm sure it's like, you know, millions of dollars production cost versus, versus, I'm sure this was like, not even a big deal back in the day. But that was before big corporations like, owned the crap out of everything. So here's your first time facing Ed209. The first time you face him, he's not that hard, really. He gets progressively harder this, oh. I died. Okay, okay, no, we're gonna beat him. Just relax, guys, no problem. I don't even know if this has a difficulty setting. I didn't even go that far. We're gonna beat him this time, though. Check this out. He's already dead, see? What a wuss. But anyways, we could play this all day. I'll probably do a live stream whenever I decide to live stream again of playing Robocop. It'd be fun to do a full playthrough of the game. So another game gets added to the collection, Lots of games went out, but I'm feeling like in 2024, there's definitely going to be a couple of arcade games I'm going to get. Not many. I'm keeping it to a minimum, but there'll probably be a couple of games I'll pick up. By the way, there was a sequel to this, RoboCop 2. Maybe we'll do like a live stream where we live stream RoboCop 1 and RoboCop 2. We do full playthroughs. But anyways, guys, I appreciate you coming to the channel. If you enjoyed the video, give me a thumbs up. Consider subscribing to the channel. Put your comments below. Want to hear from you? What do you think? Did you play RoboCop? Do you love Robocop? Do you like the movies? Have you seen RoboDoc? Because that is freaking sweet. And if you're a fan, you got to check it out. Anyways, that's it for now, guys. We will see you on the next one. Who is he? Robocop. What is he? Robocop. Where does he come from? Robocop. What are your prime directives? Serve the public trust. Protect the innocent. Uphold the law. _(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: fba19799-d8d6-4064-8b66-d6bbe2f5b4bf*