Throwback: Unofficial Mascot of Nintendo’s Entertainment System in the 1980’s

Nintendo is one of the pioneering pillars in the gaming industry. Being one of the biggest players in the market, Nintendo has explored various ways to be always at the top of the leaderboard. They have innovated consoles, games, arcades, and many other features which made them stand out.

This want to be the best even made Nintendo make their own little robot. This family computer robot was introduced back in the 80s and is one of the most innovative ventures of Nintendo.

Nintendo R.O.B- The family robot

R.O.B. the robot, short for Robotic Operating Buddy was Nintendo’s futuristic toy which was released in the 1980s. The introduction of this brand-new feature was a result of the 1983 video game crash. For clarity, during the year of 1983, the game crash was a large-scale recession that hit the game market, especially the US.

R.O.B was brought into the gaming market as a part of the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). The gaming company wanted to explore the ‘toy experience’, and R.O.B. was made for just that. It moved slightly away from the game experience with the robot’s introduction.

The robot was futuristic for its time, especially in regard to the gaming industry. R.O.B. was a fully stacked robot that could move around with its LED ports, and it was an innovative move by the company.

The unmarked mascot of the NES era, R.O.B was also featured in some of Nintendo’s games. He was essentially the second player in games like Gyromite and Stack-up. The introduction of such a feature made Nintendo catch a breath of hope during the game crash days.

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What made the feature even more important was that R.O.B was part of the NES extensive marketing plan of 1980s. And when the system came to the United States soil, R.O.B. was one of the featured faces for the marketing strategy.

The NES strategy is what revitalized the gaming market in the United States. And R.O.B. is surely a proud member of this success party. Eventually, Nintendo discontinued their little robot, but we still can see him in many games.

R.O.B can be seen in games like Super Smash Bros, TomoDachi Life, Wario Ware, Pikmin 2, and Mariokart DS. The robot sure has made its impact and is still one of the unique inventions that the gaming company brought to its fans.

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