Atomic Robo-Kid is a horizontal Run-and-Gun game developed by UPL and Nikom.
In a futuristic Space Station labelled Terra-12, a deadly cosmic wave have wiped out all life on board, and releasing assorted mutant life-forms all over the area. The base's robot security activates by themselves in an attempt to contain the outbreak, and amidst all that chaos, a single robotic drone called Atomic Robo-Kid gains his own sentience, who proceeds to shoot his way out.
Gameplay-wise, Robo-Kid follows the classic "move forward, shoot at everything" format popular in arcades at the time, but with the added bonus that since you're a robot, you can remain afloat thanks to your underfeet thrusters. As Robo-Kid you take down enemies, robotic and organic alike, and while levels can be played in any order preferred thanks to the game having portals at assorted locations, though the bosses - called "governors" in-game - needs to be fought to access the following areas.
Contains similarities to Mutant Night, made by the same company.
Not to be confused with Atomic Robo.
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- Airborne Mook: Hovering insectoid aliens serves this purpose.
- Adaptation Expansion: The Genesis port has cutscenes, dialogue, and an ending.
- Ambushing Enemy: Those mechanical insect-esque creatures in the underground stages (labelled in-game as Home Doragon and Morbic, as seen in the end credits) have the tendency to pop out of the ground at random. A good way is to remain afloat by constantly pressing jump while going forward.
- Arm Cannon: Where you got your abilities to blast laser bolts non-stop from. You have cannons on your back and sides as well for the Spread Shot functions, but they can only be used when you collected a power-up.
- Brain Monster: The second "governor" boss is a gigantic floating brain enhanced with assorted cybernetic parts.
- Chicken Walker: The R6 enemies, larger than most low-tier enemies and far more durable, though not at boss-level, shows up as a Giant Mook(s) menacing Robo-Kid. They couldn't fly unlike Robo-Kid, but they're all fought in enclosed corridors which makes dodging their attacks difficult.
- Cyber Cyclops: Many of the robotic-based enemies have a single red eye as their sole distinguishing facial feature. For the "Brade" enemies (giant fans that keeps advancing on Robo-Kid) said eye in it's axle is also it's sole weak spot.
- David Versus Goliath: The major plot-relevant bosses (called "governor" in-game) are so huge, they couldn't even fit in a single screen, requiring Robo-Kid to float circles around them on his jet thrusters to attack. The first one has claws as large as the titular character...
- Deadly Rotary Fan: The "Brade" enemies are gigantic robotic fans that advances upon Robo-Kid, and must be destroyed to avoid getting damaged.
- Expansion Pack: The PC version, titled Atomic Robo-Kid Special.
- Jump Jet Pack: Robo-Kid has jet thrusters built underneath his feet, which doesn't allow him to fly completely, but he can stay in the air by repeatedly hitting the jump button.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In-between levels, Robo-Kid will occasionally glare at the audience, as if addressing them, "Having fun yet?"
- Meat Moss: The laboratory levels. The walls are coated in flesh and bones for crying out loud...
- Mirror Boss: The cyborg copies of Robo-Kid who's the same size as him, and attacks with identical beam attacks. There's quite a number of them throughout the game as well, and they're always fought the same manner - one-on-one, in a room separated by dropped projectiles, and both Robo-Kid and his opponent trade beams until one dies.
- Painfully Slow Projectile: Most of the onscreen projectiles (save for those fired by your Evil Counterparts in the Mirror Boss stages) are painfully slow, compared to your default lasers. The difficulty is trying to get around their density since bullets fired from enemies comes at you as a wall.
- Spread Shot: There are two variants; the 5-way Balkan which turns Robo-Kid's projectiles into five parallel rows of energy blasts, and the 3-way Beam, which spreads into three, one directly ahead of Robo-Kid and two at 45 degrees above and below him.
- Timed Mission: Each area has a time limit of 120 minutes, and Robo-Kid must either find the exit, destroy all enemies, or defeat the boss before it's over.
- Totally Radical: Robo-Kid's first line of dialogue is "Where did those gnarly creatures come from?"
- Waddling Head: Robo-Kid himself is a gigantic robot head with legs and stumpy arms loaded with weaponry. As is many of the game's enemies, and the rival robots that he battles mano-on-mano in a few stages.
- A Winner Is You: Complete the game and you're treated to... the end credits. Pitch black. Though if you're still watching, the last few seconds will then list out all the onscreen mook enemies and their names, one at a time. The Genesis port has a proper ending.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: The friendly merchant can be gunned down as easily as any of the enemies.
