Arcade flyers for old video games are awesome.
Robo Army is a 1991 Beat 'em Up arcade action game developed by SNK.
Neo Detroit, 20XX A.D - robots developed by Dr. Fron Jeed are the backbone of security and maintaining peace. But a robot uprising from it's malfunctioning AI causes the robots to overthrow their creators, and soon Neo Detroit is overrun by hostile robots, who began mass-producing themselves and take over every single sector of the city.
It's up to two Super Soldiers of the elite unit, the "64th Air Division Robo Army", to save Neo Detroit. Enter Maxima and Rocky, two Cyborg and unstoppable fighting machines (player one and two, in that order), who stood in the way of the dreaded robot army...
It's worth noting that Maxima is notably the inspiration of a character from the same name in The King of Fighters, both of them being Cyborg fighters sharing the same name.
Robo Army contain examples of:
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The backstory of the game, where robots meant for maintaining peace have started rebelling and turned on their creators.
- Animal Mecha: The enemies aren't limited to humanoid robots. Robot-birds are a recurring foe (who dies in one hit), as are a number of bosses being giant mechanical animals.
- Become a Real Boy: What happens to Maxima and Rocky at the end.
- Boss Rush: The final stage have Maxima and Rocky fighting several of the previous bosses, firstly the robot gorilla, then the Chicken Walker, and then the robot police enforcer and the Robot Dog shows up as a Dual Boss, followed by the Final Boss, a hulking Transforming Mecha in a lab whose multiple forms must be fought one at a time.
- Brain in a Jar: All that's left of Dr. Jeed, a head in a crystal ball. He uses it to pilot various mechas in the final battle.
- Car Fu: There's an Invincibility Power-Up that turns Maxima and Rocky into Power Buggies, allowing them to run down hordes of enemies. In humanoid form, they can also pick up and throw cars.
- Chicken Walker: Later stages in the city will have Maxima and Rocky battling walking mechas equipped with turrets, including a few of the bosses who utilize this design.
- Cyborg: Maxima and Rocky are human soldiers whose bodies are outfitted with robot tech after they're wounded in action. It's less visible with Rocky, who got modified to the point where whatever organic features he had is now replaced with machines, his brain being the only organic part he has left.
- Cyber Cyclops: Rocky, in an odd case of Covers Always Lie; on the cover art, he appears to have a pair of yellow eyes, but his ingame sprite depicts him with a RoboCop-like visor.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: Most of the mooks and bosses blows up after getting beaten, since they're, you know, machines. And since Rocky and Maxima are mostly machine as well, they do explode as well upon death.
- Giant Spider: There are robotic spiders in the game as well, who pops out of holes in ruins in one area. Defeat all of them and the game sic a pair of Giant Mook spider-bots on your players.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: Maxima and Rocky can pick up arms of destroyed robots to use as clubs.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Due to the enemies in this game being mechanical, sometimes robots will have their entire upper bodies smashed to bits... but continues moving around as a pair of legs carrying half a torso. Also it's slightly harder to see, but landing a chop on any low-level enemies will split them vertically before they explode.
- Head Swap: The only differences between the Maxima and Rocky's models are their heads and shoulder parts.
- Killer Gorilla: One of the earlier bosses in the game is a giant gorilla mech, whose Primal Chest-Pound can generate shockwaves powerful enough to knock Maxima and Rocky off their feet.
- Lawman Baton: There is a boss in the police station, a towering robot policeman whose weapon is a baton capable of firing lasers.
- Mad Scientist: Dr. Jeed developed the robots and turned them against humanity, and he reduced himself into a Brain in a Jar.
- Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: The protagonists rescue Jeed's daughter at the end, who turn them back into humans.
- Mecha-Mooks: True to the game's title, majority of the mooks crushed by Maxima and Rocky are robots.
- Mirror Match: Late near the end, the game sic an exact robot duplicate of your character (either Maxima or Rocky) that must be defeated.
- Non-Indicative Title: You'd expect the titular "Robo Army" to be the army of hostile robots created by Dr. Jeed, right? Wrong. It's actually the two guys the U.S. military sent to stop them, as explained in the game's opening. Oh, and they're not robots either : they are actually cyborgs.
- Pipe Pain: One of the obtainable melee weapons, a thick pipe which Maxima and Rocky can pick up and smash the skulls of robots.
- Robot Dog: Mechanical guard dogs are a recurring foe, including one of the bosses which is a robot guard dog who can blast projectiles by barking.
- Robot War: The game is set in the middle of one of these, and Maxima and Rocky will end it single-handedly.
- Throw a Barrel at It: There are barrels cluttered in several areas, which comes in handy when Maxima and Rocky wants to pick something to throw at enemies.
