ROB (Robotic Operating Buddy) / Robot

[JC]

 

I see it as a sign that says you shouldn't rush things.

I agree with Jedi in this one. Nintendo always was a bit ahead of itself with its inventions and products. But what fails then usually becomes popular later on, as far as Nintendo goes. Nintendo's mistake is releasing something innovative before its time.

[UglyJoe]

But no matter what you call it, ROB was little more than a dumb, poorly implimented and poorly marketed/supported product. Just like the Vurtual Boy, the e-Reader and GB Micro.

Actually...

R.O.B. ... was a product designed for one thing and one thing only -- to allow Nintendo's salespeople to approach big retailers like Toys R Us and say "Oh, no this isn't a video game. It's a toy." They even built a whole marketing campaign around it that drastically de-emphasized the role of the TV in the product and played up the robot and light gun.

If it got large retailers to sell their consoles, I would hardly call it "dumb".

[JC]

Good point, Ugly. I hadn't heard that before. Nice marketing strategy. I wonder what other releases by Nintendo were nothing more than marketing. I know that the blue disks and "disk faxes" and tournaments were largely for marketing, and this may be why this Nintendo "internet" failed to catch on until more recently with the Wii/XBox Live, etc.

[satoshi_matrix]

The "Its a toy" apporch was the US marketing strategy in 1986 in respose of the after effects of the crash of '84. But didn't the Famicom robot dabut in Japan in 1983, essentially before the crash? What was the Japanese marketing strategy behind it?

[KEOGHJACOB]

I have heard that the Japanese ROB is White with Maroon arms and is silent is this true?

[nurd]

It is white-ish with maroon arms.

[KEOGHJACOB]

Is It Silent?

[UglyJoe]

It's just as noisy as the US version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36IqLjR3dW0

[manuel]

I want one, but I can't find one in stores. All of the robots on YHJ are over 10000 Yen. 

[rising_stuff]

I finally just picked up one of the Japanese ones yesterday when I found it for a good price. I'll snap some pictures later and post them for posterities sake along with the block game it came with. Looks pretty neat.

[manuel]

If you don't mind... how much was it? And was it in the original box?

[L___E___T]

I love the Famicom Robot - and I love it even more after they put him in smash bros brawl.

Both the US and the JP colour scheme is there, though they changed the design a little.
Still meaning to get one, the Famicom one is cooler and has nicer, uniform labelling and decals. 
And it's own box 

[zipzipi900]

I think Spyborg was the prototype of R.O.B or a codename to the Asscessory.