The Robotic Operating Buddy NES peripheral is back, and now he’s REALLY playing with power!

R.O.B. was a character that caught a lot of flack in Brawl from competitive players, due to a lack of speed and a serious startup lag on a lot of his attacks. But we are pleased to say that R.O.B. may just be one of THE most heavily buffed veterans from Brawl in an effort to compensate on that front!

How so? Well, allow us to explain.

Appearance:

Old:

New:

Here’s the interesting thing about R.O.B. in the design department: There has only ever been one, and only ever WILL be one, canon design for him, unlike almost everyone else on the team. He’s a super outdated toy from the 80s! Obviously there was never really too many liberties they could take with his look if they wanted to stay faithful to his aesthetic. And that’s why the small number of changes that ARE there are very interesting indeed.

Notice, for example, the white sections in between his shoulder and elbow on the Brawl design. That’s gone now! The entire length of that section is fully black. Why would they do that? Because that’s that he’s supposed to look like.

Weird that they didn’t do that for him in the original design. Going beyond that, the muddied colors of Brawl have long been replaced with vibrant, solid red and white just as he should be. It’s a good change for him! Plus the solid black in his arms just feels a lot more natural than the white. Moving on!

Moveset:

Here’s a comprehensive list of changes that we’ve gathered from across the internet:

R.O.B.’s fully charged beam is now MUCH wider, though it does seem to have a tad more startup.

R.O.B.’s forward aerial and dash attack (Listed together since they’re both so similar.) both have more of an overhead arch to it, covering more area and a better wall of defense against overhead attacks.

His Downward aerial is better in almost all regards now. Much faster, less landing lag, and is just as powerful as always.

R.O.B.’s forward special not only covers more ground but also has something of a finishing uppercut. (Which is phenomenal because the lack of much damage buildup or knockback with this move was a large criticism for him in the past.)

Many of R.O.B.’s moves now seem to emphasize a sillier, roboticized motion to them. This is a little harder to see than some changes, but check out his Smash Attacks here to get more of a feel for what we mean. The animation changes really breathe a lot more life into the character.

Now THAT’S an extensive list! R.O.B. got the Bowser treatment and will be vastly improved over his Brawl counterpart, which is just so awesome to see. He really deserved a break.

Ain’t all these changes got NOTHIN’ on his final smash, though.

Final Smash:

Hoooooo boy.

R.O.B.’s mediocre and incredibly awkward final Smash has been fully replaced with a laser that would make even Samus proud. No more chasing others endlessly around the stage and HOPING one of them would be slow enough or unlucky enough to trip that you might catch them. R.O.B.’s got the whole stage covered.

Closing Notes:

We dunno about you, but this is another Analysis that we are fully satisfied with reading. R.O.B. was never the weakest Smasher in the bunch but he certainly had his flaws that kept him from being the best he could really be, and we’d say that most of them were covered, or even just supplemented enough to make him into a fighter we’re itching to try out again. More range, less startup, farther knockback and a WORKING Final Smash is just what he needed to pay off for his shortcomings on other fronts, and potentially made him into one of the most heavily buffed characters in Smash Bros 4.

R.O.B.’s reputation as the savior of gaming in the Crash of ‘83 has earned him a solid place on the Smash Bros roster for years and years to come. He was never going to go anywhere. But it does our heart good to see our good Buddy duking it out with the best of the best like he was meant to from the very beginning.