History VideoGame / RobotOdyssey

''Robot Odyssey'' is an adventure game published by Creator/TheLearningCompany in 1984. It was released for the UsefulNotes/AppleII, UsefulNotes/ColorComputer, and [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer MS-DOS]]. It reused the engine from the well known Atari game ''Adventure'' and had an easier version named ''VideoGame/RockysBoots'' intended for children.

* BackStory: Averted - we know absolutely nothing about the player's character's life before Robotropilis or his motivations in general.

The protagonist is a person who in a series of screens is shown to wake up from a dream and steps out of bed, inexplicably falling into Robotropolis, a city of robots. The person can escape only by programming robots to solve puzzles.

* LockedDoor: The subway requires a token. Every time you ride it. And you have to ride it several times. And you need to send your robot to get the token each time.

* ObviousBeta: Most games under obvious beta have glitches, but in this case it's the obvious lack of playtesting by the kids the product was intended for. If it were indeed playtested by kids, the Learning Company must have been drawing its pool of testers from young UsefulNotes/{{Mensa}} members.

* EasterEgg: The second level has a secret room that can be accessed by traveling a specific direction with a message from the programmers and a mysterious keyhole that does nothing. [[spoiler:Droidquest uses it to "unlock" the hidden fifth level.]]

* {{Abandonware}}: This game is no longer made, and you'd need a 5.25 floppy drive to run it if you found a copy.
** A Java version with an expanded bonus level named ''Droid Quest'' was written. The original site is no longer available, but the game and its source code [[https://github.com/ThomasFooteDQ/DroidQuest are readily available]].

->"''Robot Odyssey is the hardest damn 'educational' game ever made.''"
-->--'''David Auerbach''', in a [[http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2014/01/robot_odyssey_the_hardest_computer_game_of_all_time.html 2014 review]].

''Robot Odyssey'' is an adventure game published by The Learning Company in 1984. It was released for the UsefulNotes/AppleII, UsefulNotes/ColorComputer, and [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer MS-DOS]]. It reused the engine from the well known Atari game ''Adventure'' and had an easier version named ''VideoGame/RockysBoots'' intended for children.

You can watch the opening [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfc42nB_dLk here]]. It's very telling how hard this game is that no one has posted ''the ending'' to Website/YouTube.

As of September 12th, 2017 [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpnvptRNzpw Someone has finally posted the ending.]]

* DifficultySpike: When you set foot on the master computer center level, get ready to start ripping your hair out. The puzzles are solvable, but they are light years ahead of the city.

You can watch the opening [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfc42nB_dLk here]]. It's very telling how hard this game is that no one has posted ''the ending'' to YouTube.

* UnwinnablwByDesign: If you missed some items in earlier levels.

** A java version named ''[[http://www.droidquest.com/ Droid Quest]]'' has been made, but does not seem to be around anymore.

You can watch the opening [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfc42nB_dLk here]].