Acclaimed designer Jeff Minter is back with a remake of the '80s arcade curio I, Robot

Iconic game designer Jeff Minter is back with another modern take on a long-forgotten Atari title. Minter has turned his psychedelic eye toward the 1984 arcade cabinet I, Robot. His version ups the visuals and takes serious liberties with the original design, adopting techno music and some new game modes.

The original I, Robot was a flop, ">despite being made by Dave Theurer, the guy behind Missile Command and Tempest. Maybe it was just ahead of its time. After all, it was the very first commercial video game to use real-time, flat-shaded 3D polygon graphics. The game came out a full eight years before Sega’s Virtua Racing and more than a decade before the PlayStation and N64 brought 3D gaming into the mainstream.

The original title had players control a robot as it jumped around mazes to flip the color of tiles and shoot enemies. There was also a giant eyeball that had to be avoided at all costs. Minter’s version keeps the core gameplay mechanic, but increases the speed and incorporates new gameplay elements. For instance, there are new tube shooter levels and an exploration mode called Ungame. It looks pretty nifty.

If the name Jeff Minter seems vaguely familiar, he’s the person who made Tempest 2000 and its various sequels. More recently, he remade an unreleased Atari prototype called Akka Arrh that originally dates back to 1982. He also provided the visuals for a Nine Inch Nails video.

Minter’s version of I, Robot will be released this spring on pretty much every platform, including Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. The design team is also working on a port for PlayStation VR2.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/acclaimed-designer-jeff-minter-is-back-with-a-remake-of-the-80s-arcade-curio-i-robot-194037105.html?src=rss https://www.engadget.com/gaming/acclaimed-designer-jeff-minter-is-back-with-a-remake-of-the-80s-arcade-curio-i-robot-194037105.html?src=rss