Games You (Probably) Should Have Played – G

The Console Wars are in full swing. To celebrate, I’m taking this time to go back and pick the best games of all the previous generations that I think You (Probably) Should Have Played, one letter at a time.

Check out all the other entries in the Games You (Probably) Should Have Played series if you haven’t already.

Gyromite w/R.O.B. (NES – 1985)
OK, frankly, this game sucks. But it was a launch game for the NES, and one of only two games that work with the R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy) accessory. Nintendo tried to avoid calling its console a “video game” after the massive industry crash of 1983, so they instead tried marketing it as a fancy “Entertainment System” and as a toy. There was nothing cooler in the 80’s than robots (see Transformers, Voltron, Go-Bots, Robotech, Rocky IV, Short Circuit, Small Wonder, etc.), hence Nintendo threw in a robot for some reason. R.O.B. was terrible in practice. All it did was place tops on a tray to push buttons on the second controller, so lonely only-children could feel like they were playing with a partner. You know, because just pushing that button yourself with your other hand was so difficult it required a complex toy robot. While the game itself isn’t that great, you need to play it with R.O.B. to see how Nintendo managed to use a crazy control scheme to Trojan Horse its way into American homes. Much like it did with the Wii many years later.
 

This crazy guy was supposed to help you play video games somehow.

JohnScott is the proud owner of a life size replica Captain Kirk Chair. He is a hoarder of Comic Books, Transformers, and Star Trek action figures. He attended Space Camp as an adult. He has taken vacations to the closing of the Star Trek Experience and the final night Shuttle launch. He has been known to yell at his television when the kids can't put together the damn statue in the Shrine of the Silver Monkey. When not writing for InsufficientScotty, he is a Software Engineer for a major healthcare communications company. You can Email or follow on Twitter @NotEnoughScotty or Facebook