Remember “Rock’em Sock’em Robots”? That was one toy Santa never brought. Imagine my surprise when I was given a chance to check out a modern variant, the Battroborg Warrior by Tomy.
Click on any image for full size.
The Battroborgs are remote-controlled robots that respond to your “sword” controller motions via infrared.
I received the Samurai vs. Ninja set.
Don’t forget the batteries! The Battroborg controllers require 4 AA batteries each.
Inside the box you’ll get two robots, accessories, instructions, two “sword” controllers and an arena.
Closeup of the actual warriors without customized add-ons.
The accessories (armor bits, weapons) slip into place.
Each controller has a round speaker, power button, A-B channel switch, green-red LEDs and a “power move” button (the star).
Feeding time! Each controller requires 4 AA batteries (included).
The robots recharge by “sitting” in a small plug at the end of the sword controller.
To control your Battroborg Warrior, you swing up to move up, and down to move down. That’s about it. There’s no walking in any direction, other than the result of shuffling around when swinging.
There are four “special moves” that are activated by pressing the star-shaped power move button:
Wild Cross
Press down power move button
Move the controller from left to right quickly without changing directions
Slowly bring the controller upwards… then swing down quickly
You will hear “sheen” sound if done correctly & warrior will continually attack up and down
Moon Slash
Press down power move button
Swing controller downward, then draw two circles
You will hear “sheen” sound if done correctly & warrior will continually attack up and down
Freeze
Press down special move button
Hold the controller horizontally
Tap it against your free hand
When preformed successfully, the opponents warrior will become momentarily immobilized
Auto Drone
Synch warrior and controller
Hold down special move button
A horn will sound, and warrior will begin to move on its own for two minutes
The Auto Drone feature is handy if you need an automated sparring partner.
So how well does it work? I shot a short video playing against my 8 year-old son. Take a look:
Slashing up and down seems to be the only move we could carry out reliably. I could never get the hang of executing the Wild Cross or Moon Slash moves, and when we did, there was a small delay beforehand. And, I think a few times, we’d perform the Freeze move accidentally.
Blue Battroborg (me) got knocked down in this clip! However, I think I FELL, rather than suffer a fatal samurai chop.
My 8 year-old said the Battroborgs were neat at first, but “not that neat” because it was a little hard to control, and they’d often end up not facing each other after flailing about wildly.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Tomy. For more information, visit http://us.battroborg.com/
Product Information
| Price: | $69.99 MSRP |
| Manufacturer: | Tomy |
| Requirements: |
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