RoboCop Vs Predator is a fan-made side-scrolling shooter with Game Boy-style graphics and some surprising cameos. And it’s free!
In the 1980s, the UK’s Ocean Software quickly became the king of licenced movie tie-in videogames. Usually taking the form of side-scrolling platformers with the odd mini-game thrown in, games based on everything from 1989’s Batman to Sly Stallone’s Cobra and even Oliver Stone’s Platoon got the tie-in treatment. In fact, Ocean’s RoboCop game was the biggest-selling title ever made for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum.
If you have wistful memories of those Ocean days, the fan-made RoboCop Vs Predator is like a teleportation tunnel back to the 80s and early 90s. Not only is it based on two none-more-80s movie properties (unofficially, of course) but it’s also designed to look as though it was developed for the Nintendo Game Boy, from its monochrome sprites to its warbling soundtrack.
As if to underline its vintage status, RoboCop Vs Predator also cheerfully throws in cameos from other 80s movies. In here you’ll find glimpses of a T-800 from The Terminator, Doc Brown from Back To The Future and – as noted by PCGamesN, who brought the game to our attention – Chuck effin’ Norris.
Copyright-busting novelty aside, RoboCop Vs Predator is also a rock-solid action game, with some deceptively excellent pixel art from creator Oscar Celestini and catchy music courtesy of Gianluca Pappalardo. It actually runs a good deal faster than the original RoboCop game released by Ocean Software all those years ago, and there’s a good deal more gore than we got in that earlier tie-in.
Best of all, RoboCop Vs Predator is free to download from itch.io. Hurrah!
