User:Monster Iestyn/Robo-Hood Guide
Links
SRB2 v2.2
SRB2 v2.1
SRB2 v2.0
The Robo-Hood Phenomenon
...who?
Robo-Hood is a joke character that I (Monster Iestyn) originally created somewhere during mid-2011 out of boredom, with appearance and abilities based on the infamously annoying Robo-Hood enemy from Castle Eggman Zone... however, unlike most joke characters back in the day, Robo-Hood was infamous for having an original style of gameplay – rather than be just a Sonic reskin or otherwise genericly created character, or an overpowered maniac from the depths of hell, Robo-Hood is utterly gimped.
Aside from being unable to spin, Robo-Hood is completely unable to even walk and thus relies on his (relatively weak) thok to move him around anywhere. Despite his disabilities, Robo-Hood has been surprisingly capable of beating (or close to beating) some of the most difficult of levels in SRB2 — essentially the character can be considered a "hard-mode" way of playing SRB2, for those bored of playing the game normally with S/T/K or similar. This lead to Robo-Hood gaining popularity and notoriety to some members of the SRB2 community in the following year after the creation of the character WAD. Some WAD creators have also tried to bank on Robo-Hood's unexpected popularity and create similarly-gimped enemy-themed custom characters for SRB2 (unsurprisingly with a low success rate).
It is noted that Robo-Hood can also be considered a "litmus test" for custom character support in levels – if Robo-Hood can do it, anyone can! This doesn't always hold true of course.
In SRB2 v2.0 a few extra quirks were available to Robo-Hood as means of overcoming the impossible:
- Wall-sliding: On walls facing one of the four main compass directions (North,South,East,West), Robo-Hood can abuse a quirk in physics involving pressing movement controls against such walls and facing a particular angle towards them. When this is done, Robo-Hood is able to slide along a wall quickly, and is capable of reaching up to the highest speed the game allows (60 FU/tic in SRB2 v2.0). This trick takes much skill to master, but has proven handy in beating v2.0's ERZ1 in particular.
- Shuffling: Despite having a normalspeed of 0, Robo-Hood is still able to "shuffle" forward by a tiny amount with the movement controls. While this does not compare to proper walking, it has proven to be essential in moving around tiny platforms when using thok is too risky at the time.
As of SRB2 v2.1 both tricks are no longer available to Robo-Hood, as the bugs allowing them to occur have since been fixed. To compensate for this, I created RHmodifier.lua
as an optional addon script to give Robo-Hood the ability to shoot arrows, and to have his thok sped up when the Super Sneakers power-up is in effect (normally it is utterly useless on him). In hindsight, I wish I had betterly organised the Lua script itself, since many have since copied the original script blindly and inefficiently ;_;
Robo-Hood in netgames
Naturally Robo-Hood's popularity has lead to some netgames hosting the infamously gimped character – Robo-Hood-only servers have occurred as well as a result.
Of some note, Robo-Hood CTF is a variation of CTF involving Robo-Hood players exclusively. However, due to Robo-Hood's reliance on the ability to thok, carrying a flag with himself is impossible unless the flag is thrown out of RH's possession, thereby increasing the difficulty of scoring but also providing a unique challenge to CTF itself.
Robo-Hood in SRB2 Kart
Robo-Hood also features in SRB2 Kart (as of the latest public release) as one of the 4 custom characters included in the file "misc.kart". True to his 'personality', Robo-Hood Kart serves as the holder of the worst Top Speed rank (-4), although he is also the holder of the best Handling rank (+8). This results in him having ridiculously good drifting skills, though he often ends up lagging behind the rest of the racers, meaning he has to catch up using the more powerful items available.
SRB2 v2.2 port
A port for Robo-Hood posted by SRB2MB user frozenLake for SRB2 version 2.2 that unfortunately is not a faithful port but still a port was released on December 25th of 2019, as stated the mod is not entirely faithful because the speed of his thok was increased and he can now spin under certain circumstances but other than that it's mostly the Robo-Hood you all know and love.
Robo-Hood's Best friends
Robo-Hood's Thok!
This is Robo-Hood's sole reliable method of getting around anywhere – without it, he can hardly move about at all!
Deton Immunity!
Thanks to having technically non-existent walking speed, Detons just cannot chase the mighty Robo-Hood! They just sit there, beeping madly at him as RH approaches... =P
Robo-Hood's Enemies
Springs/Fans
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/x27kqppvf1il34m/RHenemy1-springs.PNG
Since RH heavily relies on his thok in order to get any reliable momentum, Springs and Fans are useless for changing RH's momentum direction, as RH has terrible mid-air control.
Note that while in 3D mode RH can actually barely move about in mid-air, 2D mode prevents RH from doing this at all – this means you can actually be forever trapped on a spring or fan in 2D mode!
Being completely submerged in water/wind slides
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/ig9v9kryvqplnyz/RHenemy2-slides.PNG
As well as being cursed with terrible to non-existent walking ability, RH is also cursed with non-existent sideways movement control in waterslides and windslides – when completely submerged in one of the two, this generally results in either being forever trapped, or death! (DSZ2's underwater slide is surprisingly an exception, as RH can skip most of the movement requiring sections via the left route from the start of the act – you just need to watch out for the spikes near the end of the slide though)
Low Ceilings
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/sw6i7nncyskeo78/RHenemy3-lowceiling.PNG
RH completely relies on jumping in order to thok in order to get anywhere with good speed – since low ceilings means no space to jump, this also means no space to thok. (Of course, you can still make RH snail-walk through these sort of places, but you don't want to do that, do you?)
Obviously ceilings too low to walk through means no access to any non-spinning characters besides shrinking, let alone RH.
Overly large gaps between platforms
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/v21brb9s7p1ir0d/RHenemy4-overlylargegaps.PNG
Completable/Uncompletable levels (2.2)
Vanilla SRB2
Known Completable
- GFZ1
- GFZ2
- GFZ3
- THZ1
- THZ2
- THZ3
- DSZ1
- DSZ2
- DSZ3
- CEZ1
- CEZ2
- CEZ3
- ACZ1
- ACZ2
- ACZ3
- RVZ1
- ERZ2
- BCZ2
- BCZ3
Known Uncompletable
none as of yet (because a certain someone won't bother to play as Robo-Hood all the way through all the single player acts *cough* *cough* Basic Bronze Sonic *cough* *cough*) so information here would be much appreciated.
Extra Completable
- FHZ
though keep in mind that you will need to do at least one frame perfect jump and a bunch of very precise jumps in general but it's still possible.
None more are known so far but just be patient.
Extra Uncompletable
nothing here yet, look this is a work in progress alright.
Unknown
- ERZ1
- BCZ1
- and most of the challenge/extra acts/zones
so those are the acts/zones that need to be tested for Robo-Hood Completability
Completable/Uncompletable levels (v2.1)
Vanilla SRB2
Known Completable
- GFZ1
- GFZ2
- GFZ3
- THZ1
- THZ2
- THZ3
- DSZ1
- DSZ2
- DSZ3
- CEZ1
- CEZ2
- CEZ3
- ACZ1
- RVZ1
- ERZ2 – With the fan room gone nothing stops Robo-Hood from clearing this stage anymore
- ERZ3 – Yes, including the race: TAS by RedEnchilada
- All Special Stages – You're turned into Super Sonic just like everyone else, so this is a given anyway
Known Uncompletable
- ERZ1 – Robo-Hood can't get past Sonic's final crusher on the left route anymore :(
- AGZ – One spring near the end of the act 1 segment doesn't quite push you all the way to the platform, and Robo-Hood can't move any further forward
Mystic Realm
Known Completable
- All normal stages and emerald stages! See Ors' six-part Youtube playthrough of Robo-Hood getting all emeralds in Mystic Realm: Part 1
- PAZ2
- PAZ3
Known Uncompletable
- PAZ1 (note: stage forces Sonic skin normally)
- MRZ
Completable/Uncompletable levels (v2.0)
Vanilla SRB2
Known Completable
- GFZ1 – Can also be Perfect'd
- GFZ2
- GFZ3
- THZ1
- THZ2 – Can also be Perfect'd
- THZ3
- DSZ1
- DSZ2
- DSZ3
- CEZ1
- CEZ2
- ACZ1
- RVZ1
- ERZ1 – Sonic's final crusher on the left route can be cleared by wall-sliding on the right wall! (Video)
- ERZ3
- SS1-SS6
- SHZ
- MKB1
- MKB3 –
RH cannot use the yellow spring to reach the thwomp room, since in 2D mode he flat out cannot control his mid-air movement on springs- Update: 21/05/12: Zipper makes it to the end of this level, despite the odds! (Screen)
Known Uncompletable
- ERZ2 – Can complete up to the fan room
- MKB2 – RH can't spin!
- NAGZ – The AGZ3 route currently isn't completable for any characters anyway, while the Starlight Palace route has gaps between platforms too large for RH to cross
Unknown
- SS7 – Barely possible to reach the other outer areas, although this is tricky. RH can definitely go all the way through the inner areas though.
Mystic Realm
Known Completable
- JCZ1
- JCZ2
- JCZ3
- TVZ1
- TVZ2
- TVZ3
- VFZ1
- VFZ2
- VFZ3
- FRZ1
- FRZ2
- FRZ3
- MFZ1
- MFZ2
- MFZ3
- SPZ1
- SPZ3
- AGZ1
- AGZ2
- AGZ3
- AGZ4
- MKZ
- RKZ
- LWZ
- VFZ
- NCZ
- PAZ2
- PAZ3
- ISZ
Known Uncompletable
- SPZ2
- SCZ
- SPZ
- PAZ1 (note: stage forces Sonic skin normally)
- MRZ
Various Screenshots of Robo-Hood Glory
SRB2 v2.2 Screenshots
https://i.ibb.co/6rdxpt0/srb20002.png
Robo-Hood standing on a familiar house (RedXVI's house in SRB2 v2.2)
https://i.ibb.co/SwL61N7/srb20003.png
Robo-Hood standing on a tall haunted pillar
https://i.ibb.co/54c3Q5J/srb20004.png
Robo-Hood see's you back there, looking at his gloriousness
https://i.ibb.co/RDmRsYf/srb20005.png
Robo-Hood looking at a castle that's far far away
https://i.ibb.co/W2bCVkj/srb20002.png
Amy giving Robo-Hood a hug
SRB2 Outdated versions Screenshots
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/76eehh9r10hzq4y/srb20091.png
Super Robo-Hood! (Match/CTF only)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/ziapf4r6f9dwnrk/srb20092.png
Robo-Hood passing Aerial Garden Zone 3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/19dorkb3rohtvbl/srb20094.png
Robo-Hood standing on RedXVI's house
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/zsb5j6d08ztzika/srb20095.png
Robo-Hood confronted with a (harmless) Deton
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/6t4p7fyly2mgz5w/srb20115.png
Robo-Hood in Katmint's Cherry Canyon Zone from OLDC Nov/Dec 2010, a level infamous for having a ridiculous final room involving spring platforms over a death pit. Despite the difficulty however, Robo-Hood can still get through it!
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/ptaf9xqamgqynwr/srb20121.png
Robo-Hood in Deton Horror Zone, a (joke) test level of mine
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/y205kkbp8ew6iuu/srb20125.png
Robo-Hood at the end of the test level in fallingfloor-ceilingdeathpits-test.wad, another wacky creation of mine
Robo-Rangers!
- Cyan = SpiritCrusher
- Green = Monster Iestyn
- Red = Prime 2.0
- Deton = Deton
- Pink = Whackjood
- Yellow = Simsmagic
The Robo-Hood Action Movies of Epicness
- YouTube: The Adventures of Robo Hood – Green Flower Zone (by simsmagic) – Robo-Hood gameplay in all three acts of Green Flower Zone, recorded merely months after Robo-Hood was first created.
- YouTube: robohood gets past crushers magically (by Sryder13) – Robo-Hood clearing ERZ1 in SRB2 v2.0 with his amazing wallsliding ability!
- YouTube: The Poor Robo-Hood who was Right-Turn Paranoid (by kitokofox) – Robo-Hood Kart clearing an unreleased SRB2 Kart level (almost) exclusively by left-turn drifting.
- YouTube: SRB2 – Robo-Hood Madness (by SRB2Lightspeed) – Robo-Hood netgame for playing through the Single Player entries for the July/August 2014 OLDC.
Other stuff for your Robo-Hood Collections~
Note The following downloads all require SRB2 v2.0 to function properly. |
#RoboHood
I created this random channel to celebrate the amazingness that was Robo-Hood himself – the #robohood channel itself was founded on April 1st 2012. However, since I am absolutely abysmal at making this channel worth anything more than a few laughs, most of of 'hood's history has consisted of pure silence much to my dismay! Oh well.
This channel was closed on September 11th 2017.