The Terminator, released in 1984, introduced the world to the titular killing machine, an entity sent through time to kill the woman who would birth a hero of the future. Robocop, released in 1987, introduced Detroit police officer Alex Murphy, a man who became reborn as a cybernetic supercop tasked with defending the innocent with extreme prejudice. It was only a matter of time before the two characters came to face, one machine tasked with destroying humanity, the other sworn to protect it, a match made in sci-fi heaven.
In 1992 Dark Horse Comics released Robocop Versus The Terminator (by Frank Miller and Walter Simonson), an action-packed story that pit the two titular robots against each other. After discovering a shocking revelation about the origins of the Terminators, a rebel fighter travels back through time to kill Robocop. The Terminators of the future reply in kind by sending multiple Terminators into the past to kill the rebel fighter before she can alter history for the better. What results is an explosive chronal escapade with Robocop and the Terminators traveling back and forth through time, the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
In 1994 Virgin Games USA developed a video game adaptation of the comic and the result was one of the bloodiest games of the decade. Robocop Versus The Terminator was released across multiple systems and was actually developed by a number of different respective companies such as Interplay for the Super Nintendo, Realtime Associates for the NES, and NMS Software for the Game Gear and Master System versions. While each game was based on the same material and mostly the same across the board, it was the Sega Genesis version that truly stood out due to its unrelenting violence.
The premise of the game is simple: players take control of Robocop as he sets out to rid the world of time-traveling Terminators and alter the future for the better. Terminators aren’t the only enemies intent on stopping Robocop, however, as any dirtbag with a gun and a bad attitude steps up to stop him. Unlike other action platformers of the era, such as Contra, Midnight Resistance, or ESWAT, enemies don’t simply fall down or explode like robots upon defeat. They explode like people. And it isn’t just a single animation that’s used for every enemy either; enemies detonate in a variety of creative ways, red pixels and body parts filling the screen.
Violent content such as this was what created such a cause for concern for the video game industry in the 90’s. It’s easy today to laugh at how primitive and even silly these games look today, but back when they were new it was shocking to see such depictions of gore and violence in a medium that was believed to largely be a medium for children. Robocop Versus The Terminator stands easily alongside other series such as Mortal Kombat, Primal Rage, and Phantasmagoria.
But the ridiculous violence in the game works because it acts as a perfect representation of what was in the movies and comics. The 1987 Robocop film was absolutely rife with excessive violence and body horror. The content in the film was a commentary on violence in pop culture as a whole and where the boundaries of decency laid. The 1992 comic adaptation, while much less graphic than its film counterpart, still depicts some truly terrifying content and imagery. The content within the movie, comics, and game all goes hand in hand in hand, and it should be seen for what it is: social commentary.
While overshadowed by other action titles on the Sega Genesis and the advent of 3D gaming, Robocop Versus The Terminator it was a solid experience that allowed players to fill the metal shoes of Detroit’s most lethal police officer. As a comic book adaption it stands well on its own, giving fans of the source material a chance to play out the explosive story. Tackling such heady material as time travel while representing two massively popular IP’s at the same time is no easy feat, but both the comic and its video game counterpart delivered well to fans.