R.O.B. (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)


 * This article is about R.O.B.'s appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For other uses, see Ancient Minister or Robotic Operating Buddy.

R.O.B., known in Japan as the Famicom Robot (, Robotto), is a newcomer in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. His full name is Robotic Operating Buddy, and he's based off the R.O.B. NES peripheral. He was unveiled in a mass leak prior to the Japanese release of Brawl. R.O.B. was confirmed on the DOJO!! March 6, 2008. He is currently the first and only inorganic character playable in the entire Super Smash Bros. Series. Although it looks like R.O.B. is using wheels to move on the ground, he is actually using small jet bursts from his Robo Burner. These have no effect on the fuel for the special move Robo Burner, however. Every time R.O.B. moves, he leaves small air circles on the ground, reinforcing the idea that he doesn't even use wheels to move on the floor. Ivysaur and Pit also have this property.

R.O.B. currently ranks 12th on the tier list, due to his great projectiles, great matchups, and excellent recovery. Rob's main problem is metaknight and this matchup is frequently cited for why Rob is in 12th place instead of higher.

How to Unlock
Complete one of the following:
 * Play 160 brawls, then defeat R.O.B.
 * Get 250 different trophies, then defeat R.O.B.
 * Get R.O.B. to join your party in The Subspace Emissary.

Attributes
R.O.B. plays the role of a long-range attacker very well, with projectiles and means to keep opponents at bay. His base up close is a blind spot, making it important to keep foes away. Many of his attacks balance moderate power and range with short lag-time. His moves with actual KO potential, though, have considerable start up lag or keep him airborne longer than desired. R.O.B. is also prone to Stale Move Negation on his killers, rendering him unable to kill at times. Despite his moves boasting only moderate knockback, R.O.B. can generally keep knocking his opponent away with superior range, and combine any of his moves together fairly easily. The resulting damage adds up rather quickly with an experienced player. R.O.B. is decently heavy, but he is also a large target. He has two projectiles, both with decent knockback and unique properties, which usually mess up the opponent's approach. The major flaw with these projectiles is that they are not spammable (as they must be charged/recharged). His aerial game is also good, with his down air acting as a Meteor Smash, and his back aerial's self-push effect aiding in his exceptional recovery. With the addition of Robo Burner, he is quite interesting to experiment with on certain combination of attacks and techniques such as a Wall of Pain. In fact, a technique sometimes called "burner flashing," which is initiated by first using Robo Burner, and then repeatedly pressing B, has been proven to be the farthest vertical traveling recovery move in one go. R.O.B.'s recovery does have its problems. He can't air dodge out of Robo Burner, making his recovery predictable for some characters, and he can be juggled because he is floaty in both jumping and recovery. R.O.B.'s side special reflects projectiles, but characters with more spammable projectiles can possibly overwhelm R.O.B. from afar.

Overall, with a very flexible ranged game, R.O.B. can be a dangerous foe for many characters in the game.

Normal

 * Standard Attack/Combo - R.O.B. does a quick swing with each arm. Two hits; the first one deals 3% damage and deals slight upward knockback, with almost no KO potential. The second one also deals 3%, but has much more power and horizontal knockback. Total, 6%.
 * Dash Attack - R.O.B. thrusts his arms forward. 5% normally, 6% if initiated at the center of the opponent.
 * Strong Side - Leans forward and punches with an impressive range. Can be aimed up or down. 5% normally, but 8% if R.O.B.s "hand" hits the opponent.
 * Strong Up - Arms point upwards and his "torso" moves up on his "spine", causing this to pop up a bit. Can hit twice, first hit does 3% and has set knockback, second hit launches opponents upwards; 6%. Total 9%. Hitting with the first (R.O.B.'s elbows at the sides) can lock most fastfallers and heavys, and the lock has a 0-death on Fox.
 * Strong Down - Quickly pushes his arms forward along the ground. Quick, produces opportunity for multiple hits. May trip. 5%-6%.

Smash

 * Side Smash - Shoots a short beam from his eyes. Can be directed up and down like a shorter Robo Beam. May be considered a projectile, due that can't break a Metal Box 12%-19%.
 * Down Smash - Lowers torso on his spine and extends arms, spinning them. Low damage and knockback, but decent range and multiple hits. One of the faster smashes. 11%-18%.
 * Up Smash - Plants hands on ground and does a handstand, shooting boosters out of his base upwards. Very good knockback but is on the slow side and is predictable. 14%-19%.

Other

 * Ledge attack - R.O.B. leaps onto the edge and swings both arms over-head. 7%
 * 100% ledge attack - Rotates so that his right arm is directly pointing the stage and lunges his right arm forward. 10%
 * Floor attack - Quickly gets up and spins with both arms extended in each direction. 6%
 * Trip attack - R.O.B. lowers his torso, withdraws it's left arm and extends it's right arm to sweep the floor around. 5%

Aerial Attacks

 * Neutral Aerial - Shoots his boosters out diagonally down in front of him, and spins with them going, deals about 11% damage with a good knockback and easy to hit with, slow coming out but when it does it's good, at low damage. R.O.B. can short hop and use this move a lot to hit enemies with.
 * Down Aerial - Boosts R.O.B. up a little bit, shooting his boosters down where he was. Powerful, yet slow, and can Meteor Smash yet not quickly. Keeps him stationary in the air shortly. 11%. This attack has a very odd hitbox, because when performed nearly at the sides of the opponent (at the sourspot), the move will deal upward knockback and will do 13%. When Tiny, R.O.B. can use this move instead of Robo Burner to recover. Provides him an unlimited Recovery move, because pushes him upward, and can be used infinitely to fly up the upper Blast line infinitely without getting Star KO'd, making it also the only unlimited non-Bomb recovery and the only infinite recovery (when Tiny) of every Smash Bros installment. Can also perform every Hyrule Jump (only when tiny).
 * Up Aerial - Raises arms repeatedly above his head, hitting multiple times with good damage if used right. About 20% of damage.
 * Forward Aerial - Looks like his dash attack, just in the air, fast and strong. Works as an excellent wall of pain. 10% (if sweetspotted).
 * Back Aerial - Aims his base behind him and fires his boosters. Pushes R.O.B. forward a little bit. The hitbox affects targets both in front of and behind R.O.B. each with decent knockback. This can be used for recovery in between Robo Burners, creating virtually the longest horizontal recovery move in the game along with Pound and Glide. 11%.

Grabs and Throws

 * Pummel: Squeezes opponent with his hands. 2%
 * Down Throw: Drills opponent into the ground in front of him. 10%
 * Up Throw: Grabs opponent, flies them into the air a short distance, turns them upside down, then crashes them into the ground (Similar to Olimar, Kirby or Meta Knight's up throw). 10%
 * Forward Throw: Tosses opponent forward. 10%
 * Back Throw: Quickly swings opponent backward. 10%

Taunts

 * Up taunt: Faces forward and spins his head and arms in opposite directions. (Similar to his Mario Kart DS pose)
 * Side taunt: Faces towards the screen, tilts his head to the side and moves it in a full arc, all the while his eyes glow and spark. He also subtly claps twice.
 * Down taunt: Faces forward, ratchets his arms down his spine and spins them back up to their original position. His wire appears to simply spin in mid-air, disconnected from his body. This also happens in all moves where he spins his torso. This is a reference to how R.O.B. was powered up when ready to play.

Role in the Subspace Emissary
The race of R.O.B.s appear under four roles in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. During The Subspace Emissary, they are a unit of the Subspace Army, and are used to activate the Subspace Bombs, as well as guard the Ancient Minister and come in different variations; R.O.B. Sentry, R.O.B. Launcher, and the R.O.B. Blaster. The bodyguards for the Ancient Minister are called The R.O.B. Squad. When a pair of R.O.B.s are used to activate a Subspace Bomb, they are destroyed in the explosions. In the Subspace Emissary, it is revealed that the Ancient Minister is actually R.O.B. and the whole reason he was destroying the Super Smash Bros. World was because Tabuu had killed a lot of R.O.B.s and he had become very depressed, and Tabuu black mailed R.O.B. to kill more unless he became the forefront of the SSE. It is also revealed that R.O.B., the Ancient Minister, was once the ruler of the world and he lives on a floating island along with the other ministers. Samus, Pikachu, Captain Olimar, Captain Falcon, Donkey Kong, and Diddy Kong were able to get in this same island. However, when they arrived, the Ancient Minister refused to battle with them.

A hologram of Ganondorf suddenly appeared and started commanding all the R.O.B.s except for the Ancient Minister. All the R.O.B.s attacked the Minister until his clothes and armour were burned off and the gang discovered he was R.O.B. After that, R.O.B. decided to stop destroying the world and teamed up with the gang to stop Ganondorf and Tabuu from destroying the World of Trophies.

R.O.B. is one of the few characters who has different names displayed in SSE. The first time is as the Ancient Minister and the second time as R.O.B. Zelda and Samus also have different names displayed.

Trivia

 * R.O.B. is one of two characters (the other being Donkey Kong) that have fallen down the tier list the same number with each tier list. R.O.B. has fallen 3 places each tier list.
 * R.O.B. is the only character without a stage representing his universe. Instead, the Mario Bros. stage is used as his home stage. Delfino Plaza is used if Mario Bros. has not been unlocked yet; this could be because he has been playable in the Mario series (in Mario Kart DS) or simply because Mario Bros. and Delfino Plaza are from the same series.
 * R.O.B.'s entrance animation may be a reference to Kirby's Dream Land 3, where the player must get pieces of R.O.B. throughout the level for Professor Hector so he can build him.
 * R.O.B. is the only character in Brawl who can hold 4 consecutive charges at the same time; a smash attack, a fully charged Gyro, Robo Beam, and the automatic replenishing of his fuel capacity for Robo Burner.
 * While some characters cannot be put in helpless naturally, their helpless state can be seen via hacking. R.O.B. is the exception, as the game freezes if he is put in helpless state, meaning he wasn't programmed to have one. Some have reportedly seen what looks like a helpless animation, but it has not been confirmed.
 * R.O.B.'s eyes turn green when he gets Star KOd and every time he gets attacked.
 * R.O.B. is the exact height of one Stage Builder block.
 * Despite being a robot, R.O.B can ingest food and fall asleep.
 * R.O.B. has an ON - OFF interrupter in his base.
 * R.O.B can be seen in the Port Town Areo Dive stage as 3 giant cranes