I, Robot/Walkthrough

Once you have inserted your coin into the cabinet of Atari's 1983 arcade game I, Robot and pushed either Start Button, the game will proceed to the start screen shown above; you will have eight seconds to select either I, Robot "(The Game)" itself, or Doodle City ("The Ungame"), by pushing the hall-effect joystick either left or right, then pressing the Firing Button to confirm your choice.

There are several bonuses available in the game; the terrain wave of each level is timed and the best time will be displayed in the bottom-left corner of the screen. If the player manages to beat this time, he shall receive a 2500-point bonus - and, there is also a 999-point bonus for shooting every Tetra in the space wave of a level, with a second 2500-point bonus for getting the best Space Score (which is also displayed in the bottom-left corner). However, a player will not receive these bonuses, if he gets killed on the terrain or in space and has to be resurrected; if you press and hold both Start Buttons simultaneously on entering the transporter, you can warp as high as level 10, and if you press and hold the firing button as well as the start buttons, you can warp as high as level 20! And if the arcade operators have set the "Demo Mode" dip switch setting to "ON", you can warp as high as level 79, and if you start a new game promptly after the old one ends, you can restart from the level you were last on (even up to level 126, the last unique level) - as after level 126 (or "26" as the game calls it), the game goes through a random sequence of previous levels.

If you get killed by something in one of the early levels one of the game's important "unwritten rules" will appear upon the screen:
 * Getting hit by a Bird in mid-air while the robot is jumping from one side of the playfield to the other: "SHOOT BIRDS."
 * Jumping while the Eye is fully open (the robot shall say "EYE OPEN. DONT JUMP."): "DO NOT JUMP IF EYE IS RED."
 * Flying into a Meteor, Tanker, Tetra, or even a Bonus Letter, in a space wave: "REMEMBER: AVOID SOLID OBJECTS."
 * Failing to shoot one of the Spiking Head's spikes in a space wave that is a multiple of four: "EVERY SPIKE MUST BE SHOT. SHOOT HEAD TO MAKE IT TURN AND STOP SPIKING."; if you are a novice player, you may see this one more than any other, as the Head can be quite difficult.
 * Getting hit by a Tanker or Porcupine in a space wave (after shooting them, but if they reach you before you have shot them enough times to kill them): "TANKERS AND PORCUPINES GET MAD AND ATTACK WHEN SHOT."; again, novice players can also see this one frequently too.
 * Failing to shoot a Tetra, on a later space wave: "TETRAS KILL IF NOT SHOT. SCRAPE THEM OFF BY FLYING NEXT TO OTHER OBJECTS."

The Eye opens every seven seconds unless stated otherwise, and changes colour from green to yellow to red as it does so; you can jump while it is the first two colours, but not the third, as it will fire a laser at the robot and scatter his parts all over the playfield. And if you run out of time, the text "BONUS TIMER EXPIRED" will appear on the screen four times (each new instance of it will be below the previous one), and the robot will fall over and explode.

Level 1
A fairly simple level and the only enemies in it are Birds that can only be hit while jumping. The transporter in the lower left will let you warp to higher levels.

Level 2
There are Birds in this level that appear as you get to the last half of the terrain. Just jump carefully and be mindful of the Eye!

Level 3
The only "enemy" in this level is the tunnel that moves up, down and to the sides in the middle of the level, don't get caught in it. This is the first level in which you have to go into the pyramid in order to collect jewels and destroy the Eye before a Buzz Saw chews up the terrain.

Level 4
There are Birds again in this level. Make sure you fire when you jump so you can get by the Birds.

Level 5
There are Beach Balls in this level that roll over the terrain and will crush the robot if he gets in their way. Move to the lower extremes to avoid them.

Level 6
This level has blue walls that must be destroyed so you can jump over them and get the reds on the other side. The Eye fires Footballs at the robot so you must keep moving. This level ends with collecting jewels inside the pyramid.

Level 7
The yellow pillars on this level move up and down and can get in your way sometimes, but the real enemies in this level are the stars that circle around and home in on you. They move fairly slow so it's easy to avoid or shoot them.

Level 8
There are Sharks "swimming" in between the green walls on this level. They can't be killed and must be avoided.

Level 9
The Eye opens every 3 seconds on this level, and the enemies in it are Pyramids that move up and down the terrain. They are fairly easy to avoid, but be careful when you jump. The Pyramids cannot be killed because they are too short and the robot's shots go right over them.

Level 10
Similar to Level 6, you must destroy the blue walls and avoid the Footballs.

Level 11
This level is pretty hard, there aren't many reds, but there are 5 Buzz Saws cutting the terrain away which can kill the robot while jumping. You can kill the Buzz Saws on this level, but don't go out of your way to do so.

Level 12
This level is fairly easy, and there is a lot to jump to. The only problem is that the Birds now drop balls which home in on you, but they aren't too hard to avoid if you keep jumping.

Level 13
Similar to Level 8, but there are green walls in the centre so you cannot go all the way through which makes it much harder. There is not much jumping to do so you don't have to be concerned about the Eye, just watch out for the Sharks.

Level 14
This level is fairly easy, the Eye opens every 3 seconds but you only have to make one jump at the end. It also has Pyramids like the ones on Level 9 and they aren't too hard to navigate past.

Level 15
This level can be hard to do because you have very limited movement, and the Eye is firing Footballs at you. There are a couple of blue walls to shoot through, but you can't shoot through green walls. Only the Footballs can break them. Collect as many jewels as you can at the end.

Level 16
This level is similar to Level 14, but it is much harder to get by the Pyramids.

Level 17
This level is similar to Level 12, but instead of Birds, it has 3 huge diamonds that will home in and kill you.

Level 18
This level is similar to Level 7, but with flying rings instead of stars. Go into the pyramid to collect jewels at the end.

Level 19
This level is quite hard, you pretty much have to use a very high view because the green walls block your view. The only things that can get in your way are the logs that roll down the middle, and you have to jump through them twice. The logs can be killed, but there is no reason to as they just keep coming...

Level 20
This level is similar to Levels 6, 10 and 15, but this time you have to use the Footballs to break through the green walls. This requires you to stand near the wall you want broken, and when a Football is fired by the Eye, move away from it quickly. There is not much to cover you from the Footballs in this level so you have to keep your finger on the firing button.

Level 21
This level is pretty easy, it looks complicated, but you only have to get reds on the edges of the level. Footballs fly at you but if you keep firing there shouldn't be a problem. The yellow pillars move up and down and can get in the way however. This level ends with going into the pyramid.

Level 22
Similar to Level 19, but this time you have to deal with 2 rolling logs at a time and Footballs from the Eye. Press the firing button as fast as you can to get past the logs.

Level 23
There are no enemies in this level, just get all the reds and jump carefully because the Eye opens every 2 seconds!

Level 24
This level is pretty straightforward. But to get the reds inside the green walls you have to make the Footballs hit the walls like in Level 20.

Level 25
A very hard level, you must use a high view to see behind the green walls, and you must shoot the blue walls to get to the reds behind them. The main problem is that there are 2 more Pyramids hidden behind the green walls, which appear after shooting the blue walls.

Level 26
No enemies here, just you and the Eye, which opens every second! Lots of reds to get too, so jump fast and carefully.

Levels 27-52
The levels start repeating themselves all over again from this point, they are exactly the same but with a few differences: the colours are different, all the Birds drop balls that home in on you, when inside the pyramids the Buzz Saws move twice as fast, and there is a new type of enemy called the "Viewer Killer" which flies out of the pyramid straight at the PLAYER, not the robot. To avoid it you must change the camera view with the start buttons.

The player should also note that with the different palette applied to this set, the player must now cross over the areas colored yellow, as there is no red to be found starting from this point.

Levels 53-78
The levels repeat themselves for the second time at this point. This time, as well as the colours changing again, the Eye opens every 5 seconds. The target color is no longer yellow, but rather blue.

Levels 79-104
The levels repeat themselves for the third time. This time, as well as the colours changing again, the Eye will open every 3 seconds. Note that once the player reaches Level 100, the stage numbers will no longer display correctly, as the hundreds place is absent. So the level counter will roll over to 0 and continue to work its way up from there. The target color is now magenta.

Levels 105-126
This will be the final time the levels will repeat before presenting a random sequence of levels already visited. These levels are called level 5-26 ingame, due to the lack of a hundreds digit on the level counter. In the final levels, the Eye opens every four seconds and the target color is yellow.