THE MAKING OF ROBOCOP VERSUS THE TERMINATOR

“There was a feeling that RVT was the ugly stepchild at the time when I joined the team”
TIM WILLIAMS

IN THE KNOW

» PUBLISHER: VIRGIN GAMES

» DEVELOPER: IN-HOUSE

» RELEASED: 1993

» PLATFORM: MEGA DRIVE, VARIOUS

» GENRE: RUN-AND-GUN

Both had been incredible sleeper hits, totally unfancied at the box office, and demonstrated the pointedly adult sci-fi talents of maverick directors looking for their first major breakthrough hit. Then, when the inevitable sequels appeared, the two franchises began to diverge: 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day eclipsed even its predecessor and broke box office records worldwide, while RoboCop 2, released a year earlier, was very far from the success that the first film had been, both critically and commercially. Bafflingly, a further Terminator film then appeared elusive, while RoboCop received a third, even more poorly received, outing in 1993 that made the heinous mistake of going ahead without its original star, Peter Weller. Nevertheless, thanks mainly to the UK’s Ocean Software, there was already a rich vein of RoboCop-starring videogames at this point, however the pixellated Terminator was lagging behind. It was time for a