If you’re unfamiliar with the original I, Robot, that’s very likely not your fault. Reportedly, fewer than 1000 of the cabinets were ever manufactured and released to arcades – and that’s a shame, because it has quite a pedigree. Not only was it developed by Dave Theurer (who worked on classics like Missile Command and Tempest), but is also notable as being the first commercially produced arcade game rendered entirely with real-time, flat-shaded, 3D polygonal graphics.
At the time, I Robot received negative reviews and was a financial flop for Atari, but in the intervening years, it has been recognized as the landmark title that it is – and was even included in the Atari 50 collection in 2022.
So, to get us all ready for the 2025 modernized version headed our way, let’s travel back to 1983 and get better acquainted with the original.
