💻 The Hardest Computer Game of All Time - Robot Odyssey - Part 4

Welcome to yet another continuation of my play-through of the hardest computer game of all time, Robot Odyssey. For new readers, you should start at part 1, here. Special thanks to @getonthetrain and all you readers for reading this series, it gives me the willpower to continue!

Alright, last time we ended off finally finishing the first level, today we begin in a totally new level, welcome to the Subway of Robotropolis.

Start of level 2, the Subway.

Knowing how helpful hints can be. this time before doing anything, I read the hints for this level:

Level 2 hints.

Hmm, so right off the bat I know I must get the token, exit ticket, and chips 3 & 4. First thing I did was wander around the entire map, getting to know the general area, and where all the blocked off (puzzle areas) are. While doing so I came across a room with an Easter egg.

Wow, Easter eggs go way back in the history of gaming.

Although interesting, it doesn't help with the game. After more wandering I found chip 3:

Chip 3, easy as pie.

I think that's it for the easy parts of this level. Just nearby, I encounter what I think is my logical first puzzle to solve: getting the token as stated in the hints.

The subway token! But wait, it's closed off?!

At first glance it looked impossible to get the token without some sort of hack, but I noticed yet another keyhole near the bottom right. Thankfully I hoarded all the items from the previous level, and the game seems to only have one master key for all the locks!

After inserting the key, a hole appears on the wall surrounding the token, granting me access. But yet another sentry guards it. So I must program the robot to retrieve the token for me. I broke the problem into two parts: first get to the token, then get back to where I started. That's two different circuits I must build, one after another.

So to get to the token, I built my circuit following this line of reasoning:

1. Set robot's grabber to always ON.
2. Go left AND up until no longer touching wall.
3. Then go left AND towards the token (using the directional sensor I picked up in level 1).

The following animation shows this part in action:

Gotcha!

After grabbing the token, I disassembled the circuit inside the robot to build the next part of my escape plan. The thinking behind this circuit was:

1. Keep going right no matter what.
2. Then go up until I'm no longer hitting a wall on my right side or top side.
3. Once that happens go down.

The following animations shows this in action:

Solved the first puzzle of this level. 

Just for fun, the circuit I came up with for the second half of the solution is here:

Not so bad, right?

Ok that was relatively simple, nothing requiring too much new thinking. I think these are just primers for much harder puzzles down the road. I shrugged at that thought since I have yet needed to use customized chips in my circuits in order to solve puzzles.

I stuffed the token into my robot and brought everything back to where I think I'm supposed to use the token.

Yea, it tells me in big plain letters.

Before attempting to do as the text on the screen tells me, I saved my game. As I dropped the token into the slot, the turn-style spun like crazy and I was blocked from entry before I could do anything. And also the token was gone. So I must've tried this part like a few times, each time failing horribly to get past the turn-style in time. It then occurred to me that I was running a 1984 game on a modern PC! My computer was emulating the DOS environment at too fast of a clock speed. After turning down the clock speed, I was able to pass through, as shown below. I programmed one robot to drop the coin, and the other robot to go left as soon as I power them up. I myself ran like crazy towards the left.

 

Getting past the turn-style.

Ok, so I got through successfully but how will I return to get my other robot that was left behind on the other side? Before thinking too much I saved in another slot as to not override my other save. It would suck if I messed up and had to start all over from the first level again. 

On the other side is a simple room, with a level that says, "pull here" and a button to push to call train in a closed-off space. So first I tried pulling the lever, it opens up access to the button. Then it occurred to me that I needed to program a robot to hit the button for me as I pulled the lever. This was simple enough, and the following animation shows this in action along with the train arriving at the end.

Calling the train car.

This feels like a good place to take a break, I'll continue tomorrow, stay tuned!