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*BZZT* You fleshzy foolz will beg for mercy *FZZT* when I'm through with you!
~ Robo-Manus, Battletoads and Double Dragon
You’ve Still Got To Beat My Robotic Rabble Before You’ve Won, You Fly Eating Foolz!
~ Robo-Manus, Super Battletoads

Robo-Manus is a recurring villain and boss from the Battletoads series.

Details[]

Robo-Manus was originally a Biogen, a genetically and bionically-engineered man created by the Terran Corporate. At some point, he was "mutated by the forces of darkness", presumably by the Dark Queen, into a horrific cybernetic monstrosity armed with a potent array of weapons. He is notorious for having a different appearance, size and battle strategy in each game. Robo-Manus serves as one of the Dark Queen's two main guardians, the other being Big Blag. Additionally, given his frequent presence as a second-to-last or final boss, Robo-Manus may serve as the Dark Queen's second-in-command.

His classic appearance is typically that of a large, vaguely humanoid cyborg with a metal-plated body, enlarged and typically battle-damaged shoulder plates, exposed lower arms (each usually fitted with a blaster), and clawed feet. His head features a narrow visor through which he sees (often with a glowing red or purple "eye"), a large toothy jaw, and a metal skullcap or helmet that covers his otherwise exposed brain. His head also has protrusions resembling wings or fins on its sides, the purpose of which are unknown. Based on his appearance in Battletoads for Gameboy, Battletoads and Double Dragon, and early artwork, his head is connected to his body by a flexible series of joints.

In Battletoads and Double Dragon for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis, his face was made to look slightly more human, giving him two eyes as opposed to the single-eyed visor and a noticeable nose and cheekbones. His Super Battletoads arcade appearance altered him further, giving him an elongated head and removing his shoulder plates, not to mention massively increasing his size.

Appearances[]

Backstory[]

Prior to the events of Battletoads, Robo-Manus, known at the time as Robo-Manus IV, was an officer of the Terran Corporate and the commanding officer of the Security Transporter Gargantua. He was at one point ordered by his superior, Corporate Executive Zukav, to take the Gargantua to a way station to retrieve a cryogenically-frozen Angelica and take her to the planet of Angelus - the so-called "Planet of Power" where young, magically-gifted people go to learn to use their powers for good. Robo-Manus reluctantly obeyed his superior, and set course for way station, and subsequently the planet.

At some point following this, Robo-Manus came to serve the Dark Queen and became an enemy of the Battletoads.

Battletoads (NES)[]

In his first ever appearance, Robo-Manus serves as the boss of Stage 8, the Intruder Excluder, where he is encountered at the top of the elevator shaft. Here, he is armed with a rapid-fire blaster that shoots a series of three projectiles which can quickly kill the 'toads if they hit. Additionally, he jumps around the platform in an attempt to crush the 'toads underfoot. It's worth noting that the speed of his jumps increases noticeably as he takes damage and his pattern of movement can become very unpredictable.

Battletoads (Game Boy)[]

In the Game Boy version of Battletoads, Robo-Manus appears as the final boss in lieu of the Dark Queen, guarding the captive Rash and Pimple. In this game, Robo-Manus is much larger than he was in the original NES game and more closely resembles his depiction in artwork. Equipped with a pair of blaster cannons on his arms and capable of launching flaming, mortar-like projectiles from his body, Zitz must attack his arms and head with a mallet and destroy them to defeat him. As he takes damage, his attack speed increases considerably, and it's worth noting that even with his head destroyed, he can continue to attack.

Battletoads & Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team[]

In Battletoads and Double Dragon, Robo-Manus is encountered in the fifth stage, Missile Mayhem. Charged with flying a missile powerful enough to destroy the Earth, the 'toads and Dragons must fight their way from the tail-end of the missile all the way up to the cockpit and fight Robo-Manus at the missile's tip. This time, he's capable of firing laser blasts from his visor in a set pattern, jumping after each attack.

The difficulty of the fight largely depends on the version: The NES and Mega Drive versions are the hardest, as his laser blasts deal two blocks of damage, and the initial pattern he fires them in (One high shot, one low shot, and one middle shot) can successively hit the player enough to kill them. After firing, he jumps to a new spot, dealing two blocks of damage if he lands on the player. After he's taken enough damage, his firing pattern changes (one low shot, one high shot) and his jumps become far more frequent and erratic.

In the SNES version, he is significantly weaker. His laser attacks only deal one block of damage, can't successively hit the player and follow the same pattern. He also only jumps in the same place and never moves unless hit by the player.

Super Battletoads[]

Robo-Manus appears as the final boss of Super Battletoads, and is far larger than he was in any of his previous encounters. This time, he attacks the 'toads on their spaceship at the end of the level and is fought in a series of phases.

During the first phase, he attacks from the side of the screen, unleashing barrages of missiles and streams of fire from his hands on the player. As he takes damage, his pattern changes and speeds up, eventually attacking with exploding drones and flamethrowers that appear from behind the player.

After taking sufficient damage, phase two begins. Robo-Manus will move below the 'toads ship where he will start flinging blue fire balls from his hands in random patterns at increasing speeds as they take damage. After taking enough damage, his arms will be blown off and the final phase begins.

During the third and final phase, Robo-Manus begins moving back and forth as he continually fires projectiles upward from a cannon on his back. Here, players must directly attack his head. After being dealt enough damage, a part of Manus' helmet is blown away, exposing his brains underneath and bringing up a status display of his shield power. He continues his attack pattern, albeit at a significantly increased speed.

Once his brain has taken enough hits, Robo-Manus will suffer a complete breakdown of his systems, singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, offering the 'toads coffee and wishing them Merry Christmas among other things before firing off one last series of blasts at the 'toads' ship and violently exploding, sending his mangled head slamming into the screen. Afterwards, he declares "I'll be back!" as the 'toads damaged ship limps away.

Battletoads: The Lost Adventure[]

Robo-Manus appears during a flashback in Battletoads: The Lost Adventure, fighting (and being defeated by) the Battletoads on their Jet Bikes. Once again in a gargantuan form, this incarnation of Robo-Manus more closely resembles his classic appearance than his previous appearance in Super Battletoads, albeit with more noticeably exposed legs. The Battletoads accuse the Dark Queen of siccing him on them "for the fourth time", but she denies that she did so. This implies that Robo-Manus was working for the Topians at this point, be it willingly or unwillingly.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Robo-Manus' concept art reveals that he was originally intended to have two distinct forms: A smaller humanoid form which matches the in-game sprite of the first game, and his iconic heavily-mutated form, as featured in most of his artwork. This also lines up with the media bible's depiction of Robo-Manus as an un-mutated (albeit artificially built) officer of the Terran Corporate.
  • Concept art for a toy tied to the cancelled Battletoads cartoon demonstrates that his torso would split in half while his head would be pushed down during the transformation.
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