Robot Battler is one of those old-school Genesis brawlers where you pick a hulking metal fighter and just go to town. The roster’s small but weird—some bots have drill arms, others shoot lasers, and one even has this ridiculous spinning torso attack that looks like a washing machine gone rogue.

Matches are fast and kinda brutal. You’ve got a stamina bar that drains when you attack, so button-mashing gets you wrecked fast. Took me a few rounds to realize holding back and timing counters works way better than spamming punches. The AI’s not bad either—they’ll feint and punish you if you get predictable.

Graphics are chunky in that classic 16-bit way, but the robot designs have personality. My favorite’s this clunky tank-legged thing that stomps around like it’s mad at the floor. Soundtrack’s all screechy synth, which somehow fits perfectly when you’re landing a combo that sends your opponent skidding across the arena.

It’s not the deepest fighter out there, but for a quick blast of robot-on-robot chaos, it holds up better than you’d expect.