Biomotor Unitron

Genre: Turn-Based RPG

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in the NEOGEO Pocket Color Selection Vol. 2 bundle, along with Baseball Stars Color, Big Bang Pro Wrestling, Ganbare Neo Poke-Kun, Mega Man Battle & Fighters, NEOGEO Cup ’98 Plus Color, Puzzle Link 2, Pocket Tennis Color, SNK Vs. Capcom Card Fighters’ Clash, and The King of Fighters Battle de Paradise.)

Biomotor Unitron is a Turn-Based RPG first released on the NEOGEO Pocket Color in 1999 and brought to Nintendo Switch in 2022. This release of the game includes display settings, a selection of borders, zoom controls, a rewind function, and a copy of the original game’s manual, but there are no significant enhancements to the game itself (unless you count the addition of same-screen multiplayer).

In many ways, the world of Biomotor Unitron seems a lot like Pokemon, in that its entire society is built on one central thing, in this case custom-built robots instead of collectible monsters. As with Pokemon, players in this game take the role of an up-and-coming ~Pokemon trainer~ robot master aiming to fight other masters to become the very best there ever was, like no one was before… or something like that. In this game, this means fighting to get funds to gradually upgrade your fighting machine’s parts until they’re virtually unbeatable.

Unfortunately, Biomotor Unitron fails in numerous places where Pokemon succeeded. Its combat is not only simple, it lacks depth. Its story is inane to the point of being annoying (yes, even compared to Pokemon). The world offers no interesting exploration (it’s a central town surrounded by labyrinthine elemental dungeons). Its characters are completely forgettable.

A good RPG needs to offer something for its players to latch on to. The story, the characters, the graphics and music, the exploration, the combat, the character management… In the best RPGs, all of these things are giving players a reason to keep coming back, but even getting just one or two of these things right can make for a true classic. Biomotor Unitron excels in none of the above. And while the theme of building the ultimate fighting robot is great, in practice, it feels like a grindy slog. As such, I can’t recommend this game, especially with so many other better options on the Nintendo Switch.

tl;dr – Biomotor Unitron is a Turn-Based RPG first released on the NEOGEO Pocket Color, where players must build the ultimate fighting robot, something that seems like it would be a lot more fun than it actually is. This slog of an RPG offers very little reason to keep playing it, and no reason for me to recommend it over countless better games in the genre on Nintendo Switch.

Grade: D

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