The Robo-Ky (ロボカイ, Robo-Kai) are characters in the Guilty Gear fighting game series. As their name implies, they are robotic versions of Ky Kiske. A notable model of Robo-Ky appears as Ky's GG mode version in the console re-release of GGX, GGX Plus. They then made their first dynamic story mode first appearance in GGXX, while the revamped version appears in #Reload. To unlock the character all 60 story paths must be beaten, 40 missions have to be completed, fight him on Level 210 in Survival Mode, or accumulate 60 hours of normal gameplay. While the Robo-Ky did not have a story path until Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus, they are a major element of many characters' story. They seem to be interested in taking into custody those of Japanese descent, those who use Ki force, and those who the P.W.A.B. consider a threat.
Little did most know, Robo-Ky made his debut in GGX Plus as the "Guilty Gear" mode of Ky. This version along with the XX version was erroneously coined as "Gear Ky", "Orochi Ky", or "Black Ky." Up close, all the models are shown to have the same type of clothing Ky himself wears, only in that as of #Reload, "Ennui" is etched onto the belt in the place of "Hope". This may be an indication that all or most unique playable versions are counterfeits made by rogue scientists.
Up close face wise, all Robo-Ky's are shown with metallic faces with mouths that have artificial joints (GGXX's character select artwork seems to omit the joint-lines), yellow lights for eyes, and toy wind-up gears on one side of their head (similar to Frankenstein, though the #Reload Robo-Ky has both of them on the side of their heads.)
However, the sprites largely contradicted with the artwork. GGX Plus Robo-Ky was a simple palette swap of Ky with a few different moves, while in GGXX where his appearance was more notable, the same occurred where instead, Robo-Ky's skin on his sprite was colored light-turquoise to match his artwork and to differentiate with the normal Ky, though his mouth was normal like the original Ky sprite. His eyes were also dilated with no pupils and with yellow sclera. He also gained one of EX Ky's moves and was now a separate character from Ky on the select screen, for he was no longer an "EX" version of him. To top off, Robo-Ky lacked an EX mode, but had his own Gold version and had no story mode. In the story mode, Robo-Ky's portraits mirrored normal Ky's, only with artwork differences (the positions were the same) and thus, several characters mistook Robo-Ky with the original in many instances. This became an obsolete issue in GGXX Accent Core Plus, where all characters are clearly able to tell he is a robot.
As of #Reload, Robo-Ky then finally became a new character outright; his fighting stance was the same as Ky's (only with differences in face animation), and his face now had gray plating, white "teeth" for his artificial mouth, a "dirty" shade to his outfit (the colors of Robo-Ky's outfits are more yellow than normal Ky's), and a black colored Fuuraiken. He also gained brand new sprites and attacks as well, due to the GGXX incarnation being a broken and banned character from the tournament scene. He would then also gain his own story mode in Accent Core Plus.
In terms of voice, Robo-Ky in GGX Plus would "stutter" his phrases, while in GGXX, Robo-Ky's voice in both story and gameplay would be Takeshi Kusao's voice distorted. As of GGXX #Reload, the new Robo-Ky would gain completely new voice clips and another voice in Accent Core.
Special versions were included in Guilty Gear Isuka, such as "Robo-Ky Mk. II", a model created by a rogue scientist that could be programmed by the player with facsimiles of moves from other characters, and "Robo-Ky Substance", a completely grey-colored massive scaled-up version of Mk. II.
Robo-Ky's first debut in GGX Plus showed him to have a grudge against the normal Ky (similar to most "cloned" creations of originals), while in GGXX, the Robo-Ky's are all loyal initially loyal to the The Post-War Administration Bureau, while mocking and looking down upon other fighters and proving to them the "might, order and superiority" of the PWAB. As of #Reload, Robo-Ky is given somewhat of a more comical personality, but not much is shown due to the slight lack of story modes in #Reload, Slash and Isuka. In Accent Core Plus, it is shown that this variant is a perverted, womanizing, seemingly defective model. "Ennui" is etched onto his belt, which suggests he may be acting out of boredom. It is revealed when defeating another Robo-Ky that he is both an archaic model and a "fake", meaning he is not registered. He doesn't appear to like characters who aren't human, or masculinely strong women like Jam.
Crow sends Robo-Ky to different missions, trying to send him to his destruction, while Robo-Ky seems to turn crazier with the passing on time. He is destroyed by the new guard prototypes, the Justice clones, but the final result is the destruction of both. Free from Robo-Ky, Crow shows his new prototypes, the "Robo-temkins".
In the Story Mode for the other characters, Robo-Ky appears as a guardian for the Bureau or as a crazy robot that finds everybody to be "defective" minus the female characters. Instead, he tries to turn them into his wives.
In GGX Plus, Robo-Ky's standing and walking sprites were all ripped from normal Ky's "getup" sprites (if Ky was lying with his front on the ground). His running animation was a Ride the Lightning movement without its effects, and his backdash went back a bit less further. Robo-Ky would often be in a weak, slouching stance (possibly to hint that it has a few bugs, and would also use the "exit menu" sound effect periodically), and his walking animations would make him crawl on the ground. His crouching stance was ripped from the final frames of Ky's normal throw. All other movements were the same however, such as his normal attacks.
Like with alternate mode characters, moves were to be replaced and lost:
Charged Stun Edge was replaced with Ray Divider: a move where Robo-Ky brings up his hand and slaps it to the ground to create an electric barrier that can block projectiles and do heavy damage.
Stun Dipper was replaced with Impala Hunt: a move where Robo-Ky dashes a quick distance at a blindingly fast speed to sweep his foe with a low electric slash. Using it up close would make Robo-Ky slash from behind.
The HS version of Vapor Thrust was now an Overdrive called Aegis High/Aces High, where Robo-Ky takes up into the sky in an angelic manner (basically an upwards Ride the Lightning) and slashes outward in a regal position. Only GGX Advance gives the move the command QCFx2+S, making the HS Vapor Thrust accessible again.
Robo-Ky gained a new overdrive using the animation from Ky's win against Sol; he fires a beam from his eyes that can stun foes in a near instant, but can miss most short characters and crouchers. (GGX Advance only.)
Crescent Slash is replaced with Reverse Crescent; a backwards Crescent Slash done in a front-flipping heel drop manner. (This is not present in GGX Advance however, where Crescent Slash still remains the same).
In GGXX, he gains EX Ky's Elegant ni Kiru (Elegantly Beheading) command throw.
Also in GGXX, Robo-Ky's Sacred Edge fires a laser instead of a massive lightning spear-head (similar to his unnamed laser overdrive in GGX Advance).
Ride the Lightning does only one hit, but travels faster.
Most of these moves would be reused by Kakusei Ky in GG Isuka.
In GGXX, Robo-Ky was the same as in GGX Plus, only now he had a distorted voice and turquoise skin. However, even outside the story mode (where Robo-Kys tend to analyze abilities of the characters, making them only damageable by Overdrives or Instant-Kills), the robot was considered overpowered due to its speed, low frame, and with some of its superb moves (Impala Hunt being great for crossups and mixups alike, as well as Ride the Lightning and Sacred Edge being more damaging and buffed from their original versions used by the normal Ky). Robo-Ky was thus along with Justice and Kliff, banned from competitive play. However, some sources state it was simply not because the robot was overpowering, but mainly due to the fact that along with the aforementioned two, they were console-exclusive characters added in with no actual balance done to their movesets.
In #Reload, Robo-Ky then became a heavy hitter (in both power and weight), along with having some of the highest defenses of the cast. His new moves give a new height to his gameplay, making Robo-Ky a powerful character with great combos and zoning potential, and the chance to rack up massive damage of a large number of hit confirms. His normals all have great hitting power and a notable amount of them can cause stagger. It should be noted that instead of a Tension Meter, Robo-Ky has a "Power Gauge" instead, which empties whenever he not only uses Overdrives, but special moves as well. The latter type of moves are powered up depending on how much levels of power Robo-Ky has.
He does have notable drawbacks though. Robo-Ky has the lowest amount of guts on the roster to offset his high defense, making him susceptible to long combos with little damage deterioration. He also gains his power at a very considerably slow rate, making him very meter reliant. The fact that his special moves can drain his power rather quickly doesn't seem to help. Robo-Ky also has a temperature gauge next to his Power Gauge, which fills up as he uses special moves and other sorts of attacks. This can be good and bad, as having high temp can increase the stun on his attacks with an added fire effect (made apparent on how red his plating gets), though making Robo-Ky overheat will make him explode and fall back, interrupting anything he was just doing, as well as dealing him slight damage. His heat can be lowered with his f+HS attack, the Ky-Netsuzai (Anti-Febrile) can let out heat while doing varying amounts of damage depending on how hot Robo-Ky is. For quick power gains, he can use his Zadan-Ky (Conversation-Meeting) move to lay mats that only Robo-Kys can gain power from, use his Ky-Denpa (Strange-Electrical Wave) to suck energy from his opponent and convert it to power, or his Gen-Ky Lovers to boost himself with a quick power gauge gain for 10 seconds, only to explode into a huge surge of electricity and lose all power, though this portion of the move can be great to damage opponents with.
Robo-Ky also has taunts only used while knocked down, with chances of ruining the opponent's wake-up pressure on Robo-Ky if used at correct moments.
Robo-Ky's EX version is similar, though it alters his moves notably; he gains an Overdrive version of his crouching HS called Torinitorotoruen Henshitsu (TNT Declaration) and his Ky-Netsuzai and Zadan-Ky have special move motions (as well as several of his moves gaining new motions as well; his Ky-Kokoro no Ichigeki has a new motion that does not need an initial grounded Ky-Maku Home Run/Game-Opening Home Run to connect and can even be done in midair). Not only that, his Slash, Hard Slash and Dust moves (including the aforementioned motions of his specials) have all been revamped to fit a scheme similar to the normal Ky, and his power bars are split into 20 as opposed to 10. But at cost of this new form of play, his Dame na Yatsu wa Nani wo Yatte mo Dame! (Whatever is Done, A Fellow No Good is No Good!) and Ita-Ky-Geki (Painful-Effect-Attack) are removed as a result.
The Robo-Ky appear to be capable of calling each other, analyzing the moves of their opponent (to the point where they can become immune to them), poisoning them, and instant brainwashing. In GGXX, they were portrayed as a serious threat. However, as of Accent Core, they are often used as comical relief throughout the game, and shown to have personalities and low intelligence. In #Reload, the Robo-Kys are also shown to be more robotic than in X Plus or XX, as they can detach their body parts, and even conceal objects inside several of their compartments, such as a chair in their backs, or produce a literal cape out of their clothing.
"DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DAME!!!" (NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO GOOD!) Guilty Gear XX #Reload-onwards - during Whatever is Done, A Fellow No Good is No Good!
"GIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~!!!!/GEEEEEEEE~!!!!" - Ky-Kokoro no Ichigeki (The second one is from Accent Core)
"DOSHITME MO TATAKAI? KEISU YONJUU HACHI "ORIJINARU TONO SOUGUU" MANYUARU NIYORI SUMIYAKA NI-NAN DAKE?!" (WHY A DESPERATE FIGHT? CASE 48 "ENCOUNTER WITH ORIGINAL" MANUAL SAYS MIMIC ACTIONS ACCORDINGLY-WHAT THE HELL?!) Guilty Gear XX #Reload-onwards - one of his Intros against his "original", Ky Kiske.
In Robo-Ky's encounter with Jam in his Story Mode, he stated that he can convert human food into energy, meaning that he can, essentially, eat.
Many of Robo-Ky's moves make fun of Ky Kiske in the form of puns with the japanese "Kai" sound, like "13 Ky-Dan (13th Staircase)" and "Kurattoku Ky? (Want Some Pain?)"
Some of his #Reload moves are ripoffs on animations from the original GGX Plus and GGXX Robo-Ky's (and a bit of normal Ky's in general):
Gen-Ky Lovers (Limit-Lovers) uses Ray Divider's animation.
Ky-Denpa (Strange-Electrical Wave) is a rip from Elegant ni Kiru (Elegantly Beheading).
Ky-Maku Home Run (Game-Opening Home Run) is uncanny to Vapor Thrust.
EX Ky's Kiriharai (Cutting Banish) is the same finishing animation to Aegis High, Ky-Kokoro no Ichigeki (Single Attack of the Reforming-Heart) is a directly-vertical Aegis High.
Ita-Ky-Geki (Painful-Effect-Attack) uses Ride the Lightning's animation.
His crouching K uses the first hit of Stun Dipper.
The initial blow of his Instant Kill uses an altered animation of Impala Hunt. The start of Ky-Kokoro no Ichigeki also uses the final animation of Impala Hunt for its startup, and so does Kakusei Ky's version of Aegis High in GG Isuka.
Robo-Ky's taunt involves spawning a table with a drink on it, and appears to be hitting on the opponent.
His Instant Kill spawns smaller Robo-Kys that walk down a ladder from his mouth. This is most likely a reference to Yatterwan in the Anime Series "Yatterman".
His aerial move (where he paddles a bicycle while he is lifted by his helicopter-like head) is nicknamed as "ROFL-copter" because of its hilarity.
In the Open-Field game: M.U.G.E.N, fans made Robo-Jam and Robo-Sol each using many of these knockoffs's originals and Robo-ky himself. "Robofying" characters is a bit popular among fans, some of the examples being Robo-Dizzy.
While Robo-Ky's character sprite depicts his "skin" as blue, his artwork has it green. Others show him as silver.
Mini Robo-KyOne of Faust's Special Moves (What's Next?) and its Overdrive version (Super What's Next?) involves Faust dropping small-sized dolls of some characters. Robo-Ky is one of these characters.
It should be noted, however, that the mini Robo-Ky uses his original green color scheme from Guilty Gear XX: The Midnight Carnival.
Robo-Ky's Ky-Kokoro no Ichigeki (Single Attack of the Reforming-Heart) is one of the few Overdrive moves that can only be followed up from a special move; the other is Axl Low's Shiranami no Homura (Thief's Flame).
In normal mode, Robo-Ky is one of the few characters who has universal attacks that are inconsistently allocated; his crouching dust/sweep is instead a special move while his real sweep is his crouching S. His crouching HS is also an upward projectile.
Robo-Ky's f+HS, the Ky-Netsuzai is translated as High-Temperature Medicine or Anti-Febrile, a reference to medicine used for high temperature fevers.
Robo-Ky is the only character to have no new artwork for Guilty Gear Isuka. He reuses his #Reload artwork instead.
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