Robot Wars: The Ultimate Guide

Robot Wars: The Ultimate Guide
Front Cover
Production Information
Author	Kay Barnham
Publisher	Penguin Books
Release Date	October 31, 2002
Book Information
Series	1-6, Extreme 1
Pages	128
ISBN	ISBN 0141314931

"STEP UP TO THE ARENA...
This has to be the ultimate in robot mania... a collection of the most classic moments, surprising facts and record-breaking stats from the entire run of the Robot Wars series. If you thought you knew all there was to know about your favourite robots or roboteers – think again! This Ultimate Guide will highlight the progress of a selection of the top robots, from their incarnation in the original series to their mighty presence in the sixth war – with all the most violent battles, quickest defeats and outrageous rebellions crammed in between."

— Blurb on the back cover

Robot Wars: The Ultimate Guide was one of three books about Robot Wars competitors and other facts. It was published just before the start of Robot Wars: The Sixth Wars. It included some notable sections, including the rules, a terminology section, an interview with House Robot designer and operator Chris Reynolds, separate sections for notable battles, a results collection from Series 1-5 and Extreme Series 1 and includes the draw for The Sixth Wars.

Robot Profiles featured

Main article: Category:Robots Profiled in the Ultimate Guide

Notable battle sections

• Most Violent Battle - Hypno-Disc vs Splinter, Semi-Final 2, The Fourth Wars
• Quickest Battle - Evolution vs Spawn Again, Semi-Final 2, Heat G, The Fifth Wars
• Dirtiest Battle - Wheely Big Cheese vs Prizephita Mk 2 vs Wheelosaurus, Eliminator 1, Heat H, The Fourth Wars
• Most Memorable Battle - Wheely Big Cheese vs Axe Awe, Semi-Final 1, Heat H, The Fifth Wars
• Funniest Battle - Kat 3 vs Major Tom, Semi-Final 1, Heat J, The Fifth Wars
• Longest-running Grudge - Pussycat vs Razer, Heat Final, Heat B, The Fourth Wars, continued in Vengeance, Extreme.

Errors

• The quickest battle at the time is stated to be Evolution and Spawn Again, at 19.1 seconds, when the record at the time was Cerberus vs Griffon from Series 3. Even though they could have been counting the total time before 'cease' was called, it then goes on to state that Wheely Big Cheese vs Axe Awe was 12 seconds long, and that battle involved an immediate immobilisation.
• S3's former incarnation is said to be Triterobot, despite it mentioning that it was Mousetrap's original incarnation, and its battle history is in Mousetrap's column (with the robot also being incorrectly put down as 'Tri-Terra-Bot' on both counts). S3's true former incarnation was Sting, although this is not mentioned at all.
• In S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s battle history, it states it was beaten in Round 2 in The Third Wars by Dreadnaut (also misspelled 'Dreadnought'), when it was beaten in Round 1 by Rattus Rattus.
• The results for The Fourth Wars: Sumo Basho are incomplete and partially incorrect. The only robots shown are Maverick, Diotoir, Firestorm 2, S.M.I.D.S.Y., Spawn of Scutter, X-Terminator, Scorpion, Razer and Bigger Brother. In addition, it states Spawn of Scutter won the tournament (Panic Attack won it yet it isn't even mentioned in the time list), and Scorpion, Razer, Spawn of Scutter and Bigger Brother's times are all incorrect.
• In the Robot Wars Extreme: Series 1 results, it says Spirit of Knightmare won Annihilator 2 when Disc-O-Inferno did, and Anty B won the Antweight Melee when Combat Ant did (though Anty B would go on to win the antweight competition in the next series of Extreme).
• The weapon stats for 101's, Chaos 2's and S.M.I.D.S.Y.'S profiles are wrong - 101's and Chaos 2's weapon stats say "Vertically Mounted Flywheel" whilst S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s reads "Axe and Lifter". Chaos 2 in reality had a flipper, S.M.I.D.S.Y. had jaws (that could act as a lifter somewhat) and a disc and 101 had a spear which had a sensor.
• Kronic 2's former incarnation is said to be Wedgehog although in fact the two robots were built by different teams.
• Atomic is said to have flipped Reactor out of the arena in the qualifiers. Robots were never allowed to flip each other out of the arena in the qualifiers due to safety concerns.
• The Series 4 heats F and M are in the wrong place. The guide says Wild Thing and Sir Chromalot were in Heat F and Tornado and Gemini in Heat M, when it is the other way round - this mistake is repeated in the Sir Chromalot profile. In reality, according to the seed distribution, the listing in the Ultimate Guide would be the consistent place, despite not being the reality.
• It states that Growler weighs 420kg and Mr. Psycho weighs 600kg when Growler and Mr. Psycho actually weighed 375kg and 750kg respectively.
• ORAC's Revenge is incorrectly named DRAC's Revenge in the Series 3 guide.
• In the Series 3 guide, Thermador is spelt with an "I" in place of the "A". This error also appears in Thermidor 2's Battle History and in its Former Incarnations.
• In the War Of Independence it states that Ming 3 took part, despite the fact that Ming 2 took part. Ming 3 hadn't been made yet.
• Behemoth's weapons stat only has Pneumatic Scoop as the weapon, saying nothing about the axe.
• In the House Robots section, it states that Sergeant Bash has a Rear-mounted Cutting Disc even though it was deactivated and was only for show in the Third Series.
• In Mini Morg's History, it says that they lost in round one to Kat 3 in the Fifth Wars. Later, in the Worst Moment section it says that they lost to Kater Killer. In real life they lost to Kat 3, although Kater Killer was made by the same team.
• In Series 4 results, Millennium Bug is just called "Millennium".
• It misspells Panzer Wraith as "Panzerwrath".
• It calls The Parthian Shot "The Parthian Scott".
• Demon Duck is simply reduced to "Demon".
• Corporal Punishment is misspelled "Corp Punishment" in the Internet Insurrection report.
• Firestorm is credited as having scored 185 points in the Series 4 Pinball Tournament when it only scored 135 points.
• In the Series 4 results, the semi-finals have the wrong robots listed. Spawn of Scutter, Panic Attack, Stinger and MouseTrap are said to have fought in Semi-Final 1, whilst Pussycat, Thermidor 2, Firestorm 2 and Dominator 2 are said to have fought in Semi-Final 2. In reality, it was the other way round. The Grand Final eliminators are also reversed.
• Pussycat is stated as reaching the Extreme 1 All-Stars Semi-Finals when it actually reached the All-Stars Quarter-Finals.
• The Longest Running Grudge is said to be between Pussycat and Razer, when that had only lasted two fights (the second of which was only acted out for entertainment purposes), even though grudges such as the one between Panic Attack and Firestorm or King Buxton and Team 101 had lasted more fights (They had both fought each other three times).
• In Thermidor 2's Best Moment, it incorrectly states that Thermidor 2 threw Behemoth and Stinger out of the arena in the Tag Team Tournament when this actually occurred in the Mayhem battles.
• Major Tom's Extreme Series 1 information is not listed.
• Crasha Gnasha is incorrectly listed as Crash Gnasha in the Series 3 results.
• Tiberius II is misspelt as Tiberious II in the Series 5 results.
• Destruct-A-Bubble is misspelt as Distruct-A-Bubble in the Series 4 results.
• The Series 4 results also incorrectly states Big Brother competed in Heat J when it was actually Bigger Brother who competed in Heat J.
• In the Extreme Series 1 results, King B Powerworks is credited as King B3.
• It mistakenly says Razer and Gemini both won the Series 4 Best Design Award when in real life, only Gemini won the award.
• It does not mention Roadblock's successor Beast of Bodmin despite the former having a profile.
• Draven is referred to by its original name, Anthrax.
• In Dominator 2's battle history, it says that Dominator 2 reached the Semi Finals of the Fifth Wars 'by surviving one of Wheely Big Cheese's legendary flips'. This actually happened in the first round of the Semi Finals.
• Napalm's Extreme 1 performance only lists it reached the Annihilator in the Mayhem, ignoring its Tag Team Terror and Vengeance information.
• Mortis' weight is listed as 100kg when it was actually 79.3kg from when it last competed.
• In the Extreme 1 results, the House Robot Rebellion is referred to as the "UK House Robot Challenge".
• King B Powerworks' Extreme Series 1 performance ignores its Mayhem and Wild Card Warrior battles.
• Chaos 2's Series 5 performance says it flipped Storm Force into the pit in Round 1 when it actually placed Storm Force on the pit before activating the pit button.
• Storm Force is listed as "Storm" in the Series 5 results. Also, Bulldog Breed 3 is listed as Bulldog Breed 2.

Trivia

• The editors notes contain the message "Thanks to all the roboteers for their contributions. A special tribute to the late David Gribble, driver of Pussycat."