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"The Robot Wars TV Studio, the home of Robot Wars, better keep clear of the dangerous hazards."
— In-game description

The Robot Wars TV Studio is one of eight playable arenas in the PC and Xbox versions of the video game Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction. It is a replica of the Robot Wars Arena, as it appeared from Series 5 onwards. The TV Studio is one of three arenas which are unlocked at the very start of the game.

Appearance and Hazards[]

"There's the pathway to oblivion, right under that innocent-looking panel. Look out for that opening up as you battle in this Arena, or you could get a nasty surprise! There's the Pit Opening Mechanism, that's the only way to open the Pit and send your opponents into oblivion! The circular saws can do a lot of damage for you and if an opponent can be maneuvered into them, a useful tactic if your driving skills are up to scratch. They've got to look out for the blasts of fire from those Flame Grilles, they can do a surprising amount of damage. No parking on the Drop Zone, keeping moving through there or pay the consequences in a whole new world of pain! The Arena Flipper, a great way to finish a fight if someone's immobilised, throw them up into the air, and watch them crash to the ground!"
Jonathan Pearce's introduction
Tornado vs Tractor ED

Tornado battles with Tractor in the TV Studio

The PC and Xbox versions of Extreme Destruction were mostly based on the first series of Robot Wars Extreme, and the arena is indeed based on the incarnation of the arena that featured in the latter. Almost all of the arena hazards of the real-life version are featured, including the Flame Pit, flame jets, angle grinders, Corner Patrol Zones (CPZs), CO2 jets, the Floor Flipper and the Pit of Oblivion (activated by a tyre-shaped release button). The TV Studio arena in the game also features a fully-functioning Drop Zone, although the hazard itself was not used until Season 2 of Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors and Series 6 in real life.

As with the real Extreme 1/Series 5 arena, the TV Studio arena also features Refbot, who is present to extinguish fires on robots with flammable armour, give House Robots red and yellow cards and count out any immobilised robots. It also has entry gates which lower to allow AI robots to enter the arena during "Endurance" mode.

By the time of the real Extreme 1/Series 5, flipping robots out of the arena was starting to become a popular tactic for robots with lifting or flipping weapons. This is reflected in-game, as it is much easier to defeat an opponent by flipping it over the walls and out of the arena in the PC/Xbox versions of Extreme Destruction than in the previous game, Robot Wars: Arenas of Destruction.

The Floor Flipper will activate immediately if a robot drives over it, and the Drop Zone will activate if a robot lingers over the square for more than a couple of seconds. Unlike the real Drop Zone, the latter can activate multiple times during a battle; the objects dropped by it include a washing machine, a safe, an anvil, a barrel which can explode if attacked, and a grand piano. If a robot falls into the Pit, smoke erupts, and the robot then disappears, allowing for an infinite number of robots to fall into the Pit in any one battle. Another difference is that the CO2 vents, which, just for cosmetic effect in the TV series, are capable of throwing robots unrealistically high or far. Their close proximity to the edge of the arena mean that standing on the jets when they fire often results in the player or AI robots being thrown out of the arena.

The TV Studio arena features four CPZs as in the real Series 5-7 arena, housing Shunt, Sergeant Bash, Matilda and Sir Killalot respectively.

In accordance with the real life Robot Wars rules, flamethrowers are banned from all tournaments in "Competition" mode which are held in this arena.

Glitches[]

  • It is possible for robots to be "pushed" high enough up the wall to be classed as out of the arena, if they linger pressed up against the side wall. This mostly occurs with robots that have certain exposed features, such as the wheels of Wheely Big Cheese, or TV series competitors equipped with a vertical crusher, such as Razer, Plunderbird 5 and Suicidal Tendencies.
  • House Robots often come far out of their CPZs to attack competitors, even if they are nowhere near their CPZ - sometimes they can even chase competitors across the length of the whole arena.
    • Refbot is designed to move away from any competitor that he approaches. However, he sometimes drives into a robot and proceeds with pushing it far across the arena, sometimes shoving it into the Pit or flipping it over, which can often result in a loss for the player if their robot is unable to self-right.
  • Although normally robots will disappear after a few seconds if they immediately fall into the Pit, they can stay in there for the whole fight if they have previously been eliminated from going outside of the arena- then somehow end up back into the arena and get put into the Pit afterwards.
    • This is easiest to perform with robots such as Wheely Big Cheese and Pussycat, which can easily glitch inside and outside out of the arena upon being forced against the wall.

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