Steel Stand-Ins

Mumbo Jumbo is an eccentric shaman who often helps Banjo and Kazooie. He can turn the duo into various animals and objects, and he also uses his magic to move boulders, revive aliens, and oxygenate large bodies of water. He spends most of his time lounging around in skull-shaped huts, and he can be found in nearly every world Banjo and Kazooie visit. Cloud Cuckooland actually features two huts, and one of them is inhabited by a robotic imposter built by the witch Gruntilda. Mingy Jongo looks exactly like Mumbo at first, and he’s delighted to have fooled Banjo. Eventually, Mingy’s elaborate disguise is ruined, revealing what he describes as his “evil cybotic-ness.” Mingy looks like a killer, and I’d liken him to the T-800 from Terminator. He doesn’t pose much of a threat, however, and he spends more time sleeping than he does fighting.

Mech-Zangief was introduced in Marvel vs. Capcom as a mechanically-altered version of Zangief. The Shadaloo profiles in Street Fighter V clarify (and canonize) his origin, however. The original prototype was known as P Mecha Zangie-F, and it was intended from the onset to be an anti-Zangief robot. The model was later upgraded to Mech Zangie-F and Mk. 3, and I’m sure more iterations will be produced in the future. Zangief is a walking disaster who fights bears for sport, and there’s no bigger testament to his power than Mech-Zangief. Shadaloo didn’t just send a few henchmen after him. Instead, they reverse-engineered the man, built a metal body around the data, and pumped vodka through it as fuel. The ability to spit out a stream of flaming vodka from his mouth makes Mech-Zangief even more imposing than the real deal.

Spring Man is a well-rounded fighter who’s defined by his indomitable spirit and spring-like arms. When Dr. Coyle set out to build the ultimate fighting machine, he used Spring Man as the template. Springtron and Spring Man look alike, they have many of the same moves, and they can even use the same weapons. The robotic replica benefits from the latest advances in fighting technology, of course, so Dr. Coyle considers him to be superior to the original. Springtron is able to disarm fighters by using an EMP, and this gives him an advantage in battle. (Give his robotic nature, you’d expect Springtron to be the most susceptible to EMPs, but I digress.) Springtron represents a dubious corporation and delivers his robotic dialogue with an intimidating cadence. He’s not as evil as he appears, however, and he seems to appreciate his young fans.

Robotic counterparts are surprisingly common in the Mario universe. Super Mario Advance introduced us to a robotic version of Birdo, and the wind-up Minis from the Mario vs. Donkey Kong have certain robotic qualities as well. Although he has not yet crossed over into any of the mainline series, Robo Mario made his mark in the Mario Kart Arcade GP games. The aggressive racer is purported to be he the brainchild of Professor E. Gadd, who also developed the FLUDD water pack from Super Mario Sunshine and Luigi’s Poltergust vacuum. Robo Mario comes in black and silver variants, and both versions are formidable rivals they can spawn an infinite number of items. Robo Mario was the first Mario Kart racer that could only be controlled by the CPU, and this is only appropriate given his robotic nature.

Robo-Fortune was built by the psychic scientist Brain Drain in an effort to prove his superiority over Ms. Fortune. In other words, the robot was a testament to his unmatched pride and petulance. Robo-Fortune houses all sorts of cool weapons and has the uncanny ability to remove her head, but she’s still considered a failure since she doesn’t always demonstrate loyalty to her creator. The dynamic between Robo-Fortune and Brain Drain is intriguing, but her true origin story is even more interesting. Following the release of of Skullgirls, the voice cast got together to play the game on a charity livestream. While reading Ms. Fortune’s lines on stream, Kimlinh Tran decided to speak with a robotic voice just for fun. This amused fans and developers alike, which eventually led to Robo-Fortune being added to the game via DLC.

Ridley is a high-ranking Space Pirate who could be described as a menacing dragon. As it turns out, he’s also a raging narcissist. In an effort to showcase his vast power, he built an elaborate weapon in his own image. Mecha Ridley is equipped with laser eyes, homing missiles, and razor-sharp claws. (It also shoots fireballs out of its mouth, because of course it does.) Samus Aran encounters the mechanical monster on the Space Pirate Mother Ship while escaping from planet Zebes. Fortunately, Mecha Ridley is not yet complete at this point. Its wings have not yet been installed, so it literally has to drag itself across the floor in order to move. It’s still formidable enough to serve as the final boss of Metroid: Zero Mission, however, so I can only imagine how horrifying it would have been if it were in a finished state.

In the final act of EarthBound, our unlikely heroes have to use the Phase Distorter III in order to travel back in time and fight a hostile alien entity known as Giygas. In order to survive the time jump, they have to transfer their souls into robotic bodies. Dr. Andonuts can’t guarantee that spirits will be able to return to their original bodies, but Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo accept their fates as the chosen ones. Upon arriving the aptly-named Cave of the Past, they find themselves in rudimentary robotic bodies as predicted. The four robots are nearly identical to each other and none of them retained any physical traits. For some reason, Ness got to keep his iconic red baseball after turning into a robot. The jury’s out on whether this detail was due to Dr. Andonuts’ craftsmanship or Ness’s inherent psychic powers.

After the King of All Cosmos is struck by a passing comet, he loses his memory and slips into a coma. The Prince wants to make sure that the royal duties aren’t neglected, so he decides to build RoboKing as a replacement. This turns out about as well as you would expect. RoboKing immediately goes on a rampage after being activated and destroys every star in the sky! It’s clear that RoboKing is nothing like the man he replaced, however, and he actually feels remorse for his actions. RoboKing wrestles with anxiety and depression, and he’s more vulnerable and introspective that the real king could ever be. It should be noted that he goes on another rampage after the real king recovers, and he winds up destroying the galaxy again! RoboKing is a nervous wreck, so the notion that he was no longer useful caused him to go off the rails.

Ky Kiske is a heroic swordsman with a strong sense of justice. Due to his proficiency in battle, the Post-War Administration Bureau used him as a template for a line of mechanical weapons. The mass-produced Robo-Kys can be deployed for a wide range of applications, and they have many of Ky’s abilities at their disposal. Unfortunately, the machines also developed rebellious personalities. Although the first iteration was a near-perfect duplicate, subsequent models became increasingly unhinged. The most recent versions are essentially lecherous weirdos. Each Robo-Ky is driven by a desire to defeat Ky, but they often get sidetracked. When they’re not fighting, the robots can be found searching for wives or complaining about low wages. They weren’t the obedient servants that the Bureau was hoping for.

Sonic the Hedgehog is the undisputed king of this topic, and I’ve lost track of how many robotic versions of Sonic and his friends we’ve seen over the years. Fortnite even got in on the action with its Chapter 7 update. In this outing, robotic replicas of Sonic, Knuckles, and Shadow had to be introduced since Sega insisted that Sonic would never hold a gun. Metal Sonic is the obvious choice for this list. As one of Dr. Eggman’s greatest creations, Metal Sonic uses jet engine to match (and even surpass) Sonic’s speed. He can also copy the abilities of others – including Knuckle’s super strength or Silver’s psychokinetic powers. Metal Sonic first appeared in Sonic CD, and he has been a regular in the series ever since. His role varies from one game to the next, but he’s determined to prove his superiority to Sonic.