Robot Arena 2 was released as a sequel to the pathetic first release, Robot Arena, in 2003. Whereas the first just gave you premade robots and a handful of tracks (hearsay since I never played it), the Sequel added the ability to build your own Battle Bots and pit them against each other in single player, multiplayer, or online play. The game was also quite hackable, allowing for all sorts of awesomeness over the years, so much so Robot Arena continued to be developed for until around 2013, or 2015 10 or more YEARS after the game was released. They engine is the Havok engine, and the game really did it's job well, but it never really caught on forr full mainstream appeal. It's still a very underground series - but I love it for that.

The fan development community had some pretty awesome stuff. I remember getting hooked on that via the Beetle Bros bots and parts. First off, anyone who opens up a page with a bunch of violent robotic trash-cans named "El Tonnos" is awesome. But when you get to a point where your parts resemble fruit and refridgerators, and a negative-weight neutron star piece to make these monster-truck sized "Fridgety" monstrosities - a lot of hilarity can be had in this game adding futther to it's entertainment value beyond just a mere simulator of Battle Bots.

One of my mainstays in my "Crew" of heavyweights has been the "Multi-Rotating-Crab-Monster" bot - something of a cross between a robotic lobster, that monkey toy with the cymbals - but instead, it has three to seven rotating weapons with the most powerful motors in the game that can thrash a robot to pieces within a couple of minutes using stock parts. I also made more advanced versions using Beetle Bros Fridgety Motors that could cause the battle-cage to be raining with projectiles!

One of my failed experiments was the simple box-hammer-blade contraption - a simple, construction site orange metal box, with a sledgehammer on a pole, and sawblades for wheels. The idea was that it could kinda-sling that hammer around, smashing bots, while other bots drive INTO the hammer, and if disarmed, then the giant sawblades for wheels would continue to damage the other bots until it wins.

Of course there was WFRW Frightening Television using mod parts from the internet - this machine was a flying 1984 Mitusbishi CS-1984R hovercraft 19" console CRT TV with lightsabers that would play the "Funky Chimes" music from the end of 1970's-1980's Sesame Street as it floated around the field obliterating everything in it's path with almost no chance of getting attacked.

I had multiple Axe/hammer/drill adorned desktop PC robots that did fairly well but were all heavy weights. still that lobster thing I made would do way better though. These "Compu-Bots" included the Compaq DamagePro 386, Dell Precision Plus/Latitude, IBM PC (Police Code) 5150, Twinhead Slamnote, NanTan Durabot 5110D, NEC VersaVex D/75, AT&T Satan 3151, IBM SmashPad 755XP, and EuroCom Pancake SMA3500D.

Then thee's the "Fridgety Bots", a Beetle Bros creation that involves creating a massive heavyweight bot using a cheat piece known as the Neutron Star Piece to allow the bot to weigh an insane amount over limit. These bots used huge objects like Couches and refridgerators as their weapons and chassis. Nothing like a weapnized IBM PC Compatible battlebot putting a spinner out with a impact motor clad Frigidaire!