Entertainment, Featured - by Myles Tanzer on Tuesday, March 2, 2010 12:41 - 15 Comments - 1,746 views
The clip-clop of hooves, the bright blue sky, sweet music heads into your ear… then there it is! A rainbow! Oh what a perfect day in Central Park! Wait, it’s still cold out, I’m sorely mistaken, I was simply playing the most addicting and pleasing flash game on the entire internet: Robot Unicorn Attack, created by Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, is my vice.
It all started when I got a call from a friend who goes to the University of Maryland. See, there they have these things called fraternities and you have this really complicated process of doing random tasks to gain acceptance into them. One of said tasks was to get above 55,000 points in Robot Unicorn Attack. I decided to go along for the challenge but little did I know, I was about to get sucked into a world of 80’s synth pop and button mashing.
The game’s simplicity is what makes it so great. You play as a three-life unicorn that is perpetually running. It’s your job to keep the unicorn alive by jumping from platform to platform. Along the way there are floating lights to collect for points and large metal stars blocking your path. To get past these stars you must “rainbow” through them. You lose a life when you slam into a wall, miss a platform, or run into a star.
But what keeps you coming back to play is the game’s soundtrack. “Always” by Erasure plays on loop and is impossible to turn off. Awesome. With lyrics like “Open your eyes I see, Your eyes are open” Erasure is the perfect compliment to the game’s kitschy feel. Also, the song has one of the craziest music videos that I’ve ever seen.
After playing incessantly for about a week straight I finally managed to get 57,000 points. A single rainbow tear fell down my cheek. More real tears were to come though when friends started getting 73,000 and then 130,000 points. Great, so now I have to play this game forever (not complaining). This game is really really good and spreads like wild fire between friends. You’ll go days humming “Always” and just imagining that graceful unicorn dashing through your head. God bless Robot Unicorn Attack.
15 Comments
Andy Heriaud
I refuse to get sucked in to RUA. Friends have tried to get me to cave but I value my sanity…
I keep rainbowing off a cliff ![]()
Myles Tanzer
@Andy that’s so sad
@Luis take the dive
@Jess n00b
Phillip Klugman
Myles, you’re a terrible person for writing and article about this game a week before midterms.
Manny Mihalas
ALWAYYYYYYS I WANT TO BEEEE WITH YOUUUUUUUUUU
*OPEN YOUR EYES*
And I caved. FUCK. THIS. GAME. Sooooo good.
Pier Harrison
literally just broke the x key on my keyboard playing this… it still works but the actual key has popped off. too much rainbow blasting.
weekly cocktail idea: rainbow blasters. like ghetto blasters … but in different colors, achieved by mixing with freeze pops.
[...] improv sketch comedy group, but they’re pretty funny. You know what else is pretty funny? Robot Unicorn Attack.Tino Sehgal Exhibit @ Guggenheim Museum — 12 p.m. Okay, so this date and time is arbitrary, [...]
NYU Local • 5 Flash Games to Distract You From Your Midterms
[...] wasting your time, like you could include it in that paper you’re not writing, and (just like Robot Unicorn Attack) deserve their own special mention.5) Thy DungeonMan We all remember Homestar Runner, I’m [...]
Kristina Lustig
DMTFLAJDFKLJFADSLFKASJDFADS SONG WILL NOT LEAVE MY HEAD
PRODUCTIVITY IS RUINED
Nobody wants to mention the game that inspired it?
Canabalt is freakin awesome: http://www.adamatomic.com/canabalt/
Not to say I don’t love Robot Unicorn. 64460 w00t
Phillip Klugman
Mike Clark
The music actually comes from the 90’s, not the 80’s. I am pretty certain that the song “Always” came out in 1994, or sometime around then. And yes, the game is AWESOME !!!
89,000 bitchessss

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSMeUPFjQHc
The worst part of not having a computer this week is not being able to play RUA. To compensate I have been listening to “Always” a lot.