Robotrek, known in Japan as Slapstick (Japanese: スラップスティック, Hepburn: Surappusutikku), is a role-playing video game (RPG) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES).

Set on the fictional planet Quintenix, the game puts the player in control of a budding robotics expert who is the son of a famous inventor.

Aiding the combination process are items called Scrap, these allow the player to create basic equipment or make more powerful ones.

The story unfolds to the point where The Hackers' ultimate goal is the Tetron, a mysterious stone that allows viewers to observe events past and future and travel through time.

Gateau, who — presumedly — formed The Hackers later on, obtains the Tetron and attempts to proceed with his plan for universal domination, starting with Rask's home planet of Choco (Chocolate Star in Japanese).

[3] As the Japanese title Slapstick implies, the game intentionally features a lighthearted, humorous tone and is officially billed as a "comedy RPG.

The original gameplay model consisted of the player inventing robots with different abilities that would aid the citizens of a town in their daily lives.

[3] Difficulties during development included Takemoto having to come up with compelling ideas for the game's plot and Kita having to rethink and recode the battle system several times.

One artist of note is Kōji Yokota, who was responsible for designing the game's robots and claimed he was tasked with making them appear "retro" or "old fashioned.

Nick Rox of GameFan, Dean Mortlock of Super Play, and Doug Brumley of Game Players all viewed the ability to invent items and build customizable robots that fight in the protagonist's place as innovative or original.

"[23] These gameplay attributes, coupled with linear storyline progression, led Brumley to conclude that Robotrek was "a fun choice for players without much RPG experience.

"[20] However, GamePro negatively assessed that Robotrek "unsuccessfully attempts to push the envelope of its genre," criticizing the inability to send more than one robot into battle at a time and the trial and error involved in creating hybrid weapons and items.

[21] Mortlock echoed this sentiment, stating that its "cartoony graphics give the impression of simplicity" and that "the sound's the usual sort of thing.

"[23] Nintendo Power approved of the spritework but likewise discounted the overworld graphics as "simple" and criticized the English text as roughly translated and nonsensical at times.

In a Quintet retrospective, 1Up.com editor Todd Ciolek considered Robotrek as one of the developer's few missteps during the SNES era, describing it as an "odd robot-raising RPG" that "few warmed up to.

"[16] USgamer journalist Jeremy Parish similarly described it as "weird" yet "pretty solid" simply due to Quintet's pedigree up to that point.

[6] When writing about the genre's prominence on the SNES, Brett Elston from GamesRadar+ counted Robotrek among a set of strong "second stringers" like The 7th Saga, Paladin's Quest, and Uncharted Waters.

Joe Keiser of Next Generation credited Robotrek as a predecessor to the core gameplay of Pokémon in that the protagonist does not himself fight, but instead sends out robots, which are kept in capsules outside of battle.

[13][28] The Verge contributor Nick Statt and Hardcore Gaming 101's Joshua Jankiewicz further suggested that Robotrek may have been the partial inspiration for Robopon, a Pokémon "clone" RPG series originating in 1998 that features customizable robots.