Shunt was a House Robot from both runs of Robot Wars, designed to resemble a bulldozer. He boasted three powerful weapons; a lifting scoop, a static snowplough and a pneumatic axe, which was upgraded throughout the show's runs to pierce, concuss and immobilise competitor robots. These, combined with his pushing power and reliability, enabled Shunt to become one of the most effective and longest-serving House Robots in the show's history.
Along with the other four House Robots from Series 3, Shunt made his video game debut in Robot Wars: Metal Mayhem, and would go on to appear in all five of the Robot Wars-based video games released during the show's original run.
Appearance and Armament[]
Panic Attack, under attack from Shunt in the Gauntlet game mode
As Metal Mayhem is set during Series 3, Shunt's depiction in the game represents the form he took for that series, with his shape and weapons clearly visible. Due to the Game Boy Color's graphical limitations, the in-game arenas and robots could not be replicated with the level of detail found in other Robot Wars video games; Shunt's replication in the game is no exception.
In spite of these, Shunt's three weapons - his lifting scoop, plough and axe - are clearly visible in his in-game sprites, and the grey/brown colour scheme depicted is fairly accurate to that of his real-life counterpart. The scoop protrudes from a different angle, however, and its shape is closer to that of the rear plough, itself shaped differently to its real-life form; meanwhile, Shunt's axe head is much larger in Metal Mayhem than in real-life. Shunt's sprites also feature several details present on the real robot, including the box-section sides forming his wheelguards as well the bodywork and exhaust stack surrounding the axe.
Shunt is the only House Robot in Metal Mayhem not to feature in the arena battles; instead, he exclusively appears in Gauntlet mode, where he serves as the first obstacle on the far-right route. He is exceptionally quick and active in-game, chasing and attacking competitors as soon as they approach and negotiate through his patrol area on the latter route. Both Shunt's axe and lifting scoop move constantly during Gauntlet mode, and are used simultaneously to damage competitors.
Differences from Real Life[]
- Shunt's weapons do not act independently, rather, they seem to both activate at once and clamp a robot between.
- Both Shunt's lifting scoop and static plough are designed differently from those of the real-life incarnation, and appear largely identical to each other.
- Like all robots in the game armed with lifting or flipping weapons, Shunt's lifting scoop simply damages opponents rather than flipping them over.
[]
| ||||||||