2-XL Thanks You For Turning Him On

The inventive edutatinment toy 2-XL was elegantly simple in its design and brilliant in its execution. Users of the sassy robot could quiz themselves or engage in meager Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-style games by pressing buttons in response to the toy's quirky ramblings. To the children who played with it, the faux-A.I. might have seemed close to the real thing, when in reality the heart of 2-XL lay in a simple cassette tape (or 8-track) with multiple, switchable tracks.

Thanks to the efforts of a handy coder, you can enjoy the sound of 2-XL's strangely soothing sqwauk once again. Fire up this Flash-based emulator and get ready for a button-pressing extravaganza. The interface is based upon one of the robot's earlier designs, so the controls might need some experimenting with, especially if you play it with one of the newer tapes. Check the bottom of the list for Batman's Carnival of Crime. The "gameplay" may be shallow, but any chance to kick the Joker's butt is a chance I'll always take.

2-XL [DonationCoder.com]