Those who grew up during the eighties may recall several popular robot cartoon franchises that were shown on local UHF stations after school. From the well-known Transformers to the not so popular Gobots to the very odd Tranzor Z, robots were everywhere. One of the more popular robots at the time, Voltron: Defender of the Universe, has been long rumored to be making its big screen debut. While the live-action movie has been slow to get off the ground, THQ has announced that it has entered into an exclusive deal with World Event Productions to release a series of video games based on the iconic cartoon.

For those who may have been too young too see Voltron during its heyday, the gist of the Western version of the show was pretty basic (like most things from the 80's). Five "space explorers" were tasked with protecting a distant planet from an evil king and his witch accomplice. The explorers piloted individual robot vehicles, which resembled lions, and each lion robot made up a component of Voltron. When they encountered a powerful enemy, the individual lions would join into the giant sword-wielding robot.

In practically every episode, the individual lions would make a futile attempt to fight an evil "robeast" but would ultimately be forced to join in order to vanquish the enemy. Voltron would then use a series of weapons that were all pretty much worthless. After fighting the enemy to standstill, Voltron would finally bring out its best weapon, the "Blazing Sword," and take a hack at the giant enemy and call it a day. Formulaic to be sure, but hey, kids love fighting robots.

Never saw the cheesy goodness of Voltron, Defender of the Universe? Here's the intro and transformation footage from the show, which was apparently narrated by Optimus Prime:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub5bl2QNHPw&feature=player_embedded

The cartoon series later transitioned to a story about a different Voltron robot made up of vehicles, but it was much less popular and led to the scrapping of the series. At least initially, the video games distributed by THQ will focus on the lion version of Voltron. THQ has not announced the developers who will be assisting in this endeavor.

The first video game titles are slated for this fall so that they complement the release of a new animated series called Voltron Force, which will debut on Nicktoons.

Excited to play a Voltron game? Or is this one idea that should have stayed buried in the 80's?

Source: Voltron Official Site