Gyromite is playable, and some may argue better playable, without using R.O.B. the Robot. You can push the pillars up and down using a second NES controller while the first controller commands Professor Hector as it would when playing with R.O.B., turning the game into either a faster-paced co-op platformer for two players, or an unconventional two-controller game for one player in a similar manner to Atari's Raiders of the Lost Ark. This technique cannot be performed on Stack-Up.