1980s or 1990s animated film featuring robots or mechs, an abandoned city with skyscrapers, and a desert-like setting with a cliff

Question

There was a film I had on VCR when I was a kid that must have been from around the 1980s or 1990s. I watched it dozens of times and it had some very large robots that I vaguely think could have been controlled by humans like mechs (I could be wrong).

I remember it had some dark elements to it, including a scene in an abandoned city with skyscrapers and skeletons inside them with the massive robots going past. I also remember a scene, possibly towards the end, in a desert-like setting with a cliff that a robot fell off.

I don't remember the robots being particularly humanoid. In fact, I vaguely remember one being almost spherical, possibly with one eye and possibly red in colour... It's weird how I can remember the scenes mentioned above, but not other useful details. I think the style was a Japanese anime type.

_{I'm struggling, but I'll add more as I remember it! Apologies if this is vague, but it's bugging me and I've done a lot of digging to no avail. Any help is appreciated; apologies for the vagueness.}

Answer 1

Could it be Robot Carnival?

The one segment, Nightmare, has various robots walking through a city: There is at one point a round chicken-like robot in the segment. Another section of the movie (A Tale of Two Robots) involves people controlling giant robots.

And at the end, there is a giant 'robot' that collapses on top of a mountain range:

Answer 2

It's possible that this is Transformers: The Movie (1986). Although the robots are mostly somewhat humanoid, it does fit the style and time frame, and it does have some somewhat dark elements. The robots aren't controlled by humans (and mostly there aren't many human characters), but there are some humans that ride inside the robots.

What makes me think of this specifically is that Unicron is depicted as a giant spherical robot with a single red eye.

Answer 3

It could be Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. While the giant robot scenes didn't have much screen time, the images were quite memorable. At the end the last of the giant robots basically disintegrates while leaning over a ridge/cliff in the desert and firing a last shot from a massive beam weapon.

Answer 4

I saw this show up on my feed and immediately thought of Neon Genesis Evangelion, which most definitely has dark elements to it. While I don't necessarily think it's an exact match, 20+ years since you last saw the movie could muddle memories in such a way that this could possibly be it, though the release of the VHS tape may be a bit after your timeline.

Let's start with the obvious: very large robots; check:

An early scene in the series takes place in an abandoned city:

Part of the buildup is the first enemy we see is slowly lumbering through the city as well:

One of the enemies, Leliel is a large, sphere, and although it doesn't have a red eye, it's markings could be mistaken as one:

One of the final scenes takes place on a beach, and yes, this is the exact opposite of a desert, but maybe it could be mistaken as such after a couple of decades:

Finally, the anime series was muddled together as a Movie called Neon Genesis Evangelion - Death & Rebirth, and was released on VHS, though it was released in 2002 on that format. Again, I'm not entirely convinced it's what you remember, but there are enough similarities I figured I'd throw it out there just in case.

Answer 5

Was it The World of the Talisman? I was searching for a similar sounding film as well as we had it On VHS as kids.

Aqualoid was a prosperous planet, but an attack from a mysterious life force, the Inorganics, transforms it into a post-apocalyptic shell of its former self. When Nam finds a mysterious sword, he is suddenly the object of a planet-wide chase. With the Inorganics closing in, will Nam and his friends discover the secret of the sword and save their world? Or will they destroy Aqualoid in favor of a new Birth?

Answer 6

Is this perhaps Castle in the Sky? It sounds very similar. The story is(as far as I can remember )that a girl is actually a relative of a generation that lived on an island in the sky. That island has very many treasures and people try to open the doors to the island. However, this girl is protected by robots which makes the story very interesting. Really good anime.

Answer 7

VOLTRON!?!?

I came across this question when I was reminiscing about a very similar thing: