Chibi-Robo! (2005) for the Nintendo Gamecube

Nintendo are known for some of the most well-known and iconic video game characters of all time. There's just something so unique about Nintendo characters that sets them apart from other developer franchises. Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Star Fox, and so many others represent Nintendo so well in their respected series.

While these characters are some of the most recognised in the game industry, there's a number of lesser known characters that have achieved something of a cult following over the years. One of these characters is Chibi-Robo.

Image Credit- Skip Ltd & Nintendo

History

Chibi-Robo is a game about a small robot who's purpose is to make people happy. Developed by Skip Ltd, the series was born when the first game was published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Gamecube console. Skip are a Japanese game studio that have made a number of Nintendo published games, the majority of which were only available in Japan, making Chibi-Robo a bit of a rarity.

The game itself was quite well received but didn't blow anyone away with its sales numbers. While it did have its fair share of sequels, the franchise has had nothing short of a rough time. The second game of the series was Chibi-Robo Park Patrol (2007-2008) for the Nintendo DS, which was a direct sequel to the original for Gamecube. Once again it had good reviews, but the problem was the distribution of copies. For starters it wasn't released in Europe at all, it was only available in Japan, North America and Australia. To make matters more difficult the North American release was a Walmart exclusive so sales of the game were quite low.

Due to these poor sales, the third game in the series, Okaeri! Chibi-Robo! Happy Richie Ōsōji (2009) was a Japan exclusive entirely. Following this there was a digital only game titled Chibi-Robo Photo Finder (2013-2014) which released worldwide for the DS and finally the most recent instalment, Chibi-Robo Ziplash (2015), released worldwide for the 3DS and received the worst reviews of the entire series, seemingly being the last nail in the coffin for the franchise.

So Chibi-Robo hasn't had the best of luck in becoming a videogame icon like so many others, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't have potential. I personally believe that he the same amount of depth and charm as all other videogame characters and hopefully one day Nintendo will see that and give him another chance to succeed and with the right advertising and promotion it can be done.

So without any more delay, let's talk about his first appearance on the GameCube, what it's about, how it plays, and does it hold up today, or is Chibi-Robo better off forgotten?

Story

Our story begins in the home of the Anderson family, made up of George Sanderson, Helen Sanderson, their daughter Jenny Sanderson and their dog Tao. George is an immature father, fascinated by toys and very lively and energetic. Helen is a more serious but caring mother for her daughter, who's worried about the future of the family due to an increasing amount of debt. Jenny is a unique child, as she dresses and talks like a frog. Her dialogue is essentially "ribbet ribbet" and its not fully explained why she's like this until later in the game. Tao is just a dog, there's not really much to say about it.

We join the family at Jenny's birthday party where her dad has gotten her a very special gift (although he seems more excited about it than Jenny does), and reveals a large metal container. He flips the switch and Chibi-Robo pops out, alongside his "manager" Tele-Vision who's essentially your guide for playing the game.

Your given a basic tutorial of what Chibi-Robo can do, before the party concludes and your set loose upon the Sanderson house, where your given the objective of making the family happy in any way you can.

However, the story doesn't stop there. Along your adventure you'll come across other residents of the Sanderson household. During night time, when the family have gone to sleep, the house is still very much alive with living toys that walk and talk and have their own stories to tell and problems that need solving. You'll meet a space ranger on a quest for justice, a marooned pirate full of woe and many other colourful characters to help you on your mission to spread the happiness.

It's a simple story at first but the further you progress through it the more wacky it gets and it's honestly a wonderful experience. But, the story means nothing if it's not fun to play through, so next lets take a look at what you actually get to do when playing.

Gameplay

The gameplay of Chibi-Robo is one of the most oddly satisfying things I've ever experienced. As mentioned earlier, your main job is to make the Sanderson family happy, and there's a a couple ways you can do that. As a Chibi-Robo, you've been designed to be able to fulfil many household tasks such as cleaning, disposing of litter, gardening, finding lost items and many more hidden talents. When you help the family out in these ways, you receive happiness points. The more happiness points you collect the further you can progress through the story by unlocking new abilities and items. Since you have the entire house to explore you're never really short of things to occupy your time with, and believe me managing your time is important. Because you're a small robot you run off a main battery which decreases in charge whenever you do anything. Every step you take depletes your charge and running out of charge sends you back to the container you came from. To avoid this you'll have to recharge on the go, which you can do by plugging yourself into the nearest wall socket. This is also how you save the game. Because of this it's always a good idea to keep an eye of your battery and to keep it in mind before you tackle any time consuming activities or missions. I quite like this idea as it keeps you thinking and keeps the game from becoming boring. For example, one of the areas you can go to is the garden, and like most gardens, there's no wall sockets available, meaning when you venture outside you have to be clever in what you do and give yourself enough time to get back to a wall socket before it's too late. It gives the gameplay a more methodical approach and to make it a bit easier you can buy a back up battery which will kick in when your main one runs out. You start out with a very small amount of charge available but the charge limit increases the more happiness points you get which gives you another incentive to collect them.

Controlling Chibi-Robo himself works fine too, using the control stick to move around like you would normally but to jump or climb up objects you just push against it and he'll do the rest. You also have access to a map of the house at the press of a button and also "Chibi Vision" which puts you into a first person perspective, allowing you to spot distant items or collectibles.

You also have your inventory, which is where you keep tools and also costumes. Tools range from anything from a propeller head which lets you hover for a bit and slows your descent when falling to a toothbrush that you use to clean up dirt and even an arm cannon that you can shoot at certain objects. Costumes are pretty cool as they're not just cosmetic, they actually have purpose and can help you complete quests. For example there's a space ranger outfit that lets you strike a heroic pose, which comes in handy for a specific task, but also gives you some bonus happy points if you do it in front of the toy loving Mr Sanderson, so it's a good idea to try them all and see how everyone reacts to them.

Overall from a gameplay perspective, Chibi-Robo is simplistic but provides a pretty good challenge, working similarly to a 3D puzzle game. While you have the whole house to explore at your leisure, there are parts of the rooms that you're unable to get to until you've progressed enough, or get a new gadget. It's a fun experience, and the setting, characters, and the fact your a tiny robot traversing huge rooms and gigantic furniture work well to make tasks like climbing onto a couch feel like a victory.

Sound Design

The sound design is oddly one of my favourite parts of the game. Music is obviously really important in games. Having your character wander around in silence the entire time can make the game boring, lifeless, empty even. While the music in Chibi-Robo isn't ground breaking or memorable, the way it's implemented into the gameplay is something I personally found cool.

The way it works is that music plays whenever Chibi Robo is moving. When he's stood perfectly still the music doesn't play until you start back up again. What makes it more charming to me is how the music differs depending on the ground you're walking on. When walking on carpet for instance, the notes that play feel softer, which is juxtaposed by walking on the wood flooring where it sounds a bit more solid. It's a very basic tune but I like the way it was tied to gameplay. Again, it's not a impressive score, but it fits the theme of the game quite nicely and also fits well into the mellow atmosphere you'd usually imagine coming from a family home.

Conclusion

To summarise, I personally think Chibi-Robo is a brilliant series and that the character itself could have had a real chance of gaming stardom. It's a shame that a mix of poor marketing and questionable release strategies essentially doomed the franchise. Overall though looking back at the first entry in the series I'd stay it holds up quite well. It has a real charm to it and I would highly recommend it if you can find a copy. Who knows, Nintendo have always had a thing for re-releasing old games for their new consoles whether it be virtually or physically. If Gamecube games are added to the Nintendo Switch or future consoles, maybe Chibi-Robo will get one final chance to jump into the spotlight. Either way I had fun with this game and I'll definitely be returning to it to play through it again.