Chibi-Robo! (video game)
Chibi-Robo! | |
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Platform, adventure | |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Chibi-Robo! Plug Into Adventure!
The player takes on the role of the eponymous Chibi-Robo, a 10-centimeter-tall robot owned by the Sanderson family. Gameplay revolves around navigating a household and collecting "Happy Points" by completing various tasks from housework to helping solve the dilemmas of the Sanderson family and the numerous living toys that inhabit their household. Every action consumes energy, requiring the player to recharge using electrical outlets.
Chibi-Robo! was generally well received, with praise for the premise, the charming storyline, and sound design. However, some gameplay mechanics and the quality of the graphics drew some criticism. Sales of Chibi-Robo! were modest. It spawned several sequels. For the
Plot
Chibi-Robo! takes place in a 1960s-style American home and revolves around a tiny, highly advanced house-cleaning robot of the same name
When George purchases yet another toy, Helen locks herself in her room and tells him that she wants a divorce, prompting the rest of the family to do housework in an attempt to make up for it.[11] Meanwhile, Chibi-Robo finds a strange pattern in the backyard and uses his radar to contact an alien species. Once the aliens land and greet him, Chibi-Robo uses a time machine made by the visitors to go into the past to find a code to enter a safe in the master bedroom containing Giga-Robo's leg. He returns to the present to open the safe, but several larger Spydorz are released and capture the Sandersons. It is revealed that George originally created the Spydorz to be friends with the Chibi-Robos, but his toy company reprogrammed them to be hostile (it is unknown why), causing George to quit his job.[12] George upgrades Chibi-Robo's blaster weapon, allowing the small robot to defeat the Queen Spydor, recover Giga-Robo's missing leg, and rescue the Sandersons. George apologizes for lying to Helen, and the two reconcile. Once Chibi-Robo fully recharges Giga-Robo's battery, reattaches his missing leg, and finds the passcode needed to turn him on, he reactivates Giga-Robo, and the aliens meet them in the backyard. The aliens explain that the toys are able to walk and talk due to a request from Giga-Robo to give them life and to give all Giga-Robos infinite battery power to prevent their energy consumption. The aliens could not do the latter at the time and returned to their own planet to obtain the item necessary to grant Giga-Robo's wish.[13] They then give Giga-Robo this ability, who shares it with Chibi-Robo and the rest of the robots in the world as well, eliminating the energy problem.
Gameplay
Chibi-Robo! is a
There are three collectibles in the game. One is the stickers, which can be obtained throughout the game, either by completing the game, completing quests, playing mini-games, or doing simple tasks for other non-player characters. The Second is the Frog Rings which can be collected and given to Jenny, the daughter of the Sanderson household, for Happy Points and a sticker. The third is the crayons found throughout the house which can be deposited in a crayon box for Happy Points.
At the start of both day and night, the player begins in the Chibi-House, where they can charge Chibi-Robo's battery, save at the electrical outlet, or connect to the Citrusoft "Chibi-PC" to purchase a variety of items and power-ups with Moolah and use scrap metal to build "Utilibots", robotic helpers that ease the navigation of the Sandersons' home.[7][14] The gear available from Citrusoft includes the "Chibi-Copter", used to reach far-off points or fly down from a high place safely; the "Chibi-Blaster", used to eliminate obstacles and fend off the hostile Spydorz; and the "Chibi-Radar", used to detect hidden objects.[6][8] There are several other items of the Sandersons' that Chibi-Robo can find and use. These include the toothbrush, used to clean up stains; the coffee mug, used for protection; the spoon, used to dig holes; and the squirter, used to hold fluids and squirt them.[6][8] Chibi-Robo can also gain special costumes throughout the game, each of which has its own function.[7] For instance, if the player poses for Mr. Sanderson while wearing The Drake Redcrest costume, he will give Chibi-Robo Happy Points. As more Happy Points are acquired, the player's rank increases among all the Chibi-Robos in the world. At certain ranks, Citrusoft will send the player bonus batteries, allowing Chibi-Robo to roam longer without having to recharge until they earn the status of "Super Chibi-Robo", which earns the player unlimited battery life.[14]
Development
Chibi-Robo! was developed by
Director Kenichi Nishi had previous development credits such as Chrono Trigger, Moon: Remix RPG Adventure and Incredible Crisis.[19] Nishi's approach to game design, even with Chibi-Robo!, was to always take a standard, orthodox method and "crash it, twist it, or create a totally different direction".[6] The reason Nishi chose to make the majority of the cast toys is because humans are "too big to interact with [Chibi-Robo] and create all the drama" and that it added a sense of fantasy to the experience.[6] The family dog Tao had appeared in Nishi's previous games: Moon: Remix RPG Adventure and L.O.L.: Lack of Love. The director based the dog on his own pet because he felt that the "black-and-white color is very simple and universal".[20] Despite the game's overall happy attitude, the game designers put some emphasis on serious topics such as divorce, loneliness, pollution, and loss, in which Nishi said: "If we only concentrate on cheerful fun, we'll lose depth. There's nothing surprising for people if the game looks cheerful and the experience is cheerful. There are no surprises or unexpected things". Still, rather than use these topics as major themes for the player, Nishi felt it would be more effective to bring them in as "ordinary things to enhance the adventure of daily life".[6]
The music and sound in Chibi-Robo! were composed by Hirofumi Taniguchi. He wanted to make unique sound patterns and motifs for each character, and even used human voices to create the system sounds, such as on the menu selections.[6] All of the noises made by Chibi-Robo's actions were phrased. Taniguchi used both woodwind and electronic instruments for the character's actions, the former because "Chibi's actions are not ordinary robotlike actions" and the latter because he did not want to totally eliminate his mechanical characteristics.[6] Different background music is played for the day and night cycles, but they lack melody because Chibi-Robo's footsteps create a melody at random. The tempo of his footsteps was designed to match the background music; if he picks up his plug to walk faster, the music speeds up.[6] All of the game's music was compiled on the Chibi-Robo! Limited Soundtrack, a CD released alongside an official 142-page guidebook and published by Shogakukan in Japan in August 2005.[21]
Reception
Aggregator | Score |
---|---|
1Up.com | B+[23] |
Edge | 8 out of 10[24] |
Eurogamer | 8 out of 10[9] |
Famitsu | 35 out of 40[25] |
G4 | [26] |
Game Informer | 5 out of 10[27] |
GameSpot | 7.1 out of 10[8] |
GameSpy | [14] |
IGN | 8.2 out of 10[28] |
Chibi-Robo! has enjoyed a generally favorable critical reception.
Opinions on the gameplay of Chibi-Robo! have been mixed. Among the more positive reactions, Casamassina assessed the cleaning mechanics as "very fun and very rewarding", while Kumar compared the game to the
The audio design of Chibi-Robo!, particularly its integration of different instrumental tones for the hero's various actions, was lauded by the press.[8][23][26] Kumar felt that its utilization of sound could be "the seed of a new way of using music in games".[9] Casamassina commented: "Few developers would be brave enough to create a title whose main character generates varying musical notes whenever he takes a step, but this is exactly what Chibi does - and it's actually very whimsical and cute".[28] Although many critics appreciated the bright and colorful features of the accompanying aesthetics, they also judged the graphical presentation as dated.[8][14][23][27] Casamassina encountered low-polygon 3D models and a below-average frame rate; Satterfield stated the game operated at "Dreamcast level".[26][28] Other portions of Chibi-Robo! were assessed as unpolished as well. Several sources noted the game's default camera system to be unwieldy, cumbersome, or frustrating at times.[9][14][26][28] However, Mueller noted that switching to the top-down or first-person viewpoints and the ability to center the camera behind Chibi-Robo alleviates most of its problems.[8] Satterfield and Casamassina regarded the cutscenes as awkward and repetitive; the former of the two claimed that they "amount to ugly characters recycling the same animation routine over and over while gibberish comes from their gaping maws".[26][28] Kumar perceived the game's combat to be "messy", "uninteresting", and "entirely unnecessary".[9]
Chibi-Robo! was not a significant commercial success.[32][33] According to Media Create, the GameCube version was the fourth best-selling game in Japan for its week ending June 26, 2005 with nearly 29,000 copies sold.[34] The game managed to sell 97,879 units in Japan alone by the end of 2005.[35] The Wii port of the game did not fare as well; it only sold 11,000 copies in Japan for the week ending June 14, 2009 and a total of 38,573 copies throughout the remainder of that year.[36][37]
Legacy
Chibi-Robo! received a sequel in 2007 for the
Notes
- ^ ちびロボ (lit. "Mini-Robo!") in Japanese
References
- ^ Adams, David (February 8, 2006). "Chibi Robo Marches into Stores". IGN. Archived from the original on May 14, 2007. Retrieved October 15, 2009.
- ^ Famitsu staff (June 17, 2005). 『ちびロボ!』がプラチナ殿堂入り!. Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain. Retrieved March 26, 2011.
- ^ Riley, Adam (February 28, 2006). "Chibi-Robo Set to Clean Up Europe". Cubed3. Archived from the original on January 27, 2013. Retrieved March 26, 2011.
- ^ a b Spencer (April 16, 2009). "New Play Control Closes In June With Chibi-Robo And Metroid Prime 2". Siliconera. Archived from the original on May 19, 2009. Retrieved May 12, 2009.
- ^ a b c Nintendo staff. プラグをかついで プレイレポート (in Japanese). Nintendo. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved March 26, 2011.
- ^ ISSN 1041-9551.
- ^ a b c d e f Nintendo staff, ed. (2006). Chibi-Robo!: Plug Into Adventure! instruction booklet. Nintendo of America Inc. pp. 6–22. DL-DOL-GGTE-USA.
- ^ CBS Interactive. Archivedfrom the original on June 17, 2010. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Kumar, Mathew (March 15, 2006). "Chibi-Robo! GameCube Review". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved March 26, 2011.
- ^ Skip Ltd. (February 8, 2006). Chibi-Robo! (GameCube). Nintendo.
Telly: He started a trend known as Giga Robo Fever a long time ago. But his energy consumption was too high and his popularity plummeted.
- ^ Skip Ltd. (February 8, 2006). Chibi-Robo! (GameCube). Nintendo.
Mrs. Sanderson: I'm sorry, but you've pushed me to the edge. The only option I've got left is... divorce.
- ^ Skip Ltd. (February 8, 2006). Chibi-Robo! (GameCube). Nintendo.
Mr. Sanderson: I designed the Spydorz to be your friends, Chibi-Robo. But then the company reprogrammed them to be hostile and cruel. And that's why I quit Macrowave Robotics Inc.!
- ^ Skip Ltd. (February 8, 2006). Chibi-Robo! (GameCube). Nintendo.
Aliens: Friend second wish... 'For Sandersons and Giga-Robos in the world... Give body that does not need energy.' But... no more balls of light in spaceship... No more balls of light in spaceship! We return to our home. And... we bring back ball of light again!
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Williams, Bryn (February 7, 2006). "Reviews: Chibi-Robo". GameSpy. IGN. Archived from the original on February 15, 2006. Retrieved March 26, 2011.
- ^ a b c IGN Staff (April 17, 2003). "Chibi Robo - GameCube Preview". IGN. Archived from the original on September 22, 2007. Retrieved May 26, 2008.
- ^ IGN Staff (February 19, 2004). "Chibi Robo in Limbo". IGN. Archived from the original on May 19, 2007. Retrieved May 26, 2008.
- ^ Gantayat, Anoop (October 29, 2004). "Nintendo Picks Up Chibi Robo!". IGN. Archived from the original on September 21, 2007. Retrieved March 26, 2011.
- ^ IGN Staff (November 29, 2004). "Nintendo Supports Cube". IGN. Archived from the original on January 6, 2009. Retrieved March 26, 2011.
- from the original on August 3, 2017. Retrieved March 26, 2011.
- OCLC 173412381.
- ^ ちびロボ! (ワンダーライフスペシャル―任天堂公式ガイドブック) [単行本] (in Japanese). ASIN 4091062520.
- ^ a b "Chibi-Robo!". Metacritic. Archived from the original on March 6, 2017. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
- ^ 1UP.com. Ziff Davis. Archived from the originalon October 18, 2012. Retrieved March 26, 2011.
- ISSN 1350-1593.
- ^ Arc (June 17, 2005). "News: Famitsu Review Scores". N-Europe. Archived from the original on December 9, 2006. Retrieved December 18, 2010.
- ^ G4. Archived from the originalon November 3, 2012. Retrieved March 29, 2011.
- ^ ISSN 1067-6392. Archived from the originalon June 14, 2006.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Cassamassina, Matt (4 February 2006). "Chibi-Robo - GameCube Review". IGN. Archived from the original on 14 June 2010. Retrieved July 17, 2010.
- ^ East, Tom (2009-02-17). "Nintendo Feature: 100 Best Nintendo Games: Part One". Official Nintendo Magazine. Archived from the original on 2012-04-14. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
- from the original on April 23, 2009. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
- ISSN 1095-1385. Archived from the originalon 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2011-04-03.
- ^ a b Thomas, Lucas M. (October 27, 2010). "The GameCube's Rise from the Grave". IGN. Archived from the original on March 1, 2011. Retrieved March 26, 2011.
- ^ Edge Staff (September 18, 2008). "Captain Rainbow: Absurd Nintendo Nostalgia". Edge. Future plc. Archived from the original on September 8, 2012. Retrieved March 26, 2011.
- from the original on September 22, 2008. Retrieved September 2, 2008.
- ^ "2005年テレビゲームソフト売り上げTOP500(ファミ通版)" (in Japanese). Geimin.net. Archived from the original on October 9, 2014. Retrieved March 26, 2011.
- Gamasutra. UBM plc. Archived from the originalon June 21, 2009. Retrieved June 19, 2009.
- ^ "2009年テレビゲームソフト売り上げTOP1000(ファミ通版)" (in Japanese). Geimin.net. Archived from the original on June 27, 2015. Retrieved March 26, 2011.
- 1UP.com. Ziff Davis. Archived from the originalon September 4, 2012. Retrieved March 26, 2008.
- ^ Ishaan (June 30, 2009). "Chibi-Robo Vacuums Riches On The DS". Siliconera. Archived from the original on January 18, 2010. Retrieved June 29, 2006.
- ^ Tanaka, John (October 2, 2008). "First Look: Wii de Asobu Pikmin". IGN. Archived from the original on October 5, 2008. Retrieved October 5, 2008.
- ^ IGN Staff (April 8, 2009). "Chibi Robo Detailed". IGN. Archived from the original on April 11, 2009. Retrieved April 12, 2009.
- ^ Goldfarb, Andrew (18 December 2013). "Chibi-Robo: Photo Finder Gets Western Release Date". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
- ^ G. Macy, Seth (May 31, 2015). "Nintendo Announces New Chibi Robo Game and Amiibo". IGN. Archived from the original on May 31, 2015. Retrieved May 31, 2015.
- ^ Kuchera, Ben (June 1, 2015). "A new Chibi-Robo! game, complete with amiibo, is coming to the 3DS". Polygon. Archived from the original on June 30, 2020. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
External links
- Official GameCube version website (in Japanese)
- Official Wii version website (in Japanese)