A month from now, on October 9, the 3DS game Chibi Robo Zip Lash will be released in the U.S. on the 3DS, accompanied by an Amiibo. Release is expected in November in Europe, no specific date yet. Now, I’m a huge fan of Chibi Robo. Most of you will know him from the eShop game Photo Finder, but Chibi has starred in more games. For starters, he had a big adventure on the GameCube, taking care of his human family, cleaning house and meeting all kind of interesting toys living in the house too. The second game released in the west was Park Patrol. At the time only available at Walmart, but you can find it used in the online shops nowadays. The little guy was quite endearing paddling along on his little bike, trying to tend the flowers and battling the smogglings that threatened his paradise. Never failed to bring a smile to my face.
I never understood why Chibi Robo didn’t get more attention from Nintendo. There is a group of die hard fans like me, but most people hardly know the little guy. And I think that has to change, because he can be a very interesting addition to Nintendo’s key characters. Now finally I get my wish of Chibi Robo in a new 3DS game. But not in the way I would have wanted to. They could have translated the Japan only release that was Okaeri Chibi Robo, and spruced it up for the 3DS to play on. We would have had the true sequel to the original GameCube game, once again helping out a human family. Using all his wit to navigate the big world being the tiny character that he is, using his toothbrush to keep things clean and picking up all the trash the family left behind.
Instead they decided to make a new game that is very different in gameplay: a platformer. Judging on the reactions on the various forums I think casting Chibi Robo in a totally different genre might have been a mistake. There are already so many platformers of well know characters. Why not stick to the kind of games that we love Chibi for, the kind of adventure/simulation games that there’s a shortage of anyway. Why go for yet another platformer? Looking at the first clips with the gameplay I’m not sure if this will be the game that will lift my aversion of platformers. Even though I liked zapping away the mice by twirling my power cord in the old game, will it be enough for me to clear the levels and feel good about it?
According to first impressions on NintendoLife.com they did manage to capture the quirky essence of the original games, making Chibi Robo every bit as cute as he always is. I guess when the release is near, I might not be able to resist, but still, I would rather have had an adventure/simulation game! What do you think? Will you be getting Chibi Robo Zip Lash?
I probably won’t get this game. I’m not a big fan of most platformers.
Me neither, but I’m so tempted by it being Chibi!
I will. I’d rather have the true sequel of course, but I’m hoping supporting this will open the door for more Chibi Robo games to come over in the future. It’s in the same situation Digimon is, what we fans truly wanted was the true sequel to the first digimon game, a truly unique game with a cult status. Instead, after so many years of everything being Japan only, what we get is the worst fighting game in the series and now an RPG (that looks really good, but is not the game we desperately wanted). But we hope that if we keep supporting it we will one day, get another game in English that is a another sequel to that beloved first game. We must do the same with Chibi Robo.
And who knows, maybe it will get enough people interested in Chibi Robo that we get a fan translation of the older games, like Digimon is getting.
I think I will do the same, buy the game, hope I like the platforming enough. And in the meantime, I hope my support will help Nintendo decide to make a real sequel.
I’ve never played Digimon, but I understand what you mean. Sometimes developers/ publishers do their own thing, it seems.
I have pre-ordered the amiibo bundle, because the game looks quite good to me.
From time to time I dive back into Okaeri! Chibi Robo! Happy Richie Oosouji which is my only Chibi Robo game so far, but I really like the character and I wouldn’t be against more games in the series.
I wished I’d known you years back, when I was heavily into the game. I nearly got to the end, but I was stopped by a shark-like fish in the boys bedroom. Something to do with the wrestler, but I just couldn’t figure it out. It was my first Japanese game!