Chibi-Robo!
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| Chibi-Robo! | |
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| Developer(s) | skip Ltd. |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Release date(s) | June 23, 2005 (JP) February 6, 2006 (NA) May 26, 2006 (EU) |
| Genre(s) | Action Game Adventure Game |
| Mode(s) | single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo GameCube |
| Media | 1 × GameCube Optical Disc |
| System requirements | Memory Card |
| Input | GameCube Controller |
Chibi-Robo! (Japanese: ちびロボ！, Little Robo!) is a video game about a robot that does housework. The main goal of the game is to be the highest ranked Chibi-Robo in the world, as well as to save its family, the Sandersons.
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[edit] Game information
Chibi-Robo is a gift to a little girl (Jenny Sanderson) whose father wants her to have the best birthday ever. Chibi-Robo isn't just a toy, though. He's a household helper whose sole task is to bring happiness to his family. Chibi is only 4 inches tall, but he's capable of some impressive feats.
Since cleaning makes his family happy, he feels happy to do so. He comes equipped with a Chibi-Copter that allows him to fly across small gaps. As he helps around the house, he can upgrade himself with a special Chibi-Blaster that can blast away small obstacles. He uses his accessories and tools to clean up messes in hard-to-reach places, scrubbing stains off the floor and cleaning up litter wherever he can.
Chibi finds special costumes throughout the game. By putting on the costumes, Chibi can do even more: Dressing like a frog allows him to speak to Jenny, who always wears a weird frog hood and speaks in the language of frogs, unless you give her all 10 frog rings. Dressing like space hunter Drake Redcrest allows him to join Drake on his nightly patrols. Dressing like a dog even allows him to speak to Tao!
Chibi is more than just a chore-bot: his goal is to bring happiness to his family. He has a whole house to explore however he wants, looking for wrongs to right and ways to make his family members' lives better. However, his battery life is limited, so he needs to recharge by plugging into wall outlets. Certain tasks require more energy, and Chibi must watch his power levels carefully. However once you beat the game by recharging Giga-robo, you will have unlimited energy.
[edit] Game storyline
For her eighth birthday, little Jenny Sanderson receives a very strange gift from her toy-fanatic father – a little robot named Chibi-Robo. He says it's for her but it's really for the family. However, Jenny's mother isn't happy, because Jenny's father has just quit his job at a robotics plant for reasons he won't explain. Chibi-Robo helps around the house, cleaning up and doing whatever he can to bring happiness to this troubled family. When the robotic Spydorz show up, it's up to Chibi-Robo to protect his family from the evil plans of Macroware Robotics, Inc.
[edit] Characters
- Chibi-Robo
- The game's silent protagonist. Chibi-Robo himself is a small, autonomous robot that does household chores and generally tries to make lives better. He enjoys making people happy.
- Telly Vision
- Chibi's manager, who, although he has no mouth, wishes to become a singer. Later on in the game, he sings a song called "Teriyaki Blues". His name is an obvious play on the word television, which is basically what he is.
- Mr. Sanderson
- Mr. Sanderson is Jenny’s Dad. He quit his job and refuses to search for a new one. Despite the low budget of the Sanderson family, he keeps buying toys. Mr. Sanderson is obsessed with a cartoon character called Drake Redcrest. It is later discovered in the game that he created the Spydorz.
- Mrs. Sanderson
- Mrs. Sanderson is the constantly-stressed mother of the family. After her husband wasted Moolah on Chibi, she made him sleep on the couch. But later, she begins contemplating divorce. She calls Chibi by the nickname "Cheebo."
- Jenny Sanderson
- Jenny is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sanderson. She is 8 years old and is under the impression that she is a frog. She claims that this is because an evil frog wizard put a curse on her. She only talks to Chibi normally if he is in the Frog Suit. She spends the morning drawing pictures of frogs, but if Chibi gives her Frog Rings, she draws him, getting better with each ring she receives.
- Tao
- The family's dog. The Free Rangers try to defeat him and rescue Private Memphis, whom Tao carried away one day during training (injuring Sarge's eye, too). Happy Points can be earned by cleaning up the mud Tao tracks in. Chibi can talk to him while wearing the Tao Suit.
- Drake Redcrest
- Like all of the Sandersons' toys, Space Hunter Drake Redcrest comes to life every time nobody is in the room. He gives Chibi the Drake Redcrest Suit, which Chibi can use to patrol with him at night. In the middle of the game, he is constantly trying to get Princess Pitts to like him.
- Princess Pitts
- Princess Pitts is a doll who lives in a castle in Jenny's room. Mort and Drake both try to win her heart. She is very cowardly, but with help from a Ghost Suit-wearing Chibi-Robo she overcomes her fears to impress Mort. Her name and look is obviously a reference to Princess Peach.
- Sophie
- Tao's chew toy. Sophie, who looks like a colorful caterpillar, has a huge crush on Drake Redcrest, and is constantly writing Love Letters to him that she never ends up sending.
- Mort
- Mort is a toy mummy who lives in a shoebox-sarcophagus under Jenny's bed. He tries to win Princess Pitts's affections, but fails, as she is afraid of almost everything. Mort tries to show his feelings by leaving flowers at her door, but unfortunately every flower he touches wilts. Mort was the star of a movie that Jenny's parents first saw when they were going out. If Chibi gives Mort the Ticket Stub from the Sandersons' bedroom he'll talk more about it and reward Chibi with some Happy Points. Near the end of the game, he and Pitts get married and have two children: Li'l Pitts and Mini Mort.
- The Free Rangers
- An army of toy eggs, who try to defeat Tao and save a soldier named Memphis. Before Chibi-Robo can assist the Free Rangers with their goal he will need to show them the Free Rangers group picture, complete the four training sessions, give them Memphis's Dog Tags, and liberate four Free Ranger members to join the crew of Plankbeard the wooden pirate. Despite the fact that Memphis was fairly low in the ranks, Sarge completely dedicates himself to finding him. (he is later found inside Taos collar)
- Plankbeard
- A pirate made out of wood who lives in the basement and tries to help Giga-Robo come back to life. He owns a ship called the Scurvy Splinter that was lost somewhere in the Backyard. He hates Peekoe.
- Funky Phil
- A disco-dancing flower that lives in the parents' bedroom. Every time he dances he drops a Funky Seed that will spawn three baby Funkys if planted and some Funky Sweat that acts as a kind of fertilizer for the seed. Once Funky is presented with the Funky sprouts he claims that he is not their Pappy, but takes them in just the same. He supposedly dies, but it turns out his power button is just turned off.
- Dinah
- Dinah is a dinosaur made out of construction blocks. She likes Funky Phil and hangs out in the parents' bedroom. She almost killed Fred and tried to bite Chibi. Once Dinah sees the Funky sprouts she begins to make a plan that includes using many colored blocks to make them and Funky Sr. happy.
- Sunshine
- Jenny Sanderson's teddy bear that has an addiction to flower nectar. When he's deprived of his precious nectar, he is driven into a rage. It was one of these fits that led him to beat on Pitts's castle and cause her to lose her Red Shoe. Sunshine is the theme for Jenny's room, rather than frogs, as one might expect.
- Kid Eggplant
- A walking eggplant, who bears a striking resemblance to the Eggplant Men from Wrecking Crew. He can only be found after retrieving three maps from Captain Plankbeard. For freeing him, he offers to turn chibi into an eggplant, but since he doesn't like it he gives him a super eggplant instead.
- Giga-Robo
- A very early version of Chibi-Robo created by Dr. Joy Ebisu of Citrusoft. Giga was very popular, but his large power cost made him obsolete, leading to Chibi. Giga-Robo is in the basement, with a dead battery and a missing leg.
- Spydorz
- The main enemies in the game. They are robotic spiders and can be defeated with the Chibi-Blaster. A startling revelation about the spydorz is revealed close to the ending of the game, which is that Mr. Sanderson had created them for chibi-robo, but they went berserk and became hostile. At the end of the game, Chibi opens the suitcase where Giga-Robo's Left Leg was squirreled away, only for it to be stolen by some spydor 2.0 prototypes that were also in there, which then overrun the Foyer and the Bedrooms. Mr. Sanderson then upgraded the Chibi-Blaster so that it could harm the Spydorz. After clearing out the Foyer, the Sandersons are then ensnared in the webs of the Spydorz' leader, Queen Spydor, whom Chibi then was to battle.
- Freida
- A frog that was dying from dehydration and was saved by Chibi-Robo's Squirter. Freida gives Chibi-Robo the Frog Suit as compensation. She asks Chibi-Robo to rescue her boyfriend, Fred, who is in the Sandersons' bedroom. Unknown to Freida, her boyfriend is being attacked by a certain dinosaur made of construction blocks.
- The Great Peekoe
- A teapot-like being that hangs out in the Sandersons' basement at night. Peekoe will increase Chibi's Moolah if the player guesses which of his eyes will open correctly, but will take Chibi's Moolah if the player guesses incorrectly. Should Chibi lose, he will gain Happy Points.
- Titan, Io, Ganymede, and Little Bang
- Four aliens whom Giga-Robo saved from crash-landing in his heyday. As a token of gratitude, the aliens granted two wishes for Giga via mysterious balls of light. Giga's first wish was to give souls to the toys, his second to give all the Giga-Robos in the world infinite power. But the aliens had no more wish balls. As they returned to their home to get one, the energy crisis struck, and Giga was confined to the Basement. The four aliens then met Chibi, and learned of Giga's fate. Chibi then boarded their UFO and uncovered a time machine that took him and Telly to the past. Then, when Giga was revived, the four fulfilled their promise and Giga-Robo used the light orb to grant all the Giga-Robos infinite energy, thereby halting another potential energy shortage. Giga then plugs Chibi's power cord into him, thus granting Chibi infinite energy.
[edit] Equipment and costumes
- Chibi-Blaster- Used for defeating Spydorz, opening cracks, and various other tasks.
- Chibi-Copter- A propeller that comes out of Chibi's head used to cross small gaps and prevent fall damage.
- Mug- A Drake Redcrest mug that Chibi can hide under to increase his defense.
- Chibi-Radar- Used for finding hidden objects.
- Spoon- Can be used for digging holes, flipping burgers and making a certain character called Mr. Prongs grow.
- Squirter- Used to store all kinds of liquid found around the house to be squirted on various things later.
- Toothbrush- A Drake Redcrest toothbrush that is used to clean all sorts of stains.
- Drake Redcrest Suit- Most everyone will mistake Chibi for Drake Redcrest, its pose is Drake's stance and explosion.
- Frog Suit- Useful for talking to frogs, and all animals except for Tao, its pose is crouching down and then jumping up, letting a music note out of Chibi's lid.
- Ghost Suit- A suit used for scaring people with an evil laugh and a giant tongue sticking out. (Only certain people, most are either amused or annoyed by it.)
- Pajamas- Chibi will sleep through the day or night.
- Tao Suit- Used to talk to the family dog, it pose is kneeling down and letting 2 barks out of Chibi's lid. (Also lets you talk to the bird up in the tree in the backyard.)
- Trauma Suit- Chibi falls over and fakes an injury so Telly Vision will carry him back to the Chibi-House.
- Super Chibi-Robo Suit- Chibi shows off his great achievements to everyone while wearing this suit. He is more shiny, has a "super pose" (arm up, head looking up, spinning in a circle), and has S medals on his chest, and on the inside of the flap that opens up. (The top part of his head.)
[edit] How to progress through the game
Chibi-Robo has a limited range because his battery is constantly draining. Certain tasks require more battery power than others, but Chibi can always refill his battery by plugging into a wall socket if he starts to run low. Chibi finds tasks around the house, from cleaning up garbage to rescuing toys and battling robotic Spydorz. By doing these tasks, he can earn Happy Points, which he can use to level up his battery, and his Chibi-Ranking. (Once you beat the game, you have infinite energy and no longer need to recharge.)
[edit] Special moves
Chibi has a host of tools at his disposal, from the Chibi-Copter helicopter attachment to the Chibi-Blaster sonic cannon. He also can use many of the household objects he finds, from a toothbrush for scrubbing stains to a mug used for protecting himself from attackers. He discovers a variety of different costumes throughout the game too. By striking a pose in his costume, he can perform different actions: Dressing as a dog allows him to speak with the family canine and some other animals, while wearing his pajamas allows him to jump from day to night. Another useful suit is the Trauma Suit. When a pose is struck while wearing it, Telly Vision will save Chibi, bringing him back to the Chibi-House. The game was originally going to use the Nintendo GameCube microphone but the feature was removed at the last second, although not totally (see Trivia).
[edit] Development
Chibi-Robo was originally being developed by just Skip and Bandai, who would publish it as a third-party title. The game's storyline back then was that you needed to train Chibi-Robo to get home and avoid the burglars that were after him. The gameplay was going to be a point-and-click like adventure. Early videos show Chibi-Robo in a lab or house of some sort, running around to collect batteries to raise his own internal battery. There were also other objectives like pushing things over, moving objects and other ideas to get batteries and other things. It was formerly known as ChibiRobo back then. After a few years, Skip gave up on the project. Nintendo though, was still interested in the idea of the game and saved it from development hell by building on Skip's project. Nintendo reworked the engine into its current platformer status, gave it new environments, and a new storyline.
[edit] Reception
[edit] Awards
The game also received a nomination the best story/writing award from Nintendo Power issue 213. However, Nintendo Power is yet to release the 2006 awards, so this may change.
[edit] Trivia
- All Rangers are named after cities and states (except Sarge). For example, Cincy is Cincinnati, Vegas is Las Vegas, Frisco is San Francisco, Bama is Alabama, Idaho is Idaho, Memphis is (was) Memphis and Nawlins is New Orleans.
- Chibi-Robo's nickname in this game (according to Mrs. Sanderson) is Cheebo. This follows a common Japanese colloquialism of abbreviating words or phrases to just the first and last syllable.
- Even after the player gets infinite energy, the Chibi-Battery is still available to be purchased in the online shop.
- Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol is the sequel to Chibi-Robo. It takes place in the park and the premise of the game is to restore all of the stolen park equipment. It will be released on the Nintendo DS.
- The Company that makes Chibi-Robos is called Citrusoft, which may be a parody of Apple Computer. Citrusoft's logo is an orange (as seen in the Chibi-Robo webtoons on the official website) much like Apple's is an Apple. Also, the company that makes the evil Spydorz is named Macroware, which may be a parody of Microsoft, a rival company to both Nintendo and Apple.
- Although the planned use of the GameCube Microphone for this game was removed, some functionality related to the mic remains: if one talks loudly into the mic, Chibi will get scared and fall over. Similarly, if you talk with a milder tone, Chibi will turn his head with an alarmed exclamation point, or softer, and Chibi will glance.
- If the player spins the control stick around really fast, Chibi will get dizzy.
[edit] External links
