Chibi-Robo!

released on Jun 23, 2005

Like most families, the Sandersons bicker about money and cleaning. Unlike most families, though, they also have robotic spiders, aliens, and talking toys to worry about. Enter Chibi-Robo, a tiny robot programmed to spread happiness. Join him on his quest to restore order to the Sanderson house and SAVE THE WORLD!


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Chibi-Robo may have been built with the purpose of cleaning floors and collecting loose change from around the house but nothing is going to stop them from salvaging a failing marriage while they're at it. I was 8 years old when I first played this and I think it's probably the first time I consciously realized that video games could be 'about something'.

The nintendrones were right Im gonna kill myself

feels undercooked compared to its ancestor moon, a game with similarly novel gameplay that was matched by its vast and modular soundtrack, oddball dialogue, toybox world, and experimental, love-filled story.

in chibi-robo's case, that novelty gradually, steadily transforms into mild yet pervasive monotony.

the game feels two, maybe three times longer than it should considering the lack of areas and things to do in them. cutscenes are sluggish, the soundtrack is mostly just two overworld songs you'll become intimately familiar with, and the day/night cycle is frustrating even with the tools you eventually gain to mitigate it... the complaints continue to pile up the longer you play.

the friendly vibes of being a cute little robot hopping around and helping out are destroyed by the game's lack of friendliness towards me. i'm stuck climbing up one area in the same way for the 10th time because it's the only method i have to go where i need to. i enter cutscene after cutscene where characters consistently enter 0.2x text speed, a decision i rarely find fitting to the line it's attached to or the character saying it. another review on the site states the game is a 4/5 if you learn a few speedrun tricks and skips to make traversal more technical and speedy, and i believe it.

despite the supposed openness of the world i often felt oddly railroaded in ways i don't remember feeling in moon. areas and items are locked behind ladders i don't have the material to build, so i just need to do other things while i wait for enemies to pop up randomly. quests are locked behind other quests for nebulous reasons. i try to do one thing, and it turns out i need to do one other thing first. again and again.

at one point you need a bone for an important main story quest. if you don't have a bone, or you used it earlier, you must wait a few days for one to spawn in a random room. have fun searching for it.

you also need a bone for a side quest which takes place later on. if you don't have a bone, or you used it earlier, you must wait a few days for one to spawn in a random room. have fun searching for it.

honestly, i don't mean to be that harsh. it's undeniable that walking around as the titular chibi-robo, collecting trash and scrubbing the floors for little hearts is a good time at its simplest. it's just unfortunate that the game is filled with repetitiveness in platforming, dialogue, areas, etc. and i don't know wh-i'm suddenly struck by a washpan falling on my head, knocking me unconscious. that's the 12th time that's happened!

A Gamecube game about being tiny and exploring a man-made environment? Yeah it was pretty obvious I was going to like this one. Really cute and charming game with a surprisingly sweet story. Made it though almost the whole game without looking anything up but I got stuck at the very end and had to pull up the wiki. Ending was awesome too.
Wish you were able to mash through text though. Also I think I fucked up the Diney quest so I can't get 100%.
Game was way longer than I expected but I really enjoyed my time with it.

It's very strange that people don't talk about the Chibi-Robo games. I honestly enjoyed the first game that's on Gamecube. I enjoy going through the house and exploring throughout it. I like the gadgets that they have and how useful they are. The side missions are fun. Enjoyed the main missions. The final boss is honestly great and I like what they did. I also enjoy how weird and dark this game can get at times. I mean there's a mission where we have to do ginyu force poses with Drake Redcrest and another where we have to do a frog rain dance ritual.

An issue I have been dealing with is a minor one is that I wish the game was a bit more clear to what items you need. I'm not saying that they should spoon feed you the answer, I meant as in having a hint on what you're supposed.

Overall, this is a very fun game. I honestly am interesting in Zip Lash on the 3DS and Park Patrol on the NDS. Gameplay is fun and entertaining. Story is simple but interesting. Humor is great. Love the cheesiness in this game too. A game you guys should definitely try out. Also I'm shocked that they didn't bring Chibi-Robo into Smash since he always been on Nintendo, but eh still enjoyed the game.

I really enjoyed this one, I went into this game expecting a quirky platformer and ended up fixing a broken marriage and meeting a whole cast of characters that I fell in love with. You can't really put a genre on this game, most unique thing I have ever played. My only complaints is that it gets a bit tedious in the last 3 hours and the spaceship minigame is evil and terrible, but both of these complaints take place in the optional part of the game after the credits so it doesnt matter.