Captain☆Rainbow:
I loved what Chibi-Robo offered even though I had some serious flaws with it and I definitely wanted to check Skip's next big console game being Captain☆Rainbow. It looked just like Chibi-Robo but with an amazing premise.
The premise of the game is that Nick's TV Show Captain☆Rainbow got unpopular and so he found his way to Mimin Island where obscure, unkown characters from Nintendo's past lives and wants their wish to be granted.
My favorite thing about the game are characters and how lively Mimin Island is. For example Devil from Devil World on NES wants be evil and you help him just so you can get the items he steals. His dialogue is beyond top notch and the interactions, running animation is so well done. In one of his wishes he wants you to give him 2 pies and so you make Hikari from Shin Osigami on NES make 2 pies and when you give it to Devil he goes to Lip from Panel de Pon and Hikari and throw the pies in their face. Then at night when you talk to him. He tells you how he kind of regrets what he did and might apologize later. He is also funny as hell. Most characters are wacky as hell.
As I've mentioned the world is very lively too, for example Famicom Soldiers from Advance Wars wants to be the world's best Voleyball players. And you only can help them at day. So at night when you check them they are chatting and such. But you notice that there is a Crazy Tracy Poster who is from Link's Awakening and is the woman that everybody loves in the island. You see one of the soldiers secretly go to her castle at night sometimes. There is also Mappo who is from Giftpia, Skip Ltd.'s first game and Mappo is the police of the island and he detecs different things depending on who you help. Such as he noting down if Devil is doing something evil at night while you are helping him. Or Mappo's interactions with Birdo which is very funny where Mappo put Birdo in prison. And Birdo calls every bad word to Mappo and Mappo doesn't give a shit unless you make him to. This game feels so lively that I couldn't help but feel nostalgic the moment game finished. The ending may tear you apart if you cared about the game as much as I did.
Gameplay is simple and works for what kind of game it is. Since you help a lot of cool characters you are constantly doing new mini-games and interactions with them. You help Little Mac from Punch Out! who became fat train in a rhythm game style mini-game and train him just enough so he doesn't get too slim or fat. In one mini-game you help Ossan from Golf on NES to find his club. You see that Devil took it and you do his evil jobs to get it and play a golfing mini-game to train him to be the best golf player in the world.
Aside from character focused mini-games there is the main gameplay where you control Nick and can transform to Captain☆Rainbow. You explore the whole town and help others. There are side things to do such as fishing and catching bugs to fill the encyclopedia. You can explore the world to gain new abilites that will lead you to new places and find different shaped rocks that will tell you more about the Island and Mimins living it that are the reasons Nick is able to grant wishes. Yes there is a lore behind it, I love this place. Nick also collects sparklies to gain access to the wish star. When he collects 20 of them which can be collected by doing what residents want or just exploring. You choose the resident you gained trust in by making what they want and send them off the island in a cool way while fighting with enemies.
I also love the detail, charm and effort put into this game. Whenever you send somebody off the island you go to this secret beach to see that residents sent you letters and music which thanks you and makes you strangely emotional that you can display in your own Trailer House which is so cool and gained when you send 3 residents from the Island. I also recommend not sending more than 3 residents because the interactions between them are so so unique and charming. The artstyle is unlike anything having different shapes and an artstyle that probably will never get old. Not to mention the amazing OST that resembles the atmosphere you are in so well and has a lot of variety.
As much as I love this game and it is one of my favorite games, there is a big issue. See, this game is a Japanese only title and there is a fan translation for it with a patch thanks to Markass. But this translation is hit and miss. Sometimes it captures the humour perfectly and very well done. Sometimes it just doesnt make sense and sometimes it says " You can open this" as "You can not open this". Some of these werent a big issue and you mostly understood what it meant but my biggest issue with it is that its not completed. Only 90 percent of it is in English and Japanese parts may come as annoying at times. I sometimes searched what it meant cus I was curious.
Overall I love this game, might be one of the most charming and unique games I've ever played, I loved how lively it felt and It felt like I was living there and this game became a "part" of my life while I was playing it. I fully recommend it to you but keep in mind that the fan translation isn't the best.
I loved what Chibi-Robo offered even though I had some serious flaws with it and I definitely wanted to check Skip's next big console game being Captain☆Rainbow. It looked just like Chibi-Robo but with an amazing premise.
The premise of the game is that Nick's TV Show Captain☆Rainbow got unpopular and so he found his way to Mimin Island where obscure, unkown characters from Nintendo's past lives and wants their wish to be granted.
My favorite thing about the game are characters and how lively Mimin Island is. For example Devil from Devil World on NES wants be evil and you help him just so you can get the items he steals. His dialogue is beyond top notch and the interactions, running animation is so well done. In one of his wishes he wants you to give him 2 pies and so you make Hikari from Shin Osigami on NES make 2 pies and when you give it to Devil he goes to Lip from Panel de Pon and Hikari and throw the pies in their face. Then at night when you talk to him. He tells you how he kind of regrets what he did and might apologize later. He is also funny as hell. Most characters are wacky as hell.
As I've mentioned the world is very lively too, for example Famicom Soldiers from Advance Wars wants to be the world's best Voleyball players. And you only can help them at day. So at night when you check them they are chatting and such. But you notice that there is a Crazy Tracy Poster who is from Link's Awakening and is the woman that everybody loves in the island. You see one of the soldiers secretly go to her castle at night sometimes. There is also Mappo who is from Giftpia, Skip Ltd.'s first game and Mappo is the police of the island and he detecs different things depending on who you help. Such as he noting down if Devil is doing something evil at night while you are helping him. Or Mappo's interactions with Birdo which is very funny where Mappo put Birdo in prison. And Birdo calls every bad word to Mappo and Mappo doesn't give a shit unless you make him to. This game feels so lively that I couldn't help but feel nostalgic the moment game finished. The ending may tear you apart if you cared about the game as much as I did.
Gameplay is simple and works for what kind of game it is. Since you help a lot of cool characters you are constantly doing new mini-games and interactions with them. You help Little Mac from Punch Out! who became fat train in a rhythm game style mini-game and train him just enough so he doesn't get too slim or fat. In one mini-game you help Ossan from Golf on NES to find his club. You see that Devil took it and you do his evil jobs to get it and play a golfing mini-game to train him to be the best golf player in the world.
Aside from character focused mini-games there is the main gameplay where you control Nick and can transform to Captain☆Rainbow. You explore the whole town and help others. There are side things to do such as fishing and catching bugs to fill the encyclopedia. You can explore the world to gain new abilites that will lead you to new places and find different shaped rocks that will tell you more about the Island and Mimins living it that are the reasons Nick is able to grant wishes. Yes there is a lore behind it, I love this place. Nick also collects sparklies to gain access to the wish star. When he collects 20 of them which can be collected by doing what residents want or just exploring. You choose the resident you gained trust in by making what they want and send them off the island in a cool way while fighting with enemies.
I also love the detail, charm and effort put into this game. Whenever you send somebody off the island you go to this secret beach to see that residents sent you letters and music which thanks you and makes you strangely emotional that you can display in your own Trailer House which is so cool and gained when you send 3 residents from the Island. I also recommend not sending more than 3 residents because the interactions between them are so so unique and charming. The artstyle is unlike anything having different shapes and an artstyle that probably will never get old. Not to mention the amazing OST that resembles the atmosphere you are in so well and has a lot of variety.
As much as I love this game and it is one of my favorite games, there is a big issue. See, this game is a Japanese only title and there is a fan translation for it with a patch thanks to Markass. But this translation is hit and miss. Sometimes it captures the humour perfectly and very well done. Sometimes it just doesnt make sense and sometimes it says " You can open this" as "You can not open this". Some of these werent a big issue and you mostly understood what it meant but my biggest issue with it is that its not completed. Only 90 percent of it is in English and Japanese parts may come as annoying at times. I sometimes searched what it meant cus I was curious.
Overall I love this game, might be one of the most charming and unique games I've ever played, I loved how lively it felt and It felt like I was living there and this game became a "part" of my life while I was playing it. I fully recommend it to you but keep in mind that the fan translation isn't the best.