For the record, if I could go back in time to my gamecube-playing kid self and get him to buy two games that I otherwise wouldn't have, I would 1000% pick this game and gotcha force. The 2000's hit the Custom Robo IP like a bulldozer, as the poppy colorful 90's pokemon-leaning vibes of the N64 game have been replaced with gritter, darker, cyber-coded aesthetics of the grand purple lunchbox. The character designs have gone from your cast of typical plucky pokekids to a bunch of adults that came straight out of a how to draw manga book. Luckily for me, I eat both 90's and 2000's vibes like breakfast so I win both ways, HAH.
The plot definitely has a bit of a different tone compared to the N64 original, but it still feels like custom robo all things throughout. Like the original game, there's a pretty tight-knit cast of characters that you will keep bumping into time and time again, and many robo-battling tournament arcs, but the actual contents of the story differ drastically. Since the cast isn't a group of kids fucking around with toys, the main cast all works for a bounty hunting agency that fights petty crimes the police can't be assed to work on themselves for meager pay. And the crimes are solved by means of fighting childrens toys-turned psychic cyber warriors, obviously. It's a pretty ridiculous plot and frankly the shit that happens at the end went absolutely NOT as I expected. The actual localization and writing of the game is really goddamn good too, I could tell that the treehouse guys were having a blast with the character writing as there's plenty of funny moments and running gags throughout the game. There's gotta be at least like one kid out there that was changed by playing this, I feel.
As for the gameplay, I'm pleased to say that it's much more polished and balanced than it's ever been. The core gameplay of having a customizable robo with 4 different methods of attack and combo between is intact here, as are the 4-player fights from V2. It really felt like the OP weapons in the N64 game such as the homing missiles and dragon shot were sufficiently nerfed to the point of making most weapons viable. I didn't do the (pretty substantial) postgame stuff so there might be some absolutely busted drops that I am unaware of, but at least doing the main campaign it didn't really feel like I was sticking to the same weapons because they were inherently better than the rest but rather they were the most fluid with my playstyle, and that's a pretty good mark of customizable balance imo.
It's both a good single-player adventure plus an awesome party game. I'm still absolutely baffled how custom robo didn't catch on because this series is like some of the coolest shit dude! I can only imagine the kinds of sleepovers or get-together nights I could have had back in the day if I had this game... Alas, as much as I wish I could say that changes now as I invite all my homies for weekly custom robo nights, adult life don't exactly be that way... Maybe there's a competitive tournament scene out there or something (apparently CEO had a tournament in 2018 at least?) Perhaps in another timeline I could have had this game in its time, but hey man better late than never, yanno?
what in the fuck is nintendo doing by not making new custom robo games
The plot definitely has a bit of a different tone compared to the N64 original, but it still feels like custom robo all things throughout. Like the original game, there's a pretty tight-knit cast of characters that you will keep bumping into time and time again, and many robo-battling tournament arcs, but the actual contents of the story differ drastically. Since the cast isn't a group of kids fucking around with toys, the main cast all works for a bounty hunting agency that fights petty crimes the police can't be assed to work on themselves for meager pay. And the crimes are solved by means of fighting childrens toys-turned psychic cyber warriors, obviously. It's a pretty ridiculous plot and frankly the shit that happens at the end went absolutely NOT as I expected. The actual localization and writing of the game is really goddamn good too, I could tell that the treehouse guys were having a blast with the character writing as there's plenty of funny moments and running gags throughout the game. There's gotta be at least like one kid out there that was changed by playing this, I feel.
As for the gameplay, I'm pleased to say that it's much more polished and balanced than it's ever been. The core gameplay of having a customizable robo with 4 different methods of attack and combo between is intact here, as are the 4-player fights from V2. It really felt like the OP weapons in the N64 game such as the homing missiles and dragon shot were sufficiently nerfed to the point of making most weapons viable. I didn't do the (pretty substantial) postgame stuff so there might be some absolutely busted drops that I am unaware of, but at least doing the main campaign it didn't really feel like I was sticking to the same weapons because they were inherently better than the rest but rather they were the most fluid with my playstyle, and that's a pretty good mark of customizable balance imo.
It's both a good single-player adventure plus an awesome party game. I'm still absolutely baffled how custom robo didn't catch on because this series is like some of the coolest shit dude! I can only imagine the kinds of sleepovers or get-together nights I could have had back in the day if I had this game... Alas, as much as I wish I could say that changes now as I invite all my homies for weekly custom robo nights, adult life don't exactly be that way... Maybe there's a competitive tournament scene out there or something (apparently CEO had a tournament in 2018 at least?) Perhaps in another timeline I could have had this game in its time, but hey man better late than never, yanno?
what in the fuck is nintendo doing by not making new custom robo games