More Thoughts From Me: Hello Chibi-Robo
Last week, Chibi-Robo came to the Nintendo Switch Online Gamecube app on Switch 2. I’ve been playing the game a lot recently and some thoughts on it.
I thought I had played Chibi-Robo on the Gamecube but as it turns out, I’m pretty sure I haven’t. I’ve been playing the game ever since it came out on the Nintendo Switch 2 last week and it doesn’t feel familiar at all. To me, Chibi-Robo is a brand-new game.
For those who haven’t played Chibi-Robo, in the game you play as a tiny robot that has moved into a house with large humans. Chibi runs on battery and you to plug him in sometimes to charge him up. The game has a cycle to it: you play for a limited amount of time, with a timer ticking down (you can upgrade it to 15 minutes and I have), during the day and then go back to your house, charge up, and go back out at night for awhile and then repeat that all over again. There are plenty of plugs around the house to plug into too.
Chibi-Robo is a slower paced game, with exploration as its main focus. There’s always something new to discover! There are multiple rooms in the house, new tools to unlock, and even costumes for your robot. Its a pretty cute game. There isn’t a ton of action, though you do get a blaster and can use it on some enemies that pop up on occasion. Otherwise, the game mostly has you finding new things, solving problems, and cleaning. There’s a lot of cleaning.
The game obviously won’t appeal to everyone. As someone who loves cozy games like Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon, this game appeals to me a lot. It is part sim and part adventure game. It has a neat story too. The gameplay, like most Nintendo games, is its focus. There is a lot to find in this game.
And yes, you have a lot of walking to do. I recently unlocked one quick travel location and hopefully there are more. I love the unlockables in this game. Its especially adorable how characters will respond to the different outfits that Chibi wears. There are so many cool tools to find too. Chibi Robo is such a good game!
I’m so happy that Chibi-Robo was added to Nintendo Switch Online. I think this may be the first NSO game on any of the apps that I’m absolutely addicted to. I’m playing it a lot and thinking about it when I’m not playing it. Hopefully this will get a lot of people talking about the character and Nintendo will make a true sequel to the game.
We had a 3DS spinoff that was more of an action/adventure game. It was very different from the Gamecube one. I’d love to see a new game that is more in line with this original one. Hey, I can dream!
Chibi-Robo is a real treat. If you have a Switch 2 and NSO, you should definitely check it out.
More Thoughts From Me is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed here are mine and mine alone. I’d really love it if Nintendo added the original Animal Crossing to the service too.
Article By Daniel Fugate
