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[ziran]

Chibi Robo GC
released June 23rd

Chibi Robo website

Chibi Robo Movie [looks great!]

developed by Skip ltd, who also developed Giftpia. directed by Kenichi Nishi. Nishi and designer Keita Eto [another Skip member] were involved in making the [excellent] SNES RPG, Chrono Trigger.

IGN impressions & videos
extract:

E3 2005: Chibi Robo
Become a tiny robot and keep a big, dirty house clean and happy. Full impressions.
by Matt Casamassina
May 20, 2005

...So what is this quirky game all about? Gamers take control of the Chibi Robo, a pint-sized machine designed specifically to take care of a family's house. The robot needs to keep the house "happy," according to Nintendo. To do that, Chibi must walk around the home and clean it up, interact with other machines and people, and even -- according to the storyline - stop a group of bumbling thieves from making off with precious valuables.
In the E3 2005 demo, which was fairly limited, Chibi Robo could explore the living room of the house. A day and night system was evident. Days seemed to last about 10 minutes and nights the same. The environments would be slightly changed depending on the time of day. For instance, a character not available in the day might be sleeping on the couch at night, and robots normally roaming the level in the afternoon might be gone in the evening.

Using the analog stick, gamers can manually move the robot through the environments. The owners of the house are slobs. The place is littered with trash, including waste paper and even sludge. When Chibi runs, his male electrical cord dangles behind him - and yes, we realize that sounds bad, but hey. Because he's a robot, he's powered by electricity and therefore needs to recharge throughout the day. An electricity counter located in the bottom-right corner of the screen constantly counts down to zero. When Chibi is getting low, players will want to recharge. If they don't, the character will eventually run out of power, collapse, and the game is over. Chibi can let the cord dangle on the floor behind him or he can carry it, which enables him to run faster. He's a cute hero, to be sure. Just about everybody who watched the little guy carrying his own power cord, and then jumping up and inserting it into an outlet, had to smile.

Chibi is armed with a number of tools that help him clean up the place. He can of course walk up to a piece of trash and just pick it up, at which point it disappears inside him. Or he can use a "weapon" from his meaty arsenal. He has access to a shovel for digging, a toothbrush for cleaning up sludge, and a teacup that he can wear for protection. There are spidery robots that appear infrequently as the day passes and they attack Chibi, sucking his energy. The only way to fend off his foes is to spin the analog stick from left to right. Wearing the teacup and spinning around, Chibi can fling the pests away and move on. He also possesses a Chibi Popper, a pistol that shoots bursts of energy at enemies...

Nonono Puzzle Chai-Rian GBA
released June 16th

->

Nonono Movie

Nonono website

New puzzler from Creatures, the people who design most of the Pokemon characters.

Famitsu score : 7 / 7 / 7 / 6 - (27/40)



Screwbreaker GBA
released 2005

Screwbreaker website [not much there yet]

developed by Game Freak, developers of the Pokemon handheld RPGs. game uses a rumble pak.

NOA PR:

It’s time to break some skulls in a smashing new adventure. The Skull Rollers, an evil crime syndicate, has stolen your most prized possession, a red diamond that belonged to your deceased mother. Now it’s up to you and your fellow thieves to penetrate their hideout and take it back.

With the help of your trusty Breakall Drillbot, you can plow through just about anything in your path. Use the L and R buttons to change the direction of the rotation. Explore every inch of the gang’s hideout to find hidden gears that will beef up your ride. Screw Breaker is developed by GAME FREAK, known worldwide for its smash-hit Pokémon games.

Screwbreaker NOA page with more pics

IGN impressions and trailer



DS Rakuhiki Jiten DS
released June 16th

Rakuhiki Jiten website
The DS dictionary.



Famicom Wars DS
released June 23rd

Famicom Wars website

*edit Famicom Wars DS Japanese commercial (very amusing!)



Yawaraka Atama Juku DS
released June 30th

Yawaraka Atama Juku website
An educational [non] game.

 

[bitwise]

is Famicon Wars the only one coming to NA?

 

[jarrod]

Screw Breaker looks fucking fantastic. And it come out of nowhere, definitely my most wanted GBA game right now (sorry Treasure).

 

[Amir0x]

WOO UPSKIRT!




I've been keeping an eye on Chibi Robo, but I haven't heard the most flattering things about it. I hope it's awesome, though, as it looks fairly original.

 

[jarrod]

is Famicon Wars/Screwbreaker the only ones coming to NA?

Chibi Robo and Screw Breaker are also coming.

 

[radioheadrule83]

I've not seen much of Chibi Robo... are those frog and cat suits? Can't wait to see what all that is about...

 

[Oxymoron]

Chibi Robo and Screw Breaker are also coming.

That's what they said about GiFTPiA.

 

[jarrod]

That's what they said about GiFTPiA.

Giftpia's cancellation was due to marketing hurdles, which is a problem Chibi Robo and Screw Breaker won't face. NOA's delivered on plenty of other announced niche/quirky localizations this generation (Animal Crossing, Pikmin, Advance Wars, Fire Emblem, Custom Robo, etc). I don't doubt we'll see both these games make it too.

 

[Oxymoron]

I just don't want my heart broken again.

 

[akascream]

Nintendo really screws the NA GCN market when they develop these quirky titles they never bring over.

 

[jarrod]

I just don't want my heart broken again.

Chibi Robo would be the only one I'd possibly worry about... it looks like it may be too out there for NOA. I've still got doubts about Yoot Saito's Odama making it too... but then, it's not like NOA has tons of GameCube content to choose from anymore now that NCL's diverted so much resources into DS R&D.

Screw Breaker is guaranteed though imo. Game Freak alone has enough clout to make it happen.

 

[evilromero]

I would expect both Odama and Chibi to come stateside. Only because NoA has a long ways to travel until the RVN launch. After stuff like Mario Strikers, Baseball and Party, they will need some other titles to distract consumers. Poor Mario needs a break every once and a while (cue Chicago song).

 

[Shiggy]

Beside Chibi Robo I'm not interested in any of those games. Can't we do something for Giftpia? Start a petition!

 

[jarrod]

Can't we do something for Giftpia? Start a petition!

I'd much rather have Home Land than Giftpia. NOA needs to jump on that shit.

 

[brandonnn]

I've got Rakuhiki Jiten on pre-order, will no doubt eventually pick-up both the chai-alien puzzle and Screwbreaker (which was a fun concept-game at E3; the environments and feel were very WarioLand), and likely will not be able to resist Chibi Robo.

That said, with the redesign of Chibi's mechanics, and having played the living hell out of Boku wa chiisai, I can't help but wonder if maybe I've seen it all before, and better done at that. Boku's at least got a lot of free-roaming without the constant pressure to recharge.

Plus, I don't think Chibi can do this

or this

or even this

As much as I love a lot of Nishi's other work (Tondemo Crisis, L.O.L.、and I'm sure I'll love moon when I finally get my hands on it), I haven't been fully sold on Chibi.

 

[ziran]

Screw Breaker looks fucking fantastic. And it come out of nowhere, definitely my most wanted GBA game right now (sorry Treasure).

i agree.

i think it's a shame how major sites don't give 'low gfx powered' games much attention, especially on the GBA, and especially after the brilliant warioware twisted.

i'm sure screwbreaker will be coming to the west, it's listed on NOA's site, not a guarantee, but it shows they're beginning to hype the game (even if it doesn't i'm sure it'll be import friendly). as for the gc stuff, 2006 is going to be very dry for gc, so i'd agree that NOA will be localising all it can.

 

[ziran]

Famicom Wars DS Japanese commercial

very amusing

 

[AndreasNystrom]

woo.. this makes me want a GC actually. looks cute

 

[Hyoushi]

Famicom Wars DS Japanese commercial

very amusing

:lol :lol :lol

Awesome!