Released in Japan as Slapstick, Quintet's Robotrek is a hybrid-JRPG whose fights couple sideview perspective with real-time movement/attacks, pausing only to issue commands while balancing offense via cooldowns. The main draw - however, lies in the ability to invent robots, with 'recruitment' and customization options that hark back to SaGa's blank slate allies. Their upgrades are handled by stat allocation (spending from a shared pool of points rather than per unit) and collectibles for synthesis (unlocking recipes for improved weapons, armor and even Zelda-like tools, not only items), while the influence of SRPGs is felt in their limited time, battle-screen treasure as well as the clear distinctions between weapon types (whether in range, AoE, recovery, etc.). On the downside, the proceedings tend to indulge in obscure solutions or lengthy grind-walls, that - altogether, are more of a distraction than an attraction. From combat to setting, humor and subject matter - though, one ultimately gets the impression that this paved the way for Mega Man Battle Network.

Stopped at Meta Crab

Robotrek is a really innovative RPG, but sadly suffers from some of the more egregious issues from its era. No random encounters, tactical battle positioning, programmable custom special moves, and a large amount of weapon variety all add up to naught: combat is thoughtless and repetitive. Add on to that the horrible localization and you have a game that is impenetrable without a guide. It's a shame that I won't get to revisit some of the more evocative and funny setpieces this game has to offer, but the overall vibe is that of a bad RPG Maker game rather than a well-tuned release.

An RPG about the benefits of reading books. (Oh and I guess you build some robots too.)

The insanely convoluted story that gleefully mashes up genres and tones is a wild ride. You start out the son of a humble small town inventor, rescuing some kids who got stuck in a cave (after the petulant Elon Musk-esque scientist fails to do it), and before you know it there's hacker gangs and a crab-man and a doppelganger mayor having an affair with his secretary and a haunted mansion and a vengeful volcano god (who's not really a vengeful volcano god) and a pumpkin-head-man and brainwashing and aliens and more aliens and time travel and space travel and now you have doppelgangers and the whole time you're being trailed by a small-time reporter named Mint who's always trying to "get the scoop." It absolutely does not make anything clearer that the translation is garbage. But it's kind of all part of the charm.

I will say I don't know how anyone could have ever completed this back in the day without a guide. The item crafting system is way ahead of its time (ditto the battle system, which predates Pokémon by a few years), but it's also pretty damn complicated, with a lot of tedious trial and error if you don't know in advance what you're doing.