Custom Robo is a tightly knit little game with great music, impressive visuals, simple controls, and story-wise very entertaining and hilarious dialogue.

Also a twist/reveal that is wonderfully unexpected...then the game does it again!

High recommend, but I advise against marathon running the game. It's robo combat while fun and stimulating, can get repetitive. Take the game in chunks.

I'll have one robo, extra cheese, extra salt please. Hold the onions.

Custom Robo sure is a Gamecube game. One of the few that saw regular rentals at my house. My brother and I found it to be a very refreshing alternative to Melee for multiplayer games that we could start fights and lose TV privileges over. Of course, there is an actual whole story in there. One that admittedly blew my ten-year-old mind out of the back of my head. On a recent replay, I had to come to terms with two things: One, that robots make everything cooler. And two, that Nintendo has a really bad habit of taking a concept that should be a guaranteed success and dropping the ball in the end zone.

Just gonna go ahead and get this out of the way: The soundtrack slaps. They could have used some generic, cheesy techno or rock tracks and probably would have gotten by just fine. But they didn't settle, and I'm grateful that they didn't, because gods know I always need more bangers to pump on my commute. Shame they didn't put quite as much effort into the visuals, though - while the arenas and the robos themselves look quite good, the game is far from being a stunner. In particular, the character designs are a bit bland and the amateurish art doesn't help things much. But that's hardly the reason you're here, anyways. I just think stronger visual direction would have done it some good.

At face value, Custom Robo has an excellent framework for an action game. As the title might insinuate, you cobble together a robot from various body types and weapons, and then toss it into an arena with up to three others and duke it out from a third-person perspective. Think Baby's First Armored Core meets Smash Bros. Jump, dash, shoot, take cover, make your enemy's HP reach zero before yours does. The combat moves at a pleasantly brisk speed, although the somewhat clunky controls keep the experience from being as tight as it ought to be, and the arena design doesn't do much to inspire you to change your builds around. Still, running about and hammering away at buttons trying to get an angle on your opponent is good fun, especially with friends.

For all the things I enjoy about Custom Robo, though, there's always another thing holding it back from being great. For starters: Even if the moment-to-moment gameplay is fun, it's thrown off by - you can probably guess - balance. There are a decent variety of parts to choose from, but aside from the base models, a lot of them don't seem to have a marked effect on your robo's performance, or are simply outclassed by other parts with regards to their intended purposes. The guns you can equip generally have the greatest overall impact as your main offensive tool. A lot of them are impractically gimmicky in how they function, and a straightforward gun with good range, good accuracy and decent damage is going to save the day more often than not. Your bombs and pods mostly serve to clutter the arena and limit your opponent's movement options, which is an important aspect of gameplay, but you don't see a whole lot of meaningful variance between how these weapons perform - largely just due to how agile the more powerful robo models are. The arena gets pretty chaotic with just two combatants, and with four, it can be very hard to keep track of what's happening onscreen. The hectic action is admittedly apart of the appeal, but the lack of feedback and zoomed-out perspective can make it very hard to adequately react and strategize. All in all, these issues are more tolerable when playing against other humans, who will still benefit from the fun factor of using a silly build and are just as susceptible to having their brain scrambled as you are. However, against the AI, it really just comes down to whether or not your powerful enemy feels like keeping its eyes shut as projectiles head for it. Approaching an enemy robo in later parts of the game can be an exercise in frustration as it rather conveniently dodges your attacks at the last second and demonstrates an acute awareness of where everything is on the field at once. Backing them into a corner is rarely an option, and you might be tempted to either play in a hyperaggressive manner in hopes of overpowering the AI, or play campy to ensure there's no chance it can do the same to you.

For the game as a whole: Custom Robo is about as linear as linear gets, with you waking up in the morning, walking across the remarkably small map to wherever the plot is supposed to happen that day and then doing it all over again. It's questionable as to why there's a map at all, because aside from seeing some optional dialogue there's pretty much never a reason to visit locations outside of when you're instructed to. People talk, you get into fights, repeat until the staff roll. There's no optional side content, no branching story paths (or at least choices in what tasks you pursue next), not even a parts store for your robo. There might be a few spots towards the end where you could face more or fewer foes depending on your choices. You effectively unlock parts as you progress through the story, and as far as the main game goes, that's it. You'll probably notice as you near the conclusion that there's an awful lot of empty space on your parts list. You haven't missed anything; all of that's just being saved for "The Grand Battle", a post-game story framed as a contest set up between the protagonist and all of the NPCs you've met over the course of your adventure, which is obviously the devs saying "this game needs more content so here's a tournament". The key difference between the Grand Battle and the main story is that you're now scored on your performance, and you're also restricted in various ways as to how you can build your robo, which does at least give more of an incentive to experiment and to perform well - something that the main game largely lacks. In the campaign, if you lose a fight, you simply get a brief custcene showing what happened afterwards before time rewinds to just before the fight, giving you another shot. There are no consequences, in narrative or otherwise, for failure; just adjust your loadout if necessary and try again. There's nothing stopping you from simply brute-forcing a challenging fight with the robo of your choice until you win. In fairness, that is true freedom in customization, but the lack of pressure to diversify your toolkit combined with the relatively short list of parts you have by default somewhat undermines the "Custom" part of Custom Robo. What's more, you can actually find hidden parts by snooping around each area during the Grand Battle... Why that couldn't have been a thing during the main game, I have no idea. Being able to carry over parts from the Grand Battle to a new game doesn't mean a whole lot, either, since all of the fights are exactly the same on a second playthrough. The most value you can get out of it is being able to use an overpowered kit to make the game a complete faceroll.

The story is probably the part of this game that makes me the saddest. The base concepts behind the narrative are actually really cool and beg to be explored further; needless to say, they generally aren't. You start off as a bounty hunter who never actually does much bounty hunting work. Mostly, you just break up squabbles and do other tasks the police force is presumably too busy to handle. At any rate, it doesn't seem like there even would be any crime if not for robos: Conflicts are universally resolved through robo battles, and at no point is any justification made for why the bad guys don't just skip the chance to play with action figures and opt to punch you in the face instead. That probably wouldn't be so noteworthy if they could obviously be used for crime, like, say, Pokemon, but robos seem to be harmless unless you're actively engaged in a fight with them (at least in this game). Along the way you might start to question why a world like this even needs bounty hunters to begin with - a sentiment that is seemingly shared by some of the characters, no less. After a while of being hit with excuse after obvious excuse to get into fights, things suddenly start taking a darker turn. Some pretty big twists are thrown at the player, the stakes get higher, you might be getting authentically excited at this point - and then it's over. The history of Custom Robo's world and its reasons for existing are barely touched upon through its runtime, and while some attempt is made at explaining the odder aspects, none of it quite managed to satisfy my (admittedly over-analytic) brain. The aforementioned Grand Battle segment does give you a little more time to interact with the world and its inhabitants, but considering how the focus is obviously on padding out the amount of gameplay the package has to offer, its existence is a bit baffling. I personally feel that the overall experience would have benefited from moving things like the rankings, battle rules and a wider selection of unlockable parts to the main game, and just taking a bit more time to flesh it out. You could still include post-game activities if you really wanted to - it just feels very strange to have the "extra" content be equal or greater in substance to the main game. It's not really post-game at that point; it's just half the game.

There's a bunch of other "what" moments this game tends to wring out of me. Example: Illegal parts. There's a whole bit in the story about how some robo parts ignore safety standards and can be legitimately dangerous to use when engaging with other robo pilots. Naturally, the main villains have access to these overpowered parts and leverage them with impunity. You would think you'd get an opportunity to claim them during the story and level the playing field, maybe lead to some interesting moral quandaries over the ethics of using them, but no. You can't collect any until post-game, and at that point making use of these powerful, illicit weapons will result in... A deduction to your score. It's a bit underwhelming. In partner battles, why does the player going down result in a loss? I can understand maybe not wanting to lock the player into a situation where they're forced to watch instead of play, but the option to forfeit and retry is always there. It's irritating to lose by a hair when your teammate should be more than capable of finishing the job, especially since the questionable friendly AI sometimes refuses to be an active participant in a fight. What's with all the unskippable tutorials? It makes sense in the early game, at least, with your partner Harry serving as a would-be mentor to your character. However, all it does is slow things down on repeat playthroughs, and it somewhat defeats the purpose of the in-game manual that documents all of the outlined strategies. The fact you can never make him shut up, even when the game literally offers you an opportunity to tell him to shut up, can be grating.

I'm just rambling at this point, and I could keep going, but there wouldn't be much reason to. All in all, Custom Robo is yet another game that I just want to love, but tragically seems to be another case of what the experience is being outstripped by what it isn't.

But you know what this game is? It's funny. While I'd argue that one of the story's failings is that the characters seldom seem to be taking things seriously, it's also one of its greater strengths. The constant quips, comedic back-and-forths and non-sequiturs did manage to get an authentic chuckle out of me every now and again. It's a very self-aware game and you can shake a bit more of that cheese loose - along with a few extra crumbs of lore - by going out of your way to interact with every NPC possible. So even if there's no other good reason to do so, I do recommend you go nose around a bit as you play. I have a soft spot for a few of the characters and found myself wishing the ones that weren't particularly prominent could have had more screentime, one of the few things I'm grateful to the Grand Battle mode for. The core conceit of building your own robot is still fun once you finally have a good list to work from, and it's a good way to spend an afternoon on the couch with friends (if you have any of those). It's entertaining, not overly long, and I suppose that for all of my gripes about the underdeveloped story mode, there are going to be plenty of people who appreciate a significant portion of the game being non-stop battling. It's a cool addition to the Gamecube's library, but not one that I think absolutely everybody needs to play.

Custom Robo has a ton of promise, and that's easy enough to see. Its "sequel" Custom Robo Arena has a bit more meat to it, even in spite of being on the significantly weaker Nintendo DS, and was one of my favorite games for that system. Of course, that came out in the States all the way back in 2007. There's a dedicated, if small, fanbase that's clamoring for Nintendo to give this franchise some love, and I'm right there with them. The Big N has a disappointingly long list of dormant franchises with too much potential to simply be left gathering dust. All of the pieces of a great game are here. They just need to be assembled in a smart way, like building the perfect robot.

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

I love the premise of this game. An arena shooter where you can customize the pieces of your mech, tinkering until you have the perfect machine for your playstyle. It seems like it would be a lot of menial work, but it surprisingly blends well together to create this strategic yet swift gameplay loop of optimization and battle.

That is before mentioning the controls too. Each weapon has a dedicated button to it, all of which are intuitive. It makes for some frantic yet strategic gameplay of when to dodge, and which weapon will be best suited. It's fun and very addictive.

It is a shame that the story and pacing of the plot are so slow and generic, that getting through it was tough at times. Of course, some of the characters were pretty memorable and to be honest, the ending to this game was weird in a funny way, but the slow pacing of the overworld and exploration sections bogged down the experience.

The graphics are pretty grainy, but in combat, each robot is distinct enough that you won't get lost. The music was pretty good as well, nothing memorable but not bad either. Overall, the gameplay and the realization of the concept truly hold this game up. I hope that this series can come back in the future as a more polished story could do wonders for this franchise.

I've played this game so many times since my first playthrough all the way back when I was a kid. And I've played dozens of games since. I've got a collective steam library 1000+ games strong. And let me tell you there has never. EVER. Been a game that plays as fluid, as fun, and as varied as this one.

I'll probably never see a game like it again in my life. I know that for a fact. I've begged and pleaded for something like it for my entire life, from kid to adult. Haven't gotten it. Still haven't. Probably won't. But let me tell you when I say that I don't really need it as much as I beg and plead for it. Because I have it already. And that's all I really need from it.

I feel like most Nintendo fans have that one obscure title that they absolutely adore despite how niche of a reach it has. This is that Nintendo game for me. It has a banger of a fighting system that promotes creates loadout-making with a lot of versatility to it in spite of how simple it is, overall. To a point where it almost feels like a mix between a fighting game an a mech game.

Each weapon has its niche purpose. You can stick to a main loadout, but hardly any combination of parts is everything-proof, I simply wish you got new parts at a faster pace or at least that the main story was a little longer, because it's only towards the end and the post-game that you really get an opportunity to think out your matches and figure out a counter-build for your opponent. Though maybe that is for the best, since the postgame content is very much designed for the folks that want to stick around to keep playing. The game isn't the hardest, but it still has plenty of bite, especially for the postgame battles.

Needle Gun ended up being a mainstay for me for its relatively reliable poke but also really smarting when I get a chance to dive in and shoot it point-blank. Ended up switching between Float and Throwing pods, the former for the aerial space denial and the latter for being good at locking opponents into a corner. There's all sorts of combinations to mix and match that it's a delight to toy around and experiment. While some parts are more versatile than others, nothing felt blatantly overtuned and like it didn't have a notable weak spot of some kind. At least apart from illegal parts, but. They're illegal parts. D'uh, they're a little overpowered. I know Custom Robo Arena was a thing and had wi-fi matches, but I swear this game could make for a really compelling competitive multiplayer game in the same vein as a Smash or a Splatoon.

I do think the battles featuring any more than 2 fighters have a tendency to get a little chaotic. While there's no friendly fire for guns, there is friendly fire for bombs and pods, and 4 active fighters at once means there's a lot of explosions happening all over the place and little pods bumming around to a point where I've probably been blind-sided a stray pod from my own ally once or twice. It feels a bit like sensory overload, especially during the 3 vs 1 final boss of the main story.

The characters are delightful, colorful, and expressive. I only wish the main story had a bit more going on so that the plot punches could punch more, cause some of the things fall flat due to ham-fisted foreshadowing and just. Some of the characters not getting a ton of screentime to develop past their very simple anime-esque arcs. But it's hard to complain about the writing when it has so many touches despite it being a mid-to-short-length game. Losing in most games just boots you back to a the last checkpoint, here they have brief what-if scenes. And there's plenty more where that came from, with a lot of amusing character interactions and how each tutorial prompt from Helper Character Harry has a "mock or bully Harry" option where he repeats himself either out of frustration or sometimes just to spite you. And it has one of the best "but thou must" scenes in all the games I've played.

Underrated classic. If you can run Gamecube-level games on your PC, this game runs on Dolphin pretty much flawlessly. Play it.