It seems few series are able to escape the curse of at least one of their (mainline) games being widely-regarded as stinky. In fact, I can only think of a few series who's (mainline) games have, for the most part, all garnered positive critical reception at launch - The Legend of Zelda, Kirby... and that might be it.
The two series mentioned are Nintendo's A-List celebs, their heavy hitters. When we look at the history of their more niche franchises: Chibi-Robo, 3D Metroid, Pikmin, we see a tendency for a rocky and non-linear design philosophy. Of course, it all boils down to sales. Chibi-Robo might as well be the poster boy for this experimentation - there is a relatively stable theme throughout all the games, but there is also the fact that only 2 Chibi-Robo games are really similar to each other; that is, Okaeri! Chibi Robo, and the original.
Starting with Park Patrol, after the relatively mediocre sales figures of the original (https://culturedvultures.com/history-chibi-robo-games/) the theory is that Nintendo wanted to find a new suit for it's newly recruited series. Enter Park Patrol, a more Animal Crossing-esque design approach where you manage a park... and it was only available at Walmart. Then one sequel later, that gives us more of the first game (perhaps even better), aaand it's never localized.
Chibi-Robo's fate seems to be a mix between Skip's relentless experimentation and creativity, and Nintendo's confusion on how to market it to a wider audience.
Fast forward past one more experimentation - an E-Shop exclusive photo capturing game that seemed like a strange mix between all the elements of the past Chibi-Robo games. The theory goes that a game later, Zip-Lash was Nintendo's last chance to make their series a hit. (source: https://www.perfectly-nintendo.com/chibi-robo-zip-lash-tanabe-talks-about-the-future-of-the-series-demo-available-in-japan/).
What we got was a complete 180 of what the series was before, a byproduct of the tendency of Nintendo's lesser known franchises to get weird, slightly gimmicky games (the Yoshi series being case in point). It seemed like a really desperate turnaround for the series, or maybe simply just a fun spin-off to get people interested? We'll probably never know. And, surprise... It's a mediocre 2D platformer.
Now, to be fair, I did enjoy this game. It was my first Chibi-Robo game that I went into knowing next to nothing about the series. Thankfully, I gave the rest of the games a try and they were more my style.
Essentially, the game plays a little like a puzzle platformer. Chibi-Robo's cord is now a lasso that he uses to attach to things, getting him to higher places than he could jumping. The plot is kind of unfocused - there is some alien invasion, add Chibi-Robo's environmental themes to get something about the Earth being polluted - and then the rest makes only a little sense. Now, it is fun at times. You are travelling across each continent of the Earth (confirming that Chibi-Robo takes place on earth?? lol) fighting different bosses. The platforming is only vaguely interesting, honestly. There are puzzles where you have to use your lasso-cord to hit a bunch of switches all at once (by ricocheting it), and these were the worst the game had to offer. The rest, was kind of just frankly easy.
For me, the fun of the game was actually in it's collectibles. I had the same joy in Pikmin 2, just seeing all these household objects in a weird context. In this case, it's candy like Pez dispensers. Also, it keeps the theme of the Chibi Robo series of having different living toys, and their designs are unique and creative.
So overall, I liked this game, but in the context of the Chibi-Robo series boy does it make me wonder what could've been. I got the Chibi-Robo amiibo to show for it, at least.
The two series mentioned are Nintendo's A-List celebs, their heavy hitters. When we look at the history of their more niche franchises: Chibi-Robo, 3D Metroid, Pikmin, we see a tendency for a rocky and non-linear design philosophy. Of course, it all boils down to sales. Chibi-Robo might as well be the poster boy for this experimentation - there is a relatively stable theme throughout all the games, but there is also the fact that only 2 Chibi-Robo games are really similar to each other; that is, Okaeri! Chibi Robo, and the original.
Starting with Park Patrol, after the relatively mediocre sales figures of the original (https://culturedvultures.com/history-chibi-robo-games/) the theory is that Nintendo wanted to find a new suit for it's newly recruited series. Enter Park Patrol, a more Animal Crossing-esque design approach where you manage a park... and it was only available at Walmart. Then one sequel later, that gives us more of the first game (perhaps even better), aaand it's never localized.
Chibi-Robo's fate seems to be a mix between Skip's relentless experimentation and creativity, and Nintendo's confusion on how to market it to a wider audience.
Fast forward past one more experimentation - an E-Shop exclusive photo capturing game that seemed like a strange mix between all the elements of the past Chibi-Robo games. The theory goes that a game later, Zip-Lash was Nintendo's last chance to make their series a hit. (source: https://www.perfectly-nintendo.com/chibi-robo-zip-lash-tanabe-talks-about-the-future-of-the-series-demo-available-in-japan/).
What we got was a complete 180 of what the series was before, a byproduct of the tendency of Nintendo's lesser known franchises to get weird, slightly gimmicky games (the Yoshi series being case in point). It seemed like a really desperate turnaround for the series, or maybe simply just a fun spin-off to get people interested? We'll probably never know. And, surprise... It's a mediocre 2D platformer.
Now, to be fair, I did enjoy this game. It was my first Chibi-Robo game that I went into knowing next to nothing about the series. Thankfully, I gave the rest of the games a try and they were more my style.
Essentially, the game plays a little like a puzzle platformer. Chibi-Robo's cord is now a lasso that he uses to attach to things, getting him to higher places than he could jumping. The plot is kind of unfocused - there is some alien invasion, add Chibi-Robo's environmental themes to get something about the Earth being polluted - and then the rest makes only a little sense. Now, it is fun at times. You are travelling across each continent of the Earth (confirming that Chibi-Robo takes place on earth?? lol) fighting different bosses. The platforming is only vaguely interesting, honestly. There are puzzles where you have to use your lasso-cord to hit a bunch of switches all at once (by ricocheting it), and these were the worst the game had to offer. The rest, was kind of just frankly easy.
For me, the fun of the game was actually in it's collectibles. I had the same joy in Pikmin 2, just seeing all these household objects in a weird context. In this case, it's candy like Pez dispensers. Also, it keeps the theme of the Chibi Robo series of having different living toys, and their designs are unique and creative.
So overall, I liked this game, but in the context of the Chibi-Robo series boy does it make me wonder what could've been. I got the Chibi-Robo amiibo to show for it, at least.