Chibi-Robo! | DJcube

Chibi-Robo is a four-inch-tall robot! Reach the top of the Chibi-Robo rankings!

JP release: 23rd June 2005
NA release: 8th February 2006
EU release: 26th May 2006
Developer: Skip Ltd, Bandai
Publisher: Nintendo
NGC Magazine Score: 90%
Mods Used: Widescreen Mod, Texture Pack

I only really knew two things about Chibi Robo. First is that it involves a cute little robot and the second it’s that the game is about cleaning a house. It’s a series that’s been treated quite strangely over time, with its two sequels on DS (the latter Japan exclusives) followed by a few spin offs. It’s a shame, because it’s such a charming game.

Chibi-Robo joins the Sanderson as a gift for their daughter. The wife is not happy at all, as the father purchased Chibi-Robo without asking and money is already very tight (especially after he stopped working). The daughter is also going through some stuff, pretending she can only talk in frog language. This family’s background is surprisingly important to the game.

You play through days and nights that last 5, 10 and 15 minutes (you can change it by spending a tiny amount of money) and you can collect rubbish or sweep up dirt. At first, you can’t reach many places but you’ll slowly unlock (or find) items that let you do more, such as a helicopter attachment that lets you hover to reach new areas. There’s nothing that makes navigating a complete breeze, so you always have to figure out how to get to higher objects.

As you complete chores, you gain happy points. These allow you to go up the Chibi-Robo rankings and gain battery improvements, these allow you to last longer until you have to plug Chibi-Robo into a plug socket. It makes it so you have to think about what you’re going to do and plan your route, taking into account how much energy you have left.

It’s not just the Sanderson’s you can interact with, either. You can speak to their dog, some other animals and also toys which, in Toy Story style, come alive when humans aren’t around. Most will have side quests to complete and there are some fun personalities, and means that there are plenty of things to keep you occupied.

There are also a few enemies in the form of spider-like robots. Chibi can use a tiny little blaster arm to shoot them, and this allows you to collect scrap to use to create some ladders and bridges to reach new areas.

One thing I will recommend is completing the side quests before completing the main story. The rewards you get render a few of the game’s systems obsolete and it’s a lot less interesting to play. Really, the final reward should be once you’ve reached a certain level of happy points yourself. But, apart from that, it’s a game that’s both charming but also has some surprisingly depressing moments.

Great

Buy Chibi-Robo and you simply can’t lose. You literally cannot lose because this is a fantastically easy game that even a toddler could complete. But that doesn’t make it a titled aimed at the young: it’s too sophisticated, too charming, too elegant to be wasted on sticky-fingered simpletons.
Alex Cooke

Remake or remaster?

A remaster of this would be amazing, with remastered versions of the other games, too.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to buy Chibi-Robo! but it’s available on Nintendo Switch Online.