Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash

Chibi-Robo in the first level of the first world in the game, Oceania, preparing to launch his whip-lash at an enemy in front of him, by swinging it in circles.

Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash deviates from the first three games in series, by being a sidescrolling platformer instead of being an adventure platformer. The player takes control of Chibi Robo who needs to move to the end of the level to reach the goal UFOs to progress.[2]^:30 Chibi Robo can move left and right, jump and crouch. To help reach the goal, Chibi Robo possesses a power cord, of which has two functions. The first function is the Whip Lash, where Chibi Robo can use the cord like a whip and quickly swing it in front of him, being able to grab items, open doors or attack enemies.[3] The player can also hold down the whip lash in the air to stay in the air longer and travel greater distances. The other function is the Zip Lash, in which the player charges up and then releases it at a great length. This ability is used for puzzle solving and reaching high up places.[4] In all levels, the player can collect two different orbs to extend the length of the cord. Red orbs extend the length of the Whip Lash, and blue orbs extend the length of the Zip Lash. The length of the orbs reset once the player completes the level. Some levels use vehicles to cross large surfaces of land, such as balloons or a submarine.[2]^:41–42[5] During the level, Chibi Robo's battery life depletes, which causes a game over if it reaches 0. The player must recharge with plug sockets scattered around the levels.[6] In some levels, there are two alternative types of sockets that grant Chibi-Robo elemental abilities. The red sockets sets Chibi-Robo on fire, allowing him to melt obstacles and enemies. The blue sockets freezes Chibi-Robo, giving him the ability to freeze other enemies and turn water to ice.[7][8]

At the end of each level the player is tasked with hitting one of three UFOs, colored bronze, silver and gold. This determines how many chances the player gets at the "Destination Wheel", a method of level progression. The player is required spin a roulette wheel in order to see which stage one can go to next, which can lead to repeating the same stage more than once. The player can purchase new tiles with coins found in the level to replace some of the ones on the wheel so that the player can rig the wheel to be fully favorable. Once the player completes all six side scrolling levels, the boss battle opens up.[9] The player can move there and spin a wheel to determine the difficulty of the boss.[10][2]^:44–45

Chibi Robo traverses through seven worlds represented as Oceania, North Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, North America, the South Pole, and Asia.[lower-alpha 2] Each world contains seven levels in total, six of which are regular side scrolling levels and the seventh is a boss battle.[11] In each side scrolling level, there are three different types of collectables. Star Medals, Chibi-Tots (miniature robots that resemble Chibi Robo returning from Photo Finder), and snacks. The snacks resemble real world brands from across the globe such as Chupa Chups, Pocky, and Mentos.[4] These snacks are used for side quests in the game, where the player meets toys in different continents and gifts them snacks in return for costumes Chibi Robo can wear.[12] Throughout the level, Chibi can also find trash and collect it, which can be converted into energy at the "Chibi House". Additionally, when completing a level, a blue alien can appear in a level already completed. If the player rescues the blue alien, it will reward the player with a costume, via a Miiverse code.[13]

The game is compatible with the Chibi Robo Amiibo toy, which allows the player to unlock a toy capsule machine to collect in-game Collectible Figures. The Amiibo toy also grants the player "Super Chibi Robo", a powered up version of Chibi Robo that has an increased battery life and max power cord length.[14][15]

Chibi Robo is cleaning the exterior of a space station when his companion Telly reminds him to take a break. During the break, Chibi Robo watches television and discovers that a lot of the natural resources on Earth have vanished, disappearing because of invading aliens. The pair are suddenly disturbed by a cluster of aliens, known as the Gyorians, who are making their way towards Earth. As such, they both set out in the "Chibi House" to combat the alien invasion.[2]^:12 During the adventure, Chibi Robo travels to all continents of the world to reclaim the stolen resources and defeat the alien robots that guard their specific continent.[16]

The two eventually head to Antarctica where the Aliens' Mothership is located. Chibi Robo promptly destroys the Mothership, but an orb escapes the wreckage and heads towards a metropolitan city in Asia. The orb then transforms into a large monster named "The Mega-Mech Menace" and starts to wreak havoc. To combat the monster, Telly and Chibi construct a giant named "Giga Chibi-Robo"; the two giants battle each other until Chibi Robo deactivates the monster and destroys it, prompting both Chibi and Telly to head back to the station.[17]

Being the fifth game in the series, Zip Lash was developed by Skip Ltd., with help from Vanpool, Inc.[1] The game was officially announced during a Nintendo Direct Micro on June 1, 2015.[19] It was shown again at E3 2015,[20] where developers expressed the reason for a genre change was to hopefully "be a great place to expand that fanbase" mainly in the United States.[21] The developers said the reason for the use of real world brands was to give recognition to each region but in a size recognized by a tiny robot. For the American version, Nintendo of America and Europe asked most companies for permission with Nintendo's headquarters in Japan sorting out the rest.[22] In an interview with The Verge, Kensuke Tanabe, the series producer, stated that if the game does not get much recognition or sales, it may be the last game in the franchise.[18] The game launched the following October in Japan and North America, and in November for the rest of the world.[23]

Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash received "mixed reviews", according to review aggregator Metacritic, with the website giving the game a 59/100 based upon 50 reviews.[27] Overall, most critics found the game was ver underwhelming and very forgettable.[32][3] Nintendo Life described the game as "fun but unexciting", noting that the game was a solid platformer but was quite forgettable compared to other games in the genre.[11]

Throughout the reviews, critics' views on the game's controls were mixed. Some reviewers felt that the Zip Lash mechanic was a really good idea and meshed with most levels well.[12][31][7] However, others felt that the controls were bad, citing them as unresponsive, slow and underutilized.[6][30] Mark Brown of Pocket Gamer wrote of how the controls of the whip, which utilized the d-pad, felt uncooperative and sluggish, comparing how it "lacked the finesse of other grappling hook games like Umihara Kawase and Bionic Commando.[29]

In addition, most critics found problems with the Destination Wheel and Vehicle mechanics. Many critics criticized the Destination Wheel, feeling that the idea was annoying and completely unneeded.[3][32] Destructoid elaborated on the argument, feeling that the idea of a complete waste of time and just pointless. They even went on to accuse the game of forced replayability, whilst also calling the concept of the "Boss Wheel" a complete joke.[9] With the vehicles, many had problems with their pacing and respawning. The vehicle sections were criticized for being incredibly slow and boring, whilst also having the problem of restarting the entire section all over due to a lack of checkpoints.[13][32] Game Informer's Jeff Cork felt that the vehicles had exaggerated momentum and really awkward controls, claiming that they drag on for far too long.[4]

Another criticism reviews had with the game involved the levels. Many felt, while the style was unique, the levels were very generic and bland, linking it to the game's forget-ability.[6][30] In addition, many felt that level's range in difficulty was very inconsistent,[29][5] with VentureBeat claiming the game had a ranging level quality.[31] Some reviews felt that game had underutilized the level's surrounding, claiming the game had "no real sense of scale" compared to Chibi-Robo's height.[4][7] However, Eurogamer did feel that the game's platforming elements were pleasant and challenging enough for playing.[28]

Whilst the game was mostly seen in a negative light, there were positives to the game. Critics described the game as having well-designed boss battles, citing them as visually appealing and fun to fight.[4][5] Most critics felt that game was worth it only for Chbi-Robo himself. Critics felt that the cute appeal of the robot is a big driving force for the game, and helped make most boring experiences slight more memorable.[3][13] Furthermore, critics claimed the game was worth getting solely for the amiibo figure, citing it as the best part of the whole game.[32][11]

• Official website