The GameCube Puzzle Platformer You Likely Never Played
The Gamecube might not be the Nintendo console that stands above the rest, but it does have its positives. With massive titles like "Super Smash Bros. Melee" and hidden gems like "I-Ninja," the Gamecube had a lot to offer at the time. In fact, there were some games that took hundreds of hours to beat on the Gamecube, which is longer than many games that have been released 20 years later.
One genre that was fairly popular on the console was puzzle platformers. With games like "Frogger: Ancient Shadow," "Super Paper Mario," "Super Monkey Ball," and more, there's plenty to play. However, there's one that you've probably never been able to get your hands on, and you may have never even heard of it. There are plenty of games on the system that many fans in the United States might not have seen because they didn't make it to the West, like the online multiplayer game "Homeland" or "Donkey Konga 3."
This specific puzzle platformer happened to make it to the West, but it went under the radar for a lot of players.
Meet Chibi-Robo
"Chibi-Robo" is a puzzle platformer that follows the cleaning adventures of a robot with the same name. While you might be working to clean the house, there's a story going on between the family that lives there that Matt Casamassina at IGN described as "rewarding" due to its well-written dialogue and dysfunctional, weird, and somehow also adorable themes.
While some critics enjoyed the game immensely, with some even scoring it a perfect 100 on Metacritic, others didn't seem to like it as much, with some critic scores dropping as low as 30. Plenty of fans enjoyed the game, however, with some on Reddit calling it one of their favorite titles on the Gamecube.
"Chibi-Robo" can be difficult to find. While it isn't the rarest Gamecube game – a title reserved for "Super Monkey Ball 2 Pack" — it's still not a common game in the United States. Redditors have theorized that there weren't many copies made for its Western release because the Gamecube didn't sell all that well in comparison to Nintendo's other systems. Plus, as another user pointed out, the game was released right before the Wii came out, so Nintendo may have been focused on promoting the new console and producing its game.