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Chibi-Robo!: Park Patrol

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Chibi-Robo!: Park Patrol
North American box art
Developer(s)Skip Ltd.
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Director(s)Hiroshi Moriyama
Producer(s)Kensuke Tanabe
Hiroshi Suzuki
Designer(s)Fumikazu Tanaka
Programmer(s)Masahiko Kikuchi
Tsukasa Namba
Composer(s)Eishin Kawakami
SeriesChibi-Robo!
Platform(s)Nintendo DS
Release
Genre(s)Platform, adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Chibi-Robo! Park Patrol, known in Japan as Sakasete! Chibi-Robo! (咲かせて!ちびロボ!, "Make It Bloom! Little-Robo!"), is a video game for the Nintendo DS developed by Skip Ltd. and published by Nintendo. It is the second instalment in the Chibi-Robo series and the sequel to the original Chibi-Robo! for the GameCube. It was released on July 5, 2007 in Japan, October 2 in North America, and March 20, 2008 in Australia. The game was never released in Europe and was a Walmart exclusive in North America.

Chibi-Robo! Park Patrol puts the player in the role of the titular character Chibi-Robo, a four-inch-tall robot tasked with revitalizing a park. The player does so by growing seeds into flowers by watering them with a squirter and spreading more seeds by causing the flowers to dance using a tiny boombox. The player can also alter the terrain, build and repair various structures, visit the accompanying town, and defend the park from noxious Smoglings, bits of pollution which can kill flowers.

Park Patrol received generally positive reviews, with some calling it an improvement over the original for its improved graphics, charm, minigames and music, although some gameplay mechanics were criticized. Despite selling well in Japan, it was commercially unsuccessful in North America due to its limited release. A third game in the series, Okaeri! Chibi-Robo! Happy Richie Ōsōji!, was released on July 23, 2009 in Japan only.

Plot

A company known as Citrusoft creates a new model of Chibi-Robo called the Blooming Chibi-Robo to help heal the declining health of the planet. This new model is distributed to parks everywhere for free to improve their quality and get more people to visit them and care about the environment.

Gameplay

Key elements from the first game are in Chibi-Robo! Park Patrol, such as losing watts by walking and performing actions. New features, such as that the game takes primarily place outdoors. There are many tools to use, with some returning from the first game, such as the boombox and the clippers. There are also new modes of transportation called Chibi-Rides, which are vehicles like carts and bikes that the player can ride in.

The game has two main areas: the park, and the town. The park is where the player spends most of their time in. They water buds with their squirter, and they grow very quickly into either white flowers or colored flowers. If they are white, they use their boombox to make them change color and spread seeds. The boombox does not work on colored flowers. To use the boombox, the player must select it in their inventory next to white flowers. A wheel will appear on the screen when they select it. The wheel must then be spun at a moderate pace to play a catchy tune, and it is advised not to spin it too fast or too slow. At the end of each tune, there is a rating that scores their pace from 0–100. if the player gets a rating below 70, nothing will happen. If they get a rating of 70 and up, their flower will change into a different color and will spread seeds to the surrounding area. If they grow 30 flowers in one area, the area will turn from fertile soil to green spaces. In green spaces, the player cannot plant anymore flowers in the area, unless they lose a flower in that area. Plants cannot grow in sand.

In the town part of the game, there is a flower shop, a hamburger joint called Monkey Burger, and an alley where the player's friends hang out. At the flower shop, the player can clip flowers from the park and give them to the clerk to earn many Happy Points. They can collect Happy Points by doing good deeds like planting flowers or defeating Smoglings. There is also a special flower of the day that if the player gives one to him, he will triple the Happy Points. The Smoglings are the main enemies in the game. They turn the player's flowers black, causing the flowers to wither at dusk. The player defeats them by squirting them with water until they pop, spraying water and releasing a seed, and the player can prevent Smoglings from appearing using the holes in the ground that they appear out of until the holes shrink away to nothing. Smoglings can also react to food items like candy if players give some to them. Smogglobs are giant versions of Smoglings and turn flowers into black flowers when they step on them and into Miasmo flowers when they release smoke. Miasmo flowers still wither at dusk, but players can purify them by squirting them or walking over them. To defeat a Smogglob, players need to knock it down with a vehicle and squirt at it until it pops, releasing several buds and spraying water in a manner similar to that of the Smoglings.

Development

Chibi-Robo! Park Patrol was developed by Skip Ltd., the same company responsible for the original Chibi-Robo! on the GameCube. However, Park Patrol was designed by a separate department led by one of the first game's directors, Hiroshi Moriyama.[4] His co-director for that title, Kenichi Nishi, was not involved in the creation of Park Patrol. Nintendo producer Kensuke Tanabe asked the team to specifically develop an appealing game using a different approach from the original Chibi-Robo!. "While the feature like the miniature garden that GC Chibi-Robo! had are taken over," Tanabe emphasized, "I am asking them to aim at establishing a game system where the game’s emphasis is on freedom and enjoyable gameplay, rather than the game events."[4]

Park Patrol was announced at E3 2006.[5] The game was subsequently released in Japan on July 5, 2007. Following rumors of its cancellation in North America, Nintendo announced that the game had been delayed during development, pushing the release date back from September 24, 2007 to October 2, 2007.[6] The game was initially released in North America as a Walmart exclusive because of the company's alleged "strong environmental program and social giving campaign".[1][7] To promote the game, Nintendo of America gave out packets of seeds to 500 randomly selected people who registered the game on the company's website.[8] The game was not announced for a European release, though Australia saw a PAL release in early 2008.[3]

Reception

Critical reception for Chibi-Robo!: Park Patrol was generally positive. The game currently has a GameRankings rating of 76.76% based on 17 reviews and a Metacritic rating of 78 out of 100 based on 14 reviews.[9][10] X-Play said that it "lacked the immense open world and range of gameplay that the original Chibi-Robo! had". They also said that the gameplay was repetitive and had terrible sound effects but praised the graphics and charm of the game. GameSpot cited that it had "an innovative use of the touch screen, fun minigames and a great cast of characters but had slow paced gameplay and the minigames would have been great for multiplayer."

According to Media Create, Chibi-Robo! Park Patrol entered the Japanese sales charts at number two, selling over 45,000 units.[12] An additional 26,905 copies were sold the following week.[13] By the end of 2007, the game sold 160,376 copies in Japan.[14] Gamasutra stated that Park Patrol apparently did not fare as well commercially in North America due to its limited release. The website ranked it as the fifth-most overlooked game of 2007.[7] Park Patrol was followed-up by a third game in the series, Okaeri! Chibi-Robo! Happy Richie Ōsōji!, released in Japan in 2009. This game has a similar premise as the original Chibi-Robo!.[15]

References

  1. ^ a b Spencer (August 8, 2007). "Chibi Robo only found in Walmart". Siliconera. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  2. ^ 【ファミ通クロスレビュー】 週刊ファミ通7月13日号新作ゲームクロスレビューより (in Japanese). Famitsu. June 29, 2007. Retrieved 2011-03-30.
  3. ^ a b Shea, Cam (March 17, 2008). "Aussie Game Releases (March 17)". IGN. Archived from the original on March 20, 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-03.
  4. ^ a b Riley, Adam (July 22, 2006). "C3 Exclusive Interview | Skip, Ltd Talks Nintendo, Chibi-Robo DS, GiFTPiA & More! (Transcript)". Cubed3. Archived from the original on 2007-05-03.
  5. ^ Harris, Craig (May 9, 2006). "E3 2006: Touch that Chibi-Robo". IGN. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  6. ^ Spencer (July 31, 2007). "Chibi Robo: Park Patrol cancelled? Golin Harris comments". Siliconera. Retrieved 2007-09-18.
  7. ^ a b Gamasutra staff. "Gamasutra's Best Of 2007". Gamasutra. Retrieved September 1, 2008.
  8. ^ "Chibi-Robo Plants Trees". IGN. Retrieved September 7, 2008.
  9. ^ a b "Chibi-Robo! Park Patrol Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
  10. ^ a b "Chibi-Robo! Park Patrol". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
  11. ^ Matt (June 28, 2007). "Games Asylum - Gaming gibberish » Chikasete! Chibi-Robo!". GamesAsylum. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
  12. ^ Jenkins, David (July 12, 2007). "Gamasutra - Zelda Back On Top In Japanese Sales Charts". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
  13. ^ Jones, Dean (June 20, 2007). "N-Europe: Charts: Latest Japanese Software & Hardware Sales". N-Europe. Archived from the original on August 4, 2009. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
  14. ^ Takahashi (June 18, 2008). "Famitsu Top 500 of 2007". Gemaga. Archived from the original on 2008-06-19. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
  15. ^ Spencer (July 2, 2009). "New Chibi-Robo Is Like Classic Chibi-Robo". Siliconera. Retrieved 2011-04-04.
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