Nintendo had a playable demo of their newly-announced sequel to this year's GameCube adventure Chibi-Robo, titled Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol — for the Nintendo DS. The demo was probably the least-complete game in Nintendo's booth, giving the distinct feel that it had only been in development for a short period of time. Still, it was interesting to see how developer Skip may consider changing up the game a bit to keep it interesting.
The action appears in full 3-D on the top screen from a third-person perspective. The touch screen is dedicated exclusively to virtual controls, with buttons down the left side for Chibi-Robo's various implements (in the demo, water squirter, boombox, and a "put away" icon were visible), a camera switch for normal and panned-out views on the right, and a large square area in the center dedicated to using the current tool. When Chibi-Robo doesn't have a tool in his hands, the square area shows his ubiquitous plug, and tapping it will make him carry the plug on his head. Walking up to a socket will make the socket appear in the same area, at which point you can drag the plug upward into the socket to plug in. Moving Chibi-Robo is done with the directional pad, giving a similar feel to Super Mario 64 DS.
In the demo, Chibi-Robo is tasked by a creepy disembodied voice inside his Chibi-House (Chibi-Robo's ubiquitous and not-universally-loved Telly Vision is nowhere to be seen) to discover why the flowers are disappearing from the park. The Chibi-House looks quite similar to how it did in Chibi-Robo. The Chibi-PC, a computer station in the back of the Chibi-House where Chibi-Robo purchased upgrades and items in the GameCube title, now simply offers a map of the park, which the Chibi-House is parked in. Something resembling the scrap recycler appeared on the east wall of the Chibi-House, but was not functional.
On the west wall of the Chibi-House was the only charging station Chibi-Robo had access to use, and a battery that looked very similar to Giga-Robo's battery from the GameCube title, but serving a very different function. In Chibi-Robo, filling the battery was a quest leading to an event; in Park Patrol, Chibi-Robo exchanges Happy Hearts for energy to charge the battery, and draws power from the battery when he charges at the Chibi-House — the only charging plug available in the demo. This is a marked departure from Chibi-Robo, where power outlets drew from house current and could recharge Chibi-Robo's internal battery whenever neeeded, and Happy Points were used to progress through the game.
Happy Hearts are obtained like Happy Points were in Chibi-Robo: by spreading happiness. Though no human beings appear in the demo, Chibi-Robo does have a few options in this regard. Scattered throughout the park are flower buds that Chibi-Robo can water with his squirter. The squirter has an unlimited water supply, and is operated via the touch screen by selecting its icon and pumping the plunger with touch strokes. Chibi-Robo auto-aimed at nearby flowers and would also move between flowers if they were next to each other. Once watered, the flower buds grew slightly and shimmered.
A flower simply watered was not a happy flower, however. To bring the flowers (which, incidentally, bore a passing resemblance to Funky Phil from the GameCube title) fully back to life, Chibi-Robo has to take out his boombox and dance for them. Selecting the boombox puts a small record icon into the center of the touchscreen that you must spin consistently. You're scored on how well you do this, from zero to 100, and high scores (it seemed like the threshhold was around 75) bring the flowers to life and drop Happy Hearts for you to collect. This part of the demo was the most frustrating for me. If my circles were not perfect or my pace not frustratingly even, the music from Chibi-Robo's boombox became distorted and cacophonic, and I had to repeat the task. Even after playing Park Patrol nearly an hour, I still did not have this mechanic down. Hopefully it will be more forgiving in the final game.
Flowers were not the only things you could make happy in the demo, though they were the most prevalent. Bizarre Chibi-sized blue park benches with smiling ghosts painted on them (the ghosts change their expression when Chibi-Robo sits down) each did various things when you touched the action icon that appeared in the center of the touch screen. One bench became an elevator, reaching high into the air like the ladder Utilibots from Chibi-Robo; however, Chibi-Robo could not actually use the bench to reach new things in the demo. Tapping the icon in the lower-left picturing Chibi-Robo walking lowered the bench, gave Chibi-Robo a Happy Heart, and sent him on his way.
Other benches offered more utilitarian functions, trotting like horses on their legs and giving Chibi-Robo a ride. One bench took Chibi-Robo on a ride down the street outside the park, though it did not appear to have a purpose other than giving Chibi-Robo another Happy Heart at the ride's completion. Another more useful bench brought Chibi-Robo across a stream that otherwise drained his battery power so fast that he could not get over it to the other side. On the other side of this stream were two vehicles for Chibi-Robo to ride: a bicycle and a car.
The bicycle, oddly enough, was the fastest mode of transportation. Boarding it presented a set of pedals on the touch screen which, when rotated by drawing circles, made the bicycle move forward. Holding down the L button had Chibi-Robo stand up on his bicycle, giving him added thrust and making him move faster. The car was accessed by walking up to it and inserting Chibi-Robo's plug, at which point a steering wheel appeared on the touch screen that could be manipulated to steer the car while thrust was applied by holding up on the directional pad.
The one thing the car did seem good at was dispatching the creepy-looking black seeds that could be seen walking around the park. Running over the seeds flattened them and took them out of commission. If you weren't into automotive carnage, the seeds could also be exploded by pumping the squirter at them until they become overlarge, or they could simply be immobilized by successfully dancing for them with the boombox. If the dancing was unsuccessful, or if they were left alone for a time, they turned red and pursued Chibi-Robo, trying to home in on him and damage him.
I'm not really sure there was a point to the demo above and beyond providing a literal playground to show off things being worked on for Chibi-Robo's new adventure, but very absent in my estimation was the staple of the GameCube title: platforming around on larger-than-life (thanks to Chibi-Robo's size) structures to achieve the game's goals. The title is currently without a release date or a rating, so perhaps it's just so very early on in the title's life that these elements have yet to be designed. At this point there's so very little to show in contrast to Chibi-Robo's rich environments that it's impossible to predict how the final title will turn out. With luck, Skip (still at the helm for all things Chibi) will work their magic and design such a title for the DS.
The action appears in full 3-D on the top screen from a third-person perspective. The touch screen is dedicated exclusively to virtual controls, with buttons down the left side for Chibi-Robo's various implements (in the demo, water squirter, boombox, and a "put away" icon were visible), a camera switch for normal and panned-out views on the right, and a large square area in the center dedicated to using the current tool. When Chibi-Robo doesn't have a tool in his hands, the square area shows his ubiquitous plug, and tapping it will make him carry the plug on his head. Walking up to a socket will make the socket appear in the same area, at which point you can drag the plug upward into the socket to plug in. Moving Chibi-Robo is done with the directional pad, giving a similar feel to Super Mario 64 DS.
In the demo, Chibi-Robo is tasked by a creepy disembodied voice inside his Chibi-House (Chibi-Robo's ubiquitous and not-universally-loved Telly Vision is nowhere to be seen) to discover why the flowers are disappearing from the park. The Chibi-House looks quite similar to how it did in Chibi-Robo. The Chibi-PC, a computer station in the back of the Chibi-House where Chibi-Robo purchased upgrades and items in the GameCube title, now simply offers a map of the park, which the Chibi-House is parked in. Something resembling the scrap recycler appeared on the east wall of the Chibi-House, but was not functional.
On the west wall of the Chibi-House was the only charging station Chibi-Robo had access to use, and a battery that looked very similar to Giga-Robo's battery from the GameCube title, but serving a very different function. In Chibi-Robo, filling the battery was a quest leading to an event; in Park Patrol, Chibi-Robo exchanges Happy Hearts for energy to charge the battery, and draws power from the battery when he charges at the Chibi-House — the only charging plug available in the demo. This is a marked departure from Chibi-Robo, where power outlets drew from house current and could recharge Chibi-Robo's internal battery whenever neeeded, and Happy Points were used to progress through the game.
Happy Hearts are obtained like Happy Points were in Chibi-Robo: by spreading happiness. Though no human beings appear in the demo, Chibi-Robo does have a few options in this regard. Scattered throughout the park are flower buds that Chibi-Robo can water with his squirter. The squirter has an unlimited water supply, and is operated via the touch screen by selecting its icon and pumping the plunger with touch strokes. Chibi-Robo auto-aimed at nearby flowers and would also move between flowers if they were next to each other. Once watered, the flower buds grew slightly and shimmered.
A flower simply watered was not a happy flower, however. To bring the flowers (which, incidentally, bore a passing resemblance to Funky Phil from the GameCube title) fully back to life, Chibi-Robo has to take out his boombox and dance for them. Selecting the boombox puts a small record icon into the center of the touchscreen that you must spin consistently. You're scored on how well you do this, from zero to 100, and high scores (it seemed like the threshhold was around 75) bring the flowers to life and drop Happy Hearts for you to collect. This part of the demo was the most frustrating for me. If my circles were not perfect or my pace not frustratingly even, the music from Chibi-Robo's boombox became distorted and cacophonic, and I had to repeat the task. Even after playing Park Patrol nearly an hour, I still did not have this mechanic down. Hopefully it will be more forgiving in the final game.
Flowers were not the only things you could make happy in the demo, though they were the most prevalent. Bizarre Chibi-sized blue park benches with smiling ghosts painted on them (the ghosts change their expression when Chibi-Robo sits down) each did various things when you touched the action icon that appeared in the center of the touch screen. One bench became an elevator, reaching high into the air like the ladder Utilibots from Chibi-Robo; however, Chibi-Robo could not actually use the bench to reach new things in the demo. Tapping the icon in the lower-left picturing Chibi-Robo walking lowered the bench, gave Chibi-Robo a Happy Heart, and sent him on his way.
Other benches offered more utilitarian functions, trotting like horses on their legs and giving Chibi-Robo a ride. One bench took Chibi-Robo on a ride down the street outside the park, though it did not appear to have a purpose other than giving Chibi-Robo another Happy Heart at the ride's completion. Another more useful bench brought Chibi-Robo across a stream that otherwise drained his battery power so fast that he could not get over it to the other side. On the other side of this stream were two vehicles for Chibi-Robo to ride: a bicycle and a car.
The bicycle, oddly enough, was the fastest mode of transportation. Boarding it presented a set of pedals on the touch screen which, when rotated by drawing circles, made the bicycle move forward. Holding down the L button had Chibi-Robo stand up on his bicycle, giving him added thrust and making him move faster. The car was accessed by walking up to it and inserting Chibi-Robo's plug, at which point a steering wheel appeared on the touch screen that could be manipulated to steer the car while thrust was applied by holding up on the directional pad.
The one thing the car did seem good at was dispatching the creepy-looking black seeds that could be seen walking around the park. Running over the seeds flattened them and took them out of commission. If you weren't into automotive carnage, the seeds could also be exploded by pumping the squirter at them until they become overlarge, or they could simply be immobilized by successfully dancing for them with the boombox. If the dancing was unsuccessful, or if they were left alone for a time, they turned red and pursued Chibi-Robo, trying to home in on him and damage him.
I'm not really sure there was a point to the demo above and beyond providing a literal playground to show off things being worked on for Chibi-Robo's new adventure, but very absent in my estimation was the staple of the GameCube title: platforming around on larger-than-life (thanks to Chibi-Robo's size) structures to achieve the game's goals. The title is currently without a release date or a rating, so perhaps it's just so very early on in the title's life that these elements have yet to be designed. At this point there's so very little to show in contrast to Chibi-Robo's rich environments that it's impossible to predict how the final title will turn out. With luck, Skip (still at the helm for all things Chibi) will work their magic and design such a title for the DS.