Nintendo has so many game series under its belt that I'm sure it's easy to forget to about a few of them. Out of the 16,000 different series that Nintendo's decided to just abandon on the side of a dusty highway, Custom Robo is one that I've always thought deserves a comeback. Remaster, remake, reboot, I don't care. Just bring it to modern Nintendo consoles!
I had first heard about the series through the trophy system in Super Smash Bros. Melee. I remember seeing the trophy for Ray Mk II and being amazed that Nintendo had a game series about robots, which were becoming incredibly popular around that time due to anime series like Gundam and Zoids. After many online searches (remember early 2000's internet?) I had found out that sadly, the series was only available in Japan.
Custom Robo was only released in Japan for the majority of the series' life. Custom Robo was released for the N64 in 1996, Custom Robo V2 was released for the N64 in 2000, and Custom Robo GX was released for the Gameboy Advance in 2002. Starting with Custom Robo: Battle Revolution for the GameCube in 2004 (known only as Custom Robo in North America) those of us in North America were finally able to get a taste of the sweet, metallic goodness that is Custom Robo. I remember coming across that game at a local movie/game rental store, Movie Gallery. As soon as my eyes caught the title of that game, I grabbed it, took it home, and fell in-freaking-love.
Custom Robo absolutely blew me away as a kid. The insane amount of customization kept my little child brain HOOKED. There are different kinds of chassis that determine how your robo behaves. The one that you start with, Ray, is well-balanced with no drawbacks. There are lighter chassis that have less HP but are much quicker and heavier chassis that have more HP but are a lot slower. Then you can customize your left and right hand weapons. Your right hand is your gun, left hand is your bomb. There are SO MANY different kinds of guns and bombs with different firing patterns and really allow you to fine-tune your build. Then there's the pod, or backpack. Those give you an AOE attack at a much longer distance than your gun or bomb. The last part is the legs. These can help with any weaknesses your chassis has and alter your jump, run speed, and more.
After that, we got Custom Robo Arena on the DS. While the graphics weren't as detailed as the GameCube, it still played smoothly and was a great game for the series. Sadly, that's the last game in the series up to this point.
The series would be PERFECT for today's online multiplayer-obsessed audience. Add more parts, more arenas and gimmicks, a super sweet single player mode, and INSANE online multiplayer and hit the print button! Whether you're playing free-for-all, 2v2, 1v1, any mode at all, I could see it being incredibly addictive. Heck, add some parts modeled after other Nintendo characters while you're at it.
Why Nintendo hasn't ever brought this series back, I'll never know. With games like Armored Core, MechWarrior, and Daemon x Machina being incredibly fun and pretty popular and how incredibly well the Switch has sold, it just seems like a no-brainer. With plenty of advertising with Nintendo Directs it seems like something that would print money.
Thanks for reading my rant! I really love this series and wish Nintendo would make more of an effort to bring the first three to modern consoles in the US and Europe. I'll leave you with a sweet, sweet tune from Custom Robo on GameCube to play me out.
PEACE OUT.
Go listen to the newest episode of our podcast!
