Nintendo Just Quietly Added A Hidden GameCube Gem With A Surprisingly Fun Premise

The games that tend to get the most attention on Nintendo Switch Online are already-popular titles like Metroid Fusion, but it’s often the niche titles that make the service worth it. The latest addition, a strange and adorable GameCube game, definitely falls into the latter camp. It was far from a mainstream success in 2005, but is worth playing today for its originality alone.

The cult classic Chibi-Robo defies easy categorization. It’s sort of a platformer, sort of a puzzle game, and also approaches a third-person shooter at points. You can even see bits of games like Powerwash Simulator in its cleaning-focused gameplay.

In Chibi-Robo, you play as the title robot, which is the latest addition to the Sanderson household. The Sandersons, as you quickly learn, are not in a good place. Parents George and Helen are on the outs (largely because George won’t stop buying weird robots), while daughter Jenny has taken to dressing up like a frog to get attention. The family is also in deep debt, and amid all their domestic dysfunction, their house has become a bit of a wreck.

That’s where you come in. While you look kind of like a cute can opener, your job is to make the Sandersons happy by keeping their home in order. At first, that means doing a lot of chores. You’ll pick up trash and scrub the floors, which grants you cash (called Moolah) and Happy Points. The goal is to get as much work done as you can each day, while operating within the unique limitations of your robotic form. Your energy constantly drains while you work, and when it needs to be topped up, you have to pick up your own power cord and carry it to an electrical outlet for a jolt of electricity.

Working out how to best navigate the Sandersons’ home on your limited charge leads to some light platforming challenges, and Chibi is equipped with a blaster for some even lighter shooting sections. But the joy of Chibi-Robo is less about perfecting those challenges and more about navigating the world as a strange robotic helper.

The world of Chibi-Robo is enticingly odd, and more important than you’d think for what at first just seems like a cutesy platformer. The Sandersons’ domestic troubles aren’t just story background, but the backbone of the game. Between cleaning sessions, you’ll listen to Helen discuss her problems with George around the kitchen table and bring frog toys to Jenny, who likes drawing pictures of her new robot friend. By interacting with the family members, you learn more about their problems and see how your hard work is restoring a little household harmony.

At night, the rest of Jenny’s toys come to life and embroil Chibi in even more drama. Rather than saddling you with a quest log full of entries to check off, all these domestic problems arise naturally as you poke around the household and tidy up after its owners. Chibi-Robo does a great job of spooling out its story and making its strange world feel like an engaging place to explore.

It’s no surprise that a unique game like Chibi-Robo wasn’t a big hit. It’s the kind of game that seems destined to become a cult classic, an experience that repels most people but rewards the weirdos who really click with it. It might not have been the GameCube game you were most looking forward to on Switch Online, but it’s a perfect example of what makes diving into forgotten games so worthwhile.