The launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 saw the GameCube added to the Nintendo Switch Online library of classic games, and although it contained some bangers, there were only three of them. Zelda: The Wind Waker and F-Zero GX are certainly very welcome, but it would have been nice to see it much more packed out. Well, following the meh addition of Super Mario Strikers, more are to come, and next to be added to their number later this month is a somewhat less well known title: Chibi-Robo!
Starring a cute four-inch-tall robot, Chibi-Robo! is an action-puzzle game created by a former developer called Skip, Ltd. Best known for the Game Boy Advance’s super-simple “bit Generation” series, the studio also made a bunch of Chibi-based games published by Nintendo, starting with this Game Cube game, the following it up with Chibi-Robo! Park Patrol for the DS and Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash for the 3DS. The games were certainly not obscure at the time, and Kotaku previously included Chibi-Robo! in its list of classics when the Game Cube turned 20. In 2013, Kotaku called it “one of the most underrated games on Nintendo’s GameCube.” But it’s fair to say it’s a franchise that has perhaps slipped out of the broader consciousness. That’s maybe going to change on August 21 when the game arrives on Switch Online for Switch 2.
2005’s Chibi-Robo! Plug Into Adventure (to give it it’s seemingly abandoned full name) is all about completing tasks for the Sanderson family that owns Chibi, but ensuring that your little bot’s batteries never run out. Complete a chore, or help out in a specific situation (whether with the family or the living toys in the household) and you get Happy Points! Who doesn’t want Happy Points? You explore the whole house, looking for mess to clear up, people and toys to help, and generally try to make yourself the most useful little robot in the world. And yeah, I’m in.
Say hello to Chibi-Robo!
Join him on his quest to restore order to the Sanderson house and save the world in Chibi-Robo!, coming to Nintendo GameCube – Nintendo Classics on #NintendoSwitch2 for #NintendoSwitchOnline + Expansion Pack members on Aug 21! pic.twitter.com/BWjL2CbHdL
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) August 13, 2025
The game’s reviews at the time ran the full gamut. The infamously tough markers at EDGE gave it an incredibly respectable 8, while A.V. Club gave it a kicking. However, most people came down positive but not blown away, resulting in a Metacritic average of 75. (It’s 2015 sequel didn’t fair so well.) It’ll be interesting to see how that garish GameCube 3D feels to play today.
Skip’s last game was released in 2015, but despite a previously close relationship with Nintendo, the company went quiet for many years, likely closing entirely in 2019 or 2020 but never officially announcing its ignominious end. Which is kinda sad. A few former developers left to form Tiny Wonder Studio, which last year had a successful Kickstarter to make a very familiar-looking game called koROBO. It’ll be interesting to see if Nintendo is hoping to revive interest in the franchise, given there’s clearly a team interesting in making it.
So August 21 for Chibi-Robo!, but we still don’t have dates for the other games listed as “upcoming” by Nintendo. That list is:
- Super Mario Sunshine
- Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
- Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness
- Luigi’s Mansion
- Pokémon Colosseum
Come on Nintendo! Hurry up and add them! It’s not like they haven’t all been eminently playable on emulation for literally decades. We wanna play them again!
They join the current collection of:
- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
- F-ZERO GX
- Soul Calibur II
- Mario Smash Football