Software:Custom Robo Battle Revolution

Short description: 2004 video game

Custom Robo
North American cover art
Developer(s)	Noise
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Director(s)	Keiji Okayasu
Producer(s)	Koji Kenjo Shigeru Miyamoto
Designer(s)	Takayoshi Masuko
Writer(s)	Keiji Okayasu
Composer(s)	Takayuki Nakamura
Series	Custom Robo
Platform(s)	GameCube
Release	JP: March 4, 2004 NA: May 10, 2004
Genre(s)	Action role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Custom Robo, known in Japan as is an action role-playing video game developed by Noise and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. It is the fourth title of the Custom Robo series, and the first title of the series released outside Japan.

Gameplay

An operator of a robo is known as a "commander". A commander pilots and customizes a miniature "robo" to battle each other in a virtual arena called a Holosseum; the average robo is 32 centimeters tall. The majority of the story takes place in a campaign-like mode titled "A New Journey". After this mode is completed, the player may choose to go through the story again or select a new mode consisting of a series of tournaments called "The Grand Battle".

The main objective of the game is to engage in battle with other robos, collect every custom robo, battle part, and item that the player wants; winning every battle moves the player from one part of the storyline to the next. During battles, the objective is to reduce the opponent's hit points from 1000 to 0 by using different custom robos and their arsenal of weapons, including dash attacks, guns, bombs, and pods.

Fights take place in a Holosseum, a battle arena designed for custom robos. Some commanders can make their own Holosseums, or they can use a pre-created Holosseum taken from a Holosseum deck or in the robo itself. Holosseums come in a variety of sizes and layouts, and some feature environmental hazards such as ice or lava.

Before battling begins, players customize their robos from 5 types of parts: the chassis (the robo itself), the gun (right hand), the bomb (left hand), the pod (backpack), and the legs (attachments to your legs and feet). The chassis are arranged in groups that designate the model, which affects its traits. In addition, there are 3 types of the same model.

Battles begin with robo being launched out of a Robocannon, which is controlled with the Control Stick. Robos are shot from the Cannon in the form of cubes; there are six sides numbered 1 to 6, which designate how long the player's robo has before transforming. Players can speed up the process up by pressing any button repeatedly. The first robo to transform gets to attack first - an attack brings them to transform immediately. There are two views in battle: Normal view is the view that allows the player to see both the Custom Robos in an isometric view. First-person view allows to see from robo's point of view. Players can change views during a battle by pressing up on the C-stick after "A New Journey" is completed. The endurance bar is located above your hit points. Once it runs out, their robo gets "downed", which means that it becomes unresponsive for a couple seconds; they can speed up the process of recovering by repeatedly tapping the A button. After it gets up, it goes into "rebirth", where it briefly turns invincible for about 3 seconds. If the player repeatedly loses the same battle, the game offers the option of reducing the opponent's initial health. This goes up to the opponent losing 250 HP.

Plot

The story opens with a flashback from the hero's earlier life.

The main character "hero", is a child whose father has disappeared. Before his mysterious departure, Hero's father gave him a watch, telling him to keep it safe. At this point, the game leaps to the present and Hero suddenly receives a letter stating that his father has just died. In honor of his father's wishes for him to become a Robo Commander, Hero sets out to do so, despite knowing nothing about robos. He eventually manages to join up with a group of bounty hunters known as the "Steel Hearts", where he meets Ernest, Harry, and Marcia. A fellow member of the Steel Hearts, Harry, teaches Hero how to command robos and helps him receive his license, which allows Hero to battle with robos legally. After a few minor errands, Hero and company discover the self-guided Robo known as 'Rahu'. Later, after passing a test and obtaining a Class "S" license, Rahu's past is revealed and Hero finds out that Rahu is an invisible organic being who had accidentally been fused with a toy robot.

Before the time of the domed city, the world was attacked by a powerful entity, now known as Rahu. Eventually, Rahu came to possess a child's toy. This toy was very similar to a Robo. By popularizing Robo battling, the government gave the people a way to fight the entity. Rahu was soon damaged enough to be driven into dormancy for a long period of time, but has now awoken. Hero and the rest of the police force leave the safety of the dome to defeat Rahu again, along with the organization known as the Z-Syndicate, who are trying to control the entity for their own ends. After defeating the syndicate, Hero meets an old friend of his father's, and the brother of Marcia of the Steel Hearts, a spy named Sergei. He originally joined the Z Syndicate to stop Rahu, but was forced to work with Oboro, who wanted to control Rahu for his own means. Eliza and Isabella, two other members of the Z Syndicate, also wanted to control Rahu. Sergei showed Hero an old recording of his father's last message to him. In the recording, Hero's father explains that he left to form the Z-Syndicate in an attempt to inform the people of Rahu's impending attack. The other members soon lost sight of his vision and betrayed him in an attempt to the seize control of the Syndicate and Rahu. Hero, Harry, and Marcia eventually defeat Rahu, ensuring the world's safety - for a while.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score Aggregator Score Metacritic 65/100 Review scores Publication Score Edge 5/10 EGM 6.83/10 Famitsu 30/40 Game Informer 5.75/10 GamePro GameRevolution C− GameSpot 6.3/10 GameSpy GameZone 7.5/10 IGN 6.5/10 Nintendo Power 3.8/5

The game received "mixed" reviews according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of two sevens and two eights for a total of 30 out of 40. However, in retrospective reception the game has been heavily praised and is frequently featured in several "Best GameCube games" lists and countdowns.

External links

• Official website
• MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers". This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months. The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing. A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school. Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information. In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount. This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign. A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art). Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel, and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million. The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager. Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface. This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue. Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.

See also

• IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions