Software:The Rub Rabbits!

From HandWiki
Short description: 2005 video game
The Rub Rabbits!
Developer(s)Sonic Team
Publisher(s)Sega
Director(s)Takumi Yoshinaga
Producer(s)Masahiro Kumono
Designer(s)Emiko Sunaga
Takako Nagase
Programmer(s)Yoshihiko Toyoshima
Artist(s)Nanako Yarimizu
Composer(s)Naofumi Hataya
Tomoko Sasaki
Platform(s)Nintendo DS
Release
  • JP: October 20, 2005
  • NA: February 7, 2006[1]
  • EU: February 10, 2006[2]
Genre(s)Mini-games
Mode(s)Single-player

The Rub Rabbits!, known in Japan as Aka-chan wa Doko Kara Kuru no? (赤ちゃんはどこからくるの?, lit. "Where do Babies Come From?"), is a minigame compilation video game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console. It was first released in Japan on October 20, 2005, and was later released in North America on February 7, 2006, and in Europe three days later. It is a prequel to Feel the Magic: XY/XX.

Plot

The premise of the game is that the player's female love interest gets into perilous situations or is placed out of reach from the male protagonist. A minigame must be completed in order to rescue her, or sometimes, get the male protagonist out of trouble. All of these minigames require use of the stylus, and the DS to be held in a certain way, even upside-down. Some require use of the DS's built-in microphone.

Gameplay

Some examples of these minigames are:

  • The male protagonist runs up a downward moving escalator, and must avoid Sumo wrestlers along the way by moving left and right. There is a similar variation where he paddles up a river avoiding giant crocodiles.
  • The mysterious girl in lavender ties the protagonist to a chair and throws various food items at him. He must avoid eating the purple cakes, but can eat the other morsels like pizzas and white-iced cakes.
  • The female love interest performs yoga, while the male protagonist tries to keep a sweet-smelling rose within the range of her sense of smell.

The player's performance is graded as an amount of 'Hearts', which are given at the end of a minigame depending on how well they did.

There are a few multiplayer minigames which involve four differently coloured protagonists competing over the love interest, such as an elimination based game of catching an ever-growing beach ball which eventually explodes, and log rafting while trying to rescue the female from the water, while trying to steal her from other player's log rafts.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic68/100[3]
Review scores
PublicationScore
EGM5.67/10[4]
Eurogamer8/10[5]
Famitsu32/40[6]
Game Informer7.5/10[7]
GameProStarStarStarStarHalf star[8]
GameRevolutionC−[9]
GameSpot6.2/10[10]
GameSpyStarStarStarHalf star[11]
GameZone7/10[12]
IGN8/10[13]
Nintendo Power8/10[14]
Detroit Free PressStarStarStar[15]
The TimesStar[16]

The game received "average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[3] In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of two eights, one seven, and one nine for a total of 32 out of 40.[6]

Detroit Free Press gave it a score of three stars out of four and stated, "The music here and the design all are distinctly Japanese, with crazy refrains like "Rub it!" being shouted all the time. Don't ask me to explain. Just pick up and enjoy."[15] However, The A.V. Club gave it a C+, saying that "True love takes more than moony-eyed flirting; Sega needs to get the mechanics right to make the magic happen."[17] The Sydney Morning Herald gave it two-and-a-half stars out of five, stating that the game is "inventive, creative and strangely compelling, but the more difficult tasks can be frustrating and its lasting appeal is limited."[18] The Times gave it one star out of five and called it "mind-bogglingly shallow".[16]

References

  1. ↑ "Rabbits Rub To Retail - News". http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/11041/rabbits-rub-to-retail. 
  2. ↑ "Nintendo announces some dates" (in en-gb). Eurogamer.net. 2006-01-25. https://www.eurogamer.net/news250106nintendodates. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "The Rub Rabbits! for DS Reviews". CBS Interactive. https://www.metacritic.com/game/the-rub-rabbits/critic-reviews/?platform=ds. Retrieved July 6, 2016. 
  4. ↑ EGM staff (April 2006). "The Rub Rabbits!". Electronic Gaming Monthly (Ziff Davis) (202): 105. 
  5. ↑ Walker, John (February 14, 2006). "The Rub Rabbits!". http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/r_rubrabbits_ds. Retrieved July 7, 2016. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Japanese magazine scores" (in Dutch). October 18, 2005. http://www.nozomi.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?t=185. Retrieved July 6, 2016. 
  7. ↑ "The Rub Rabbits!". Game Informer (GameStop) (156): 134. April 2006. 
  8. ↑ Johnny K. (February 7, 2006). "Review: The Rub Rabbits". GamePro. Archived from the original on September 4, 2006. https://web.archive.org/web/20060904230241/http://www.gamepro.com/nintendo/ds/games/reviews/51832.shtml. Retrieved July 7, 2016. 
  9. ↑ Silverman, Ben (February 24, 2006). "The Rub Rabbits Review". CraveOnline. Archived from the original on October 9, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151009191553/http://www.gamerevolution.com/review/feel-the-magic-2. Retrieved July 7, 2016. 
  10. ↑ Gerstmann, Jeff (February 6, 2006). "The Rub Rabbits! Review". CBS Interactive. https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/the-rub-rabbits-review/1900-6143734/. Retrieved July 6, 2016. 
  11. ↑ Theobald, Phil (February 13, 2006). "GameSpy: The Rub Rabbits!". Ziff Davis. http://ds.gamespy.com/nintendo-ds/where-do-babies-come-from/688268p1.html. Retrieved July 7, 2016. 
  12. ↑ Raymond, Justin (March 12, 2006). "The Rub Rabbits! - NDS - Review". Archived from the original on December 22, 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20071222105205/http://nds.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r28194.htm. Retrieved July 7, 2016. 
  13. ↑ Harris, Craig (February 3, 2006). "The Rub Rabbits!". Ziff Davis. http://www.ign.com/articles/2006/02/03/the-rub-rabbits. Retrieved July 6, 2016. 
  14. ↑ "The Rub Rabbits!". Nintendo Power 201: 87. March 2006. 
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Schaefer, Jim (March 19, 2006). "Crazy in love". Detroit Free Press. Archived from the original on September 3, 2006. https://web.archive.org/web/20060903122711/http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20060319%2FENT06%2F603190330%2F1044. Retrieved July 6, 2016. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Kendall, Nigel (February 25, 2006). "The Rub Rabbits". The Times. https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/the-rub-rabbits-csjtwvtxvzl. 
  17. ↑ Dahlen, Chris (March 7, 2006). "The Rub Rabbits!". The A.V. Club. https://www.avclub.com/the-rub-rabbits-1798209095. 
  18. ↑ Hill, Jason (March 2, 2006). "The Rub Rabbits". The Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/news/games/the-rub-rabbits/2006/03/01/1141095746560.html. Retrieved July 6, 2016. 
  • 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.[1] 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".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] 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.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

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.[6][7] 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.[5] 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.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] 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).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] 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.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

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

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
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