Has The Chibi-Robo Studio Skip Pulled The Plug On Development?

It wouldn’t surprise me if Nintendo saw poor sales and reviews of crap Chibi-Robo spin-offs as reason to cancel the series. It’s almost as if nobody wanted Zip Lash or Photo Finder and y’know, wanted an actual game in the series.

I love Chibi Robo Zip-Lash on 3DS. Had so much fun getting 100%. Very addictive good platforming fun. He's a cool little dude.

Cut the crap nintendo and port my mario and luigi rpgs over the the switch. I love chibi-robo by the way.

I love chibi robo, but I'm surprised it got any attention beyond the first game at all

Also worth noting that Skip made Captain Rainbow and Giftpia, two bonkers but brilliant games that need a Switch release. Would be a shame if they died but they last made a game in 2015, it’s looking likely.

Pretty sure they were saying that the future of the series depended on Zip Lash...which wasn't a success.

It's a shame that such a great series ended on an underwhelming spin-off that doesn't represent it as a whole.

Kids weep for the death of Chibi Robo
Men weep for the death of Captain Rainbow

Does that mean that Chibi-Robo is fully a Nintendo franchise now?

This is quite sad if true. Chibi-Robo is one of my favourite Gamecube games, I still go back and replay it every now and then. Hopefully this doesn't mean the series is forever dead. Even just an HD port of the original game would be nice, and maybe if it sparks interest in the series Nintendo can take the reigns and develop a new title.

They shouldn't have bet the series on Zip Lash. That game blows.

@nessisonett
To be fair, I don't think the mainline games on Gamecube and DS sold that great either.

Oh no! I was so looking forward to a new Chibi-Robo and the ensuing mental breakdown of Scott the Woz. Now what's going to inspire YouTubers to throw Nintendo games into the toilet and scream obscenities at therapists?

Ironically, all the press about how bad Ziplash was on YouTube might mean there's the most publicity for the series, especially the original, that there's ever been. A 3D platformer with a unique setting and aesthetic like the original would probably get a lot of attention right now.

@Dodger I sense a crossover! Chibi Robo and Bubsy Bobcat in search of the dankest meme.

I played Chibi Robo: Park Patrol many years ago on the DS. I loved that game and was excited when I heard that there was to be a new Chibi Robo game on the 3DS. When I saw the type of game Zip Lash was to be though, I was very disappointed and decided to stay clear of it. I was hoping to send a message to them that this was not the type of Chibi Robo game that I wanted.

Skip's work on the bit Generations/Art Style series is why I liked them as a developer more than Chibi-Robo. Great little bite-sized puzzlers.

With how bad the MyNintendo offerings are in general, using Art Style to make quick, exclusive little games you could acquire by redeeming coins would have given the service some actual value. Something lower-effort than, say, Doc Louis' Punch-Out!! or that weird arm grabby game, but enough to draw notice away from only having phone wallpapers and game discounts.

I'd like to be a Chibi Robo fan but I missed the game on Gamecube and haven't been given a way to play the game since.

Skip Shut Down?
This news blows
😔👋 🗞️ 🚽

@Snatcher I love how we talk to this website as if it is Nintendo. While we are at it, get Dark Souls 2 in here!!

@nessisonett What? None of that has anything to do with Chibi Robo, which already was a miracle to even get 5 different games when all of them bombed. People who think this franchise will get new games when it never sold even above 100k are being delusional.

Aside from the fact that Bandai Namco, Nintendo and Skip owns Chibi Robo, of course. Nintendo just has its publishing rights.

Also, Skip don't work with Nintendo for 5 years already. They were working with other companies in that meantime.

Wouldn't be surprised if true. How does one go from making an excellent unique and charming game of a new IP to slowly destroying the franchise with each iteration. Why? Chibi Robo never got the chance to shine. Zip Lash was not a very good game and it was an even worse Chibi Robo game. RIP Chibi Robo.

Despite the fact that my sentiments will appear unoriginal or redundant, I wanted to say that I love Chibi-Robo and it kills me a bit inside that he may be gone.

Sure, he'll probably return at some point, but it will probably be without Skip and that disappoints me the most.

@Nemesis666 Skip’s worked with nobody in 5 years. They literally haven’t made a single game since Zip Lash.

Looks like the corporate misfires of the WiiU era claim one more victim.

@MasterJay Toilet water splash

@oats-81 Chibi Robo is one of my favorite Amiibos!

@Yodalovesu There was a Wii port of the GC Chibi Robo, but it only released in Japan. 🙁

My profile picture gives it away but I'm a pretty big fan of these games.

I cannot understand why they strayed away from the gameplay of the Gamecube original. The only time they tried to follow-up on it was for that Japanese exclusive DS game.

The 3DS spin-offs were not what people wanted and the reception effectively killed the franchise. A fact epitomized by the Chibi-Robo spirit in Ultimate.

@John_Koshiro Your profile pic is amazing lol

Skip is like Alpha Dream, but even smaller and less experienced in HD game development. Not to mention that Chibo Robo is much less popular than Mario & Luigi.

I've been anticipating their downfall ever since Alpha Dream shuttered, but it's still sad to see my fears practically confirmed

A true tragedy. Zip Lash wasn't even that bad, tbh. But it clearly wasn't Skip's key to success.

After spending a whopping $150 on Chibi Robo and playing it. I really don't want this studio to shut down. Chibi Robo is a fantastic game and needs at least a rerelease the original or remake the one for DS that was never released in English.

Honestly Chibi Robo on the GameCube is one my most favourite games ever. It truly is just a delight. I must have played through it three or four times.

I imported Park Patrol and enjoyed that too. It was just different enough while kept the charm of the original.

I never played one after that, also on DS. But it also sounds goods.

Then for some reason they started going in weird directions. The photo finder game was a little quirky but wasn't going to attract large sales and Zip Lash just was just hovering below average, wasn't it?

I love that we got an Amiibo of Chibi though. At least we'll always have that.

I would love a remake of the original though on Switch. With some quality of life improvements.

hope for a chibi-robo MMO just died.

Is it not possible to find out for sure? Would a company closure in Japan produce some type of public document?

@nessisonett I think it would of helped if they translated the Wii port of the 1st game rather then leaving it in Japan only since when it came out on the Gamecube it was near the end of it's life span along with releasing park patrol better releasing it as a Walmart only game and no release in Europe was stupid I think it would of help more people get into the series same with Chibi-Robo! Happy, Rich Big Sweep which follows from the game cube's gameplay and story
instead they put more focus in releasing these spin off games worldwide no body wanted.

At least it had a final swansong with Zip-Lash, even if it massively sucked.

F-Zero still hasn’t had that chance.

Zip-Lash was so lacklustre and not really what chibi robo was even about, shame it had to end on that. I'd buy a remake of the originals in a heartbeat!

@ROBLOGNICK As someone who's played the english translation of the Japan exclusive Okaeri! Chibi-Robo! Happy Richie Ōsōji!, i absolutely implore you to hunt it down.

It's a direct follow up to the Gamecube game as it follows the little frog hat girl Jenny who is now all grown up. It's honestly the best game in the series. It takes everything you loved about the Gamecube game and expands on it.

@RickD Not sure about profitable, but the first game def. sold over 100,000 copies worldwide, and Park Patrol sold 160,000 copies in Japan alone. Its worldwide take would've been higher had they not completely botched the North American launch by making it a limited-release through Walmart only.

The Japan exclusive game sold 130,000 copies, so across the first 3 games, sales were pretty stable.

It's only after that with the spin-offs that the sales started to tank. Zip Lash only sold 14k at launch in Japan for example.

@oats-81 Chibi told me he thinks YOU are a cool dude also

Poor Chibi!!!! I really like him

@Guybrush20X6 Therapy ensues

@MasterJay
https://tenor.com/911X.gif

Loved Park Patrol. Too bad it was the last proper game in the series.

sadly all the enfasis in games of the Chibi-Robo franchise anyone wanted and bad decisions in the franchise killed it, Switch would have be the chance of the franchise to have it sucess it deserve, since all major and medium franchises of Nintendo on Switch have a huge sucess on the console.

i remebered back in 2015 when one of developers of Skip, stated the continuation of the Chibi-Robo franchise depend on the sucess of Chibi-Robo Zip Lash, since that game performed poorly now we see the results, the failure of Chibi-Robo Zip Lash sadly resulted on Skip shutting down.

@Giancarlothomaz Yeah I still remember how one of the higher-ups threatened the general public that if they didn't buy Zip lash there would be no more Chibi Robo games. Instead of giving Nintendo a good spanking for their piss poor treatment of his franchise he thought that threatening his customers was somehow a good idea. The naive fool.

@HotGoomba Thanks.

Well that sucks. Skip is such a weird company that had something going with Chibi Robo. I aged Zip Lash to its completion and had the controls not been so still, it could have been a great game.

The burning Chibi-Robo picture is the most relevant the character has been for the past decade. It's a shame... just like recent M&L, Nintendo hasn't given the series a fair chance, and now its developers are paying the price.

@nessisonett As lead no, but they worked on outsourcing for other games in that time period.

They really did chibi robo dirty in the west. They didn't give us Clean Sweep. They did give us Ziplash, which was kinda fun except for the fact that I had to keep redoing levels because of the roulette at the end. That was bizarre and unnecessary. It would have been great to receive the Wii enhanced Chibi robo that was released in Japan, but alas. I'm sorry, but Skip Ltd. killed the franchise itself.

This news blows!

@ClassSonicSatAm You sound exactly like Scott the Woz