A lot of great games have come out over the past 20 years, and, looking back, it’s kinda hard to believe so much time has actually passed! So much has changed over the years, but there are so many old games that are still looked back on so fondly.
In fact, some of these games are so beloved, one might not even realize how old they even are!
Would you believe me if I said some of the most popular games of all time are now 20?
Halo 2 was a staple for the original Xbox, and quickly became one of the largest games on Xbox Live. Half-Life 2 was a huge release, and fans are still waiting for Half-Life 3 (not Alyx which is a prequel). What about Metal Gear Solid 3? Can you believe that was 20 years ago? It’s getting a remake now, but the original came out all the way back then! And that’s not all that released in 2004.
Switching gears and putting aside the PlayStation 2 and original Xbox, back in 2004 the Nintendo GameCube was Nintendo’s flagship console. While it might not have been as successful as the competitors, it still had a fan base, and plenty of great games to back it up. Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door is still considered to be one of the best Mario RPGs on the market, and Metroid Prime 2 Echoes holds a special place in the hearts of Metroid fans. Even Resident Evil 4 came out at the beginning of 2005, and is now pushing that 20 year mark as well!
So while the GameCube may not have been the top console on the market, these games made it worth owning. Meanwhile, the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS did dominate the handheld market, and had their fair share of games as well.
Super Mario 64 DS, Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, The Legend of Zelda Minish Cap, and Ace Attorney were all pretty big handheld releases for the time, and most of them still receive attention to this day. Of course the original Mario 64 overshadows the DS remake, but Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories has been remade itself, and brought forward to other consoles.
Zelda Minish Cap is featured on Switch Online, and Ace Attorney has received multiple sequels, prequels, and is playable nearly everywhere now days. These games were all big releases, and they got their start 20 years ago. (Putting aside Ace Attorney’s Japanese exclusive release that is).
Of course, the game’s that released in 2024 don't stop there. That year saw many, MANY, titles come out during, and most of them are what one might consider a classic.
But what if I said there’s one classic that no one seemingly cares about? Besides for the handful of die hard fans out there, what if I said this is a game that has basically been forgotten to time?
Well, it’s a sad fact, but it’s true. In fact, it’s so true that even Nintendo themselves tend to pretend it doesn’t even exist.
What is this game you ask?
Well…
It’s a little game called “Custom Robo.”
The History of Custom Robo:
What a lot of people don’t realize about Custom Robo, is the fact that “Custom Robo” is not the first entry in the series. In fact, the Custom Robo most of us in the West know (or don’t know) is actually the 4th entry in the series. Simply dubbed “Custom Robo” in the West, the game was known as “Custom Robo Battle Revolution” in Japan, and was a shift in tone for the series.
The original Custom Robo was actually released back on the Nintendo 64 in 1999, and was a bit different than what would get released outside of Japan. The game was an RPG that put you in control of a school kid who is given his first “robo.”
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| (Screenshot of the intro in Custom Robo via Nintendo Switch Online) |
Using his robo, the main character goes to school, and battles other students in “robo battles.” By winning battles the player would unlock new parts to customize their robo, and then eventually take on even stronger opponents. You would then take down these stronger rivals, gain even more new parts, and then eventually build your ultimate robo. The game was balanced in a way that you could customize your robo to your own liking, but some parts were clearly better than others.
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| (Screenshot of a battle in Custom Robo via Nintendo Switch Online) |
While the game was story focused, it was a very light hearted story, and focused more on the whole robo battle scene. The main character goes through a variety of tournaments, and takes on rival characters throughout the game, but it’s a plot that doesn’t really evolve into anything too serious. It was just pure robot fighting fun, and it was successful enough to spawn a sequel.
Custom Robo V2 was the follow up to the original Custom Robo, and featured a variety of upgrades and changes from the original. A tag team system was added to the game, new robo bodies and robo parts were added for extra customization, and it featured a new story and new characters. It was a full on sequel in every sense of the word, and became the “definitive” version of the series.
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| (Screenshot of Custom Robo V2 customization via Nintendo Switch Online) |
Just like the first the game remained Japanese exclusive, with no plans to release it elsewhere. Even though both Custom Robo and V2 received Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion ports, these too remained Japanese exclusive.
Moving past Custom Robo V2, a third entry was actually being considered for a Western release, but it too was scrapped.
Custom Robo GX was the one and only Game Boy Advance entry in the series. The game was originally advertised by Nintendo of America, and featured on their website, but its Western release never came to be. Gameplay wise however, the game was still very similar to the two that came before it, but once again featured a completely new story and setting.
Although the core gameplay of collecting robos, and customizing them stayed in place, changes had to be made due to it being a Game Boy Advance game. Exploration had been replaced by menus with cutscenes being handled in a visual novel like style, and battles were now 2D side view fights, with robos flying around the arena.
It was different from the 3D battle arenas seen in the Nintendo 64 games, but it was what the GBA could handle. The game was also set to unlock additional features in the upcoming “Custom Robo 4” when it was connected using the GBA Link cable, but ultimately things changed. (At least in the Western release).
And then, that’s when it finally did happen; Custom Robo released outside of Japan.
Custom Robo Battle Revolution
“Custom Robo” released in 2004 on the Nintendo GameCube, and it changed things up quite a bit. While the previous three Custom Robo games took place in a school setting, Custom Robo Battle Revolution (Custom Robo) featured an older cast set in a bit more bleak world.
The game starts when the main character is a little kid, and his dad comes home for his birthday. From context clues it is very clear that his dad hasn’t been around very much, and the fact that he’s come home to give the main character a present is pretty shocking. He ends up giving him a watch, and tells him to never take it off, and to keep it with him always. So that’s what our hero promises to do, as his dad once again drives away in his car to never be seen again.
Many years go by, and our hero is now an adult about to get a job. His dad sent him a letter later on telling him to “become a Robo Commander,” but he doesn’t quite know what that is. He knows it is someone who pilots custom robos, but to what end? He has no idea. He just wants to follow his dad’s wishes, and decides to apply for a job at “Steel Hearts.”
Steel Hearts is a bounty hunter group that uses robos to stop crime, and complete whatever job they are asked to do. As our hero has no experience with robos they don’t actually plan on hiring him, but he’s sent along with one of the members, named Harry, anyway. That’s when an incident occurs at the lab they are sent to, and as a group of thieves try to steal the latest robo in development, our hero accidentally registers it to himself.
As Harry yells at the hero to pick up the robo before the thieves get it, he sees the strange blue cube laying on the ground, and picks it up assuming it is what Harry is talking about. What Harry didn’t tell him to do however is press the button on it, to allow it to scan him. This registers the robo to our Hero, thus making it impossible for anyone else to ever use it again. This new experimental robo named “Ray01” is now officially his, and Steel Hearts is left with little choice but to hire him now that it’s come to this.
So together with Harry, the hero fights off the thieves, and the hero brings Ray01 back home with him. The next day he would start his first day as a bounty hunter, and the rest would go on to be history.
But not everything is as it seems.
While past stories were happy go lucky adventures, Battle Revolution focuses on the hero’s journey, the mystery of what happened to his dad, and how the world filled with robos actually works. As he works as a bounty hunter, he’s forced to come face to face with certain truths. While robos seem like toys at a glance, the reality is that the user’s mind is transported into these little robots, and the battles they take part in are very real. By default a limiter prevents a user from taking too much mental and physical damage from these fights, but when a strange robo comes along and actually kills someone, then everything changes.
What is this mysterious robot? How did it get past the limiters? What is this mysterious group that was after Ray01, and what happened to the main character’s father? These are questions that are best answered by playing the game.
Robo Battles
While the main game of Custom Robo is an RPG, the robo battle aspect is more of a mixture between RPG and fighting game. During the main story players collect new robo bodies, and unlock different parts to customize their robo, but the core gameplay is that of a fighter. Every gun, bomb, back pod, leg part, and body have their own stats and functions, and mix and matching them allow you to create some really unique builds. It is these unique builds that make for a perfect fighting game, as you not only make your way through the story, but fight your friends in multiplayer as well.
The multiplayer mode was actually pretty deep because of all of the customization. You could be in matches of up to four players at a time, and there was a wide variety of battle arenas to fight in. Not all robo builds were effective in all battle arenas, and not all builds are as effective when working as a team (or in a free for all). Thankfully the game let you customize your builds before each fight, and that too added another layer of strategy. Seeing what your friends were doing with their builds would enable you to create builds against them, but they too could turn around and do the same back to you. Sometimes the prep work before the fight was a battle of its own, and ultimately ended up being a lot of fun.
But sadly, despite all of this the game never really reached the height of other multiplayer games on the GameCube. Nor did the game itself become that popular.
Despite Custom Robo being one of the main theme options for Nintendo’s official Nsider Forums, the game itself wasn’t a big “must have” title for the GameCube. After it released discussions on it were pretty light, and it only got worse as the years went on. It became a hidden gem on the console, and stayed that way as the years went on.
That is, until the fifth, and final entry came out.
Custom Robo Arena
Although Battle Revolution faded away, the developers went on to make a single final game.
Custom Robo Arena was the second handheld Custom Robo game, and released on the Nintendo DS. This time around the game featured 3D graphics, and took more inspirations from the original two games. It shifted back to the school setting, the main robos went back to the style seen in Custom Robo and V2, and the game even opened with a scene that was nearly a recreation of the original game’s intro. It was full on “Custom Robo V3,” except it was actually the fifth release.
This version of Custom Robo did bring some really nice additions, but being on the DS meant it had to be scaled back as well. The overworld switched from 3D models to 2D sprites, the graphics were obviously downgraded for the DS, and tag team fights were removed. Despite this, the game featured a wider set of robos and parts to use, and had access to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection for online play and voice chat. You could even add friends to a friends list, or register rivals to battle against them in the future.
It was the perfect setup for Custom Robo fans to finally live the dream of fighting other robo commanders, but ultimately it was short lived. Eventually GameSpy (which held the Nintendo WFC servers) shut down, and Custom Robo Arena went with it. That was the true end of Custom Robo.
Looking to the Future
Now here we are 20 years after the initial Western release, and 24 years since the release of the original game. While Custom Robo and Custom Robo V2 have been brought to the Switch in Japan, any news of a new entry is non existent. The series is developed by “Noise,” which has a partnership with Nintendo, but they don’t have a lot of games under their belt. They haven’t released a game since Gyrozetter: Wings Of The Albatross on the Nintendo 3DS in 2013, and there are no signs that this will be changing anytime soon. Even that has been 11 years.
It’s pretty sad for fans of the series. It really was great. Each game was unique enough to warrant being played, even after newer entries released, and the multiplayer was a solid experience as well. Was it perfectly balanced? No. Was it still fun? You bet! Even the games without a “deep story” still had a fun story, and it was a world you didn’t want to leave.
Hopefully one day we can see the series again. Maybe one day the GameCube release will be brought back? Maybe we’ll actually get a sequel to it, or another game in its style? Or maybe it’ll continue to sink into obscurity, and become forgotten… I for one would hate to see that future though, and will continue to do whatever I can to keep the name alive.
Custom Robo is a game I don’t want to see forgotten. It’s a game that deserves that 20th anniversary fanfare other games received, but sadly this is all I can do for it. Spread the word of this little gem, and hope you guys out there can do the same! It’s not much, but even if this post reaches one other person I feel like I’ve done my part. And that alone will have been worth it.
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