is an

action role-playing An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

series developed by

Noise Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference arise ...

and published by

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

. The series currently spans five games, and has titles on the

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and Au ...

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...

, and

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...

. Only the two most recent titles have seen a release outside of Japan. The most recent title in the series was first released in Japan on October 19, 2006, later seeing international release in 2007.

International release

Beginning in 1999, the ''Custom Robo'' series has largely been exclusive to Japan. In 2001, however, Nintendo released '' Super Smash Bros. Melee'', a fighting game containing characters from throughout the company's history, worldwide. In the title's trophy room, three custom robos from ''

Custom Robo V2 is an action role playing video game developed by Noise and published by Nintendo. It was released for the Nintendo 64 in Japan on November 10, 2000. It was later re-released on February 19, 2008, for the Wii Virtual Console in Japan, and June 8 ...

'' appeared as trophies: ''Ray Mk II'', ''Bayonette'', and ''Annie''. Stated by several issues of

Nintendo Power ''Nintendo Power'' was a video game news and strategy magazine from Nintendo of America, first published in July/August 1988 as Nintendo's official print magazine for North America. The magazine's publication was initially done monthly by Ninten ...

, an international release of '' Custom Robo GX'', the third title in the series, was planned but later canceled. The fourth title in the series, '' Custom Robo: Battle Revolution'', would later be released in 2004, the first title in the series to receive and release outside of Japan. The fifth title of the series, ''

Custom Robo Arena ''Custom Robo Arena'', known in Japan as , is a science fiction Action RPG, action role playing game for the Nintendo DS. It is the fifth title in the Custom Robo series, ''Custom Robo'' series. The name was announced during the E3 2006 convention ...

'', would become the first and only ''Custom Robo'' title released globally.

Gameplay

''Custom Robo'' takes place in a collect-customize-and-battle style

role-playing video game A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...

genre similar to games such as ''

Robotrek ''Robotrek'', known in Japan as , is a role-playing video game (RPG) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was developed by Quintet (company), Quintet and published by Enix in both Japan and North America in 1994. Set on the fictio ...

'' or ''

Front Mission is a collection of video games and related media produced by Square (video game company), Square, now Square Enix. The series was created by Toshiro Tsuchida and developed by G-Craft, a studio that was later absorbed by Square and existed withi ...

'', but with frantic action battles in confined 3D arenas (2D arenas in ''Custom Robo GX''), similar to ''

Virtual On is a series of video games created by Sega AM3 (Amusement Research and Development Department 3, later renamed Hitmaker). The series was created by Juro Watari. The original series was first published for arcades in January 1996. The game feature ...

''. In each game's story mode, players slip into the role of a nameable protagonist just beginning to learn about Custom Robo. In each game, the first Robo players obtain is always the latest model of the ''Ray'' series. The goal for players is to improve their skills and collect different Custom Robos in order to defeat everyone, including champion Custom Robo users. The main objective of the game is to finish the storyline by collecting every Custom Robo and battle part, while winning every battle that moves players along through the story arc. In Custom Robo battles, the object is to reduce the opponent's hit points from 1000 to 0 by using different Robos, guns, bombs, pods, and dash attacks. Custom Robos are arranged in groups that are similar to their abilities. The endurance bar is located above the player's

hitbox Collision detection is the computational problem of detecting the intersection of two or more objects. Collision detection is a classic issue of computational geometry and has applications in various computing fields, primarily in computer gr ...

; once it runs out, the Custom Robo gets "downed" which means that it stays fallen for a couple seconds. After the Robo gets up, it goes into "rebirth" mode, a temporary state of invincibility lasting 3 seconds. Should the player repeatedly lose the same battle, the game will offer the option of reducing the opponent's initial health, in order to make the battle easier. If players continue to lose several times, the degree of handicap offered increases up to 75%, giving the opponent a starting HP of 250, rather than 1000.

Games

The following is a list of games released in the series: :Games predating ''Battle Revolution'' were released only in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

(except the first one, which was also released in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

for the

iQue Player The iQue Player (, stylised as iQue ''PLAYER'') is a handheld TV game version of the Nintendo 64 console that was manufactured by iQue, a joint venture between Nintendo and Taiwanese-American scientist Wei Yen after China had banned the sale ...

). Due to this, there are no official titles for North American or European releases of these games. Such a title may be given if Nintendo divisions outside Japan elects to localize any of these games to their regions. A sequel to ''Custom Robo GX'' was originally planned for release on the

, but the project was discontinued. It was planned for release in late 2005 in Japan.

References

Notes

External links

Official Nintendo of America website
(redirects to Nintendo.com) *

' a
NinDB
{{Main franchises by Nintendo 1999 video games Noise (company) games Video game franchises Nintendo franchises Video game franchises introduced in 1999