------------------------------------------------------------------ Custom Robo V2 FAQ/Walkthrough v0.10 Updated December 17th, 2000 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Nintendo 64 Designed by Noise (Marigul) Published by Nintendo Released November 10th, 2000 in Japan FAQ/Walkthrough written by Scott Lewis (slewis@cc.gatech.edu) and Todd Lewis (joinordie@hotmail.com) ================= Table of Contents ================= 1 Overview 1.1 Importing Questions 1.2 General Guidelines 2 Game Options 2.1 Main Game Options 2.1.1 Single Player Adventure 2.1.2 1 vs 1 Multiplayer 2.1.3 2 vs 2 Multiplayer 2.1.4 Training Mode 2.1.5 Options 2.2 General Menus 2.2.1 Level Selection Menu 2.2.2 Robot Customization Menu 3 Battle Information 3.1 Pre-fight launch 3.2 Battle Controls 4 Task list 4.1 Stuff we can do 4.2 Stuff we'd love to have help with 5 Thanks! 6 Version information =========== 1 Overview =========== Custom Robo V2 is a Japanese Nintendo 64 game that plays like a cross between the Pokemon Trading Card Game and Virtual On. The player competes in robot battles in training areas in 3D robot fights against others robots. If the player wins the battle, they often win new robot forms or new features to use on their robots. Goals of this FAQ, in order, are: 1. Provide English descriptions of the game controls so that players that cannot read Japanese can enjoy the game. 2. Describe most of the weapons and items to remove the guesswork of customizing your mech 3. Provide a simple walkthrough for the game 4. Drum up interest so that this game gets released in the US! It's a great game! The game is in Japanese and neither Todd nor I speak Japanese or currently have a Japanese dictionary. The game contains a great deal of Japanese, but the actual robot battles can be enjoyed without knowing the language. If someone is willing to help us translate some of the menus and other items in the game, it would be a great help to us and the community and would mention you in high regard in our "thanks!" section. ------------------------ 1.1 Importing Questions ------------------------ Custom Robo V2 is overall a very import friendly game. It does feature a large amount of text in adventure mode and in the multiplayer menus, but it is easy to try out each of the options to understand what they do. Fortunately for importers, Custom Robo V2 is a very standard RPG style game, and anyone who is familiar with video games should understand a number of the dialogs. For example, when a dialog appears on the screen with two options, it is often a "yes" or "no" dialog. Yes is always on top and no is always on bottom. Yes also has fewer characters than no. Knowing when to choose which one is very context dependent. We will outline the dialog choices in the main menu system to prevent players from accidentally erasing their progress, but we will not be able to cover every dialog in the game. Fortunately, the single player game dialogs never do anything destructive (to our knowledge) and even if you answer incorrectly, they often give you a second chance to answer again. ----------------------- 1.2 General Guidelines ----------------------- Always remember that a game dialog will never default to a destructive action, like erasing your game. Otherwise people who accidentally tap the button may lose their information. So when in doubt, go with the option that they initially chose. One exception is that characters will ask you if you understood what they said, and if you choose the default, they will repeat themselves. If you notice characters repeating the same stuff again in a dialog situation, choose the other answer to get out of the loop. =============== 2 Game Options =============== ------------------- 2.1 Main Game Menu ------------------- This is the menu that appears after pressing start on the title screen. The five choices in order are: Single Player Either go on an adventure or compete in tournaments, both earn you new robot parts to use in the other modes 1 vs 1 Battle Go one on one robot battles with a friend 2 vs 2 Battle From two to four players battle in a tag team robot battle mode Training Mode Hone your skills in the training mode against the drone robot with customizable AI Options Game options - - - - - - - - - - 2.1.1 Single Player - - - - - - - - - - This is the main adventure of the game, where the main character, a young boy who just got his first fighting robot, fights a bunch of other robots. You can earn new battle arenas, robot bodies, and robot parts by playing this mode. After you choose Single Player Adventure from the menu, you will be given an option to choose a save slot to use for your single player game. If you choose a vacant save slot, you will create a new game. Creating a new game will prompt you to add your name. You can press the R shoulder button to select different Japanese characters as well as English characters. I would suggest writing your name in English so that you know when you are being talked about during the adventure. (Not that you will know what they are saying, but it does help comprehension by being able to recognize your name, honest!) Then the game prompts you to choose between two choices. These are two game modes - the first is the story mode where you have an adventure with your character and the other is a tournament mode where you compete for new parts in duels. The tournament mode is only available after you complete the single player mode. Choosing either will start those game modes. - - - - - - - - - - 2.1.2 1 vs 1 Battle - - - - - - - - - - This mode allows two players to play matches against each other. /First Menu - Select # of Rounds/ - 3 rounds - 5 rounds - 10 rounds - Infinite (translation needed) /Second Menu - Level Selection/ See Section 3.2.1 /Fourth Menu - Robot Customization/ See Section 3.2.2 After the board has been chosen and the robots customized, the battle begins. A player wins a round by either knocking their opponent's robot health to zero or, if there is a time limit for the level, by having the higher health value at the end of the time limit. The first player to win the amount of rounds set initially wins the match. /Pause menu/ The pause menu has three options: Continue Unpause and continue the match Controls Display a graphic of the robot's controls Quit Quit the fight and return to the Level Selection menu - - - - - - - - - - 2.1.3 2 vs 2 Battle - - - - - - - - - - This mode allows from two to four players to play matches against each other, similar to Capcom's VS series of games. The battles only feature two robots in the arena at a time, but the robots can be switched by pressing the top C button on the controller. Robots that are not on the battlefield do not heal unless they are under 150 health, at which they will heal up to 150 health. When one robots health reaches zero, the entire team loses, regardless of the health of the robot offscreen. /First Menu - Select # of Players/ 1p vs 2p Both players choose two robots and control both of them in combat. 1p vs 2p One player chooses and control two robots while the other 3p two players join forces, each customizing their own robot to take turns fighting player one. 1p vs 3p Two teams, each with two players with customizable robots. 2p 4p Tutorial A cute but lengthy introduction to the concepts of 2 vs 2 battle. /Second Menu - Select # of Rounds/ - 3 rounds - 5 rounds - 10 rounds - Infinite (translation needed) /Third Menu - Level Selection/ See Section 3.2.1 Note - there is no time limit in 2 vs 2 mode. /Fourth Menu - Robot Customization/ See Section 3.2.2 There is a difference from the other Robot Customization Menus in that the features for all four robots are displayed on the screen at once and there is not enough room for the view window to display the appearance of the weapons you are selecting. After completing the robot customization phase, the four robots do battle, two at at time. The first one to damage one of the opponent's robots to zero health wins. /Pause menu/ The pause menu has three options: Continue Unpause and continue the match Controls Display a graphic of the robot's controls Quit Quit the fight and return to the Level Selection menu - - - - - - - - - - 2.1.4 Training Mode - - - - - - - - - - This allows the player to test their skill and new robot customizations against a computer (or human) controlled robot. The player can customize their opponent's robot and set their fighting style and skill level. /First Menu - Level Selection/ See Section 3.2.1 /Second Menu - Robot Customization/ See Section 3.2.2 There are two features unique to Training mode in the Robot Customization mode. Both new options appear at the bottom of the screen near the opponent robot. The first one is difficulty setting, where the player can set the skill of the opponent, or choose to have the second player control the robot. The second one is fighting style. You can choose to have the robot play a primarily ground game, a flying game, or an evasive long range game. If either robot's health goes to zero, their health immediately restarts at 1000 points. If they recieved more damage than they had health points, the remaining damage is deducted from the 1000 start points. For example, if a robot is at 50 health and recieves 75 points of damage, 50 points of the damage would destroy the robot and then the other 25 would spill over to the new 1000 points, effectively starting the robot at 975. /Pause menu/ The pause menu has five options: Continue Unpause and continue the match Robot Customization Return to the Robot Customization menu Level Select Return to the Level Selection menu Quit Return to title screen of the game Controls Display a graphic of the robot's controls - - - - - - - 2.1.5 Options - - - - - - - The options menu screen has 5 choices. They are in order: - ??? (two choices, default left) - ??? (two choices, default right) - ??? (two choices, default left) - ??? (two choices, default right) - Erase Game Choosing Erase Game will create a dialog asking if you are sure that you want to erase your game. The default is no, so you have to choose yes. It will prompt you again to make sure, so choose yes if you are sure. (We learned this the hard way!) ------------------ 2.2 General Menus ------------------ These are menus that appear a number of times in the game and follow almost all the same rules. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2.2.1 Level Selection Menu - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The player chooses what level they want to battle on for this menu. The player can unlock more maps to play on by playing through the single player adventure game. Often when a map is featured in the single player mode, it is unlocked in this menu. Controls Analog stick Navigating the menus and highlighting the appropriate map A button Selects B button Cancels C buttons Brings up a help menu listing the controls L shoulder button Nothing R shoulder button Toggles random secret mode. Once random secret mode is activated, when the player presses the A button to select a map, one is chosen at random and the map display window displays snow. Z trigger Provides description on how to perform random level select Z + A Randomly selects a map to play, but the results are visible, unlike using random secret mode. Once a map has been chosen from the menu, the map will zoom in for a closer view of the level. In 1 vs 1 mode, the player will be given a choice of time limits, between 120 seconds and infinite time. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2.2.2 Robot Customization Menu - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - This screen allows the player to optimize their battle robot with parts such as body, gun, missle, pod, and footwear. New parts can be earned by defeating opponents in single player mode. The menu options Body Choose the body for the robot. The body effects the movement speed, dash style, and amount of damage that can be taken before the robot falls down. Gun Choose the primary gun for the robot, which is fired by the A button. Bomb Choose the bomb for the robot, which is a secondary indirect attack activated by the B button. Usually only one bomb can be fired at a time. Pod Choose the robot's pod which is backpack can be used by the Z button to drop or fire items at the enemy. Often these items track the opponent and explode when nearby to inflict damage. Footwear Choose the robots boots. This effects the robot's jumping height and dashing styles. Handicap Choose the starting health of the player. For example, if 100 is selected, the robot will start with 1000 health. If 20 is selected, they will start with 200. (Available only in 1 vs 1 and 2 vs 2 multiplayer modes) Tactics Choose the fighting style of the drone robot. The first option allows the second player to control the robot. The next three are ground, air, and long range accordingly. (Available only in training mode) Difficulty Choose the difficulty setting of the drone robot. The first four directly control the difficulty, with the first top most option being very easy, proceeding to the fourth option which is very hard. The last menu option on the bottom seems to be very easy. I'm not sure what it is supposed to do. (Available only in training mode) The controls for the Robot Customization menu are: Analog stick Highlights menu items A button Selects B button Cancels C buttons Show information on the highlighted item R shoulder button Toggle secret mode to hide selections from your opponent L shoulder button Nothing Z trigger button Prints a text message at the bottom (???) Start Submits changes to robot Z + A Randomly assigns the robot's attributes ===================== 3 Battle Information ===================== The robot battles involve two robots in an arena fighting using their various weapons. Most matches start with both robots being fired out of a player controlled cannon at the start of the round. Then the dice transform into the robots and the battle begins. --------------------- 3.1 Pre-fight Launch --------------------- Before most fights, both robots are in dice form in a launcher placed somewhere in the level. The players can aim the cannon for their robot using the analog stick anywhere in the level. Once both robots have been launched, the dice roll around. The icon on the dice represent appropriate parts of the robot. The "top" of the dice represents the head, the opposite side represents the feet, and each side represents each arm. The front and back represent the front and back of the actual robot. How fast a robot can begin fighting is determined by the orientation of the dice. If the robot lands with his head up, his feet start on the ground and he can move almost immediately after he transforms. Conversely, if the feet are at the top of the die, the character starts on his head and takes a while to stand up. Button mashing helps the robots get on their feet faster. -------------------- 3.2 Battle Controls -------------------- These are the controls for the robot after they have transformed from dice form and are standing on their feet. Analog stick Moves your character around the play area A button Fires the primary gun B button Fires the secondary missle weapon If you hold the B button down, you will see a red target on the ground that you can move around with the analog stick. Releasing the button will fire the bomb at that location. C left button Melee attack (on ground only) C right button " C down button " C up button Switches robots (2 vs 2 Multiplayer mode only) L shoulder button " R shoulder button Jumps, pressing again after the jump may result in a dash depending on the character chosen. Some characters can have many dashes. Start button Pauses the game and brings up pause menu ============ 4 Task list ============ -------------------- 4.1 Stuff we can do -------------------- Pause menu for single-player mode Does the body part that you land on effect the power of that item? More battle specific information Walkthrough Guide to all the items Explaination of Single Player Battle Purpose and Properties of Dice ---------------------------- 4.2 Stuff we need help with ---------------------------- Since we don't know Japanese, any translation help would be awesome. The items we need translated in order are: - Options menu choices - The fifth option in the round select menu - Text that appears in the bottom of the Robot Customization screen when the Z trigger button is pressed - Any very basic info that we have missed (i.e. controls, basic options, etc.) - The body statistics on the Robot Selection Screen - we know there are four, but what are they? - The weapon statistics on the Robot Selection Screen - ditto above. - Anything at all about the plot - names, locations, etc. - Translations for robot part names ========== 5 Thanks! ========== - Mad props to Noise for making this game. It's great fun. - Props to Nintendo for releasing it. Any chance for a US release? What about a sequel for GameCube sequel, eh? - CJayC for hosting this FAQ at www.gamefaqs.com ====================== 6 Version Information ====================== 0.10 (Dec 17th, 2000) - Added 2 vs 2 time limit comment Added pause menu info for every mode but single player mode Added info on the launcher and the dice Rearranged the FAQ to put the menus before the battle information 0.09 (Dec 17th, 2000) - Almost got to the point where the the basic options of the game are fully specified. Soon to be moving into the single player mode. Fixed the layout to print correctly We have come to believe that the fifth item in the round selection menu is infinite, but we would love to have some confirmation on that by someone who knows Japanese. Elaborated on the fixes for the Robot Customization Menu Added explaination of how handicaps work Filled in the 2 vs 2 section Filled in the Training Mode section Added more things to the to-do list! :) Fixed a number of oversights 0.02 (Dec 16th, 2000) - Added bomb targetting to controls Created level selection menu and robot customization menu areas describing the features available. Flushed out 1 vs 1 battle mode more. 0.01 (Dec 15th, 2000) - First version of the FAQ