Robopon3: Clock & Gear versions
Robopon3 takes place a decade after the first games, in which Dr. Zero successfully defeated the Tail kingdom, but destroyed Tail Castle and disappeared without a trace before Cody could challenge him. The fall of the tail kingdom means that Robopon are no longer owned by humans, and there is no Tournament or competition on Porombo Island anymore.
A group of Dr. Zero's minions and ideologues that were happy to see Tail kingdom fall formed a group called the Zeroers and started a company called Zero Laboratory, which, parroting Dr. Zero's propaganda, is dedicated to researching ways to make Robopon self-sufficient, not dependent on humans, as well as ensuring that the BattleRobo Tournament never returns.
While most of Porombo remains largely unaffected by the Tail kingdom's downfall - if anything, many people don't mind and have barely noticed - the abolition of the Legends has resulted in a power vacuum, with various sects emerging to try and control the economy and legal system of Porombo. The Zeroers formed a coalition government with a radical group called the Free Robopon Assembly, but there remains a conservative Tailist faction, as well as three gangs: the Rockers, Goths and Poets, which all skirmish occasionally in mostly futile attempts to gain regional power.
Cody, now in his twenties, and following Grandpa Hogle's footsteps as a relatively poor business manager, has to come to terms with the failure of his Robopon Dispatching Company in light of Robopon's freedom. He has tried to move the family business more towards R&D but can't seem to keep things together, especially with Zero Laboratory having a monopoly on Robopon research. He decides to let the company fail and leave Porombo Island, looking for a new career.
Lisa, Cody's girlfriend, is experiencing a quarter-life crisis of her own and looking to move out of her crazy father, Dr. Disc's home and figure out what she wants to do with her life. At the encouragement of Cody, Lisa decides to travel around Porombo Island much like Cody did, where she will meet and learn about the different sects vying for power, eventually joining one of them.
Sunny, now free, works with the Free Robopon Assembly. He largely just attends boring meetings and argues with coworkers. As a former BattleRobo Tournament competitor, Sunny is disliked by most free Robopon, but the FRA has given him a job partly out of sympathy and partly to keep him under their thumb. Eventually, his boss Cloudy decides to send him off to be an ambassador to other islands. She tells him that by renouncing his BattleRobo past and spreading the gospel of the FRA, he can overcome his bad reputation and move up the ranks, eventually maybe taking over as leader to displace the current leader, Cutesy, who herself is known for her short temper, strict policies and feirce ideological zealotry.
Sunny ends up running into Cody, who is also looking to leave Porombo, and the two ironically set out together again to go explore one of three new islands.
The game will follow Sunny, Lisa and Cody's timelines independently, the player can switch between stories as they want.
game features:
- multiple game modes (story, arcade, tournament, free play)
- 4 new Attributes: Ancient, Dream, Atomic and Hologram
- 20+ new Robopon
- play as multiple characters, and as Robopon themselves
- a rich classes and guild system for Robopon
- 3 huge new islands to explore
- fully customizable gameplay
- completely overhauled move/combat system
- autonomous robopon: Free Robopon Assembly
- jobs and chores for robopon, expanded open-ended business quest
- 5 "teams": Zeroers, Tailists, Rockers, Goths, Poets
- ally with teams or build your own
- tons more items + customizable home and decorations etc
New Mechanics
PatchingOne of the many ways that Porombo Island turns out to be a rather backwards place that isn't taken very seriously by other islands is the fact that before Dr. Zero put an end to the BattleRobo Tournament, trainers went around catching Robopon with magnets. Post-BRT, Porombo has joined the rest of the islands in the more ethical practice of "patching" Robopon. This is a less invasive and less permanent way of forming a bond between a human and a Robopon which allows them to work together as a team. Robopon can reject the patch after some time if they don't like their trainer, although this doesn't happen very often.
The patching process can take place at Matchmaker Shops, or in the wild using automags.
Matchmaker ShopOutside Porombo, every town has at least one Matchmaker shop. Matchmaker shops are advertised as "speed dating for Robopon and trainers!" and serve as a hub where trainers can meet new Robopon and other trainers, sharing tips and information, as well as a place for Robopon to meet others. The Matchmaker shops have a pretty steep entry fee and are only open for a short while, hence the "speed dating" tagline, but the shops serve as a place for trainers and Robopon to meet in what can turn into long lasting friendships.
The traditional magnets used on Porombo Island are a very primitive and blunt tool. Most other islands in the Robopon world exclusively use a specialized type of magnet called an automag. The name automag is a bit of an ironic misnomer though, because there is nothing "automatic" about them: they enabled patching of Robopon but require the trainer to complete a puzzle or series of puzzles which vary in difficulty depending on various factors such as the Trainer's skill level, the Robopon's Attitude and Status and the quality of the automag.
While automags are a bit cumbersome, regular magnets are still sold on the black market, exported from Porombo Island. However, while regular magnets are faster and cheaper they have a fixed rate of success, whereas automags can usually have a near 100% success rate if they are used by an experienced trainer.
The infomag is a magnet which can be used at any time in battle to get information about a Robopon such as its Attributes, Class, Attitude, Stats and various other information - basically anything one would need to know. Infomags are relatively inexpensive and popular with kids who are too young to patch Robopon as well as collectors and researchers. They are single use items that don't take up a turn in a battle, and they can be recycled too: Recycling shops will turn every five used infomags into a middle-quality automag for free.
In a throwback to the Robot Ponkottsu N64 game, Robopon can have chores and careers: Mechanic, Priest, Salespon, Hacker, Builder, Inventor, Chef, Maid, Gardener and Traveler. How good a Robopon is at a certain career or chore depends on their Class (see next page). A Robopon do chores for a guild (next page) to become proficient, and if they are good enough at a specific task they can open up their own shop. However, regardless of the shop type, in order to open up a shop always will need a Builder, Mechanic and Salespon.
While Robopon careers do factor into the main game somewhat, they are also just something that can be done for fun as an open-ended side quest.
Classes & GuildsThe class system was not developed much in the original games, likely due to the demanding release schedule imposed on the developers. Robopon3 develops the class system extensively, with a Robopon's class effecting many parts of the game including how talented they are with certain Software and Parts, how good they are at certain career paths, and how difficult the story mode and some parts of battles are.
Guilds are a way of developing proficiency in a particular class. Apprenticeships at a guild can be pretty short or rather long depending on the Robopon's compatibility with a given class. Robopon can only be of one class at a time, but they will remember their proficiency in a class if they choose to go back to it.
Robopon can be one of 11 classes: Theif, Punch, Knight, Healer, Mage, LandBot*, SkyBot*, SeaBot*, Gun, Recluse* and Beast*.
* = These classes are only found in "wild" Robopon - there are no guilds which can train them, although if a Robopon of that class goes to a guild, they still retain the characteristics of their original class - this is the only way of having "dual class" Robopon.
The player can open a guild building in a process similar to opening a shop, but doesn't require a Salespon. Guilds need a Mechanic, a Builder, a Chef plus at least three Robopon which are proficient in their class to be the guild's trainers. Guilds which have a Priest will make more money. Guilds with a Healer will train Robopon more quickly. Theif guilds outside of Zero City have a small chance of being raided and shut down - this chance is increased much more on islands outside of Porombo.
New Locations
name meaning attributes
Boro Town (patchwork town) Normal
Farah Town (happy town) Normal, holy
Toredo Town (merchant town) fire, h2o, wind, thund
Naga Town (serpent town) earth, gas, evil
Tarot Town (magic town) land, sea
Kurimu Town (cream town) ice, sky, drem
Tengen City (starting city) Normal
Pallas Town (spring town) earth, h2o
Borea Town (wind town) wind, thund
Ashura Vlg (combat town) fire, ice, landbot
Paea Town (healing town) holy, seabot
Michi Vlg ("way" village) atomc, skybot, evil
Soto Town ("outside" town) Normal
Prometha Vlg (land town) landbot, fire, thund
Galatean Town (sea town) seabot, h2o, gas
Zephyr Town (sky town) skybot, wind, ice
Kado Town (flower/holy town) holy, earth
Deimos City (evil town) evil, anct
lisa quick outline (spoilers)
0.1 - explore, find a gang to join
Caleyu - Poets
Carol - Goths
Dine Town - Rockers
0.2 - join a gang, move in, get a Robopon
Poets: Rootix, Palmer, Gidget
Goths: Batty, Boobot, Loopy
Rocker: Ramjet, Boom, Slots
squat mission
0.3 - Robopon teammate + badge + stipend
move out of barracks, get own place
4 Jock missions - minigames
4 Punk missions - two battles, two chase
4 Grunt missions - defend grunt while he does stuff
1.0 - meet leader, stipend increased
Shops unlocked
AntiQueen missions, 8 must be completed
3 Jock missions - 2 minigames, 1 battle against jock
Punk mission - defend squat
Grunt mission - steal a truck, 2 battles
3x break-ins
2.0 - build HQ, decide guild
better lamp and disc store stuff
open ended battles with wild RP + rival sects to grind
grunt, jock and punk go to meiji/ghana
anti queen, 2 spy missions that involve battles
2.5 - can catch or patch Robopon,
get infomags + automags + magnets
unlock ghana and meiji
catch/patch RP for guild
3.0 - go to zero city to start guilds
defeat rivals to unlock lamp, disc shops
zero city has 5 districts
2 neutral guilds exist
labs are now open everywhere
need to start 3 guilds in zero city
random encounters, item collecting, battles, guild building
3.5 - infiltrate rival sects
anti queen goes nuclear
do 5 Jock, 5 Punk and 5 Grunt missions for each sect
it is randomly decided which of the two rival sects will give you Robopon.
one of them will give you ANCT, DREM or ATOMC, one will give you nothing.
4.0 - can use rival sects guilds, lamp and disc shops
Busy Grunt and Anti Queen move in with Lisa, start a guild themselves
can do more missions for infiltrated sect, open ended, grinding
4.5 - Busy grunt brings 3 holo robopon for each of them
1s leader goes to war with everyone in zero city including lisa/bg/aq
1s jock and punk will join lisa/bg/aq, bringing sects special attributes
fight own sect, defend your guilds and infiltrated hq's
play as lisa/bg/aq
5.0 - need to return to 1s HQ and defeat 1s leader. "battle tower" style.