FAQ/Walkthrough - Guide for Custom Robo V2

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Custom Robo V2 FAQ/Walkthrough v0.10
Updated December 17th, 2000
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Nintendo 64
Designed by Noise (Marigul)
Published by Nintendo
Released November 10th, 2000 in Japan

FAQ/Walkthrough written by 
   Scott Lewis ([email protected]) and
   Todd Lewis  ([email protected])

=================
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

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