Welcome back to The Nintendo Report, where we’re taking a look at Nintendo’s intellectual properties and seeing how they’re doing. With each passing year, it becomes more and more baffling that more of their properties haven’t been given a chance at the spotlight on Switch, while others seem to come out of nowhere with sequels you’d never expect. Last time we covered the letter B which naturally leads us to C. How are their C-tier games doing? Let’s find out. 

Captain Rainbow

Talk about starting off with a bang. Captain Rainbow is a super bizarre Japan-only action adventure Wii game starring a superhero who tries to help out a bunch of washed-up Nintendo characters. The whole point of the game is the his lack of popularity! It's very charming, but one look at the thing in action will tell all you need to know about why it was never localized.

Health rating: Basically dead

This game came by way of Skip Ltd., the company who was also behind the Chibi-Robo franchise which you'll be reading about in just a moment. Needless to say, its weirdness is likely what held it back from being any kind of success. It's a fascinating idea, but I suspect we've already seen the last of good old Captain Rainbow. You were gone too soon. 

Chibi Robo

Oh, my beloved Chibi-Robo. This poor franchise is so adorable and fun, but it’s just a bit too weird to make it mainstream. The original game on GameCube seemed to perform well enough as it saw a number of follow ups, and the titular character even got himself his very own amiibo. 

Health rating: Not so good

Chichi-Robo has never been a sales juggernaut. It presumably managed to maintain a degree of profitability since they kept making them. However, the last game in the series, Chibi-Robo: Zip Lash had a bit of a cloud over it. The creator said something to the effect of if that game wasn’t a success, it would mean the end of the Chibi-Robo franchise. And wouldn’t you know, the game kind of flopped.

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It’s a real shame too because it was pretty fun, except for some utterly baffling design choices. Having the next stage picked randomly, meaning players would sometimes be forced to play the same stages over and over for no reason was certainly a choice. Regardless, the character has a cult following, so I wouldn't rule anything out forever. Maybe they’ll remake the original one and give the whole series a fresh start someday. 

Clu Clu Land

Clu Clu Land is one of Nintendo's earlier attempts to create a unique spin on the Pac-Man "maze chase" formula. You control an aquatic creature named Bubbles in an underwater world full of nasty urchins. Bubbles is always moving forward, but instead of controlling her movements directly, instead you have to reach out her arms to grab poles and swing around to change directions. The goal is to uncover gems that create a pattern. It's really weird, and tough to get the hang of, but once you master it, there's fun to be had. 

Health rating: Basically dead

Surprisingly enough, Bubbles has actually appeared in more than one game (not including Smash Bros.) Clu Clu Land had a unique arcade Vs. series entry, and she even appeared as a playable character in the Donkey Kong spinoff game DK: King of Swing. Outside of that though, Clu Clu Land is but a faint relic from the NES era with little chance of revival. It would be neat to see some sort of modern interpretation of the series, but if Nintendo were ever to bring it back, it would probably need a new name. Clu Clu Land isn't exactly catchy. 

Clubhouse Games

It’s almost hard to believe this game works as well as it does, but a collection of public domain/legally distinct board games is actually quite the recipe for success. The original Clubhouse Games on DS was one of those under the radar must-have games. Not everyone knew it, but those that owned the game rarely let it out of their sights.

Health rating: Pretty good

Clubhouse Games got a pretty solid sequel on Switch a few years back. It’s missing a LOT of games and features the DS game had that seem like no brainers, and it really looked like it was set up to receive DLC at some point, but it’s been pretty stagnant since its release. Regardless, it’s still a really fun game in its own right, and it stands to reason it wasn’t all that expensive to make. There’s always a chance it will go away as I’m pretty sure the Switch game didn’t perform nearly as well as its predecessor, but considering how little effort the concept ultimately requires by comparison, I suspect we haven’t seen the end of it. 

Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.

In Japan, this game is called Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.: Lincoln vs. Aliens. So if that doesn’t tell you exactly how bonkers this game is, I don’t know what will. This came to us from Intelligent Systems, probably best known these days for Fire Emblem and Advance Wars. This was yet another strategy game, but with a much more action-oriented approach. The goal was to try and make something a bit more approachable for casual players, and wrap it up in a cool Civil War steam-punk aesthetic, Abraham Lincoln and all. 

Health rating: Very dead

Unfortunately, this game just didn’t work. It managed a small cult following, but nothing about its premise or visual style connected with audiences. Outside of an obligatory Spirit battle in Smash Bros. Ultimate, Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. hasn’t shown any signs of life, and if I were a betting man, I wouldn’t expect it to anytime soon. 

Cruis'n

Originally an arcade-style racing team up between Nintendo and Midway, Cruis’n has been on quite a wild ride, pun very much intended. Its focus was always on fun, and the original three arcade releases reflected that. They were pretty darn popular too, with the original Cruis’n USA serving as a sort of preview for Nintendo’s then-upcoming Ultra 64 console. When it finally did make it to the Nintendo 64, the game performed just as well there, solidifying itself as a reliable brand for Nintendo in both the home and arcade markets. 

Health rating: Great

Things went very poorly for Cruis’n after the third entry, Exotica. Midway went through their own set of troubles, and the Cruis’n brand was only attached to two mediocre games for almost 20 years. In 2017 though, the game’s original creator once again teamed up with Nintendo to create Cruis’n Blast, and released it into arcades where it managed to successfully recapture the magic of the originals. It even got ported to Switch with a ton of new content added! Cruis’n seems to be in good hands. 

Cubivore

This game is bonkers. It’s once again an Intelligent Systems joint, and it's somehow even more off the wall than steampunk Abraham Lincon. In it, you control a cube who has to try and evolve by killing and eating other cubes. This process eventually triggers mutations that help your character move about and become a more efficient predator. It’s a fascinating and bizarre concept. 

Health rating: Very dead

Fascinating isn’t enough to equal sales though. Nintendo didn’t even want to localize it in North America. The only reason it made its way here at all was because Atlus decided to take up the task. It’s one of the more rare GameCube games out there thanks to incredibly low sales, and fetches frankly absurd prices in the aftermarket. Personally, I’ve always been a fan of this one, and I wish I owned it, but not as much as I wish it could get a second chance. It’s ugly as all heck, but there’s a certain charm here that could be done so much better with today's technology. That’s an extremely unlikely scenario though.  

Custom Robo

While its name may be similar to Chibi-Robo, the two game series couldn’t be more different. Custom Robo is an arena-style fighter where players choose different robot parts to make a, umm, custom robo, and fight it out. Like Chibi-Robo, Custom Robo got its start on the GameCube (at least in North America) and while it was never quite the runaway success of Nintendo’s bigger franchises, it has earned a notable degree of fandom. 

Health rating: Not so great. 

Custom Robo seemed to be doing pretty well for itself for a while there, especially in Japan. Overseas, the series started on the Nintendo 64, and saw a number of releases that were never localized in the West. However, the last title in the series is the same in all territories, 2006’s Custom Robo Arena for Nintendo DS. Not a peep has been heard from the series since then, with the exception of the obvious Spirit battles in Smash Bros. Series developer Noise seems to have settled into mobile game development these days, but they are still around at least! So maybe we’ll see a grand return to Custom Robo one of these days. 

And that about wraps up the letter C. Not a spectacular showing this time around. Nintendo has some great cult hits in this group, some of which I honestly think could have done really well on Switch, namely Custom Robo and Chibi-Robo. Fingers crossed they get the fresh chances they deserve. Join us next time as we delve into the depths of D for a deep dive of detectives, disasters, and Donkeys (of the Kong variety).