Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash is an astonishing title that borrows elements from classic Nintendo franchises. Although it may appear to be a typical 2D platformer, I can assure you, the experience had in Chibi-Robo’s latest title, feels fresh and quite intuitive. It borrows swinging mechanics you would come to experience in Metroid titles, and informs individuals of an upcoming boss as you would expect from classic Mega Man games. But even with inspiration that feels antiquitous, Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash is anything but derivative, and comes-off as an amalgamation of every Nintendo franchise that I have come to love.

Initially taking place in outer space, Chibi-Robo’s latest adventure has shifted to Earth, a 4 billion year-old planet that has been invaded by alien life-forms. That said, it’s up to Chibi-Robo to save the day, and pick up a few pieces of garbage along the way.

At its core, Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash isn’t exactly a difficult video game to play. Although it can sting from time-to-time, the overall experience was simplistic due to my Super Mario Bros. and Super Metroid aptitude. Even though I was able to 1-up the video game in several instances, it never became dull or boring, and expressed comical humor and charm that was enough to keep me coming back for more.

The object of the video game is to travel from one side of the screen to the other. Though simple in premise, Zip Lash’s experimentation with traversal separates itself from the competition. For instance, our tiny mental hero is well equipped with an electrical power-plug, which happens to be enough to grapple targets, enemies, and platforms. There’s no need for flashy power beams or hand concocted space apparatus’. Instead, Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash provides individuals with a simple weapon that does the trick and gets the job done. I appreciated this simplistic form of game design, which allowed the discovery of character abilities to be a wonderful treat, and an enjoyable treat as well.

Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash includes a wide variety of character buffs and abilities. Although most of these power-up’s bare a slight resemblance to those found within the Super Mario universe, they add a sense of familiarity to the experience that will cause the individual to react intuitively. For instance, Chibi-Robo can freeze his metallic body and skate across a pool of water, or encounter a “Super Star” like item, which encourages the individual to blast through a wave of enemies like a 30 year-old Italian plumber. Even though the motivation is obviously drawn from the Super Mario Bros. series, it never felt as if these abilities were aping the inspiration, but instead paying homage to Nintendo classics.

Although the experience was fairly short, Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash was able to provide me with a genuine sense of happiness that kept a smile on my face during each play session. With simplistic and non-linear game design, Zip Lash is a video game that allows the player to enjoy the experience as you normally would with any Nintendo property. The implementation of the Chibi-Robo! amiibo is worth mentioning, however it doesn’t live up to the hype in which the name provides. Instead, the Chibi-Robo! amiibo seems to increase the overall life bar for the character; and that’s about it.

Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash grabs inspiration from classic Nintendo franchises and uses that motivation to pay homage to certain gems of the past. Although it may appear to be a typical 2D platformer from series developer, Nintendo, Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash is an experience worth having and could possibly be the closest you will ever get to a Metroid title for the Nintendo 3DS.