Chee-Chai Alien (ちっちゃいエイリアン) brief review/retrospect
Dec 29, 2023 7:30:03 GMT -5
nocturnal YL likes this
Post by Evie ❤✿ on Dec 29, 2023 7:30:03 GMT -5
Chee-Chai Alien is a fun experience when you learn how to play it, and I enjoyed my first and second playthroughs. However, for my third it had become a little repetitive. Like other games such as Zok Zok Heroes, it utilises the Game Boy Color hardware in an innovative way. I don't want to make an overly long post again, but I don't want it to be too short either to underrepresent it.
Context:
Whereas in Zok Zok Heroes you perform hero poses with the Full Changer peripheral with transmission via the infrared port, Chee-Chai Alien also makes heavy use of the Game Boy Color's infrared port to capture Chee-Chai Aliens (or Chaliens for short; in Japan this is Chailien, but it was officially localised to Chalien); tiny aliens from artificial light sources in real life (not included with Game Boy or Game Boy Advance). For that reason, it is one of the few Game Boy Color-only games which cannot actually be played (normally) on a Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Player, or Game Boy Advance SP (although this can be circumvented with a cheating device, and generally does not apply to emulation). To enhance the infrared reception, the game came packaged with the Spectrum Communicator. From a complexity perspective, all you need is a clear signal (amplitude?) to receive a Chalien - so other details about the infrared packet aren't required.
Chee-Chai Alien has a special history, because it was developed by Creatures; an owner of the Pokémon franchise - joint Nintendo/Game Freak/Creatures (The Pokémon Company); it used to be responsible for the promotional/media/financial support/anime side of Pokémon (similar to Warpstar Inc. for Kirby), but such things are managed by the later founded The Pokémon Company nowadays. Creatures also spun-off from Ape (and if I remember from Game Freak Asobi no Sekai Hyoujun o Nurikaeru Creative Shuudan one of the motives was to support smaller development teams like Tajiri's and Game Freak; which on hindsight I find similar to Marigul, except typically people don't see Creatures that way). Former Nintendo employee Hirokazu Tanaka was also known for planning and directing this game, as well as the music/sound (with Noriyuki Kitsuta).
Also according to that book, in 1989/1990, Ape (Creatures) was working on a game called Toto (トト), where you would use the Game Boy as like an insect cage (I find this similar to how you catch Chaliens from external artificial light sources). When they learned of the Capsule Monsters concept (which became Pokémon) and a similar serial exchange of creatures (for Pokémon via the Link Cable), Ape couldn't help but think something like "(this) was my idea first!". Talking of such things, it also reminds me of the cancelled Nintendo 64DD game Cabbage; and people speculate that became something like Nintendogs (but speculation is still speculation).
Creatures, Inc. also heavily marketed the game on Chailien.com, which is still around today; but the Flash-based elements such as the TV Chailien cartoons and the interactive map are no longer supported, making most of it lost media (except what can be retrieved from the site, and a few remnants). As with a lot of franchises, there were a few local Japanese events/it appeared in game/hobby events with promotional media, such as a promo CD which is quite rare. Also, there was a (children)'s activity book called the Chee-Chai Alien no Hon (Chee-Chai Alien Book). In particular, it teaches you how to play the main theme/Martian Folk on piano. (Thanks Hirokazu Tanaka! ^^)
Also here's one of the TV Chalien songs which avoided becoming lost media:
There was also a manga called Go! Go! Chalien (ゴー!ゴー!ちゃいリアン), but it never left serialisation to form its own tankobon and I don't know much about it.
After this game, Creatures released Nonono Puzzle Chalien for the Game Boy Advance; not a sequel, but rather revolves around three new minigames, Kurukuru Microwave, Kurukuru Walk and KuruPachi 6 (Spin Six). It's really fun! ^^ Spin Six was later released as DSiWare, and was actually localised into English; so we get to see the English names of some of the Chaliens (such as Denny being the localised name for the Chalien Chidori (チドリ)), but it's a little sad we didn't get the full experience from Nonono Puzzle Chalien (and Chee-Chai Alien).
How to play Chee-Chai Alien:
In a nutshell:
1. Capture Chaliens from artificial light sources
2. (While the story is still active): Remove their dark matter to make space white again, and accumulate enough to fire rockets to create explosions of white space.
3. Interact with Chaliens in the Polariton; like a giant pachinko machine; gain points.
4. Use these points to unlock minigames (and while the story is still active): use the minigames to convert additional points into dark matter.
Once the main scenario (story) is complete, you can keep playing; and the (real) staff roll only occurs after obtaining all the Chaliens (except for the gift one you get after obtaining all the others). There are a few Chaliens based on Nintendo products; Advan (アドバン) based on the Game Boy Advance, Dolphin (ドルフィン) based on the Nintendo GameCube, and the bonus one is Rabuta Rabuta (ラブタ), based on Nintendo's toy the Love Tester. Note Advan and Dolphin are based on prototypes of the then to be released hardware.
Remarks:
I feel it is fun to play through this for the first time, but the charm might go away after a while unless you're into getting highscores in the minigames such as Hunger Flight or Uchuubito Dai Raishuu!!. There are quite a lot of minigames as well, with some being simpler than others. It can also be repetitive/grindy to get all of the Chaliens (and raise their points up in the Polariton to unlock their minigames), and as an extra challenge you can get all of their mutations too, but if you're not into grinding; what is left are the minigames and reading the Chalien profiles (like the Pokédex).
Chee-Chai Alien is still an obscurity. It seems people in Japan do remember it (and the Chalien series), and have nostalgia for it, but it never reached equal footing with the Pokémon franchise (I find its case similar to Nintendo's Card Hero franchise; involving card battles with monsters).
Context:
Whereas in Zok Zok Heroes you perform hero poses with the Full Changer peripheral with transmission via the infrared port, Chee-Chai Alien also makes heavy use of the Game Boy Color's infrared port to capture Chee-Chai Aliens (or Chaliens for short; in Japan this is Chailien, but it was officially localised to Chalien); tiny aliens from artificial light sources in real life (not included with Game Boy or Game Boy Advance). For that reason, it is one of the few Game Boy Color-only games which cannot actually be played (normally) on a Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Player, or Game Boy Advance SP (although this can be circumvented with a cheating device, and generally does not apply to emulation). To enhance the infrared reception, the game came packaged with the Spectrum Communicator. From a complexity perspective, all you need is a clear signal (amplitude?) to receive a Chalien - so other details about the infrared packet aren't required.
Chee-Chai Alien has a special history, because it was developed by Creatures; an owner of the Pokémon franchise - joint Nintendo/Game Freak/Creatures (The Pokémon Company); it used to be responsible for the promotional/media/financial support/anime side of Pokémon (similar to Warpstar Inc. for Kirby), but such things are managed by the later founded The Pokémon Company nowadays. Creatures also spun-off from Ape (and if I remember from Game Freak Asobi no Sekai Hyoujun o Nurikaeru Creative Shuudan one of the motives was to support smaller development teams like Tajiri's and Game Freak; which on hindsight I find similar to Marigul, except typically people don't see Creatures that way). Former Nintendo employee Hirokazu Tanaka was also known for planning and directing this game, as well as the music/sound (with Noriyuki Kitsuta).
Also according to that book, in 1989/1990, Ape (Creatures) was working on a game called Toto (トト), where you would use the Game Boy as like an insect cage (I find this similar to how you catch Chaliens from external artificial light sources). When they learned of the Capsule Monsters concept (which became Pokémon) and a similar serial exchange of creatures (for Pokémon via the Link Cable), Ape couldn't help but think something like "(this) was my idea first!". Talking of such things, it also reminds me of the cancelled Nintendo 64DD game Cabbage; and people speculate that became something like Nintendogs (but speculation is still speculation).
Creatures, Inc. also heavily marketed the game on Chailien.com, which is still around today; but the Flash-based elements such as the TV Chailien cartoons and the interactive map are no longer supported, making most of it lost media (except what can be retrieved from the site, and a few remnants). As with a lot of franchises, there were a few local Japanese events/it appeared in game/hobby events with promotional media, such as a promo CD which is quite rare. Also, there was a (children)'s activity book called the Chee-Chai Alien no Hon (Chee-Chai Alien Book). In particular, it teaches you how to play the main theme/Martian Folk on piano. (Thanks Hirokazu Tanaka! ^^)
Also here's one of the TV Chalien songs which avoided becoming lost media:
There was also a manga called Go! Go! Chalien (ゴー!ゴー!ちゃいリアン), but it never left serialisation to form its own tankobon and I don't know much about it.
After this game, Creatures released Nonono Puzzle Chalien for the Game Boy Advance; not a sequel, but rather revolves around three new minigames, Kurukuru Microwave, Kurukuru Walk and KuruPachi 6 (Spin Six). It's really fun! ^^ Spin Six was later released as DSiWare, and was actually localised into English; so we get to see the English names of some of the Chaliens (such as Denny being the localised name for the Chalien Chidori (チドリ)), but it's a little sad we didn't get the full experience from Nonono Puzzle Chalien (and Chee-Chai Alien).
How to play Chee-Chai Alien:
In a nutshell:
1. Capture Chaliens from artificial light sources
2. (While the story is still active): Remove their dark matter to make space white again, and accumulate enough to fire rockets to create explosions of white space.
3. Interact with Chaliens in the Polariton; like a giant pachinko machine; gain points.
4. Use these points to unlock minigames (and while the story is still active): use the minigames to convert additional points into dark matter.
Once the main scenario (story) is complete, you can keep playing; and the (real) staff roll only occurs after obtaining all the Chaliens (except for the gift one you get after obtaining all the others). There are a few Chaliens based on Nintendo products; Advan (アドバン) based on the Game Boy Advance, Dolphin (ドルフィン) based on the Nintendo GameCube, and the bonus one is Rabuta Rabuta (ラブタ), based on Nintendo's toy the Love Tester. Note Advan and Dolphin are based on prototypes of the then to be released hardware.
Remarks:
I feel it is fun to play through this for the first time, but the charm might go away after a while unless you're into getting highscores in the minigames such as Hunger Flight or Uchuubito Dai Raishuu!!. There are quite a lot of minigames as well, with some being simpler than others. It can also be repetitive/grindy to get all of the Chaliens (and raise their points up in the Polariton to unlock their minigames), and as an extra challenge you can get all of their mutations too, but if you're not into grinding; what is left are the minigames and reading the Chalien profiles (like the Pokédex).
Chee-Chai Alien is still an obscurity. It seems people in Japan do remember it (and the Chalien series), and have nostalgia for it, but it never reached equal footing with the Pokémon franchise (I find its case similar to Nintendo's Card Hero franchise; involving card battles with monsters).