The high concept is obvious: Pokemon--but with robots! Given that the Pokemon craze hasn't slowed down to a halt just yet, as play-alikes still abound in Japan, the concept was duly executed, and we get Robopon 2 Ring & Cross, the sequel/s to one of the more unique Pokémon clones.

   In the original GBC game, our hero Cody became a legend in Porombo Island by winning its prestigious tournament with his battling robots, called robopons. In the sequel, Cody plans to travel to a tournament in Majico but never makes it there. Shipwrecked, he wakes up in a shack, and soon his adventure begins.

Super robot wars

   While traveling around to explore his new surroundings, and finding his way to the tournament he was supposed to attend, Cody ends up helping out people in Majico at every stop. In order to help them, he will be required to travel through time, making the adventure much more expansive this time around. Before his journey's over, he will have unraveled old rivalries, a UFO mystery, and the cause of an industrial accident, among other things.

   Friends and foes from the previous installment show up throughout the sequel. His old friend Professor Don, for example, owns the time machine he'll need to use. Also following him around and getting in the way is his old rival Bisco. Cody also gains new allies who help him throughout his journey: for example, newcomer Hoffman can help Cody build more bots.

   With 180 new robots to build, collect and customize, Robopon 2 should offer more variety than the first game. Given the high number of bots, the battle system has been redesigned to allow for a whole party of robots to be taken into battle. Minigames have also been added to the multiplayer mode, and both the sound and the graphics are much improved, thanks to the jump onto a more powerful portable system.

   As in Pokémon, getting all the bots in the original could only be achieved by playing both versions of the game, titled Sun and Star. While Atlus published the Sun Version domestically last year, the Star version of the game did not see a release, to the roaring outrage of Robopon's 8 to 12 year old domestic fans. To make amends for this, Atlus is planning on releasing both Ring and Cross versions of Robopon 2 in Spring 2002; budding Dr. Wilys wanting their own robot army should be sure to mark the calendar.