Robopon: Sun Version / Star Version

Robopon: Sun Version / Star Version is a Japanese RPG about collecting and training robotic creatures that brought a clearly legible parallel to Pokémon's success to the Game Boy Color, but with its own, mechanically tuned world. The player travels the landscape, catches and upgrades so-called robopons, battles with them, and gradually builds a team to face increasingly tough rivals and the main story. The game was released in two interconnected versions, between which exclusive creatures can be traded using a link cable, similar to the rival Pokémon, and the story takes place in a world where people and their robotic companions handle the daily running of cities and settle disputes through battles.

The robot development system is more elaborate than it might seem at first glance – it combines collecting parts, upgrading abilities, and tactical decisions about what kind of team to build, with individual robopons divided into several elemental and mechanical categories that must be combined with an eye to opponents' weaknesses. The graphics on the Game Boy Color are colorful and clear, with distinctly differentiated designs for each robopon, while the music adds a light, playful tone that matches the game's sci-fi-tinged humor. The game's pacing is balanced between exploration, collecting, and battles, so despite its obvious inspiration it never feels like a mere copy and offers its own identity in the form of a robotic, mildly comedic world.

At release, the game attracted attention especially from players looking for an alternative to Pokémon, and in expert circles it was praised for its inventive art style and solid gameplay. In today's retro community, Robopon remains more of a cult item – less known than the big series, but with a loyal group of fans who appreciate its distinctiveness and honest RPG fundamentals wrapped in a robotic shell, partly because the game never received a full-fledged sequel outside Japan and America.