Chibi-Robo!

Table of contents

• What it is
• Current state
• Download and install
• Requirements
• Help test it
• Known problems
• Guide (installation, settings and controls, crash reports, building, technical notes)
• License and credits

What it is

• The game's PowerPC code is recompiled to C, and every Nintendo SDK function that talks to the console hardware is replaced by native PC code. Nothing is emulated at the hardware level: no hardware registers, no cycle-driven devices, no interpreter.
• Both the US (GGTE01) and PAL (GGTP01) versions are supported.
• You provide your own disc image. No game data (disc image, textures, sounds, levels) is in this repository or in the installer.
• Next steps: a fully decompiled C++ game (started: a first dozen functions are rewritten and checked against the recompiled ones, on the dev branch and not in release 0.1.1), then multiplayer, a PS Vita port, a remaster and mods (ROADMAP.md).

Current state

Early beta (0.1.x). It runs, and it has been compared automatically with Dolphin on the key scenes, but nobody has played the whole game on it yet. That is where you can help: see Help test it.

• ✅ Boots and runs in real time with music and sound effects, on both versions: title screen, new game, the prologue up to and including the birthday party, the first save, and leaving the Chibi-House.
• ✅ Scripted game sessions without a crash: 50 game minutes from a late save (US), 30 minutes from a new-game save started in the backyard (PAL).
• ✅ Native saves like a PC game (.gci files, Dolphin-compatible) and configurable keyboard and gamepads.
• ✅ A Windows installer: pick your disc image, per-user install without administrator rights, uninstall keeps your saves unless you tick a box to delete them.
• ✅ Images and sound compared with Dolphin on the key scenes; the known differences are listed in the ROADMAP.
• ⬜ Not verified yet: playing through the whole game, most video cutscenes, a clean Windows, Windows 10, other graphics hardware, a PC without a GPU (only simulated), and listening and playing by a human.

More detail: guide/technical.md and ROADMAP.md.

Download and install

1. Download chibi-robo-pc-setup-<version>.exe (about 30 MB) from the latest release.
2. Check its SHA-256 against SHA256SUMS.txt on the same page (certutil -hashfile <file> SHA256).
3. Run it and choose your own disc image and a new or empty folder. The image is checked, then copied into that folder (about 1.5 GB in total).
4. Start the game from the Start menu. A small setup menu opens first (window size, fullscreen, render scale, graphics backend).

Details, updating and uninstalling: guide/installation.md.

Requirements

• 64-bit Windows (developed and tested on Windows 11).
• A graphics driver with Direct3D 12 or Vulkan.
• Your own disc image of the game, US or PAL, as an uncompressed .iso or .gcm file (convert other formats first, for example with Dolphin).
• About 1.6 GB of free disk space.

Help test it

You do not need to be a developer. The most useful reports, in this order:

1. Play, and tell us where it differs from the original (or from Dolphin): wrong or missing graphics, sound that cuts or loops, a cutscene that does not play, a quest that gets stuck, a save that does not load. Say which version (US or PAL), where in the game, and what you expected.
2. Try it on your machine. Does it install and start on Windows 10, on a clean Windows, with AMD or Intel graphics, on a laptop, with a gamepad? "It works for me" is a useful report too.
3. Listen. Music, effects and the intro, compared with the original.
4. Crashes and freezes. Share only the crash-*.txt or hang-*.txt report, after reading it (guide/reporting-crashes.md).

To report, open an issue with: the version (from the installer's file name, or the release you downloaded), US or PAL, your Windows version, your graphics card and driver, what you did and what happened. One problem per issue. A screenshot of a visual problem is welcome (crop it to the problem); attach a save only if asked. Never attach your disc image, files extracted from it, or memory dumps.

Known problems

• An intermittent crash at the start of 3D rendering (#11): a race in the graphics library was reduced, but the fix is not proven.
• Repeated crashes at the same instruction on one player's machine, cause unknown (#28).
• Only part of the game is compared with the original; most video cutscenes are not yet (#34).
• On a heavily loaded PC the game can freeze for many seconds around the same point while it compiles graphics pipelines; seen on a test machine, not reported by players (#47).
• The installer does not accept compressed images (.rvz, .ciso, ZIP...).

All open issues: github.com/Armandpro12/chibi-robo-pc/issues. If the game crashes or freezes, share only the crash-*.txt or hang-*.txt report, after reading it (guide/reporting-crashes.md).

Guide

The details live in guide/, one file per topic:

Topic	What is in it
Installation	The installer step by step, updating, failed installs, uninstalling, where saves and settings live
Settings and controls	Setup menu, console, graphics backend, keyboard and gamepad, useful options
Crash reports	Crash and freeze reports, what to share and what not, diagnostics tools
Building from source	Requirements, build, installer, icon, PGO, test tools
Technical notes	How the port works, graphics backends, Aurora patches, repository layout, REA
Distribution, licenses and credits	Distribution policy, licenses, third-party software

Project status and plans: ROADMAP.md. What we learned about the game: RESEARCH.md.

License and credits

The code is GPL-3.0 (LICENSE); some parts are CC0 1.0, or GPL-3.0 or MIT at your choice (details). The recompiled game code inside the executable is derived from the original game and is not licensed by this project. Built on DolRecomp, Aurora, Dolphin (reference and audio code) and more: credits. Most of the code is written with AI coding agents (Claude) under the direction of the project owner.

Chibi-Robo! is a trademark of its respective owners. This is an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo or skip Ltd. This repository contains no game code or assets, and requires a legally obtained copy of the game.