You probably haven’t heard of Chulip but since it released late in the PS2’s life–and as a GameStop exclusive no less–this is not a complete surprise. It did not receive a whole lot of press, was not well loved by reviewers, and quickly fell into obscurity. Which is a shame, because not only is it a fun and wacky game, it has links to other more loved titles. The creator went on to direct Little King’s Story and the Nintendo developed Chibi-Robo borrowed many elements from Chulip. Fans of either of those games might be interested in checking out Chulip, and with a recent re-rating by the ESRB, chances are good that it is on its way to PSN.
In Chulip, players take on the role of a nameless boy who is rejected by his dream girl almost upon pressing the start button. He quickly pulls himself together (much better and faster than I ever would) and sets off on a journey to gain valuable kissing “experience”… by kissing everyone in town, male or female, human or not–as long as it has lips, he will kiss it. You do this by roaming the town, learning where everyone is, who they are, and what they want so you can get your valuable “experience” in return. It is an extremely strange game but has a charm that not only invokes Little King’s Story and Chibi-Robo, but the Earthbound/MOTHER series as well.
If you like quirky, do yourself a favor and pick up Chulip.
