Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest

Overview

Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest is a game developed by Nintendo and published by Atlus (US version) and Nintendo (Japanese version) for the GameCube platform.

The game was originally in development for the Nintendo 64 Disk Drive before being moved over to GameCube.

Gameplay

In Cubivore the goal is to kill and eat the enemy Cubivore. As the game progresses the players animal will evolve and mutate into other forms in order to become stronger and create offspring. Once an enemy has been killed a colored piece of meat will be dropped. These different colored meats will grant different types of mutations based on the color.

These mutations serve as the game's currency of sorts, blocking you off from taking on the evil Killer Cubivore until you've obtained 100 of them. It is only then that you'll be powerful enough to fight him off. In order to get through these multiple mutations, it will be necessary to play through several lifetimes, passing your genes on to your offspring.

Yes, Cubivores must mate in order to progress in the game. This typically occurs when you encounter a boss too powerful to beat. Instead of attacking, your Cubivore will enter a "Love Tunnel," in which it can mate with female Cubivores and pass its genes on to the next generation, which will be born stronger and possessing of more limbs than its predecessor. The more mutations and limbs your Cubivore has, the stronger it will be and the more females will want to mate with it. Thus, the game enters into a cycle of constantly killing other Cubivores to gain their mutations, fighting until you encounter an enemy too powerful to kill, finding a mate, and taking the cycle on again as a more adept offspring.

Combat

In order to defeat and ultimately eat the other creatures, they must first be defeated. There are a variety of different maneuvers that can be performed:

• L Trigger - The L Trigger allows the player to lock on to an enemy. If the A button is pressed while locked on the character will either pounce on the enemy or eat them.

• R Trigger - The R Trigger is used to execute a dash move.

• A Button - The A Button is used to execute a jump. If the A Button is used while locking on it will then execute a pounce attack move.

• B Button - The B Button is used to block an enemies attack.

• Y Button - The Y Button makes the character roar. The roar can scare some of the enemies, if it knocks them over they can be eaten right then.

• X Button - The X Button is used to evade an enemy. Once X is pressed the players character will do a short backwards dash.

• Z Button - The Z button is used to...well poop. The leftmost colored block in the players block meter will be the one to be excreted.

• Start - The Start Button is simply used to pause the game.

Creature Colors

In Cubivore there are five different colors of creature. Each color will also have a different type, or intensity to them. The colors are as follows:

• Yellowbrate - Yellowbrates have both high defense and strong attacks, but a very slow movement.

• Redaped - The Redapeds have a really high jump and quick speed, however they have the lowest attack of the colors.

• Bluocyte - The Bluocytes have a very large attack range and will attack from great distances.

• Purpial - The Pirpials are very agile and can dodge backwards and lunge forward very quickly.

• Greyodon - Greyodons are well rounded as they have the highest attack power and a very fast dash speed.

These colors can fall into one of four color scales, Pale, Dark, Clash, and Rage. The higher up the scale the more powerful and colorful the Cubivore is. A secondary color is available called PaleDark and occurs when the cubivore has pale and dark colored limbs.

Story

The world of Cubivore is a dog-eat-dog place, and as the title so succinctly puts it, only the fittest will survive. Taking place on what appears to be an alien planet, Cubivore tasks players with inhabiting one of the titular Cubivores and killing the Killer Cubivore. This fearsome beast sits smugly at the top of the food chain, using his power to drain the land of its essence, known as "wilderness." The Killer Cubivore and his lackeys have absorbed so much wilderness that it has started to integrate into them, making them stronger. Meanwhile the rest of the creatures have been starving and suffering, losing their color, their fertility, and their fight. It's up to you to become King of the Cubivores and take Killer Cubivore down.

Tips and hints are inserted in the game through the cubivore's inner monologues that usually take the form of poems and cheesy puns. These occur during nighttime in levels and at the end of areas. Short tutorials are also given in between "chapters" in heaven levels.