#otherwise events don't get randomized and it becomes very repetitive....

[nicole-the-hololynx]

please nico tell me about the chao adventure games! ive never heard of them

(also its rly a shame theres no chao transfer equivalent for the ports)

yeah it's a real shame 😔

Anyways on the Chao Adventure games!! there's two of these, Chao Adventure for Sonic Adventure and Chao Adventure 2 for Sonic Adventure 2 (simple!)

Most of my experience is with the first Chao Adventure, so that's the one I will focus on. Chao Adventure 2 is similar but I'm not familiar enough with it to comment much. Don't assume anything here applies there.

Chao Adventure is a game you can download into your VMU which lets you take one of your Chao around with you! It's kind of like a Tamagotchi. The game mostly revolves around your Chao going on a trip. You can choose what area your Chao will go to next, and at certain spots in the map you can meet up with the SA1 cast, who will give your Chao a permanent stat bonus as a gift!

A Chao walking through a Shrine... image from Chao Island

Through the game you can battle other Chao, earn rewards such as rare fruits you can't find in the base game, and mostly just raise your Chao's stats in an environment where you don't have to worry about them aging. It's very useful for getting those Chao Race Emblems more easily!

To me the main thing that sets Chao Adventure apart from its later counterpart the Tiny Chao Garden is that your Chao is a lot more involved! Chao in this game LOVE to talk to you. They're constantly making comments, asking questions, and the like. It makes me connect more to this little virtual pet!

It also helps that thanks to both SA1 having a much simpler Chao system and the VMU itself having very simplistic graphics, your Chao tends to resemble its proper 3D model closer in this one (animal parts are still gone, but you can now see the Chao change design depending on its type, and the colors can't be off since this is a 1 bit display lol)

Look at this lovely face! 😊 Sprite ripped by UltimaNumber255

It's a fun enough game and a nice time waster, which is why I sometimes take it with me on trips :P it's a bit sad that the Tiny Chao Garden doesn't have anywhere near the same scope, but I imagine trying to do a game like this on the GBA would take up a lot more resources...

Can't end this without mentioning the two major flaws it has tho. They aren't the fault of the game, but rather seem to be inherent flaws to the VMU....

The game uses up WAY too much storage!! After installing Chao Adventure, you're only BARELY left with enough storage for the SA1 save file!! And also the VMU loves to chug through batteries. I can't really afford to keep it going for too long!! Clock batteries are also very expensive in my country so I've had to start importing them in order to keep the game on.

Still a very fun experience tho, and one I very much recommend if you can get a Dreamcast! Or if you love Tamagotchi or similar stuff! (and if you can pay for batteries...)