Nintendo and Skip decided it was time for a more action-packed mini robot.
The platforming debut of Chibi-Robo all came from developer Skip's idea of having the miniature robot spin his cord around his head and be active.
"That was sort of our hint to focus on the action types of things," Nintendo Producer Risa Tabata said in an interview at E3 2015.
Chibi-Robo: Zip Lash, coming this fall to 3DS, is new territory for the series, as it is the first time the title character will be in a 2D side-scrolling platformer.
"For the previous Chibi-Robo games, we had more of the adventure aspect," Tabata told us. "And for those who are really big fans of Chibi-Robo, it was great. People loved it, but we couldn't quite say that it was widely known by a lot of people. So we wanted to branch out and explore more things."
Nintendo Producer Kensuke Tanabe also added that a platformer "would be a great place to expand that fanbase" in America.
We'll have more from our E3 2015 interview with Risa Tabata and Kensuke Tanabe from Nintendo about Chibi-Robo: Zip Lash all this week. Stay tuned for more!