There are a total of nine modes in Chu²: Help gives simple, visual instructions for each of the eight modes.

   4-Player Battle is where the real fun of Chu² is at. Grab a buddy or three and prepare for some hard-ass multi-player madness. Each of the 2-4 players has a color-coded Rocket on the board (Blue, Yellow, Red, or Green). ChuChus and an occasional KapuKapu pour forth from Hatches, and the object is to herd as many ChuChus into your Rocket as possible within the time limit. The person with the most mice in his Rocket at the end is the winner. Should a KapuKapu find its way into your Rocket, it will promptly feast on one-third of your mice. As such, the strategy is to guide as many ChuChus as possible into your Rocket while keeping them away from your opponents and at the same time guiding KapuKapus toward opposing Rockets. The catch is that each player can only place three Arrow Panels at a time, and the action gets downright insane. To make matters worse, every once in a while the spawn points will spout a golden ChuChu, which is worth 50 points; or a ? ChuChu. The ? ChuChu, when it finds its way into any one of the players' Rockets, causes one of eight random effects:

• Mouse Mania -- The Hatches go cracker jacks, spewing forth a flowing stream of the maniacal mice. Well-placed arrows under these circumstances can give you an insurmountable lead. (Called "Chu-Chu Fever" in the original Japanese version.)
• Mouse Monopoly -- A whole horde o' ChuChus get a one way ticket into one lucky player's rocket. This really pisses off the other three players. (Called "Chu-Chu Bonus" in the original Japanese version.)
• Cat Mania -- It's like ChuChu Fever, except with KapuKapus. (Called "Neko Fever" in the original Japanese version.)
• Cat Attack -- One lucky schnook gets off scot-free while the other three players score a KapuKapu sent straight into their respective Rockets. Meow! (Called "Neko Present" in the original Japanese version.)
• Place Arrows -- All Arrow Panels are removed and the game is paused for a few all-too-brief seconds, giving players the opportunity to place their arrows again. (Called "Timeout" in the original Japanese version.)
• Everybody Move -- All four rockets perform the switcheroo! (Called "Everybody Switch!" in the original Japanese version.)
• Slow Down -- The game slows down to half speed.
• Speed Up -- The game picks up to double speed and there is no God.

   If you can't find three other players, you can set the computer to control the remaining opponents. The AI difficulty can be set to: Weak, Hates Cats, Loves Mice, Tough, or Random. There are a total of 24 boards to play on, and the number of matches can be set from 1-5, although the default is 2. Oh yeah, there's taunting, too. Press the L-trigger when you're losing and the R-trigger when you're king of the hill, and your "rocketeer" will spout an appropriate taunt (ie, "I'm sorry!", "Too easy!", etc.).

   Rules for Team Battle are identical to those of 4-Player Battle, only the players are paired up into two opposing teams: Blue & Red versus Yellow & Green. The team with the most ChuChus at the end of the time limit (default is three minutes) wins.

   Stage Challenge is unquestionably the most unique of the Chu² games. The object is to complete a specified task within a 30 second time limit. The tasks range from simply getting all or a specific number of ChuChus into a Rocket to having a KapuKapu eat all the ChuChus on the board. This mode is virtually impossible to perform playing alone...you'll definitely need a friend to lend a hand. Each player can only place three Arrow Panels at once, and it all happens in realtime (no planning your moves like in Puzzle mode), so you usually have to work together to form a strategy for completing the challenge. There are a total of 24 stages in this mode...complete them all, and you can change the ChuChus into the Chao creatures from Sonic Adventure. The whole mode plays like a time attack, with your best times for each individual stage and your total for all the stages being recorded for entry on the Network Rankings.

   The frenzy takes a breather in Puzzle mode, which plays at the pace you'd expect a traditional puzzler to move at. The one of Chu²'s games that is strictly one player, the object is to herd all of the ChuChus into the Rocket(s) while avoding KapuKapus and Holes. Should even a single ChuChu meet its end at the massive maw of a hungry KapuKapu, or fall to its dark fate down a Hole; or should even a single cat break into any one of the Rockets on the board, the puzzle is blown and it's back to square one. The catch is that you're given a specific set of Arrow Panels to work with, and you've got to determine exactly where to place your quota of arrows to herd the nezumis to safety and keep the nekos at bay. Take your time to examine the setup, then place your arrows, and pull the R trigger at any time to set the board into motion. (Pulling the R trigger again will speed things up. The L button restores the board to its original state.) Complete the first set of 25 boards (Normal), and an additional 25 open up (Hard). Complete those, and another set can be accessed (Special). After completing the first 75 stages, the final quarter opens up (Mania). Clear all 100 boards, and you can change the ChuChus into Nightopians from NiGHTS into Dreams....

   Puzzle Edit allows you to create your own Puzzle boards to sic on your friends. You can pretty much do anything you want, but your puzzle cannot be saved unless it is possible for all the ChuChus to make it to safety. Other limits include a max of 100 ChuChus, 20 KapuKapus, and 30 Rockets on any given board, but who'd ever use that many anyway? Once your puzzle is complete, you can save it to your VMU (3 blocks per puzzle, 25 max) and upload it to the Chu² Lobby for all to appreciate your genius. You can even name your puzzles!

   Network is where the real action takes place. ChuChu Rocket!'s star attraction, the Chu² Lobby, where you can play against (or just chat with) players around the globe via the oh-so-convenient Dreamcast modem. It can be alot of fun, but unfortunately, it has issues. For starters, the interfaces are quite complex, and it does take some orientation...it's not as easy as merely clicking on "start" and jumping into a game. Moreover, once you're into the swing of things, there's still the issue of lag during games. There's about a two second delay between when you push the button and when the Arrow Panel actually gets placed, which can be remarkably aggravating, but at least everyone's forced to work with the same disadvantage. All these things are forgivable, however, considering that this is the Dreamcast's (and indeed console gaming's) first full-fledged network title. Not a bad start at all.

   Homepage takes you to the Chu² page on the DC network. There you can read about upcoming events in the Lobby, check out gameplay hints, download special VMU files, and all that good stuff...just like the Sonic Adventure network page. You can check out the page's history of updates just below under the "Behind the Screens" feature.

   Options...well, you know what "Options" is. At least, I sincerely hope you know what "Options" is. Like Sonic Adventure, here you can set the language. In addition to the default English, US players can choose the original Japanese text and voices. Although the option is given for German, French, and Spanish, they are unselectable in the US version.

   The game was released in November of '99 in Japan, along with an infamous television commercial that simply cannot be described. Whether because the game is in fact freaking fun or merely because the TV ad had all of Japan scared into submission, the game received very positive reviews, and for its first week shot straight to the top of the sales charts. (Unfortunately, it plummeted back down thereafter, but even a week at the one spot was remarkable for a Dreamcast title in Japan.) The price was right (roughly $25 US), although the full package included a limited edition transparent orange DC controller.

   The internet functions were put to immediate use, with a couple of promotions in tandem with the well-respected Famitsu magazine. The first, which came immediately after the game's release, offered prizes to contestants who could finish 25 special puzzles designed by Famitsu's editors. In Christmas '99, an additional contest was made available featuring 25 special holiday puzzles, along with a VMS (VMU) download to change the ChuChus into characters designed by a popular manga artist. (This download has not been made available outside Japan, and is impossible to save with a domestic set-up.)

   Four months later, the ChuChu Rocket! landed on US soil. It was the first fully network-compatible title here in the states, and served to kick off the much-vaunted Dreamcast Network. For the Western version, English text and voices were added (with the original Japanese still selectable). Some of the random events were re-named (see above), and from the get-go players in the US were given the option to compete with players in Japan and vice-versa.

   Here's the ChuChu Rocket! web page history of updates:

• 02-01-00: Site launch

• ChuChu Rocket! was the first game both produced and directed by Yuji Naka.