''Bit.Trip'', stylized BIT.TRIP, is a series of eight
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s developed by
Choice Provisions
Choice Provisions Inc., formerly known as Gaijin Games Inc. prior to June 2014, is an American-origin independent video game development studio, best known for their '' Bit.Trip'' series of video games. The studio was founded in 2007 by Alex N ...
(or under their previous name Gaijin Games) and published by
Aksys Games
Aksys Games Localization, Inc. is a video game publisher that specializes in translating and localizing Japanese video games for English-speaking markets. It was founded by Akibo Shieh in 2006. Some of its clients include Bandai Namco Games, X ...
for the
Wii
The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...
,
Nintendo 3DS
The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...
,
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
,
macOS
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
,
PS Vita
The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international territ ...
, and
PS4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in E ...
. It was published by
Arc System Works
, commonly referred to as ArcSys, is a Japanese video game developer and publisher located in Yokohama. Founded by Minoru Kidooka in 1988, the company is known for arcade 2D fighting game franchises, including ''Guilty Gear'' and ''BlazBlue'', a ...
for WiiWare and Nintendo eShop in Japan, and by Namco Networks America Inc for the
iPhone,
iPod Touch
The iPod Touch (stylized as iPod touch) is a discontinued line of iOS-based mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. with a touchscreen-controlled user interface. As with other iPod models, the iPod Touch can be used as a music pl ...
and
iPad
The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating s ...
. Each game revolves around the adventures of a character named "
Commander Video ''Commander Video'' is an alternate reality game and viral marketing campaign created by Gaijin Games and Aksys Games in order to promote their WiiWare game '' Bit.Trip Beat''.Bozon, Mark (2008-12-19)"Who is the Commander?". IGN. Retrieved on 2009- ...
", and features "a crazy mix of 80s aesthetics and modern game design". The styles of the games range from pong-like, to platforming, and shooting. Each game in the series features a
chiptune
Chiptune, also known as chip music or 8-bit music, is a style of synthesized electronic music made using the programmable sound generator (PSG) sound chips or synthesizers in vintage arcade machines, computers and video game consoles.
The t ...
-inspired soundtrack, but a different style of rhythm-based gameplay in each.
Most games in the series have few levels; ''Beat'', ''Core'', ''Void'' and ''Flux'' have only three levels each while ''Fate'' has six and ''Runner'' has 36. Most of the games feature levels lasting between 10 and 25 minutes to make up for having such few levels. The games also consists of 8 modes; Nether, Hyper, Mega, Super, Ultra, Extra, Giga, and Meta; which changes based on how well the player does. Each successive game adds a new mode, the highest being Mega in ''Beat'', and Meta in ''Flux''.
Games
Bit.Trip Beat
Reminiscent of the classic video game ''
Pong
''Pong'' is a table tennis–themed twitch arcade sports video game, featuring simple two-dimensional graphics, manufactured by Atari and originally released in 1972. It was one of the earliest arcade video games; it was created by Allan Alcor ...
'', ''Bit.Trip Beat'' (2009) involves players moving an onscreen paddle in order to bounce off waves of incoming blocks to the beat of the music. As the player progresses through the game, the patterns of blocks become increasingly complex, but players can judge how well they are doing through changes in the graphics and music.
The game is played by tilting the
Wii Remote
The Wii Remote, also known colloquially as the Wiimote, is the primary game controller for Nintendo's Wii home video game console. An essential capability of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with ...
to move the paddle, via stylus or circle pad on the 3DS, via touch on iOS devices, or via keyboard or mouse on PC. ''Bit.Trip Beat'' also features up to 4-player cooperative multiplayer.
[
In October 2009, Gaijin Games released the soundtrack to Bit.Trip Beat as a digital download, first on ]CDBaby
CD Baby, Inc. is an online distributor of independent music. The company was described as an "anti-label" by its parent company's Chief Operating Officer Tracy Maddux. The CD Baby music store was shut down in March 2020 with a statement that "C ...
and then on other major music stores
The soundtrack features over 19 minutes of chiptunes from the game.
On November 3, 2010, Bit.Trip Beat was released on the Steam platform for Windows and Mac.
Bit.Trip Core
The second game in the series, ''Bit.Trip Core'' (2009), continues the rhythm based gameplay of the series. The gameplay involves players taking control of a plus shape in the middle of the screen that can fire a laser beam in only four directions (up, down, left and right), with the objective being to destroy patterns of blocks that zoom across the screen. As with the first game, as the player progresses through the game the patterns of blocks become increasingly complex, with changes in the graphics and music occurring based on how well they play.
In March 2010, Gaijin Games released the soundtrack to Bit.Trip Core as a digital download, first on CDBaby
CD Baby, Inc. is an online distributor of independent music. The company was described as an "anti-label" by its parent company's Chief Operating Officer Tracy Maddux. The CD Baby music store was shut down in March 2020 with a statement that "C ...
, and iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
, then other major music stores. Despite featuring the same proportion of levels as ''Bit.Trip Beat'', Core's soundtrack is substantially smaller, with less than 15 minutes of music.
Bit.Trip Void
Released in late 2009, ''Bit.Trip Void'' puts players in control of the "void", a black, pixelated
Pixelization (British English, pixelisation) or mosaic processing is any technique used in editing images or video, whereby an image is blurred by displaying part or all of it at a markedly lower resolution. It is primarily used for censorship ...
circle, which players move around the screen with 8-directional control. The objective of the game is to grow the void by collecting black squares that appear, while also dodging white squares that reset the size of the void and cause the player to lose points. The size of the void can also be reset by the player without incurring point losses, which is often needed as the void grows to sizes making it difficult and/or impossible to dodge the white squares. ''Void'' features music by guest composer Nullsleep
Nullsleep (born Jeremiah Johnson October 7, 1980) is an American electronic musician and computer artist currently residing in New York City. In 1999 he co-founded the low-bit art collective 8bitpeoples, and has served as its lead director since ...
, and its levels are named after Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...
's three parts of the human psyche.
The soundtrack to ''Bit.Trip Void'' was announced on May, 2010, and is now available on CDBaby, as well as through iTunes and Amazon.
Bit.Trip Runner
''Bit.Trip Runner'' (2010) is the fourth installment of the Bit.Trip series. Runner features over 50 levels. The gameplay involves players controlling Commander Video and making him jump, slide, kick, and more through various obstacles in his path. The special guest band Anamanaguchi
Anamanaguchi is an American chiptune-based pop and rock band from New York City. The band has four members: lead songwriters and guitarists Peter Berkman and Ary Warnaar, bassist James DeVito, and drummer Luke Silas.
Anamanaguchi combines dig ...
provides menu and credits music. Though it has over 50 levels, called Challenges, breaking the 3 level norm of the last games, these levels are divided evenly amongst 3 zones, called Levels, which each have their own distinct background and musical feel; each level houses twelve challenges, including a boss challenge. For every challenge (except boss challenges) there is a retro challenge awarded should the player collect all gold bars in the normal level. Each retro challenge is harder than the normal challenge and usually has more gold bars. The perfect completion of a retro challenge will award players with an exclamation point beside the stage and the word "PERFECT" beside the score in the scoreboard, but only if they have done everything "extra" (e.g., jumping on top of springboards that they do not need to in order to finish) in the challenge beforehand.
Bit.Trip Runner won the 2011 Independent Games Festival (IGF) Excellence in Visual Arts award.[IGF 2011 Independent Games Festival Winners](_blank)
/ref>
On February 28, 2011 Bit.Trip Runner was released on the Steam platform for Windows and Mac.
Bit.Trip Fate
''Bit.Trip Fate'' (2010) is the fifth installment of the series. It is a rhythm rail shooter, or shmup. It was formally announced on September the 4th, at the Penny Arcade Expo
PAX (originally known as Penny Arcade Expo) is a series of gaming culture festivals involving tabletop, arcade, and video gaming. PAX is held annually in Seattle, Boston and Philadelphia in the United States; and Melbourne in Australia. PAX w ...
, in the Destructoid
''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017, and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022.
History
' ...
LIVE booth. It was released on WiiWar
on October 25, 2010.
The game sees Commander Video travelling across a set path, able to move anywhere along this path and shoot in any direction. By defeating enemies and collecting the items they drop, Commander Video can enhance his state, though it will drop if he is hit. Along the way, he can run into allies which temporarily give him special weapons. Among these characters are CommandGirl Video and Junior Melchkin from previous BIT.TRIP games, as well as cameo appearances by Super Meat Boy and Mr. Robotube, who are characters from other independent video games.
It is the first video game to prominently feature dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...
music.
Bit.Trip Flux
''Bit.Trip Flux'' (2011), the sixth game in the main series, returns to the gameplay of ''Bit.Trip Beat'' while combining elements from the other five games in the series, such as beats the player's paddle must avoid. As with the other games, changes in the graphics and music of the title reflect how well the player is doing, though there are multiple checkpoints in each level, unlike in ''Beat.'' Similar to ''Beat,'' ''Bit.Trip Flux'' also features two-player cooperative multiplayer.
Bit.Trip Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
''Bit.Trip Presents Runner2'' (2013) is a spin-off and spiritual successor to Bit.Trip Runner. While having the same main character and play style, the game is only a non-canon side story in between ''Runner'' and ''Fate''. This is the first game in the series to be released for Wii U, PS3 and Xbox 360. Unlike the previous Bit.Trip games, it is not 8 bit themed.
Bit.Trip Saga/Complete
The entire WiiWare Bit.Trip series was released for the Nintendo 3DS
The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...
and Wii in collections respectively titled '' Bit.Trip Saga'' and '' Bit.Trip Complete'' respectively on September 13, 2011 in North America and March 16, 2012 in Europe. The 3DS version of the game features new control schemes (for instance, stylus control via the touchscreen for Beat and Flux) while the Wii version has 20 extra "challenge levels" for each game, as well as bonus content related to the production of the games. Both compilations also included a CD soundtrack called "Bit.Trip Soundtrack Sampler" featuring a number of tracks from each of the individual games. The soundtrack comes with every copy of Bit.Trip Complete, and was available as a pre-order bonus when purchasing Bit.Trip Saga from GameStop.
The Bit.Trip
A compilation of the first six games (up to Flux) for the PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
and PlayStation Vita
The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international territo ...
. This collection was announced at the 2015 PlayStation Experience and was released later that day, December 5, 2015. This compilation added achievements, and retained the difficulty levels from ''Complete.''
Runner3
''Runner3'' is a rhythm
Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...
platform game
A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...
developed by Choice Provisions
Choice Provisions Inc., formerly known as Gaijin Games Inc. prior to June 2014, is an American-origin independent video game development studio, best known for their '' Bit.Trip'' series of video games. The studio was founded in 2007 by Alex N ...
. A sequel to '' Bit.Trip Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien'', ''Runner3'' is part of the ''Bit.Trip'' series, starring the character CommanderVideo. The game was released on May 22, 2018 on Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
, macOS
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
, and Nintendo Switch
The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...
, and it released for PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
in November 2018, Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
will release later.
Appearances in other media
Since release Commander Video has made several appearances in video games outside of the Bit.Trip series, including as playable character in games such as '' Super Meat Boy'', ''Indie Pogo
''Indie Pogo'' is an indie crossover fighting video game developed and published by Lowe Bros. Studios. The game features characters and settings from more than 50 different indie games, such as ''Shovel Knight'', ''VVVVVV'', ''Teslagrad'', the ' ...
'', '' Fraymakers'', ''Minecraft
''Minecraft'' is a sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios. The game was created by Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java programming language. Following several early private testing versions, it was first made public in May 2009 before being ...
'', and '' UFHO2''. He also makes an appearance in ''Retro City Rampage
''Retro City Rampage'' is an action-adventure game developed by Vblank Entertainment. It is a parody of retro games and 1980s and 1990s pop culture, as well as ''Grand Theft Auto'' and similar games. It was first released for PlayStation 3, Play ...
'' and '' Octodad: Dadliest Catch'', as a swimmer in Ridiculous Fishing and as a trophy in ''Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
and (colloquially and collectively referred to as ''Super Smash Bros. 4'' or ''Smash 4'') is a group of two 2014 crossover fighting video games developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS ...
''. CommandGirl Video is a playable character in '' Woah Dave!'' which was created by the same developers that made the Bit.Trip series.
Reception and legacy
Throughout the series, the ''Bit.Trip'' games have enjoyed positive critical reception.
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
gave ''Bit.Trip Beat'' an 8/10, praising the presentation of the game but lamenting the lack of online leaderboards. Bit.Trip Runner won the 2011 Independent Games Festival (IGF) Excellence in Visual Arts award. Nintendo Power
''Nintendo Power'' was a video game news and strategy magazine from Nintendo of America, first published in July/August 1988 as Nintendo's official print magazine for North America. The magazine's publication was initially done monthly by Ninten ...
magazine gave a score of 9.0 out of 10.
Marketing
In order to promote the first game, a viral marketing
Viral marketing is a business strategy that uses existing social networks to promote a product mainly on various social media platforms. Its name refers to how consumers spread information about a product with other people, much in the same way tha ...
campaign and alternate reality game
An alternate reality game (ARG) is an interactive networked narrative that uses the real world as a platform and employs transmedia storytelling to deliver a story that may be altered by players' ideas or actions.
The form is defined by inten ...
was launched, revolving around the mystery surrounding the Commander Video character. The campaign revolved around internet videos and "missions" sent out by The Commander, which involved spreading word about the game, uncovering information about it and creating an English Wikipedia
The English Wikipedia is, along with the Simple English Wikipedia, one of two English-language editions of Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia. It was founded on January 15, 2001, as Wikipedia's first edition, and, as of
, has the most arti ...
entry.
See also
*Art Style
''Art Style'' is a video game series created by skip Ltd. for WiiWare and DSiWare. The first game in the ''Art Style'' series, ''Orbient'', was released for WiiWare in September 2008. Another two ''Art Style'' games, ''Cubello'' and ''Rotohex'', ...
*bit Generations
''bit Generations'' is a video game franchise for the Game Boy Advance, published by Nintendo. It was first announced under the name ''Digitylish'' at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in 2005. Each of the games in the series feature simple ...
References
External links
''Official Bit. Trip Series'' website
''Bit. Trip Beat'' website
{{Bit.Trip
Video game franchises
Music video games
Indie video games
Video game franchises introduced in 2009
Retro-style video games