''Bit.Trip Core'', marketed as ''BIT.TRIP CORE'', is a 2009 arcade-style rhythm game developed by

Gaijin Games 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 ...

and published by Aksys Games 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 ...

's WiiWare download service. It is the second game in the ''

Bit.Trip ''Bit.Trip'', stylized BIT.TRIP, is a series of eight video games developed by Choice Provisions (or under their previous name Gaijin Games) and published by Aksys Games for the Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Microsoft Windows, macOS, PS Vita, and PS4. It was ...

'' series, directly succeeding ''

Bit.Trip Beat ''Bit.Trip Beat'', marketed as ''BIT.TRIP BEAT'', is an arcade-style music video game developed by Gaijin Games and published by Aksys Games for the Wii's WiiWare download service. It was released in 2009 in North America, and released in Japan an ...

'' and preceding ''

Bit.Trip Void ''Bit.Trip Void'', marketed as ''BIT.TRIP VOID'', is an arcade-style bullet hell rhythm game developed by Gaijin Games and published by Aksys Games for the Wii's WiiWare download service. It was first released in Japan in 2009, and later in N ...

'', ''

Bit.Trip Runner ''Bit.Trip Runner'' (stylized as ''BIT.TRIP RUNNER'') is an arcade-style rhythm game developed by Gaijin Games and published by Aksys Games for the Wii's WiiWare download service. It is the fourth game to be released in the ''Bit.Trip'' series o ...

'', '' Bit.Trip Fate'' and ''

Bit.Trip Flux ''Bit.Trip Flux'', marketed as ''BIT.TRIP FLUX'', is an arcade-style rhythm game developed by Gaijin Games (now Choice Provisions) and published by Aksys Games ( WiiWare version) and QubicGames (Nintendo Switch version) as the sixth and final g ...

''.

Gameplay

''Bit.Trip Core'' is played with the Wii Remote controller held sideways. Players control the 'core', a plus-shaped ship located in the centre of the screen. The object of the game is to aim the core's lasers with the four directions on the D-Pad and fire the laser with the 2 Button in order to collect multi-colored dots known as 'beats'. There are three

levels Level or levels may refer to: Engineering *Level (instrument), a device used to measure true horizontal or relative heights *Spirit level, an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is horizontal or vertical *Canal pound or level *Regr ...

in total, named "Discovery", "Exploration" and "Control" respectively, each approximately 15 minutes in length. On the

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

version, players control the Core with the WASD keys and fire using ENTER. As the player builds up a score multiplier by collecting beats in a row without missing, the game transitions into Mega and Super modes, making alterations to the level's graphics and music. In addition, bombs can be acquired and used with a press of the 1 Button, which is useful for clearing the screen of beats during difficult sections. If the player misses several beats, a Nether meter fills - this puts the game into a silent, black-and-white phase. This can be escaped from if the player collects beats, but further misses before escaping the Nether will result in a Game Over.

Development

Gaijin Games began development on ''Bit.Trip Core'' even before the release of ''Bit.Trip Beat''. The game was inspired by

Cosmic Ark ''Cosmic Ark'' is an Atari 2600 game designed by Rob Fulop and published by Imagic in 1982. The objective is to gather specimens from different planets in a spaceship which contains the survivors from the city of Atlantis. There are two versions ...

, an Atari 2600 game that was a personal favourite of designer Alex Neuse. After going through several iterations of the game's design, which the team thought would be way too confusing, they settled on a system that shared some similarities with rhythm games such as '' Guitar Hero''. Meanwhile, the controls were influenced by feedback from playtesters. The game was later bundled with the other five ''Bit.Trip'' games as ''

Bit.Trip Complete ''Bit.Trip Complete'' is a compilation of six games in the Bit.Trip series, including ''Bit.Trip Beat'' (2009), '' Bit.Trip Core'' (2009), ''Bit.Trip Void'' (2009), ''Bit.Trip Runner'' (2010), '' Bit.Trip Fate'' (2010), and '' Bit.Trip Flux'' (20 ...

'' for the Wii in 2011. A

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 ...

port released on December 25, 2020.

References

{{Bit.Trip 2009 video games MacOS games Music video games Video game sequels WiiWare games Nintendo 3DS games Nintendo 3DS eShop games Nintendo Switch games Windows games Multiplayer and single-player video games Choice Provisions games Video games developed in the United States