''Pocket Music'' is a 2002

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 ...

developed by

Jester Interactive Jester Interactive is a video game developer based in North Wales in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1997 as a trading arm of Morgan Computing Limited. It would later trade under the name Jester Interactive Limited, and after going into ...

and published by

Rage Games Rage Games (formerly Rage Software) was a British video game developer. Formed in Liverpool in 1992, its video games were marked by an emphasis on graphical effects with arcade gameplay. Rage's first title '' Striker'' sold more than one mi ...

for the

Game Boy Color The (commonly abbreviated as GBC) is a handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on October 21, 1998 and to international markets that November. It is the successor to the Game Boy and is part of the Game ...

and

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...

. The game is a handheld adaptation of the ''Music'' series of games released by the developer, and allows players to create tracks of music from pre-recorded samples using a grid-based interface.

Gameplay

''Pocket Music'' is a

music game A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs. Music video games may take a ...

that resembles a basic

music tracker A music tracker (sometimes referred to as just tracker for short) is a type of music sequencer software for creating music. The music is represented as discrete musical notes positioned in several channels at discrete chronological positions on a ...

, allowing players to compose tracks of music to a maximum of five and a half minutes. Tracks are composed using pre-recorded samples, with 600 on the

version and 150 for the

. Samples are categorised into six categories by genre, including

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...

and

breakbeat Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that tends to use drum breaks sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as hip hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat hardcore, and UK ...

. Players compose tracks by placing the samples upon a grid with a maximum of six channels playing at once. The Riff Editor allows players to use the samples to change the order of notes in a sample and add effects. The Game Boy Color version allows players to trade songs across devices using the

Game Link Cable The Nintendo Game Link Cable is an accessory for the Game Boy line of handheld video game systems, allowing players to connect Game Boys of all types for multiplayer gaming. Depending on the games, a Game Link Cable can be used to link two gam ...

. ''Pocket Music'' has a number of pre-programmed tracks saved to showcase the capabilities of the game, including a version of "

My Name Is "My Name Is" is a song by American rapper Eminem from his second album ''The Slim Shady LP'' (1999). It is also the opening song and lead single of the album. The song samples British singer Labi Siffre's 1975 track "I Got The..." as a bass and g ...

" by

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

. The game also features six different skins to customise the appearance of the

user interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...

Development and release

showcased ''Pocket Music'' at E3 in May 2001, and was previewed by major publications including ''

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 ...

'' and ''

Edge Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...

''. The game was originally intended for release in Q4 2001. The game is not to be confused with ''Pocket Music'', a working title for an unreleased rhythm game showcased by

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

at the

Tokyo Game Show , commonly known as TGS, is a video game expo / convention held annually in September in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) and Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. The ...

in March and April 2001. The

version does not work when played on a

, one of the few games to do so, along with ''

Chee-Chai Alien is a video game developed by Creatures, Inc. is a Japanese video game company affiliated with Game Freak, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company, and one of the owners of the Pokémon franchise. It was founded by Tsunekazu Ishihara in November 1 ...

''. The source code for the

version of ''Pocket Music'' was leaked on 23 February 2022, including an unreleased build for localisation of the game in North America.

Reception

''Pocket Music'' received positive critical reception, with many reviewers praising the novelty innovation involved with porting music creation software to the

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same ...

. ''Nintendo GameCube Magazine'' praised the game as "a sprawling, ingeniously designed songwriting package" and a "jaw-dropping achievement". ''Nintendo Official Magazine'' found the game to be accessible yet complex, praising the game's "choice and flexibility of sound", and noting "the grid system and menus work a treat, making what could have been a nightmare into a pleasure to use". Dave Perrett of ''Advance'' praised the game as "the first time that anything like it has been available for the

, stating that it was a "fun little music maker". However, some positive reviewers found fault with the game's audio quality and limitations of the audio design features. ''Nintendo Official Magazine'' stated the sound quality was a "major let down" as it was "too low and it gets worse if you're listening in noisy conditions". Dave Perrett of ''Advance'' stated "There are serious limitations to what you can achieve with this game. Your tunes can only be five and a half minutes long, and you can only have six different sounds playing at the same time." Jamie Wilks of ''Game Boy Xtreme'' also noted that "you can only utilise the supplied samples" with few other music-making features, assessing that "''Pocket Music's'' simplicity and limitations mean that a proper musician will show little interest". Many critics compared the features of the

and

version. Jem Roberts of ''Total Game Boy'' preferred the Game Boy Color version, stating "utterly insanely, despite the fact the Game Boy Color version... obviously has far lower sound and visual quality, it is the only version that allows you to trade your songs via the link cable! Why this crucial option never made it to the far better Advance version is a mystery, and it's a major drawback." Ian Osborne of ''Game Boy Xtreme'' gave a higher score to the Game Boy Color version, despite "the differences in audio quality", "because, given the extreme differences in power between the two handhelds, it's the Color version that squeezes the most from its host", observing that the "Color's sound capabilities are stretched to the max".

References

External links

* {{moby game, id=/game/pocket-music 2002 video games Game Boy Advance games Game Boy Color games Jester Interactive games Music video games Rage Games games Video games developed in the United Kingdom