Bit.Trip
Encyclopedia
Bit.Trip, officially spelled BIT.TRIP, is a series of six video games developed by Gaijin Games
and published by Aksys Games
for Nintendo Wii and Nintendo 3DS
, Arc System Works
for WiiWare in Japan, and by Namco Networks America Inc for the iPhone
, iPod Touch
and iPad
. Each game revolves around the adventures of a character named "Commander Video", and features "a crazy mix of 80s
aesthetics and modern game design".. The styles of the games range from pong remakes, platforming, and shooting. Each game in the series features a chiptune
-inspired soundtrack, but a different style of rhythm-based gameplay in each. Beat, Core and Void each contain three distinct levels, each one ending in a unique boss battle
. Most bosses are based on various games and game genres from the early Atari era, as are the various bonus stages.
, Bit.Trip Beat 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
to move the paddle, via stylus or circle pad on the 3DS or via touch on iOS devices. 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 and then on other major music stores. http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2009/10/bit-trip-beat-soundtrack/ 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.
In March 2010, Gaijin Games released the soundtrack to Bit.Trip Core as a digital download
, first on CDBaby, and iTunes
, 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.
circle, which players move around the screen with 8-directional control. The void grows with each black block it touches and must avoid increasingly challenging waves of white blocks. Void features music by guest composer Nullsleep
, and its levels are named after Sigmund Freud
'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.
provides menu and credits music. Though it has over 50 levels, breaking the 3 level norm of the last games, these levels are divided evenly amongst 3 zones, which each have their own distinct background and musical feel; each zone houses twelve levels, including a boss level. For every level (except boss levels) 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 level 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" (i.e., jumping on top of springboards that they do not need to in order to finish) in the level beforehand.
Bit.Trip Runner won the 2011 Independent Games Festival (IGF) Excellence in Visual Arts award.
On February 28, 2011 Bit.Trip Runner was released on the Steam platform for Windows and Mac.
Bit.Trip Runner is also available on the Mac App Store.
, in the Destructoid
LIVE booth. It was released on WiiWare 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
music.
and Wii in collections respectively titled Bit.Trip Saga
and Bit.Trip Complete on September 13th, 2011. The 3DS version of the game has 6 games redone in 3D and features new control schemes (for instance, stylus control via the touchscreen for beat). The Wii version has 20 extra "challenge levels" for each game, as well as bonus content related to the production of the games. These levels are completely new but are shorter than the already included levels.
.
IGN
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.
campaign and alternate reality game
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 a Wikipedia
entry.
Gaijin Games
Gaijin Games is an independent video game development studio, best known for their BIT.TRIP series of video games. The studio was founded in 2007 by Alex Neuse and is located in Santa Cruz, California.-History:Gaijin Games initially emerged in 2004...
and published by Aksys Games
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 Namco Bandai Games, Xseed Games, and Atlus USA. Aksys Games is best known for...
for Nintendo Wii and Nintendo 3DS
Nintendo 3DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo. The autostereoscopic device is able to project stereoscopic 3D effects without the use of 3D glasses or any additional accessories. The Nintendo 3DS features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS series software, including Nintendo DSi software...
, Arc System Works
Arc System Works
is a video game developer and publisher based in Yokohama, Japan. It was founded by Minoru Kidooka in 1988. Arc System Works is best known for its arcade 2D fighting game, Guilty Gear and its sequels.-BlazBlue series:...
for WiiWare in Japan, and by Namco Networks America Inc for the iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
, iPod Touch
IPod Touch
The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
and iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
. Each game revolves around the adventures of a character named "Commander Video", and features "a crazy mix of 80s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
aesthetics and modern game design".. The styles of the games range from pong remakes, platforming, and shooting. Each game in the series features a chiptune
Chiptune
A chiptune, also known as chip music, is synthesized electronic music often produced with the sound chips of vintage computers and video game consoles, as well as with other methods such as emulation. In the early 1980s, personal computers became cheaper and more accessible than they had previously...
-inspired soundtrack, but a different style of rhythm-based gameplay in each. Beat, Core and Void each contain three distinct levels, each one ending in a unique boss battle
Boss (video games)
A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...
. Most bosses are based on various games and game genres from the early Atari era, as are the various bonus stages.
Bit.Trip Beat
Reminiscent of the classic video game PongPong
Pong is one of the earliest arcade video games, and is a tennis sports game featuring simple two-dimensional graphics. While other arcade video games such as Computer Space came before it, Pong was one of the first video games to reach mainstream popularity...
, Bit.Trip Beat 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
Wii Remote
The , also known as the Wiimote, is the primary controller for Nintendo's Wii console. A main feature of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with and manipulate items on screen via gesture recognition and pointing through the use of accelerometer and...
to move the paddle, via stylus or circle pad on the 3DS or via touch on iOS devices. 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
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
, first on CDBaby and then on other major music stores. http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2009/10/bit-trip-beat-soundtrack/ 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, 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
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
, first on CDBaby, and iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
, 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, pixelatedPixelation
In computer graphics, pixelation is an effect caused by displaying a bitmap or a section of a bitmap at such a large size that individual pixels, small single-colored square display elements that comprise the bitmap, are visible to the eye...
circle, which players move around the screen with 8-directional control. The void grows with each black block it touches and must avoid increasingly challenging waves of white blocks. Void features music by guest composer Nullsleep
Nullsleep
Nullsleep 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 its inception...
, and its levels are named after Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
's three parts of the human psyche
Id, ego, and super-ego
Id, ego and super-ego are the three parts of the psychic apparatus defined in Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche; they are the three theoretical constructs in terms of whose activity and interaction mental life is described...
.
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 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 AnamanaguchiAnamanaguchi
Anamanaguchi is a chiptune indie rock band from New York City that "makes loud, fast music with a hacked NES from 1985." The band has four members: lead songwriter Peter Berkman, bassist James DeVito, guitarist Ary Warnaar and drummer Luke Silas. Akin to other chiptune artists, Anamanaguchi creates...
provides menu and credits music. Though it has over 50 levels, breaking the 3 level norm of the last games, these levels are divided evenly amongst 3 zones, which each have their own distinct background and musical feel; each zone houses twelve levels, including a boss level. For every level (except boss levels) 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 level 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" (i.e., jumping on top of springboards that they do not need to in order to finish) in the level beforehand.
Bit.Trip Runner won the 2011 Independent Games Festival (IGF) Excellence in Visual Arts award.
On February 28, 2011 Bit.Trip Runner was released on the Steam platform for Windows and Mac.
Bit.Trip Runner is also available on the Mac App Store.
Bit.Trip Fate
Bit.Trip Fate is the fifth installment of the series. It is a rhythm shooter, or shmup. It was formally announced on September the 4th, at the Penny Arcade ExpoPenny Arcade Expo
The Penny Arcade Expo is a semi-annual gamer festival held in Seattle and Boston. PAX was created by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the authors of the Penny Arcade webcomic, because they wanted to attend a show that gave equal attention to console gamers, computer gamers, and tabletop...
, in the Destructoid
Destructoid
Destructoid is an independent video game-focused blog based in San Francisco, California that was founded in March 2006. It has since grown into one of the most widely read video game sites on the Internet, reaching more than 3 million unique visitors per month...
LIVE booth. It was released on WiiWare 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
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in south London, England. Its overall sound has been described as "tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals"....
music.
Bit.Trip Flux
Bit.Trip Flux, the last 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. Bit.Trip Flux also features two-player cooperative multiplayer.Bit.Trip Saga/Complete
The entire Bit.Trip series was released for the Nintendo 3DSNintendo 3DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo. The autostereoscopic device is able to project stereoscopic 3D effects without the use of 3D glasses or any additional accessories. The Nintendo 3DS features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS series software, including Nintendo DSi software...
and Wii in collections respectively titled Bit.Trip Saga
Bit.Trip Saga
Bit.Trip Saga is a retro-style music video game developed by Gaijin Games and published by Aksys Games for the Nintendo 3DS handheld game console. It was released on September 13, 2011 in North America. It will be released in Europe by Rising Star Games during the first quarter of 2012...
and Bit.Trip Complete on September 13th, 2011. The 3DS version of the game has 6 games redone in 3D and features new control schemes (for instance, stylus control via the touchscreen for beat). The Wii version has 20 extra "challenge levels" for each game, as well as bonus content related to the production of the games. These levels are completely new but are shorter than the already included levels.
Appearances in other media
Commander Video is a playable character in the video game Super Meat BoySuper Meat Boy
Super Meat Boy is an independent video game designed by Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes and developed by Team Meat. It is the successor to McMillen and Jonathan McEntee's October 2008 flash game Meat Boy. Super Meat Boy was released on the Xbox 360 through Xbox Live Arcade in October 2010, on...
.
Reception
Throughout the series, the Bit.Trip games have enjoyed positive critical reception.IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
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.
Marketing
In order to promote the first game, a viral marketingViral marketing
Viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses...
campaign and alternate reality game
Alternate reality game
An alternate reality game is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants' ideas or actions....
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 a Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
entry.