Bit.Trip: Difference between revisions

{{quote|"It's a basic story. Life and death. It's the story of a human's life. You are nothing--or are you? And then you are, and then what do you do with your life? And then it ends. No one really knows before you're born and then you die. People have beliefs but nobody really knows."|'''Alex Neuse'''}}

''BIT.TRIP'' is a series of [[Rhythm Game|rhythm games]], originally for [[Wii Ware]], developed by Gaijin Games. The specific games are:

* ''BIT.TRIP RUNNER'', breaks many established attributes of the series, and begins Gaijin's promise to turn down the [[Mind Screw]] factor and begin to reveal the truth behind the plot. Released in June 2010, it is a platformer among the lines of ''[[Vib Ribbon]]'' and Canabalt<ref>despite the similarity to Canabalt and games like it, the concept for this game was established independently before images of those games were released</ref> thrown in. The second game available on Steam. [http://www.runner2.com Has a sequel in development.]

* ''BIT.TRIP FATE'' was released on October 25, 2010. It is a literal [[Rail Shooter]], with the [[Five-Man Band]] from the last game serving as powerups. It represented a merging of the literal and figurative aspects of the series, and is notably darker in theme than the others.

A pair of [[Compilation Rerelease|Compilation Rereleases]], titled ''BIT.TRIP SAGA'' and ''BIT.TRIP COMPLETE'', are available for the [[Nintendo 3DS]] and [[Wii]] respectively. The 3DS version features 3D, control changes to accomodate the lack of a Wiimote and of course, portability, while the Wii version features 3 difficulty levels, a soundtrack CD <ref> The 3DS version also came with a limited soundtrack provided it was [[Preorder Bonus|preordered]] online via Gamestop</ref>, online leaderboards, and other extras for fans who have followed the series the whole way through.

The initial hype for these games came from an online [[Viral Marketing]] campaign, encouraging users to try and decode hidden messages from a mysterious "CommanderVideo" entity. CommanderVideo is portrayed in the game's story cutscenes as a box/astronaut/television-like creature, and the story follows his adventures through space as he matures, assembles a [[Five-Man Band]], and beats up a gear robot to... uh... well, [[Mind Screw|nobody's really too sure]]. The series does have a plot, but it's entirely based on [[All There in the Manual]] (which ''COMPLETE'' includes as in-game liner notes). It's mostly symbolic instead of literal in terms of storytelling, and it was only once the series was completed that people could reflect on the series as a whole for its meaning. {{spoiler|The final game is dedicated to [[Carl Sagan]] as well, and in hindsight the series incorporates a lot of his philosophy}}.

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=== This Series Provides Examples Of: ===

* [[Art Shift]]: ''RUNNER 2'' has a more cartoony art style, although players will have the choice of selecting [[Call Back|Commander Video's "retro" appearance.]]

* [[Ascended Glitch]]: In ''BEAT'', hitting the pong ball with the corners of Player 2's paddle will cause the ball to gain way too much momentum and go haywire, making the final boss trivial to beat. When the game was patched, Gaijin specifically didn't fix the bug because it was a "cool advanced technique".

* [[Back for the Finale]]: ''FLUX'' has many gameplay elements from all five of the previous games:

** From ''BEAT'': The core gameplay.

* [[Boss Dissonance]]: It varies by game.

** ''BEAT'' has [[Hard Levels Easy Bosses|easier bosses than levels]].

** ''RUNNER'' has easier bosses than levels; the game even makes it more or less impossible to not get a perfect on them.

** ''FATE'' has harder bosses than levels.

** Each stage in ''RUNNER'' has a respective [[Bonus Stage|"retro stage"]] that resembles [[Pitfall]].

* [[The Homeward Journey]]: The premise of ''FLUX''.

** ''COMPLETE'' has a hundred and twenty Challenges (twenty in each game) to play through. It also has plenty of unlockables... of which the Songs require you to get Perfects.

** Don't forget the "Challenge" portions of ''BEAT'', ''CORE'', ''VOID'', and ''FLUX'', where your paddle is shrunk down to half-size, your Control Stick is reversed, or you have to ''rotate the actual controller 90 degrees around the Control Pad to match what's onscreen''.

* [[Interquel]]: Gaijin Games have [https://twitter.com/#!/GaijinGames/status/123913099551064064 stated on Twitter] that RUNNER 2 will take place between RUNNER and FATE.

* [[Pixel Hunt]]: Happens often with Beats due to the [[Interface Screw]]. And you only have about half a second to catch sight of that little thing anyways.

** Possibly made worse in ''FLUX'' since every single beat is the same color--white. (However, given that the background gets increasingly bright and colorful with each Mode, this can become a bit of a mercy.) They ''do'' have a faint colored glow around each one, but good luck seeing which one's which.

** The final boss of FLUX {{spoiler|has you playing tennis with a full-screen enemy paddle... or, arguably, fighting ''yourself'' as the final boss.}}

* [[Power of Love]]: The Commander and his team believe this fighting Mingrawn Timbletot. {{spoiler|During ''FATE'', the Commander abandons his ideals and kills both himself and Mingrawn Timbletot in a rage}}.

** {{spoiler|[[The Hero Dies]]: Commandergirl Video cries for you}}

* [[Tertiary Sexual Characteristics]]: CommandgirlVideo.

* [[Tonight Someone Dies]]: ''FATE'' seems to have this going on -- even [http://www.bittripgame.com/images/box-FATE.png the WiiWare icon for the game] has [[Black Blood]] dripping from it. And for even more credence, ''RUNNER'''s [[The Stinger|stinger]] had the [[Big Bad]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI21HtsIzic wishing death upon CommanderVideo].

** {{spoiler|And the Commander does die at the end of the game in a [[Suicide Attack]]}}.