BIT.TRIP VOID (2012)

About This Game

Bit.Trip Beat puts players in control of a paddle that reflects differently sized and coloured beats, similar to Pong, as they come from the right side of the screen toward the left.^[1] It is controlled by holding the Wii Remote sideways and tilting it toward and away from the player to make the paddle go up and down. Gameplay takes place in one of three different phases: Transition, Descent, and Growth, with each phase more difficult than the last. Before each phase a cutscene of the character Commander Video is shown. Phases are split into several parts, with each part ending with multiple rainbow-coloured beats. At the end of each phase is a boss. Either through getting a game over or beating the phase, players will then have their final scores tallied.

When the beats collide with the paddle, they make a noise, contributing to the background music. Each successful deflection earns players a set score. Beats may also move in strange patterns, such as beats that bounce back after being deflected or beats that pause for a moment. If the paddle misses a beat, it will deplete a meter on the lower screen slightly; if the meter is completely depleted, the background will change to black and the beats and paddle white. If the meter depletes again, players will lose and have to start the phase over. In order to get out of this, players must fill up a meter at the top of the screen before the lower meter empties again, bringing them to normal. If players fill it up again, it will bring them into a new style, where the music, graphics, and sound effects are changed, with the score per each successful deflection doubled. Each time the meter is filled up at this point, the score multiplier increases.