Vib-Ribbon is an eye-dazzling experience that champions music gaming to new artistic frontiers. After the success of Parappa and Um Jammer Lammy, Matsuura wanted to make a game where players could enjoy their favorite music. Accommodating this was no easy task with PS1 hardware. The game had to fit in just 2 MB of RAM for CD swapping to be viable. The devs at NanaOn-Sha managed by embracing elegant simplicity.
Interacting with Vib-Ribbon fills me with total joy. The game sings with every button press, practically begging the player to make their own rhythms during downtime. The soundtrack by Laugh & Peace is among the most unique to ever be composed for a game. Six beautiful songs across three difficulty options makes for a short, but memorable base game. The monotone vector graphics are striking, they look especially great on a CRT. Queen Vibri's animations are too cool for this world. It took me half an hour to get good at the controls and under 2 to full combo every mode. I still replay the normal and hard stages 1/3rd of the time I pop this in. The best moments are just too neat.
CD levels aren't as well designed, but they remain endlessly enjoyable. It's fascinating to watch how the environment reacts to different genres. The world will spin during fast rock or fluctuate up and down during jazz. The visual results are no less revolutionary than they were in 1999. Most discs I tried generated a few good stages. Difficulty junkies will revel in the possibilities for hard levels. I'm putting together a mix of my favorites and will update this review once I'm done. You can make emulator-friendly discs yourself using software like PowerISO. There are hours of fun to be had experimenting with your favorite artists. Give this a shot if you're a lover of sound and rhythm.
Interacting with Vib-Ribbon fills me with total joy. The game sings with every button press, practically begging the player to make their own rhythms during downtime. The soundtrack by Laugh & Peace is among the most unique to ever be composed for a game. Six beautiful songs across three difficulty options makes for a short, but memorable base game. The monotone vector graphics are striking, they look especially great on a CRT. Queen Vibri's animations are too cool for this world. It took me half an hour to get good at the controls and under 2 to full combo every mode. I still replay the normal and hard stages 1/3rd of the time I pop this in. The best moments are just too neat.
CD levels aren't as well designed, but they remain endlessly enjoyable. It's fascinating to watch how the environment reacts to different genres. The world will spin during fast rock or fluctuate up and down during jazz. The visual results are no less revolutionary than they were in 1999. Most discs I tried generated a few good stages. Difficulty junkies will revel in the possibilities for hard levels. I'm putting together a mix of my favorites and will update this review once I'm done. You can make emulator-friendly discs yourself using software like PowerISO. There are hours of fun to be had experimenting with your favorite artists. Give this a shot if you're a lover of sound and rhythm.