I saw the screenshots Trombone Champion earlier this week and thought it was some sort of thing Wii Music meme I totally missed. Now, even though I know it’s a game of its own, I am many glad i had a chance to check it out.
Made by Holy Wow, Trombone Champion is currently available on Steam, although a Mac version is also on the way. This is a rhythm game where you play the trombone and you have to move the mouse (and press the button) to match the music that is currently playing.
Relatively simple for a rhythm game, however Trombone Champion not a game for unnecessary complexity. Trombone Champion is a game to play when you want to laugh and feel good in the environment of video games. Also learn the history of music in completely non-historical ways.
The game’s launch trailer pretty much says it all:
What’s important to note here is that while the game is funny — and it’s an all-ages rarity, from its lootbox parodies to the animation to its overuse of the word “toot” — it’s also…pretty good?
G/O Media may receive a commission
$10 or more
Humble Bundle – Starlight Bundle
Benefit the Starlight Children’s Foundation
For $10 or more, you can help hospitalized kids get access to video games—and get some sweet games for yourself too, including Lego Star Wars – The Complete Saga.
A lot of modern rhythm games go hard on trying to be more complex, faster, really bring something new to the table. But Trombone Champ just wants you to move a mouse up and down the screen really fast while holding the left button down (or smashing the keyboard, which is easier, and also funny since the game lets you mash any letter key).
That’s it! I’ve played this game before, from Ouendan to Donkey Konga, and it’s the latter this whole thing most reminds me most of, from the entirely unserious premise to the absurdity of smashing your way through a piece of beautiful classical music with the most obnoxious sounds imaginable.
That’s fine because this system works, it’s solid and it’s fun. The appeal here doesn’t necessarily come from the gameplay itself, but the forever-running joke that you are playing these songs with a fucking trombone, and that the Mii-like characters are some of the funniest avatars I have ever seen in a video game.
While the game’s currently out on Steam, and is coming to Mac, as far as console versions go the developers say “further ports are possible but not currently planned”.
