Bit.Trip RUNNER

Overview

Bit.Trip RUNNER, the fourth entry in the six-part Bit.Trip series for WiiWare, is an on-rails action platformer starring the series' protagonist, Commander Video. The game was released on May 17, 2010 and marks the start of the second chapter in the Bit.Trip series. The game was also released for the PC and Mac through the Steam service on February 28th 2011. It is also included in the Bit.Trip Complete and Bit.Trip Saga packs for the Wii and 3DS.

Gameplay

In this installment, you're put in direct control of Commander Video as he runs through three zones containing 12 levels each. The goal is to grab piles of gold laid throughout the levels whilst avoiding various hazards along the way. The game also adds accompanying sound effects to the background music with each action, providing the rhythmic element that the Bit.Trip series is well-known for.

Your control over Commander Video is limited. At the start, you only have the ability to jump, with a mild float when holding the button. As the game progresses, you are able to have CommanderVideo slide, kick, spring jump, and block. However, you cannot control his movement and he never once stops running. This makes fast reflexes and timing a necessity to survive these high-speed gauntlets of doom.

Failing to dodge an obstacle results in your score, position, and the level's objects being reset to the very beginning of the level. This is the only form of penalty; the levels' hazards and gold placement never change. On some levels this is trivial, but many of the levels take minutes to complete, making precision reflexes and knowledge of the level critical, as you cannot make a single mistake.

There are small piles of gold strewn throughout the levels. Collecting these gold piles adds to your score. If you manage to grab all the gold in a level, you're rewarded with a bonus Retro Challenge that has you play an Atari 2600-style Pitfall! version of the level you just played, with more gold placed in riskier areas. The level ends once you either collect all the gold or fail the level, but there are no retries in this mode; all the gold collected is added to your score regardless of whether you fail or not.

Also scattered about each level are four plus-sign objects that when collected add a bonus to your score when collecting gold. With each plus-sign collected, you move up a mode and the music and particle effects are intensified, until the final mode gives Commander Video a rainbow-trail as he runs along. The modes of bonuses from first to last are: Hyper, Mega, Super, Ultra, and Extra.

In the twelfth and final level of each zone you face a boss. The game play is the same in these levels, but the boss generates the hazards before you, with opportunities to attack the boss yourself after a set pattern. There's no gold to collect in these levels.

Music

The main menu music is Blackout City by the band Anamanaguchi, with their song Mermaid playing over the credits.

System requirements

PC

Minimum

• Operating System: Windows XP SP3
• Processor: 2.0 GHz
• RAM Memory: 512 MB
• Graphics Card: OpenGL 2.1, Shader Model 3, 128 MB memory, DirectX 9
• Hard Drive Space: 100 MB

Mac

Minimum

• Operating System: OS X version Snow Leopard 10.6.3 or later
• Processor: 2.0 GHz
• RAM Memory: 512 MB
• Graphics Card: OpenGL 2.1 and shader model 3 with 128 MB of memory
• Hard Drive Space: 100 MB
• Sound: Any sound card capable of stereo output