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RUNNER

BIT.TRIP RUNNER

Bit.Trip Runner, marketed as BIT.TRIP RUNNER, is an arcade-style 'rhythm game' developed by Gaijin Games and published by Aksys Games for the Wii's WiiWare download service. It is the fourth game to be released in the Bit.Trip series of games.

Levels

Impetus:

RunnerBossImpetus

Mingrawn Timbletot

  1. First Contact
  2. A Wake of Dust
  3. Gestersmek
  4. Crater Raider
  5. Unstoppable Mr. Video
  6. Junior Melchkin (Meet)
  7. Jabol Smabbler
  8. Smabbler's Groan
  9. Beat Deposits
  10. End of the Beginning
  11. Odyssey (This is the longest challenge in the game)
  • BOSS: Mingrawn Timbletot

Tenacity:

RunnerBossTenacity

Non Trotski

  1. Lesser Timbletot
  2. Hairy Knorwhisp
  3. Flyss Whizzle
  4. Wizened Elderband
  5. Pandinkoris Plains
  6. Moint Moint
  7. Radbot (Meet)
  8. Slobbering Falls
  9. Beats Mines
  10. Middle of the Middle
  11. Watcher's Watch
  • BOSS: Non Trotski

Triumph:

  1. Paradise Lost
  2. Leaky Krinkston
  3. Withering Moint
  4. Sewer Snark
  5. Congestion
  6. Tubular Unders
  7. Gall Blaster (Meet Meat Boy)
  8. Ginger Pit
  9. The Gauntlet
  10. Beginning of the End
  11. Rusty Warren
  • BOSS: The Source

Gameplay

BIT.TRIP RUNNER is a 2D platformer in which the player takes control of Commander Video, the main protagonist of the Bit.Trip series who had appeared only during cut-scenes in the previous titles. The game is split into three worlds, known as "Impetus", "Tenacity" and "Triumph" respectively, each containing 11 stages and a boss encounter. In each level, Commander Video runs automatically from left to right. To complete a level, the player must input certain commands on the controller, including jumping, sliding and kicking, to avoid or destroy obstacles and enemies. If Commander Video is hit by any object, he is immediately warped back to the beginning of the level and starts running again.

During levels, the player obtains power-ups that upgrade the score multiplier, starting at 'Hyper' and progressing through 'Mega', 'Super', 'Ultra', and finally 'Extra'. As these multipliers are gained, the background music becomes more advanced accordingly, with new melodies being added and modern instrumentation layered on top.

BIT TRIP RUNNER BONUS LEVEL

BIT TRIP RUNNER Bonus Level

Commander Video is also able to collect gold bars distributed through the course of the levels - if all the gold bars in a level are acquired, the player is given access to a short bonus stage based on Pitfall, the famous Atari 2600 game programmed by David Crane.

Development

As the fourth of six Bit.Trip games, Runner was designed as an attempt at "fleshing out the BIT.TRIP universe into a fuller, richer place by showing players what exactly the world looked like: an optimistic and colorful place while at the same time dreary and hostile." The game makes a number of notable changes to the design conventions of the other Bit.Trip games, like a more traditional playable character and a structure consisting of lots of smaller levels rather than three long ones.

In an early version of Runner, Commander Video had a wider arsenal of abilities, some of which were callbacks to Core and Void, but designer Alex Neuse decided to remove the more complicated moves after observing that playtesters were becoming overwhelmed.[1]

The game's soundtrack combines 8-bit music with contemporary genres such as techno and electronica. The independent chiptune band Anamanaguchi contributed some songs to the soundtrack. Meanwhile, to fit with the use of Commander Video as a character, artist Mike Roush created the graphics with a heavy emphasis on eyeballs, providing the locations with a greater personality

Trivia

BONUS Mode could be considered the NETHER Mode of the game, considering the fact that there are no special effects, no music, and sounds are very old-style retro. Also, collecting gold makes the sound from FATE when you grab a core in NETHER Mode, or in FLUX if you collect a BONUS Beat in NETHER Mode. Also, if you hit an object, you will not get another chance to start the stage over, and makes the same sound if you get a Game Over in any of the BIT.TRIP games (Besides FLUX).

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