The solution to that was to allow the game to create a course based on any song from an audio CD.
![vib ribbon game vib ribbon game](https://psxdatacenter.com/images/screens/P/V/SCES-02873/ss10.jpg)
There were only six songs in the game itself because of music licensing costs. The game didn’t have a huge budget when it was developed as a standalone, which led to several big decisions: the limited music selection, simple graphics, storage on the PlayStation device’s limited memory, and the decision not to release it in North America. Even as other games in the genre started to require custom controllers for rhythm games, like Dance Dance Revolution, NanaOn-Sha stuck with what worked in PaRappa, continuing to use standard controllers. Vib-Ribbon was in many ways a follow up to NanaOn-Sha’s last big success, PaRappa the Rapper, which was a rhythm game centered around rap and freestyle.
![vib ribbon game vib ribbon game](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/93/38/97/933897410bfbc1bc7b0307e75d9f7d3f.jpg)
That led to NanaOn-Sha completing Vib-Ribbon ’s development as a standalone game. However, several design issues with the car came up, and the ad campaign was dropped. The game was originally developed as part of an advertising campaign for the Mercedes-Benz A-Class car.
![vib ribbon game vib ribbon game](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EcxQwQuWAAQ4uy0.jpg)
However, users can play this game with any of their own CDs at home as well, with the difficulty varying in accordance with the intensity of the music.īecause of the adaptability of the game, producer Masaya Matsuura wanted a base soundtrack that would encourage players to use their own music and CDs, and a neutral look to avoid associating the game with just any one genre of music. The base game only comes with six songs by Laugh and Peace which are divided up into three ‘courses’ with two songs each: bronze, silver, and gold. Achieving a high score will get Vibri to sing a special congratulatory song. Sometimes bonus points at the end can also be awarded. Symbols represent the player’s score during gameplay, but those are tallied up into a numerical score at the end of the run. Sometimes two obstacles are combined, which requires the player to press both of the appropriate buttons at the same time to avoid them. There are only four base obstacles in Vib-Ribbon, block, loop, wave, and pit, and those can be avoided by pressing the L, R, X, or Down buttons, respectively.
#Vib ribbon game series
However, a series of successful actions can help Vibri get back to her more advanced forms, and having a perfect run for long enough while Vibri is in her rabbit form will allow her to become ‘Queen Vibri’ which gives the player bonus points until any mistake is made. If she continues to get hit by obstacles as a worm, the game ends.
![vib ribbon game vib ribbon game](https://www.mobygames.com/images/covers/l/511781-vib-ribbon-playstation-media.jpg)
If Vibri gets hit with too many obstacles, she devolves from a rabbit into a frog, and then a worm. If a button is not pressed at the correct time, Vibri briefly becomes a ‘scribbled’ version of herself. Specific buttons have to be pressed to avoid or move through obstacles, and they have to be pressed in time with the song. The player guides the main character, a wireframe rabbit named Vibri, along the titular line-ribbon course that is filled with obstacles, and movement is entirely based around the beat of a song. With a minimalist design of clean white lines on a black background, Vib-Ribbon is a rhythm game that can adapt to any music CD. Because it was created for such an early console, the game itself is very simple. Vib-Ribbon came out in 1999, designed by NanaOn-Sha. Vib-Ribbon was an old, classic game that had almost faded into obscurity, known only to the most hardcore of game nerds and academics, until a blunder by a top Sony official brought it back into the spotlight.Ī shining example of the rhythm video game genre and one of the most innovative games made for the Sony PlayStation, Vib-Ribbon is a game worth knowing about in terms of both what it is and how it made its way back to the forefront of the gaming industry.