Hi-Fi RUSH / YMMV - TV Tropes

Alternate Character Interpretation:
- Is Kale a villainous Corrupt Corporate Executive like the game paints him as? Or is he a Well-Intentioned Extremist who genuinely believes he is doing good, but is too blinded by his own ambition to realize that he is wrong? While Kale is shown to be a corrupted Bad Boss who has no problems killing others who are against or disloyal to him (as Korsica quickly finds out), and his plan to use SPECTRA as a way to hypnotize consumers is motivated by profit above all else, he is legitimately appalled whenever someone accuses him of wanting to use SPECTRA as a way to enslave people and achieve world domination, and he continuously states that SPECTRA was designed to "save" and "free" people from overthinking about their consumerism. Furthermore, Roquefort reveals that Kale saved his life by giving him a robotic body, implying that he might have a genuinely good side to him underneath his corrupted nature, which, in turn, adds further credence that he is a Well-Intentioned Extremist.
- Is Chai's inability to play the guitar at the start of the story just because his arm was not fully functional, or did he never bother learning to begin with? For the former, it was why he participated in Project Armstrong to get a new arm. Later, he takes Kale's insult that he is "nothing without his arm" very personally. However, Chai's response to Peppermint asking about his guitar skills is one of nervousness and attempting to dodge the question, which in a world where getting a working prosthetic arm is a mundane procedure feels somewhat inconsistent with him having a legitimate physical barrier with not being able to play guitar. That interpretation also plays a bit better with his Slacker tendencies. The ending, in which Chai finally starts learning to play guitar, can also be viewed either way: He can finally start practicing now that he has a working arm again, or his Character Development has inspired him to give it a try.
Angst? What Angst?:
- In spite of the game's Saturday Morning Cartoon look, it seemingly averts Never Say "Die", with almost all of the bosses Chai fights explode into nothing upon defeat, implying they just died in front of him, yet this never really seems to be brought into question by anyone or is just taken in stride.
  Pat about to go fight Mimosa: "Yeah, let's go kill someone!!"
- Kale may have been a major antagonistic force who showed no real love for any of his family, but Peppermint doesn't seem to react all that strongly to her brother seemingly exploding into nothing upon his defeat. For that matter, Roxanne, Kale and Peppermint's mother, doesn't even bring it up the next time she shows up.
- The (presumably permanent) process of getting flesh and bone replaced with robot prosthetics doesn't seem to be very concerning to anyone in the story. Chai is outright excited to get his arm replaced with a robot arm at the start (it's never stated what exactly is wrong with his arm other than that it's in a light sling). And Peppermint and Macaron both have prosthetic limbs that go completely uncommented on (aside from Peppermint's being created by Roxanne Vandelay, her mother.). Korsica, who had obviously abstained from any cybernetics despite all the other department leads bearing them, is only briefly taken aback to see that she's had them installed while she was unconscious.
Anti-Climax Boss:
- By the time Chai finally reaches Zanzo, his boss fight is avoided altogether. This is actually invoked In-Universe by the main cast, when they trick him into throwing his entire department budget's worth of weapons and traps at Chai so he literally couldn't afford said battle, though some players may have wished to actually fight him. But at least Zanzo's giant mech is finished by Kale and fought in the game's penultimate encounter, and shows why it would have been too much for the heroes to handle the first time.
- Though Chai (and the achievement/in-game mission) insist it was an epic battle, the postgame ends with the SPECTRA AI being interrupted mid-threat by a SCR-UB getting tangled in its wiring and pulling its power outlet off. Though, it was also a tall order like the Zanzo example above, with its intention to activate immediately and not allow Chai even a second to retaliate.
Anvilicious: Zanzo's level is a fairly heavy-handed Take That! towards executives, managers, and directors who overwork employees and run down budgets trying to achieve their nebulously defined and constantly changing "creative vision", which is a huge issue in the video game industry.
Applicability: Stories about scrappy underdog heroes taking down corrupt organizations led by creatively bankrupt executives are nothing new, but Hi-Fi Rush walked the talk by releasing in a year where anti-corporate sentiment reached its apex and many corporations, both inside and outside of the gaming industry, lost tons of money on failed and overhyped ventures. Meanwhile, Hi-Fi Rush enjoyed praise and success entirely on its own merits.
Award Snub: Although kinda understandable given that 2023 was a busy year for gaming, Hi-Fi Rush missing out on a Game of the Year nod at the Game Awards was seen as disappointing. It ultimately only won one award, "Best Audio Design", sadly losing out on both "Best Art Direction" (to Alan Wake II) and "Best Action Game" (to Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon).
Awesome Art: The entire game is a continual ode to animation. Everything pops with color and vibrant designs, and the style is such that it can legitimately be difficult at times to tell what's in-engine and what's a more traditional CG-anime presentation. The character models especially stand out for being vivid and detailed, resembling some glorious mixture of modern, over-the-top Tales Series character designs with the cel-shading and cartoonishness of Wind Waker. Nowhere else is this more apparent with Zanzo, whose crazy outfit and exaggerated gesticulations really make him look like he walked straight out of the manga he was clearly inspired from and became 3D. Some fans also liken it to the animation style of Nerd Corps Entertainment, the creators of shows like Storm Hawks, League of Super Evil, and Slugterra.
Awesome Ego: Rekka is what you get when you assign a heel wrestler head of production, and it's every bit as bombastically entertaining as that entails, making for a very thrilling lead up to her boss fight.
Best Boss Ever:
- Korsica's boss fight is unique compared to every other boss in the game. Rather than fight her directly, the player has to parry and dodge all of her attacks in sequence to wear her out, while Chai tries to talk her down. The dialog, the music, the tension, and the increasing difficulty as the fight progresses makes it not just memorable, but a strong test of the player's reflexes and rhythm.
- Mimosa's boss fight stands out as one of the highest points in the game, as two egotistical bruisers duke it out to one of the best original tracks in the game. It's a fun, fast-paced romp that perfectly fits Mimosa's Attention Whore character, allowing her the chance to really show off what a Vandelay exec can do when push comes to shove; for as vain as she is, Mimosa keeps on throwing new gimmicks and complications into the fight that keeps the player on their toes, all while continuing to show the sort of athleticism and grace that comes with being a performer such as herself. By the end of it, she requires the combined powers of each member of Peppermint's crew to make vulnerable, and Chai finishes the fight in style with a very visually impressive Single-Stroke Battle.
- Not to be outdone, the following boss fight against Roquefort pits you against his Lightning Bruiser giant werewolf form, each Flash Step and claw swing punching in time with the techno-remix of Wolfgang's 5th Symphony, testing the player's parry timings as he dashes off-screen and back in again, or just crossing them up with repeated tackles. Even in his human form he puts up a decent defense, summoning shields and a laser grid as you crash through his vault, culminating in a pitched battle on top the Vandelay gold reserves, Roquefort once again keeping the player guessing as he dips in and out of the gold coins with delayed timings to betray the rhythm he installed in them at the start of the fight.
Best Level Ever:
- Track 4: "Less Budget, More Problems", has the hilarious gimmick of tricking its boss, Zanzo, into wasting his budget on increasingly elaborate AR traps, complete with the budget getting its own health bar. The visual effects, great setpieces and fights, and Zanzo's hilarious dialogue all add up to one of the most memorable and discussed levels in the game, and that's before you get to the awesome Escape Sequence at the end (set to Inazawa Chainsaw by Number Girl).
- Roquefort's level starts with a battle to secure a giant cannon set to fire Chai straight to the head's office, only to be sidetracked by a random blimp. What comes next is a huge fight set to the song "Invaders Must Die" (or "INTRUDER" of you're on Streamer Mode) in a cafeteria, and shows the entire team being badasses throughout the level. It also marks the change from the Ragtag Bunch of Misfits the protagonists were previously to becoming The Team.
Breather Level: In a game where most stages average an hour long on a first run and end with a boss or miniboss, two Tracks stand out:
- "Track 6: L.I.F.T Me Up" is an extended Elevator Action Sequence with no platforming and only lasts around 10-15 minutes. It comes between Track 5, a puzzle-based stage with a long sidequest, and Track 7, a much more intense climb through security ending with Korsica's boss fight.
- "Track 9: Take the Stage". While the other Vandelay execs get long stages preceding their boss fights, Mimosa's is only barely more than a Boss-Only Level. While the fight itself is hardly an anticlimax, it may come as a breather in-between the emotional Track 8 and action-packed Track 10 (another long, combat-filled stage ending with an exec fight).
Captain Obvious Reveal: It's honestly not difficult to put it together immediately that Peppermint is Roxanne Vandelay's daughter from just her initial peeved reaction to Chai not knowing that Roxanne was the founder of Vandelay Technologies. There's also the fact that she shares Kale's skin, hair, and eye color. Although, a good few amount of people in reaction thought that Kale was likely her father instead of actually being her brother due to their visible age discrepancy in their appearances (Kale being around 15 years older than her according to the director), which is slightly less obvious than her family connection but not by much.
Diagnosed by the Audience: Most fans agree that Chai has either Attention Deficiet Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) due to having very poor attention span and distractibility. He is incredibly hyperactive (never quite sitting still, always moving to the beat) and is immature / irresponsible, all traits associated with ADHD. In fact, most of the time it seems that Chai is pretty genuine about trying to pay attention and keeping up with the plot, but just gets distracted. Adding on this, people with ADHD are able to use music as a medium to improve concentration, productivity, and memory, especially music that has a structured beat. SMIDGE even comments on 'being in the zone', which is exactly how music can help people with ADHD; Chai even gets a lot better at not being distracted towards the end of the game as he gets better at staying in tempo. However, this can also be flipped on its head since music can be known to be distracting to people with ADHD in a similar way, which explains the reason why Chai has so much trouble paying attention overall (and is also exacerbated by the fact he is constantly emitting music from his music player in his chest).
- Some fans also interpret Chai to have some sort of heart problem because of his music player implant in his chest, which some fans believe either is his heart, Tony Stark style, or is connected to it in some way. ^note
Fandom Rivalry: An unusual one since Hi-Fi RUSH and Forspoken have very little in common aside from being console exclusives released very close to each other, but the former's sudden launch and surprise instant success was contrasted with the latter's mixed reception on launch despite its high production values and over a year of ambitious marketing. This led to many comparisons between the two games, usually in favor of Hi-Fi RUSH.
Fandom-Specific Plot: A common subject for fan content is Chai's fate had 808 not saved him from SPECTRA in Track 12.
Fanfic Fuel: Because Chai's backstory is never mentioned aside from small hints in optional dialogue, a lot of fanfics address it in some way. This became even more common after the director mentioned in an interview that his backstory was cut from the script, and deliberately made into a Mysterious Past.
Friendly Fandoms:
- Considering that both are stylish, rhythm-based character action games that star a guitar-wielding protagonist going up against an evil mega-corporation, fans of this game have naturally bonded with fans of No Straight Roads. It helps that the developers of No Straight Roads have been very supportive of the game and have even promoted it on No Straight Roads' Twitter account.
- Due to the similar cel-shaded aesthetic and lighthearted tone, fans of Jet Set Radio have quickly latched onto the game and were quick to call it a worthy Spiritual Successor to Jet Set Radio.
- Since the game is openly inspired by Edgar Wright's filmography regarding its tone and comedy, fans of his work have utterly embraced the game. Especially fans of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, who were quick to make crossover art mere days after the game's release.
- High odds are fans of this game are fans of either Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe, Bayonetta, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, or all of the above due to them being fun, over-the-top action games with a goofy, yet endearing storyline and characters.
Game-Breaker:
- Guitar Ride is one of the earlier Special Abilities you can unlock, and for just two sections of the Reverb gauge^note, you can easily clean up house and/or deal damage to Elite Mooks while catapulting your rank straight to S. As a cherry on top, it also shreds through shielded enemies like a hot knife through butter, saving you the extra hassle of having to call in Peppermint to deal with them.
- Hibiki is similar to Guitar Ride above, but it covers a massive area of effect and has a higher score multiplier in exchange for its greater Reverb cost. Excellent for the later levels where you'll be swarmed by small fry from all directions.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: While the game is still loved overall by its home country, Japanese players have some issues with Chai's character, specifically disliking his disrespectful and rude attitude towards opponents since honor and courtesy are considered such important things in Japan that even the most despicable villains are typically given some form of respect or understanding by the hero. Meanwhile, American fans utterly adore Chai because of his sassy personality and aggressive attitude, helped by how for those in the West respect is generally viewed as something you earn and the villains are written to be so snooty and evil to the point of entering comedic territory that they deserve nothing except ridicule.
Goddamned Bats:
- Enemies with Z-Shielding are generally considered the most annoying in the game, due to their armor outright interrupting combos and the fact that breaking them in one hit requires investment^note and/or luck^note. By comparison, while blue energy barriers stop all damage, Chai can still attack them without breaking his combo (potentially setting up other combos as well), Peppermint's range lets her attack them from anywhere in an arena, and it generally takes her only one regular attack to break them.
- For a particular example, GNR-020 and SEN-C0's can become pretty grating in the later levels not only due to their ubiquity but also their annoying tendency to run away from you while taking potshots from a distance. The latter is especially annoying since they spawn shields around their allies, which requires you to prioritize taking out their shield generator before you can damage them.
Harsher in Hindsight:
- When first meeting Peppermint in her hideout, Chai has the option of asking why she would build a robot cat, which was much more conspicuous than an ordinary drone, if she wanted to spy on the Vandelay campus. Peppermint admits that her situation is quite lonely, and a cat is better companionship. As the story later reveals not only is her mother missing, but her own brother has unpersoned her and is willing to kill her, her loneliness is even more understandable.
- When Peppermint questions Chai about his dream of becoming a 'rockstar' and if he could play any instruments early in the game, Chai avoids outright answering. Peppermint is able to discern that he doesn't from his reluctance to answer, taking him as a slacker when in reality Chai was likely unable to play any instrument due to his arm. Chai also takes Kale's comment that 'he's nothing without his arm' quite hard, which hits differently if you consider his life before Project Armstrong. Heck, even near the start of the game, when Chai is first summing up his new music-player-powered robot arm and its power, he finds it all less ridiculous-sounding than the the last bullet point he makes: that it feels like he's up on a stage.
Hilarious in Hindsight: Track 4 includes several jabs at the expense and impracticality of AR technology, with the objective becoming to drain Zanzo's budget by exploiting its high cost. Later in (unaugmented) reality, major tech companies, including Meta, began cancelling their forays into the Metaverse, citing cost and practicality as major hurdles.
I Knew It!:
- Even by the trailer alone, lots of players have already guessed that Korsica will pull off a Heel–Face Turn, or at least being a Token Good Teammate just from their distinct design.
- Two moments in Track 2 — Peppermint getting mad that Chai doesn't know who Roxanne Vandelay is, and later when Kale is suggested to be familiar with Peppermint — made players immediately suspect that Peppermint is secretly a Vandelay as well. Granted, many players suspected that Kale was her father due to how much older he looks, further reinforced by the museum claiming Kale is an only child, only for it to be revealed later that Peppermint is his sister and he scrubbed her from Vandelay's history.
It Was His Sled: Not even the game's official Twitter account bothers to hide that Korsica joins the Resistance and becomes an assist character.
Memetic Badass: The fandom often jokes about 808's prowess in her battle against Kale in the first phase of his boss fight.
Memetic Loser: Conversely, Kale is often referred to as "the man who lost to a cat" due to losing to 808.
Memetic Mutation:
- A gif of 808 nodding her head rapidly has become a meme and a reaction gif to express profound agreement.
- The cutscene following the boss fight with Korsica has Chai pressing her face up against an eye-scanning device in order to make a getaway, complete with a closeup of Korsica's... Unflattering facial expression◊. Said face surprisingly ended up becoming a fairly popular profile picture.
- The Biggest Skillcheck of All Time!: The final battle against Kale begins with Chai disabled, so instead 808 leaps onto Kale and starts clobbering him before the player switches control over to her. Hence Kale expresses disbelief that a cat is trying to take him on, only for 808 to power through his defenses and make a total fool of him.
Mis-blamed: Very early on, a few fans took issue with the game's surprise release, blaming Microsoft and/or Bethesda for not having confidence in the game and trying to give it Invisible Advertising as a result. This quickly died down when it was revealed that the release strategy was mostly Tango Gameworks' idea, and that they were intentionally hoping to build up a Sleeper Hit through word of mouth after witnessing its very positive reception internally among Bethesda staff, a strategy that largely worked as intended.
Moral Event Horizon:
- Rekka crosses it very quickly by ordering Chai's death for being a defect. Her actions, made so she can keep her public image, are the very reason Chai joins Peppermint's campaign against SPECTRA.
- Kale crosses it by firing and nearly killing Korsica for looking too much into the company's secrets. If that's not enough, he truly establishes himself as very evil by unpersoning his sister and brainwashing their mother so he can look better.
Most Wonderful Sound: A lot of the sound effects qualify, but one, in particular, is the "HEY!" or "CHAI!" whenever Chai successfully attacks on-beat.
One True Threesome: For people who can't pick between one combination between Chai, Peppermint and Korsica, shipping all three of them together is a popular option.
Popular with Furries:
- Within hours of the game's release, the furry fandom immediately took notice of Roquefort and his intricate Transformation Sequence into an absolutely massive robot werewolf.
- 808 has a decently strong following among fans of cute critters due to her adorable design, expressive mannerisms in cutscenes, and affectionately close bond with Chai. Though the expressiveness and closeness to Chai does draw in general furry fans, especially the ones that like to give her Self-Fanservice into a humanoid form for pairing her with Chai.
Scrappy Mechanic: The bosses are designed so that each phase cannot be completed until the music has progressed far enough that it can smoothly transition into the next phase. On your first playthrough this is typically unnoticeable as the bosses have more than enough health to last until the music has played out, but on repeat plays after you've unlocked more high-damage options this artificial restriction on how fast bosses can be killed is noticeable, and though minor is a bit of an annoyance for speedrunners.
Self-Fanservice:
- Fanart of Korsica, which she has quite a lot of due to her popularity, tends to emphasize her... assets.
- Peppermint is a decently common target for sexier fanart, in her case emphasizing her thighs and posterior.
- Due to just how much love 808 has gotten, plenty of fans have taken to drawing her as a robotic case of Cat Folk with plenty of curves, especially for ship art with Chai.
Ship-to-Ship Combat:
- The trio of Chai, Peppermint, and Korsica have gotten into a slight three-way fan-conflict over which of them best pairs with who. Fans of Chai x Peppermint consider their Vitriolic Best Buds interactions to possess decent Belligerent Sexual Tension potential, fans of Peppermint x Korsica find Peppermint showing Ambiguously Gay interest in Korsica as something to build off of, and fans of Chai x Korsica feel their paralleling each other to be a good foundation for a Birds of a Feather situation. Very little Die for Our Ship goes on between these pairings, as Chai being Like Brother and Sister with Peppermint in-game, and Korsica being generally friendly to both of them after her Heel–Face Turn, means it's super-easy to just ignore any conflicting romantic hints, but those aspects also mean there are plenty of fans that go the One True Threesome route instead.
- Separate from the main ships for Chai, there are also a few fans that ship him with 808, as she displays enough human-like personality separate from people talking through her that makes it clear she's Birds of a Feather with Chai, being the only character perfectly aligned with Chai's personality and beliefs about what count as "great ideas", to the point most Self-Fanservice of her relates to that ship. Naturally, such a ship inspires plenty of No Yay reactions from the majority of fans, as even if she has a human-like personality as a robot and possesses a close bond to Chai, she's still a robot cat.
Signature Scene:
- The moment in Track 2 where Chai rides along a rail, going through a smoke cloud right into a cutscene, before going straight back to in-engine gameplay once he crashes through a window, went viral shortly after the game's release for being an excellent demonstration of the game's art style and use of both 2D and 3D animation. The Impact Silhouette still visible if you look up is also a great example of its silly, cartoony tone.
- The cafeteria fight scene in Track 10 is also talked about quite a lot due to it being pitch-perfectly set to Invaders Must Die by The Prodigy. It's often used as an example for why players should turn Streamer Mode off.
Spiritual Adaptation:
- Considering how Chai fights with a makeshift electric guitar, the over-the-top comedic action and use of one-off gags, this as close as anyone is ever going to get to a FLCL game.
- Some have noted how Hi-Fi Rush feels like a more light-hearted and better take on DmC: Devil May Cry of all things. A Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits taking on an evil corporation that controls the country and world, a protagonist that uses a chain to grab on to enemies, the use of dynamic music, fighting color coded enemies, and the use of slow-motion hit stop after finishing a fight in a stage.
Spiritual Successor:
- Devil May Cry and Jet Set Radio are the obvious comparisons, but it's also a sequel in all but name to No Straight Roads, another stylized rhythm-based action game which also had you playing as a guitar-swinging rebel up against a corporate superpower.
- Another call is God Hand; both games happen to revolve around a young man who gets their fighting powers from a Badass Transplant, and that game is likely what Shinji Mikami is most associated with from his pre-Tango Gameworks career.
- Due to the cel-shading, character action gameplay and a goofy protagonist that likes to show off, many have seen similarities to this and Viewtiful Joe, another game overseen by Shinji Mikami.
- Many people have nicknamed the game Sunset Overdrive 2, and it's not hard to see why - both are high-profile console exclusives for their respective Xbox console: Sunset Overdrive for Xbox One and Hi-Fi RUSH for Xbox Series X|S. Both are also cartoony, colorful action games with zany and rebellious attitudes and frenetic, experimental gameplay that doesn't take itself too seriously.
- Being an Stylish Action game set in a Post-Cyberpunk world with a cyborg protagonist, featuring a cast of larger than life characters, over-the-top boss fights, and a pulse-pounding soundtrack, this is probably the closest fans will get to a true sequel for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.
Suspiciously Similar Song: Streamer Mode replaces the licensed music featured in the game with original songs that actually match their tone and rhythm. The only differences are the tunes themselves and the lyrics.
Tear Jerker:
- This one is more obvious on a second playthrough, but near the beginning of the game, Chai sums up his newly-discovered music-player-powered robot arm as though he discovered something unusual about something he ordered online. The last thing he says on the list is that when the music kicks in, Chai gets the feeling that he's on a stage—and even he thinks that sounds ridiculous. Despite his confident front, Chai has finally gotten a chance to realize his dream, and he can hardly believe it.
- The Reveal at the end of the museum raid that Peppermint is Roxanne's daughter, and therefore Kale's sister. Furious at a display claiming Kale single-handedly created Project Armstrong, she rips the display of Kale down and stomps on its face with her robotic leg, which she afterward says her mom made for her. Her frustration at the previous exhibits downplaying Roxanne's contributions, and her anger at Kale for tarnishing the company's reputation for his personal gain, is put in a new context. So tainted is the Vandelay name, that Peppermint expects her friends to abandon her when they learn the truth, yet they don't and instead support her into restoring it.
That One Boss:
- Mini-boss variety. The WA-ES-2 samurai robots can be seen as a major difficulty spike at first fight and don't really get any easier in subsequent appearances due to them appearing alongside other enemies. Their Rage Attack easily trips up a lot of players due to having a delayed beat before you can counter.
- Rekka, but when playing on Rhythm Master difficulty under certain conditions. In Rhythm Master, having your rhythm meter drop to D rank results in an automatic game over. At the start of level choruses or restarting from boss checkpoints, the meter starts in low C rank, meaning if your enemy lands the first hit you'll get a swift death. Now in Rekka's second phase, she charges up with electricity which means you can't attack her without getting hit yourself. If you died after reaching this point and have to fight that phase starting at a C rank, the only way to stop your meter dropping too low is to constantly rhythm dash to slightly increase it until you're able to land a clean hit on Rekka or find another way to increase the meter. Not to mention that you'll also have to avoid her attacks while waiting for this chance, which are cranked up to the max while playing on Rhythm Master.
- Korsica. This is a battle where you can't attack or move, and where you must defend, and later evade, to the beat or get hit. Not to mention she refills her healthbar at least once.
- Mimosa is tricky for one specific reason: her song is complicated. Whereas QA 1 Million, Rekka, and Korsica all have song with straightforward, consistent 4/4 bass drum beats, allowing you follow along as long as you have any sense of rhythm, Mimosa's song is a whirlwind, with complicated bass drum beats, fast sections, and a very up speed tempo that still expects you to discern the 4/4 beat to stay on time. In addition, her fight focuses on using the Korsica assist, which is still relatively new.
- Kale is a boss many first-time players die to at least twice, thanks to the erratic and speedy tempo of his song making it really difficult to predict the timing of his attacks, particularly during the last phase where he combines sword swings that cover nearly the whole arena with periodic laser shots from his drones.
That One Level:
- The end of Track 4 is arguably the game's first major Difficulty Spike, a tense Escape Sequence where a laser barrier will instantly kill you if you take too long. After being introduced to Macaron's field assist in this level, in low-stakes settings, you're now required to pull of its Action Command under time pressure or instantly die. The whole sequence comes after the level's Zero-Effort Boss, tripping up players who thought it was over.
- Some of the post-game SPECTRA challenge rooms can and will make you want to tear your hair out:
  - Challenge Room 3 requires you to only do damage to enemies with parry counters. Doesn't seem too bad at first (aside from parry counters being Awesome, but Impractical), but you're on a very strict time limit, and the enemies are more than happy to stand there doing nothing and waste time, turning this into a Luck-Based Mission.
  - Challenge Room 4 functions just like Room 3, but requires you to do dodge counters instead, which are even trickier to pull off. There's also the fact that the second wave has the melee enemy require more dodge counters to defeat, instead of being one and done, forcing you to waste time on one while the other two ranged enemies are free blast you, unless you're lucky enough to have them grouped up tightly enough for the dodge counter to take both of them out.
  - Challenge Room 5 requires you to Overkill at least two enemies, of which there are only 3. This is easier said that done for a few reasons: Overkill is only possible via Jam Combos, which have tricky timing. Enemies have no health bars, so ensuring you get the final blow with a Jam Combo is difficult. Finally, Jam Combos require a unit of Reverb, and the challenge starts you with an empty meter. All this means you have to hit the enemies just enough to get enough batteries for 2 Jam Combos, without destroying them, then go for the Jam Combo and hope their health is low enough for it to finish them.
  - All of the harder challenge rooms (unlocked after beating the initial 8) can count, but special mention goes to Challenge Room 9, which functions exactly like Room 1 where you have to stay in the air to freeze the (extremely short) timer, but it then adds a second wave of ground enemies.
That One Sidequest: Gathering the schematics in Track 5. There's 10 of them, hidden all across the level in hard-to-reach secret areas, they're small and hard to notice, and the postgame collectible-tracking chip won't track them.
Unpopular Popular Character: Zanzo is treated with derision by his peers, isn't taken very seriously by the main cast, and is the only Vandelay head to be denied a proper fight with Chai after being tricked into wasting his budget via boss rushes only to be hilariously one-shotted in a cutscene. But many players adore his design and the various JoJo's Bizarre Adventure references that accompany it. On top of this, he arguably has some of the funniest lines in the entire game which is really saying something.
Visual Effects of Awesome: A universally regarded highlight of the game is its cel-shaded, comic book-style graphical presentation, with plenty of vivid colors and fun visual cues to make for a wonderful romp. As if that weren't enough, the game's cutscenes even sometimes shift from in-engine visuals (which are already gorgeously-animated to begin with) to beautiful hand-animated 2D sequences by Titmouse. They're rendered in the same fun style, with clever transitions helping to blend the two mediums together.
Woolseyism: A minor case in the Japanese dub, with names/terms slightly adjusted accordingly to flow better in the language.
- 808's name is pronounced as "Yaoya", being read as a Goroawase Number.
- The robot model code BK("Before Kale") is changed to KM("Kēru Mae/ケール前", literally "Before Kale" in Japanese).

YMMV / Hi-Fi RUSH

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