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Sandbox / BIT.TRIP

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BEAT:

  • Alternate Reality Game: The PC version of BEAT is one of the Potato Sack: 13 indie games that form the bulk of the material of Valve's "PotatoFoolsDay" Portal 2 ARG.
  • Ascended Glitch: In BEAT, hitting the pong ball with the corners of Player 2's paddle will cause the ball to gain way too much momentum and go haywire, making the final boss trivial to beat. When the game was patched, Gaijin specifically didn't fix the bug because it was a "cool advanced technique".
  • Checkpoint Starvation: BEAT and CORE completely lack checkpoints, and with each stage being at least 15 minutes long, you'll lose a lot of time if you get a game over. The other games lessen the blow of this; VOID and FLUX have checkpoints you can return to, and RUNNER and FATE have shorter stages that add up to the same amount of time as the standard three stages do.
  • Color-Coded Multiplayer: Played straight in BEAT and CORE, but averted in VOID (the players are identified by the number next to their Void instead). There was no multiplayer in RUNNER, but it returns later in the series.
  • Downloadable Content:
    • The iOS version of BEAT has a level pack based on VOID.
  • Cosmetic Award: The "PERFECT!" acknowledgment on the scoreboard. This does extend to real life as getting the elusive title gives you name recognition on the official site.
  • Unexpected Gameplay Change: BEAT has you playing a game of Break Out for one boss and an authentic game of Pong for another, at which points the rhythm aspect of the game would be completely set aside. Though if you listen closely, the bouncing of the ball from the walls and paddles does kinda follow the rhythm.
  • Co-Op Multiplayer: With four players in BEAT and VOID and two players in CORE, FATE, and FLUX. BEAT, CORE, VOID, and FLUX are all individual-style, while FATE is assistant-style. Averted in RUNNER for storyline reasons and averted completely in SAGA, likely out of space concerns.
  • Difficulty Levels: The iOS, PC and COMPLETE versions have an Easy Mode and a Hard Mode, which influence how fast the meters going both ways fill.
  • Foreshadowing: The explanatory letters in COMPLETE reveal that the ghostly figures in the first level of BEAT are dead members of CommanderVideo's species, returning to where they came from. This is exactly what he does in FLUX.
  • Hard Levels, Easy Bosses: BEAT, RUNNER and FLUX have easier bosses than levels; RUNNER even makes it more or less impossible to not get a perfect on them. Runner3 makes them even easier, giving you a checkpoint each time you hit the boss except for the Timbletot, whose fight still has multiple checkpoints but is much longer. Word of God for the last game is that "boss battles should favor spectacle over challenge".
  • Homage:
  • 100% Completion:
    • It's a little known fact that hitting all the beats in a single song will get you acknowledgment at the score screen. Though, it's no surprise not many people have seen it.

CORE:

  • Checkpoint Starvation: BEAT and CORE completely lack checkpoints, and with each stage being at least 15 minutes long, you'll lose a lot of time if you get a game over. The other games lessen the blow of this; VOID and FLUX have checkpoints you can return to, and RUNNER and FATE have shorter stages that add up to the same amount of time as the standard three stages do.
  • Color-Coded Multiplayer: Played straight in BEAT and CORE, but averted in VOID (the players are identified by the number next to their Void instead). There was no multiplayer in RUNNER, but it returns later in the series.
  • Co-Op Multiplayer: With four players in BEAT and VOID and two players in CORE, FATE, and FLUX. BEAT, CORE, VOID, and FLUX are all individual-style, while FATE is assistant-style. Averted in RUNNER for storyline reasons and averted completely in SAGA, likely out of space concerns.
  • Final-Exam Boss: CORE's final boss is essentially a test of how well you remembered specific patterns in all of the levels.
  • Homage:

VOID:

  • Continuing is Painful: If you die in VOID, you have the choice between accepting your current score for the high score list, or losing all your points to continue.
  • Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:
    • The end of VOID has CommanderVideo exclaiming, "I! Am! READY!"
  • Co-Op Multiplayer: With four players in BEAT and VOID and two players in CORE, FATE, and FLUX. BEAT, CORE, VOID, and FLUX are all individual-style, while FATE is assistant-style. Averted in RUNNER for storyline reasons and averted completely in SAGA, likely out of space concerns.
  • Easy Levels, Hard Bosses: VOID and FATE have harder bosses than levels.

RUNNER:

  • Bonus Stage: Collecting all pieces of gold in a stage in RUNNER will activate one at the end of said stage.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: In RUNNER, Junior Melchkin, Radbot, and Meat Boy each appear in the background once (the former two appearing in the levels named after themselves, the latter in "Gall Blaster"). Eventually, they all show up in "The Source", assisting in CommanderVideo's Roof Hopping. CommandgirlVideo also shows up in this level, though it isn't until after the level that CommanderVideo takes notice...
    • Mingrawn Timbletot, also introduced in RUNNER, first shows up in Impetus as a normal boss, and most players are probably going to forget about him. Then he shows up as Triumph's boss, and the game's ending makes it clear that he's the Big Bad for the rest of the series.
  • Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: In RUNNER, hitting an obstacle just sends you back to the start of the (rather short) level. You even get an achievement for exploiting this:
    EVERYONE.PLAYED BRAID
    Bonk after missing a Gold Bar to rewind time and try again
  • Easy-Mode Mockery: In RUNNER, playing on Easy removes the gold and Retro Challenges, and makes it impossible to get a Perfect.
  • The End of the Beginning: Level 1-10 of RUNNER is titled this. Later in the game, there are also stages titled "Middle of the Middle" and "Beginning of the End"
  • Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:
    • Also, Mingrawn Timbletot caps off RUNNER by darkly declaring, "You... are... not... a... man!"
  • Difficulty Levels: The iOS, PC and COMPLETE versions have an Easy Mode and a Hard Mode, which influence how fast the meters going both ways fill.
  • Distaff Counterpart: CommanderVideo gets one in RUNNER. She's even named "CommandgirlVideo".
  • Easter Egg:
    • There's actually a Game Over in RUNNER, though it requires a completely Epic Fail on your part. It involves not jumping when you have to Goomba Stomp the final boss.
  • Everything's Better with Rainbows: BIT.TRIP's rainbow has a distinctly different color arrangement.
  • Everything's Better with Sparkles: As you Mode Up in RUNNER, CommanderVideo will leave behind a trail of sparkles, which eventually becomes his distinctive rainbow trail.
  • "Get Back Here!" Boss: The final boss of RUNNER has you chasing Timbletot over roof buildings, until you reach a spring at the very end that allows CommanderVideo to Goomba Stomp him.
  • Goomba Stomp: How CommanderVideo defeats the final boss in RUNNER.
  • Hard Levels, Easy Bosses: BEAT, RUNNER and FLUX have easier bosses than levels; RUNNER even makes it more or less impossible to not get a perfect on them. Runner3 makes them even easier, giving you a checkpoint each time you hit the boss except for the Timbletot, whose fight still has multiple checkpoints but is much longer. Word of God for the last game is that "boss battles should favor spectacle over challenge".
  • Homage: Each stage in RUNNER has a respective "retro stage" that resembles Pitfall!.

FATE:

  • Bullet Hell: BEAT and CORE are rare inversions where you must hit all the dots instead of dodging them. In VOID and FLUX, you have to do both. The final boss in VOID is also a textbook example of classic Bullet Hell. FATE is the straightest example, being an actual shoot 'em up, complete with tiny hitbox.
  • Darker and Edgier: FATE. The environments are considerably emptier and darker, the music is more sparse and generally deeper and less energetic, the game is more action-based with less rhythm elements, and the plot focuses on CommanderVideo's Sanity Slippage while trying to fight through Timbletot's forces.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: In the first cutscene of FATE alone, Radbot apparently stops working altogether, and his head splits apart, revealing Mr. Robotube.
  • Flash of Pain: The enemies in FATE flash red when hit.
  • Hitbox Dissonance: In FATE, bullets pass through CommanderVideo unless they hit his Core.
  • Co-Op Multiplayer: With four players in BEAT and VOID and two players in CORE, FATE, and FLUX. BEAT, CORE, VOID, and FLUX are all individual-style, while FATE is assistant-style. Averted in RUNNER for storyline reasons and averted completely in SAGA, likely out of space concerns.
  • Downer Ending:
    • FATE is the clearest one, ending with CommanderVideo's rage getting the best of him, causing him to sacrifice himself just to finish off Timbletot. The Commander's friends weep as his ghost floats off to start the events of FLUX.
  • Easy Levels, Hard Bosses: VOID and FATE have harder bosses than levels.
  • He Who Fights Monsters: FATE focuses on how CommanderVideo's increasing anger at Timbletot is causing him to forget his belief in The Power of Love. By the end of the game, he is hell-bent on killing Timbletot, even if it means killing himself in the process.

FLUX:

  • A Winner Is You: Parodied at the end of FLUX: You are presented with a GAME OVER screen.
  • Back for the Finale: FLUX has many gameplay elements from all five of the previous games:
    • From BEAT: The core gameplay.
    • From CORE: Some of the power-ups.
    • From VOID: The inclusion of checkpoints and Beats that harm you if you try to repel them.
    • From RUNNER: Multiplier based on power level.
    • From FATE: Messages that fly by in the background of each stage segment.
  • Book Ends:
    • The first and last games of the series, BEAT and FLUX respectively, have identical controls, but on opposite ends of the screen.
    • The last background image seen in FLUX is the giant blue ball that represents a heartbeat at the very beginning of BEAT. The comet from said song also makes an appearance as it flies back to the blue ball.
    • The last level in "FLUX", called Catharsis, uses the background from the first level of "BEAT", except the imagery is updated, has some minor changes (The Giant Ball is moved to the epilogue), and the imagery is played backwards.
    • Every song in FLUX is based upon Transition, the first song in BEAT, in some way. The opening theme is based upon Growth, the third song in BEAT, as well as "Move to Intercept", the menu theme of that game (made by the same guy).
  • Call-Back: In the background of FLUX are the level names and other statements from previous games in the series, representing CommanderVideo reflecting on his experiences.
  • Fade to White: At the end of FLUX. You keep playing but ultimately have to stop because you can't see (the beats and panel are both white in this game). And then you hear Transition start.
  • Sheathe Your Sword: In an incredibly meta example, FLUX literally makes the player do this at the end.
  • Co-Op Multiplayer: With four players in BEAT and VOID and two players in CORE, FATE, and FLUX. BEAT, CORE, VOID, and FLUX are all individual-style, while FATE is assistant-style. Averted in RUNNER for storyline reasons and averted completely in SAGA, likely out of space concerns.
  • Downer Ending: FLUX somewhat as well; the final scene of the series has the Commander forgetting even himself, but then again there's that bit of "Transition" that pops up.
  • Hard Levels, Easy Bosses: BEAT, RUNNER and FLUX have easier bosses than levels; RUNNER even makes it more or less impossible to not get a perfect on them. Runner3 makes them even easier, giving you a checkpoint each time you hit the boss except for the Timbletot, whose fight still has multiple checkpoints but is much longer. Word of God for the last game is that "boss battles should favor spectacle over challenge".
  • Hard Mode Perks: In FLUX, playing on Hard increases the amount of Beats missed required to drop a level. This was the result of a bug in COMPLETE, and does not appear in other versions.
  • The Homeward Journey: The premise of FLUX; A dead CommanderVideo returning to the place where he started life.

RUNNER2:

RUNNER3:

  • Bonus Stage: Collecting all pieces of gold in a stage in RUNNER will activate one at the end of said stage.
  • Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: In RUNNER, hitting an obstacle just sends you back to the start of the (rather short) level. You even get an achievement for exploiting this:
    EVERYONE.PLAYED BRAID
    Bonk after missing a Gold Bar to rewind time and try again
  • Difficulty Levels: The iOS, PC and COMPLETE versions have an Easy Mode and a Hard Mode, which influence how fast the meters going both ways fill.

SAGA:

  • Arch-Enemy: Mingrawn Timbletot is this to CommanderVideo. To a point where the commander wants him dead even if he'll also die in the process.
  • Arc Words: "I am only a man"
  • Retraux: The base parts of the game have a pixel are style, and are reminiscent of Atari graphics. Anything not designed like that is made of voxels instead.
  • Rhythm Game: The games' genre is filed under "Retro Rhythm Action".
  • Recurring Boss: Mingrawn Timbletot is fought twice in RUNNER, and once in FATE.
  • Easter Egg: You can play random notes in all the games by pressing a button that isn't used for any purpose in that game.
  • 100% Completion: COMPLETE has a hundred and twenty Challenges (twenty in each game) to play through. It also has plenty of unlockables... of which the Songs require you to get Perfects.

go go commandervideobit.trip run

  • Idiosyncratic Combo Levels: The music in each game changes slightly depending on combo, in addition to the names of the extra modes, which banana slamma in sequence based on some level of combo. NETHER is the lowest, HYPER is normal, then MEGA, SUPER, ULTRA, EXTRA, GIGA, and META, with SUPER onwards being added in each subsequent game.
  • Interface Screw:
    • The trippy background images are enough to distract you from the field of play. This is completely intentional.
    • In the "Challenge" portions of BEAT, CORE, VOID, and FLUX, your paddle is shrunk down to half-size, your Control Stick is reversed, or you have to rotate the actual controller 90 degrees around the Control Pad to match what's onscreen.
  • Large Ham: CommanderVideo himself. Listen closely in RUNNER and FATE. CommanderVideo announces the mode he transitions to.
    NETHER. HYPER. MEGA! SUPER! ULTRA! EXTRA!! GIGA!!!
  • Leit Motif:
    • An identical-sounding heartbeat-like bass track is present in many of the series' songs, including Transition, Control, Id, and nearly everything in RUNNER.
    • CommanderVideo has a theme song that plays in the first world of RUNNER, the end of FATE and the final level of FLUX. The distinctive first four notes play in varying orders in the first level of BEAT and in the first cutscene of FLUX. All of FLUX's level songs are based around BEAT's first level's music. On FLUX's full soundtrack, the notes play in the correct order one last time at the very, very end.
  • Mind Screw: The whole freaking thing. The first game's story is about CommanderVideo flying through space, exploring the inside of a planet, and then... uh... building a brain out of voxels. The second game is about CommanderVideo meeting other people, exploring a city with them, and then acquiring independence from them. The third game had CommanderVideo growing in size and harassing the populace until they combine themselves into an even bigger giant, at which point the Commander is intimidated down to size and decides to make amends with the others. What does it all mean? Your guess is as good as mine. Fortunately, starting with BIT.TRIP RUNNER, the series stopped messing with people's minds for the most part and showed them what's really going on. At least until FLUX, where the game returns to oblique symbolic metaphors, once again leaving everyone clueless.
  • Mind Screwdriver:
    • The readme files for the soundtracks have some interesting hints: that BEAT is about CommanderVideo's "aural journey from the ethereal to the corporeal", that CORE is about his "aural soul quest as he transitions into the land of the tactile", that VOID is about his "aural soul quest as he learns what it means to interact with others", and that RUNNER is about him "tak[ing] the world by storm." Indeed, if the story is considered to be a chronicle of a man's existence, a lot of things suddenly start to make sense.
    • Alex Neuse, the game's creator, has confirmed that Commander Video's story is about the development of human life.
  • Minecart Madness: RUNNER and Runner2 have continuous moving and obstacles to avoid and things to collect, despite not involving mines or carts.
  • Musical Gameplay:
    • Hitting the Beats (or doing successful actions in RUNNER or downing enemies in FATE) makes beeping noises that contributes to the music.
    • In BEAT and FLUX, stereo is utilized by playing one blip on your paddle's side when it hits, then another on the other side when it goes off-screen.
  • Musical Nod: "Transition" from BEAT briefly plays during the opening to RUNNER's "Triumph" stage. A bit from the "Concept" cutscene from BEAT also plays in the cutscene after "Triumph".
  • Nintendo Hard:
  • There's a very good reason why they go through the trouble of including everyone who's ever gotten a "PERFECT!" on a stage on their website.
  • Of all of the games, FATE and CORE are quite a bit harder than the rest.
  • One-Hit-Point Wonder:
    • Subverted in RUNNER, where CommanderVideo can only take one hit, but is merely sent to the beginning of the stage.
    • Unless you miss the final spring in the last level, after which you get to watch the Commander twitch on the ground until the Game Over screen pops up.
  • Pixel Hunt:
    • Happens often with Beats due to the Interface Screw. And you only have about half a second to catch sight of that little thing anyways.
    • Possibly made worse in FLUX since every single beat is the same color—white. (However, given that the background gets increasingly bright and colorful with each Mode, this can become a bit of a mercy.) They do have a faint colored glow around each one, but good luck seeing which one's which.
  • Power of Love: The Commander and his team believe this fighting Mingrawn Timbletot. During FATE, the Commander abandons his ideals and kills both himself and Mingrawn Timbletot in a rage.
  • Product Placement:
    • NULLSLEEP's logo appears as part of Super-Ego's beat pattern in VOID, accompanied by the word NULLSLEEP passing by in the background.
  • Rail Shooter: Literally in FATE — CommanderVideo is on a rail, and you control both him and a crosshair.
  • Ray Gun: Most prominently in FATE, coming in many forms depending on what wingmate powerup you have and your Mode; (though not with sound effects or (except in a few cases) traditional "laser weapon" looks) the enemies use this as well. Gratuitously.

  • Robot Buddy: Radbot and Mr. Robotube both.
  • Roofhopping: Present in RUNNER. According to this review, this was going to be the entirety of "Triumph", but the guys at Gaijin discovered Canabalt and relocated most of the action to the streets of the capital, only hitting the roofs at the very last level.
  • Rule of Three: There are three songs in each game: BEAT had "Transition", "Descent", and "Growth"; CORE had "Discovery", "Exploration", and "Control"; VOID had "Id", "Ego", and "Super-Ego"; RUNNER had "Impetus", "Tenacity", and "Triumph"; FATE has "Patience", "Frustration", and "Anger"; and FLUX had "Epiphany", "Perception" and "Catharsis".
  • Running Gag: "I am only a man!" seems to be this:
    • Seen in Triumph are posters with cats that read "I am only a cat." It's actually available as fan-made merchandise.
    • From the PotatoFoolsDay level "<test>":
      GLaDos: "You are only human."
    • "I Am Only a Man" is a title of one of the songs from Runner2.
  • Scare Chord: While you are playing the first two levels in FATE, a startlingly loud sound is heard accompanied by either a bleak message like "NO FUTURE" or "NO MEANING", or the level's boss, and the song itself moves onto its next part. The same thing happens in the other four levels, only the sound isn't abruptly loud.
  • Schizophrenic Difficulty: Granted you play multiple times, some parts will become simple, while others will screw you up every damn time. For specific examples of levels, see the Breather Level and That One Level examples.
  • Scoring Points: One of the taglines for BEAT was "Points matter again". (Though, for rhythm games, didn't they always?)
  • Sequel Difficulty Spike: Thoroughly averted. They're all hard.
  • Sequel Escalation: Each game so far adds a new Mode to Mode Up into. Nether, Hyper, and Mega Modes were the first ones featured in BEAT, then CORE added Super Mode, followed by Ultra Mode in VOID, Extra Mode in RUNNER, Giga Mode in FATE, and finally Meta Mode in FLUX. Yet another instance of the games' Idiosyncratic Combo Levels.
  • Sequel Hook:
    • The first two games had these as Meaningful Background Events, as a Core and a Void both popped up towards the end of the final levels in BEAT and CORE, respectively. The third game had CommanderVideo running increasingly fast in The Stinger of VOID to tie into RUNNER. As well as the subsequent "I..am... READY!!" following said running.
    • The floating bricks and the flapping birds/bats in the background near the end of VOID also hold significance to both RUNNER and FATE. (They're similar to the flies around the garbage seen in Triumph for RUNNER.)
    • The fourth game had the Five-Man Band shown in The Stinger confronting an angry Mingrawn Timbletot, who flies away screaming "YOU ARE NOT A MAN!"
    • And the fifth game has CommanderVideo becoming a spirit and rising up offscreen, ready to Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence and begin The Homeward Journey. No dialogue here, unlike the others.
    • The sixth game has a sequence called "Home" played after completing Catharsis, where you are able to, interspersedly, hit the same sequence of Beats from the very beginning of Transition from BEAT, in the same order. Seeing as the game's story goes in a circle, this could count as a Sequel Hook of sorts.
    • RUNNER 2 sets up FATE, with Commander Video becoming increasingly angered at Mingrawn Timbletot, and having his visor turn red after escaping the alternate universe he's been trapped in for fifteen months (although it appeared that he was only gone for a split second to everyone else.)

  • Shout-Out: The Arecibo message makes an appearance in the first level in BEAT (but with CommanderVideo replacing the human figure). It also makes a brief appearance in the final level of FLUX.

  • Some Dexterity Required: While the controls are simple enough, the things the game makes you do with them can only be described as combos from hell. Add to that the fact that BEAT and FLUX use non-optional motion controls- the muscle memory has to be all in your wrists.
  • Special Guest: Each game has a chiptune artist that provides the menu and credits songs. Both BEAT and FLUX have Bit Shifter (he only made the menu music for the latter, however, as it has Silent Credits instead), CORE has Bubblyfish, VOID has Nullsleep, RUNNER has Anamanaguchi, and FATE has Minusbaby.
  • Spinoff: BIT.TONIK, a collaboration between Gaijin Games and Robotube Games, made in a single day during Blip Fest 2009 in what was called the "BATTLE OF THE BRANDS◊". The gameplay is essentially a crossover of BIT.TRIP BEAT and Bloktonik. The Obvious Beta version available is what they managed to get done in a single day.
  • Springs, Springs Everywhere: In RUNNER.
  • Sprite/Polygon Mix: The playing field is simple 2D, the backgrounds are all 3D environments. (Except for VOID, but its cutscenes still feature them.) Averted in RUNNER's Retro Stages, which are solely 2D.
  • Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: CommandgirlVideo is a pink CommanderVideo with a box and mole. That's all for differences between them. This doesn't apply in Runner2, however.
  • Tennis Boss:
    • The final boss of FLUX has you playing tennis with a full-screen enemy paddle... or, arguably, fighting yourself as the final boss.
  • Theme Naming: Every game name except RUNNER and COMPLETE is only 4 characters long. In addition, most of them are pretty descriptive of gameplay: RUNNER is about... running, VOID has you controlling a movable black hole, and so on.
  • Tonight, Someone Dies: FATE seems to have this going on — even the WiiWare icon for the game◊ has Black Blood dripping from it. And for even more credence, RUNNER's stinger had the Big Bad wishing death upon CommanderVideo. And the Commander does die at the end of the game in a Suicide Attack.
  • Variable Mix:
    • The music gets a techno beat if you're in "Mega" mode (and above). If you go down to "Nether" mode, the music is turned off completely.
    • In games after BEAT, "Nether" has a metronome to help you out.
    • In FLUX, the music doesn't change, but instead the instrument used when Beats hit the paddle and leave the screen change - all the way up to a violin in Meta mode.

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