The PS2 era saw the rise of the plastic peripheral music genre of video games.Guitar Herodebuted in 2005 and took the world by storm, whileDance Dance Revolutioncontinued to be a massive success even in the home market.
However, while these games took all the attention, they were not the only rhythm games released for the PS2. Behind the flash and excitement of pretending to be Jimi Hendrix by flailing around the living room with a plastic guitar, a group of smaller releases were putting their own spin on the genre, often in weird and experimental ways.
6Britney’s Dance Beat
In an era where seemingly everything got its own licensed game, it’s not much of a surprise to see that one of the biggest pop stars of the time,Britney Spears, got a game built entirely around herand her music. Playing as an aspiring dancer who wants to become one of Britney’s backup dancers on her upcoming tour, the game puts the player through a series of challenges based on various songs.
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However, unlike the growing number of dance games at the time built around dancing in real life,Britney’s Dance Beatstuck to button inputs on the controller. The game also only featured five of Britney’s songs, which must have been a significant disappointment to fans expecting to see more. It played as well as any other similar rhythm game, but its focus on Britney alone limited its appeal significantly.
5B-Boy
Another dancing game that didn’tmake the player dance for real,B-Boyfocused on street dance contests. This may have been beneficial, however, as making the player do real-life windmills may have resulted in a few broken lamps. Instead, the game relies on timed button presses and aTony Hawk’s Pro Skaterstyle balance meter to hold freezes.
It didn’t do too well at the time though, clearly overshadowed by other rhythm games of the time, and little information can be found on it online. Reviews were also mixed, which possibly contributed to its lack of success.
4Mojib-Ribbon
Parappa the Rapperdesigner Masaya Matsuura has spent much of his career trying to make cartoon animals create interactive music, andMojib-Ribbonis no exception. Yet another game about a rapping animal, players follow Mojibri, a rabbit with an ink pen who’s trying to be become a great rapper. He does this by writing out his raps on clouds he walks across, the words being written as he goes, occasionally dipping his pen into clouds of ink floating above him.
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It’s a bizarre yet compelling concept, and one that Sony found impossible to localize. Due to the heavy reliance on the syllabic nature of the Japanese language of its lyrics, translation into English proved difficult. Naturally, the game has never left Japan, nor has it seen a re-release, leaving it an obscure curiosity.
Usually if someone is asked about the connection between video games and orchestras, the answer will usually beconcert performances of video game scores by classical musicians. However,Mad Maestrosuggested a different connection – what if someone made a rhythm game about conducting an orchestra?
This title is built around a story where a young conductor has to save the town’s concert hall. He does this by recruiting a band of supporters to help convince the town to keep it open. This means addressing their problems by playing various pieces of classical music at them, with composers including Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Mozart. While poorly received in the West, Japan loved the game, leading toa Christmas-themededition of the game and a direct sequel, neither of which left their home country. It’s a strange but wonderful concept, and unfortunately one that no one seems willing to revisit today.
2Frequency
Harmonix have built a reputation for being the music game developers of choice. FromFusertoRock Band, they’ve released a consistent stream of beloved rhythm games and spend a lot of time and resources pushing how music and games can interact. However, while they’re best known for being the original creators ofGuitar Hero, it wasn’t the first time they released a rhythm game for PS2.
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Frequencyresembled a space shooter, as a small craft floated along a track, catching notes as it went. Correctly hitting these notes allowed the track to play automatically for a time, while new tracks with other instruments opened up, creating a juggling act as players hopped from track to track, so they could keep each element, and therefore the whole song, going. It was incredibly fun, andfeatured music from the likes ofNo Doubt, Orbital, and the director’s own band, Freezepop. However, it’s been forgotten about today thanks to Harmonix’s own larger successes, and looks unlikely to ever see a revival.
1Gitaroo Man
Gitaroo Manis the game for people who think thatGuitar Herois far too normal. The protagonist of the game is a shy, nervous boy named U-1 who is one day attacked by a devil creature, leading to his talking dog handing him a magical guitar and urging him to use its powers to defeat evil. The game then leads to U-1 using the power of rocks to take down a range of weird and wacky foes to become the True Gitaroo Man.
It’s incredibly strange, but its simple gameplay, often using a combo of button presses and analog stick movement, is addictive and compelling. It doesn’t do anything innovative with the rhythm genre — instead, it takes what makes it fun and dials it all the way up. It’s a shame, then, that Koei decided to release the game in incredibly small numbers, effectively setting it up to fail, because it has never seen a re-release.
