Trombone Champ

[Smoove_B]

How did I miss this announcement a few weeks ago?



available on Steam now

[Smoove_B]

PC Gamer loves it:

It's not often I paste a short video of me playing a game into the PC Gamer work Slack and other writers immediately buy it on Steam. But all it took was a 90 second clip of me trying to toot out Beethoven's Fifth Symphony in trombone-based rhythm game Trombone Champ and several copies of the game were sold. Like, instantly.

You can see the clip in the gif above, so long as you promise to turn on the sound as high as it'll go. Yes, my performance was terrible and if Beethoven wasn't rolling over in his grave it was only because he'd already burst out of it, staggered around shrieking, and then vomited. But in Trombone Champ, playing the trombone badly is just as much fun as playing it well, which is just one reason why I love it.

Critically important:

You're graded at the end of each song (there are 20 in all, with a plan to add more on the game's roadmap), and each time you play a song you earn Toots, which can be spent on Sacks, which contain Tromboner Cards. I first assumed these cards were just a joke. Some cards display famous trombone players and musicians and contain facts about how many hot dogs they could eat in one sitting, while other cards feature things like baboons, or a trumpet (described wonderfully as "the coward's trombone").

But these cards eventually have a function, one that I stumbled on accidentally by clicking something that perhaps should not be clicked. Did I summon a demon in Trombone Champ? I may have summoned a demon in Trombone Champ. Look, I'm not going to explain the whole thing because there's far more to Trombone Champ than just honking out notes to a beat. There's also… lore.

[hepcat]

I actually played trombone in band back in grade school/high school. Although eventually it just became a constant refrain of "sad trombone".

[YellowKing]

I just watched the clip in the PC Gamer article and I swear I have tears streaming down my face I'm laughing so hard. I can see why that instantly sold several copies. I'm in!

[stimpy]

I swear.....if the forum effect gets me to actually buy this game.........

[stessier]

[Carpet_pissr]

No love for the trumpet?! Come on! (I played for 14 years )

[telcta]

Well, that was a mistake... I read YK's post and thought how funny could that be. Well, I'm sitting in a library right now in actual pain from trying not to laugh out loud. The harder I tried not to laugh the worse it got. I ended up snorting very loudly sounding like a pig rounding the corner of the periodical section. Both that clip in PC Gamer and the twitter post above is gold.

[hepcat]

No love for the trumpet?! Come on! (I played for 14 years )

The coward’s trombone, as pointed out in the game.

[Hipolito]

Well, that was a mistake... I read YK's post and thought how funny could that be. Well, I'm sitting in a library right now in actual pain from trying not to laugh out loud. The harder I tried not to laugh the worse it got. I ended up snorting very loudly sounding like a pig rounding the corner of the periodical section. Both that clip in PC Gamer and the twitter post above is gold.

This is probably the fastest I've gone from hearing about a game to buying it, and I did it solely based on YK's post, without even watching any clips. I had tears rolling down my eyes playing this game and my face hurts from smiling!

[Baroquen]

This is awesome! My daughter watched the twitter clip and were laughing a ton. I didn't know there was a clip in the PC Gamer link too. Very funny! Going to have to get this soon.

[YellowKing]

I got a chance to play for just a few minutes at lunch.

Be very aware that this is a rhythm game that is designed for you to suck. The songs are relentlessly fast (even the starter ones), and the controls are questionable.

You do have the option in settings to change things like un-inverting the mouse, improving mouse speed, etc. but I found it more fun to just roll with the defaults and struggle through. The game also does everything in its power to distract you in the background, to hilarious effect.

The sense of humor here is right up my alley - the more bizarre the better.

[Hipolito]

I played the trombone in real life as a kid. My first lesson book said that the trombone is possibly the only instrument that can be played perfectly in tune. Well, if that's true, then the trombone is also the funniest instrument when it's played out of tune. I wonder whether my real-life playing sounded as bad as it does in the game! (It probably did.)

I'm impressed with how they "simulated" the sound of the trombone, right down to the glissando. I noticed that if I think of it as actually playing an instrument instead of just a rhythm game, I play a little better. I haven't scored higher than a B though.

I don't think I've laughed as hard at a game since Monkey Island. But when the hilarity wears off, you've just got the songs to play, and there aren't a lot of them. My favorite song in the bunch is, surprisingly, one of the original ones: Trombone Skyze. It's a really good tune.

Other stuff: I like a lot of the humor, but some of it is just obsessive and gross. I did some of the collection stuff, but don't feel like playing the same songs repeatedly just to get more points. Until they release more songs, I'm done with the game. It was nice little diversion!

[Hipolito]

They've made some interface improvements and added a song, Jarabe Tapatío (Mexican hat dance). It's a tough one!

[Skinypupy]

Amateurs.

[WYBaugh]

Laughing so hard I was crying watching this. Ending is awesome when he runs out of breath.

[Zaxxon]

This game is awesome (we’re playing on Switch). Well worth the $15.

That is all.