Long before rhythm games became synonymous with dance pad controllers and colorful, plastic musical instruments--whether they be drums, maracas, guitars, turntables, or whatever--NanaOn-Sha's vib-ribbon was boldly going where no rhythm game had ever gone before...without the need for any such bells and whistles. Vib-ribbon's charming vector graphics were never much to look at, but its uncomplicated gameplay is deceptively challenging, and it really doesn't matter what you think of the catchy, J-pop soundtrack since you can play along to any CD in your music collection.

There's really no better way to check out your latest music purchase.

In vib-ribbon, which sadly never got a North American release, you assume the role of a wire-frame rabbit named Vibri, whose goal on every music-track generated level is simply to run from left to right along a shaky white line littered with obstacles. Each of the four obstacle shapes--blocks, loops, crevices, and jagged lines--can be negotiated by pressing a different face button, shoulder button, or directional button at exactly the right time, causing Vibri to dance, leapfrog, or step over the obstruction. Levels are rarely quite as simple as that, though, thanks to constantly changing camera angles, obstacles moving along the line at different speeds, and hybrid obstacles.

Hybrid obstacles are formed when two shapes combine to form one, and the resulting forms can only be passed successfully by pressing the two buttons corresponding to the "donor" shapes simultaneously. To bypass a loop that looks like it has a spike on top of it, for example, you'd have to press both the loop and crevice buttons--assuming you'd figured out that the spike was an inverted crevice. Working out which hybrid shapes were composed from which basic shapes might not sound like much of a challenge, particularly given the limited number of variants, but in the middle of a challenging or fast-moving game, you can bet that mistakes will happen.

Vibri is still partying like it's 1999.

While stringing together a combo of successful moves will see Vibri the rabbit evolve into some kind of super-rabbit-prince with wings and a crown, mistakes are punished through Vibri's devolution into a frog and, ultimately, some kind of worm with a square for a head. The different character forms aren't purely for aesthetic amusement, since their respective animations are different enough that it makes it quite challenging to get used to the timing of obstacles in a form to which you're not accustomed.

NanaOn-Sha's own Parappa the Rapper aside, there are very few rhythm games that boast the charm or the simplicity of vib-ribbon, and there are even fewer that can legitimately be described as works of art. Perhaps the biggest compliment that one can pay to vib-ribbon is that, unlike the vast majority of games, it is timeless. The visuals made no attempt to be cutting-edge when the game was released and so show no sign of aging, the gameplay can literally be enjoyed by anyone, and new levels for the game are still being made available for purchase in music stores all over the world each and every day.

--Justin Calvert, Editor

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