Substantially worse version of a masterpiece. The 30 FPS feels awful, it looks uglier across the board, and the difficulty got a giant nerf (especially on Master Mode) which is an incredibly misguided decision given that the challenge of Master Mode is what made it so satisfying in the first place. This port also misses the opportunity to fix one of the few flaws in the original game, which is the extremely long unskippable intros on some stages.

Some of these changes were presumably inevitable given the hardware and I imagine the easier patterns and more lenient timing were to compensate for the smaller screen size but it's still just a much worse version overall. The new multiplayer stages are nice but they're not worth compromising everything else.

that little tune became a lullaby.

and why?

the singer's voice was honey-love.

Be careful, spoilers, play the game before you read this

Gitaroo Man has a point system that awards more points (and health) based on how precise you press each note, that allows the game to measure by difficulty how attached are you to the rhythm and melodies of the song, every note counts, but in rhythm games where there are combo multipliers and the priority is making long combos, they play more like a glorified Geometry Dash with various live hits per attempt.

I'm gonna jam way more playing this song on beatmania IIDX https://youtu.be/BRBiyYbPxRw but this is natural, I've already played that game for a long time and I've paid a lot for a good controller, and on top of that IIDX is stupid good, it is the predecessor of the precision system Gitaroo Man comes with, and a lot of other things that allows it to have an understanding and feeling of the songs greater that anything I have ever played... when investing hundreds and thousands of hours to master it... Gitaroo Man is only like 1-3 hours long to complete the story for the first time, and it delivers sooo much of that feel I have with IIDX in only few hours, why?

For example let's talk about the simplest and clearest track in the game, "The Legendary (Acoustic)", not only you make the strings each time you press and hold Circle, small turns when holding circle means changes in the middle of the strings (https://youtu.be/TcRn-V0I3po&t=60), and of course if one string is facing one direction and the next one is a big change, that's also a reflection of the song itself, so having an A or an S is really satisfying, and you know what else is awesome about this song? now lets talk about cool of a turn point that song was to the story and characters.

Boy getting it's own confidence back, to face the bully and get the girl. After some "PUMA WHAT DO I DO??", a hard as balls level where you escape a space shark, all GUARD, face buttons, and a non expected reggae level, which was easy but you can fuck it up if you are not focused; you are sitting in a campfire, wet and getting a cold, but here comes the reflection of the girl you like, who heard you playing the guitar and sits by your side, under the stars, ATTACK, an easy song to nail, the complete opposite of the shark, captivate the girl and start getting your confidence back, like we can see right on the next level with the skeletons, OH YEAH, this is easily one of my favorite levels of any videogame I've ever played, how the elements of gameplay, song, story, characters and presentation are all so good and important.

There are also other fantastic parts like the one right before the final level, where U-1 and the bad guy exchange words and it's full of quick shots "I CAN DO IT BECAUSE IM GITAROO MAN", Flyin' to Your Heart in Japanese slaps hard and of course, The Legendary Theme.

if i have to nitpick something is the fight with Gregorio III on the cathedral, if you die you have to wait for Gregorio to make the same comment, press the restart button and do an entire section, which is 1:45 minutes long (an entire fucking IIDX song), and consists of 2 easy charge stages right at the start of the level, where in almost all your attempts you are leaving with full health, aka, useless filler; I wouldn't have a problem if leaving those charge stages with full health meant that I had to be really precise and nail that part, but it wasn't the case, I didn't need to get better at that first section, so It was just 1:45 minutes of waiting for the actual difficult and interesting parts where I was struggling. For example in Resurrection, the final song, there are charge stages for more than half of the song and right before the start of the 2 last sections, and in no way you are gonna leave the last charge stage at full health in your first playthrough of the game, no way, so even if i'm failing at the end of the song, those parts before the end can help me deal with the hard parts because I can approach them with more health if i get better at the initial sections.

Either way, this is a fantastic, fantastic game.

Sorry for talking so much about IIDX but that's basically the only rhythm game I've ever truly enjoyed (until now) and I honestly couldn't imagine that some of its perks could be translated so well into a way shorter, more story based game; of course IIDX (or any other game) isn't "my gold standard" or anything like that, simply because every individual game in existence wants to achieve its own set of experiences and objectives within its own format, I wont criticize a game for not being like another one, of course not.

Absolutely amazing game. Great art style, incredible music, and a very fair difficulty. My biggest issues with the game were the short length and the unnecessary romance subplot, but as a whole it was a fantastic experience. This version is also a vast improvement over the original, with fairer charts and more lenient.

Honestly? better than Parappa.



plus the dog is funnier

KEIICHI YANO ON THE STUDIO B LIKE:
"HEY WHAT IF WE MADE THE MOST EPIC AND SHOEGAZE-ESQUE SONG FOR A KIDS GAME, YEAH DROP IT"
https://youtu.be/0CiwoHS725w

ngnggnhwhwhss why i can't found the soundtrack on .flac im going to cry

Recommended by T0M196 as part of this list.

[Apologies in advance for not playing the PS2 version like you requested, it didn't emulate well on my machine, but I heard the PSP port is pretty 1:1 all things considered.]

"The dreams I've abandoned couldn't have come true. I have other dreams I haven't given up on. They still shine bright. They still light my way."

Perpetual loser U-1 has it rough: the girl he likes won't give him the time of day, his bully is always taking opportunities to dunk on U-1 and remind him how worthless he is, and U-1's only friend through all of this is his faithful dog Puma. But all of this changes when U-1 discovers his status as the legendary Gitaroo Man, and is drawn into the interplanetary conflict between Planet Gitaroo and the Gravillian Empire, who's leader Zowie is vying for domination of the universe. Armed with the mysterious and powerful Gitaroo, U-1 has to learn to shed his cowardly ways and become the hero that will save the universe through the power of sick-ass guitar solos.

Throughout the game, each stage pits U-1 against a brand-new, colorful and charming foe utilizing some kind of new music genre to duel U-1 with. While each of these stages could stand out as the highlight of the game all on their own, I want to draw attention to Stage 6. Crash-landed on the shores of Planet Gitaroo, U-1 is sitting underneath the shade of a dying tree, guitar in hand as the gentle cackling of the campfire serves as accoutrement to the ebb and flow of the ocean's waves crashing against the shore. The world is bathed in the warm hue of the evening sun, sinking into the ocean and ushering in twilight. A girl in the spitting image of U-1's crush back on Earth walks up to U-1, and she sits next to him, shoulder-to-shoulder, few words spoken as U-1 serenades her with the gentle sounds of his guitar. It's the only stage in the game where U-1 isn't engaging in a duel, but rather playing his guitar for the sake of someone else, and the track that's playing in this moment, "The Legendary Theme", is such a beautiful and moving piece of music that it genuinely brought tears to my eyes. This moment, this lull between the wacky character designs, the fun and energetic music battles and off-the-wall plot, is such a memorable and poignant scene compared to what preceded it that it may seem out of place at first, until you reach the climax and realize how much Stage 6 embodies the core tenets of Gitaroo Man.

U-1 is a loser, a grade-A wimp who gets no respect from anyone and is always told by others how he'll never be anything but a grade-A wimp; but on Planet Gitaroo, where he's the Gitaroo Man, he's kicking ass and taking names. He's a hero to the people, an indomitable warrior of legend who will stop Zowie, and by the final stage, U-1 has learned to harness the power of the Gitaroo for the sake of love, gaining the self-confidence needed to save the universe. When he must return home, not as Gitaroo Man but as little ol' U-1, Stage 6 showed that U-1 never needed the power of the Gitaroo to be loved. He just needed to believe in himself and show the world not what Gitaroo Man could do, but what U-1 could do. It's that self-love and confidence that U-1 obtained back on Planet Gitaroo that turns out to be what made Gitaroo Man Gitaroo Man in the first place.

Even if Gitaroo Man isn't the most difficult or in-depth rhythm game out there, it's the greatest rhythm game of all time in my heart. Gitaroo Man is bursting at the seams with charm, overflowing with charisma and creative energy: From its wonderful character designs, to its charmingly goofy dub, to its absolutely phenomenal soundtrack full of heart and experimentation, Gitaroo Man has firmly cemented itself in my heart as an all-timer.

Truly legendary

If there was ever a game to refresh the jaded thoughts I have about gaming as a whole, it would be playing Gitaroo Man during a rainy friday afternoon. Even though it just happened, it'll be one of those memories I'll always remember of games I've played like playing the PlayStation 3 version of Skyrim during a snow day with nothing but fritos and a big gulp of Mountain Dew from 7-11.

The soundtrack has no right being as good as it is for a game like this along with experiencing U-1's journey especially despite the early 2000's anime movie vibes (which I really dig here) also somehow having some really great emotional moments that caught me off guard completely. The gameplay is really fun but can be pretty difficult along with the carpal tunnel you'll get after the final boss. Despite being two hours, it's full of raw emotion of the positive kind that it's hard to describe. When a game has a song called Legendary Theme and lives up to its name in spades, there's something special here.

I can go on in detail like I usually do about these games but sometimes less is truly more with something you really enjoyed. It's hard having confidence in yourself from my personal experience and it's always your worst enemy to the point a character will literally barrage you with the intrusive thoughts you have when you don't believe in yourself and despite all that managing to break though is something anyone should be proud of. A musical journey through the stars becoming who you can truly be.

Thank you, I won't give up yet.