I was informed by Kotaku today 8-Bit DJ Hero was released today, for the price of ‘free.’ You can read Mike Fahey’s write-up by clicking here. I downloaded it, played Mix 1 and Mix 3, and my fancy is quite tickled.
The game can be downloaded from Ericruthgames.com, and it’s under the ‘game directory’ tab. When the exe is launched, a NES cartridge appears briefly, hinting at the style of the game itself. The game is extraordinarily convincing at passing off as some long-forgotten NES title. The credits, DJ animations, and 2-button configuration perfectly capture the stylistic flavor of NES-era games, and it is a compliment to Eric Ruth that the NES-ness of it all is so prevalent. Itn the game, it feels less like a parody and more like a stylistic accomplishment.
The game itself is fun. The controls are outlined in the readme, but I still found myself a little confused as to what to do when arrows came by, or the path of the notes veered off to the sides. I assume it’s because I’ve never played DJ Hero, but in any case I figured it out over the course of a song. I was expecting something as simple as Press X to Jason. It turned out to be a fair bit deeper, such that I could see myself investing some time getting 5-stars on all six songs.
The music itself is of a high enough quality that they are worth their own recommendation apart from the game. According to the readme, all the mixes were composed in Reason 4 (they aren’t technically ‘mixes’ in the sense that the original songs are not present). Like most of the internet, I have become a chiptune fanatic, and this soundtrack satisfies that CRAVING IN ME. My personal favorite was the Jackson/Madonna mix.
Go legally download this free game.