SEATTLE — Seeing as this is a Bit.Trip friendly zone, I jumped at the opportunity to check out the latest in the series, Bit.Trip VOID, at the Penny Arcade Expo this past weekend. This one is very different from the other two titles in the series, yet retains the same cohesive feeling and look that those exhibited

In VOID, you are collecting black beats as they fly across the screen from the left, and avoiding the white beats that come along with it. As you collect more and more of the black bits, the black circle that you control will grow and grow. It becomes harder to navigate away from the white beats as it grows though, and here’s where the game gets interesting. You have to press the A button to shrink your circle back down to starting level before you can be hit by the white pieces — if you’re hit by the white, you shrink as well, but you don’t get to keep the points you have acquired. You basically use shrinking as a way to deposit your points, but you will earn more points by being larger — there’s a lot of strategy involved in this, and in a way, it reminds me of Blast Works: Build, Trade and Destroy, in the sense that you’re trying to collect things to grow larger while balancing the need for more points with the need to avoid being hit by objects in the level.

It wouldn’t be a Bit.Trip game without a high difficulty level, and even in this demo build of the game you could see where this will be hard to play. Sometimes there are tons of bits on the screen to collect and avoid all at once, and they move fast, so you’ll need to react faster. Luckily the game supports both WiiMote/Nunchuk and Classic Controller play styles, so you won’t have to navigate with the D-pad at high speeds or around corners, and in a first for the series, there are mid-level checkpoints, which should make completing this game a bit easier than it was with the other two, though you still have to reach the checkpoints before you can use them.

There are a few other things that make this title intriguing, the most interesting of which is four-player local co-op. Multiplayer improved the experience of Bit.Trip BEAT substantially, so I’m excited to give this game a shot in multiplayer, especially when the object of the game is collection. The game also sports a chip tunes soundtrack, which makes a retro nut like myself happy. The music in the two previous titles was wonderful, catchy and fit the games perfectly, and from what I heard of VOID, that holds true once again.

Bit.Trip VOID will be out this fall for WiiWare, as the third game in a six title series. We’ll have more info for you on the game as it nears release, but check out the trailer and these screens now as an appetizer for later retro goodness.

You can’t get much more retro than the Bit.Trip series. They are inspired by old-school games, full of chiptune sounds and music, have pixelated graphics that focus on bits, and no forgiveness whatsoever in the difficulty. It’s no wonder that I loved the first one, and now welcome the latest, Bit.Trip CORE, onto WiiWare with open arms.

The concept is simple enough. You sit in the middle of the screen as this D-pad shaped object that takes aim and fires at bits as they come at you from all directions. You can shoot up, down, left and right by pressing the corresponding direction on the D-pad as well as the 2 button, and if things get a little too hectic you can fire off a bomb with the 1 button. The bits move directly in front of your team, or around you in circles, or diagonally, or back and forth quickly, sometimes with tons of them coming at once from all different angles. The game keeps you guessing, and putting the levels into muscle memory will go a long ways towards your successfully completing them.

If you can hit lots of these bits in a row, then the music and graphics will become enhanced. There are different levels that indicate this, like Hyper and Mega, and the corresponding word flashes on the screen as you approach it and eventually get there. Missing too many in a row sends you in the other direction, making the music and backgrounds basic until eventually you end up in a screen that looks as basic as Asteroids or Pong, with no music. Miss too many there, and it’s Game Over for you. You should get used to seeing that screen, because this game is difficult, but if you’re willing to play each of the three levels a few times, you will learn its secrets and master it, just like say, Punch-Out!!!, or various space shooters.

One thing to notice is that the HUD is much better organized in CORE than it was in BEAT. You have an easier time figuring out how far along in each level you are, and where you rank as far as Nether/Hyper/Mega/etc. go. This also helps you when you realize how close you were to finishing a level, and gives you that “One more time” feeling.

There are a few wrinkles in the gameplay that also make Bit.Trip CORE a good time, like the challenge beam, which forces you to turn your Wii Remote in a different direction since your D-pad has now been twisted in a different way. You end up holding the controller like it’s a joystick, pressing the 2 down at the bottom (or at the top, depending on what challenge you get) while pressing what used to be left for up, or what used to be up for right. You get bonus points depending on how successful you were during the challenge too, which is a good way to shoot up your leaderboard.

Which brings me to the only major complaint I have with Bit.Trip CORE, and that’s the lack of online leaderboards. It’s a shame the first two games don’t utilize that feature, but Gaijin Games has also told us that they are looking into it for future releases. Here’s hoping that we get them in time for the third entry, because there’s nothing I love more than thinking I’m great at a game and then seeing myself ranked far lower than I ever imagined. It’s great for motivation and replay value, even if it is a bit depressing at first.

Blast Factor: Bit.Trip CORE is every bit as good as its predecessor, and puts enough new spins on the retro design to warrant a purchase. Even if the basic universe is the same, the gameplay is different enough that it rightfully feels like a brand new game. If you like your games old-school and challenging, then Bit.Trip CORE is perfect for you, especially with the great, foot-tapping music and colorful visuals.

Bit.Trip CORE is available exclusvely on the Nintendo Wii’s WiiWare service, and costs 600 Nintendo Points

Now that the Fourth of July holiday weekend is behind us, I wanted to let you know that we will have plenty of coverage for you here this week at Blast. Sure, the start of the summer lull in game releases is upon us, but there are still plenty of games worth a look on the way, and we’ll have plenty of supplemental content for you as well.

For instance, we interviewed Gaijin Games, the creators of Bit.Trip CORE–which is releasing today at noon on WiiWare–on Friday (in case you missed it while stuffing yourself full of beer and burgers, here’s the link). Later today we will also be publishing an interview with Bplus, the developers of Bit Boy, which released in Europe on Friday, and should be coming to North America soon. We’ve also had a few pieces of equipment sent to us for review, so you should see our thoughts on Splitfish’s FragFX controller soon, as well as on TeknoCreations’ protective case/battery backup DSi case.

We’ll have reviews of some recent titles soon too, despite the infrequent releases. The Bigs 2 is coming out on multiple systems, and we’ll have a review for you arcade baseball lovers soon after it’s out. The newest Harry Potter also came out recently, and we’ll have reviews of that on multiple consoles. The first episode of the Tales of Monkey Island remake is out this week too, and we have been hard at working checking that out for you. Battlefield 1943 is releasing for XBLA and PSN this week.‚  The aforementioned Bit.Trip CORE will be reviewed, and we’ll also finish catching up on June’s very busy release schedule. Don’t forget that later this month, fresh off of the E3 insanity, we will be heading to San Diego Comic Con to get you even more hands-on previews and news from developers and publishers. It’s a good way to get a head start on your holiday purchasing plans, especially since it’s looking like yet another loaded winter for gamers.

I have a confession to make: we never reviewed Bit.Trip BEAT when it released a few months ago, and it’s one of those things I keep kicking myself for. The game is one of my top 10 on the WiiWare service, if not better than that, and when I heard that there was going to be a series of these Bit.Trip games, I got just about as excited as when I heard the same thing about the Art Style games. The two series have a few things in common: they are minimalist in a way, but that doesn’t mean they skate around the things that help make a game complete. The music in the first was some excellent retro stuff that sounded even better if you were good at the game, and the visuals were ripped straight out of another era, but in a way that makes retro junkies like me smile. That’s on top of gameplay that was both‚  accessible to casual gamers and a challenge to your core crowd, all at at the same time.

That’s why I’m pleased to let you know that the second installment, Bit.Trip CORE, is going to be the 100th release on WiiWare on July 6. Start saving up those Nintendo Points, because if it’s anywhere near as fun as the first, you won’t regret your purchase. Check out some screens straight from the official site below, as well as a trailer for your viewing pleasure.