Trombone Champ Announcement Trailer

What’s important to note here is that, while the game is funny—and from its lootbox parodies to the animation to the over-use of the word “toot” it’s funny for all ages, a rarity—it’s also...pretty good?

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A lot of modern rhythm games go hard on trying to be more complex, faster. But Trombone Champ just wants you to move a mouse up and down the screen really fast while holding the left button down (or smashing the keyboard, which is easier, and also funny since the game lets you mash any letter key).

That’s it! I’ve played this game before, from Ouendan to Donkey Konga, and it’s the latter this whole thing most reminds me most of, from the entirely unserious premise, to the absurdity of smashing your way through a piece of beautiful classical music with the most obnoxious sounds imaginable.

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The only good lootbox
Gif: Trombone Champ

That’s fine because this system works, it’s solid and it’s fun. The appeal here doesn’t necessarily come from the gameplay itself, but the forever-running joke that you are playing these songs with a fucking trombone, and that the Mii-like characters are some of the funniest avatars I have ever seen in a video game.

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As far as console versions go, the developers say “further ports are possible but not currently planned.