‘RIKI 8Bit GAME Collection’ Plays & Revels in Powerful Chiptunes

RIKI 8Bit GAME Collection lets you play games and dance as it pumps out an array of upbeat, catchy chiptune tracks from some great artists.

This collection is a celebration of chiptune music that gives you an array of means of enjoying its many great tracks. For starters, it contains two minigames that, while simple, will keep you busy moving along to their music. Kira Kira Star Night sees players wandering through an array of cityscapes as they try to collect falling stars that tumble down at them. Jumping is a bit of a commitment, though, so you will need to aim your leaps (or bounce them off of the side of the screen) with some care. Astro Ninja Man DX needs players to lead a small ninja around the bottom of the screen to return fire at planetary invaders without getting hit yourself. It’s straightforward, but dodging fire from entire hostile planets gets challenging fast.

The other three parts of this collection are a series of chiptune albums from famous artists like Manami Matsumae (who composed tracks for Mega Man, some for Shovel Knight, and more), Yuzo Koshiro (who worked on Actraiser, Streets of Rage, and others), and many more. You can play through dozens of great tracks by all of these artists in charming music player that will let you turn music channels on or off to see what the track sounds like with only certain elements playing. You can also play with a small dancing character as the tunes play if you want to move along to the beat in-game. I loved being able to tinker with how these tracks sounded, and as someone who digs the musical style, there are just a ton of great songs to listen to.

RIKI 8Bit GAME Collection is a bit simple in its gameplay (but can be really challenging if you want to commit to doing well), but the music alone, and the cool music player that lets you play around with it, makes this a catchy collection for chiptune lovers.

RIKI 8Bit GAME Collection is available now on the Nintendo eShop.

About The Author

Joel Couture

Joel has been covering indie games for various sites including IndieGames.com, Siliconera, Gamasutra, Warp Door, CG Magazine, and more over the past seven years, and has written book-length studies on Undertale and P.T.. Joel is constantly on the lookout for digital experiences that push the boundaries of what games can be, and seeks to delve into the creative process, meanings, and emotion labor that goes into the work of artists worldwide.