One of the games North America missed out on during the PSOne era is Vib-Ribbon. The title was developed by NanaOn-Sha (think PaRappa the Rapper) and in Vib-Ribbon players guide a wireframe rabbit through a 2D obstacle course with timed button presses. What made Vib-Ribbon special is it can generate new levels by using regular music CDs. The PSOne game is long past overdue, but there is a possibility that NanaOn-Sha isn’t done with Vib-Ribbon.
Gamasutra: Vib Ribbon was one of the first games to exploit a custom soundtrack option, and seems like a game that would be well suited to some kind of download service, such as the ones offered by the new consoles. Any chance of seeing such a project?
Masaya Matsuura: Yes, possibly. Rhythmica is a very similar idea to Vib Ribbon — it’s about analyzing audio and creating a game from that data, but it uses MP3 audio instead of CDs. We are discussing the possibility of making a downloadable version of Vib Ribbon for Sony. But, I don’t know yet – Sony only recently launched their downloadable service in Japan, so maybe we need to wait a while before releasing a title with that kind of appeal.
It would be easy for NanaOn-Sha to sell Vib-Ribbon in the Playstation Store as a downloadable PSOne title, but the quote suggests Vib-Ribbon might get a remake. If NanaOn-Sha works on a remake to Vib-Ribbon I hope they add in MP3 support and a way to save/share levels that you create.
