Beatblock

Someone turned Undertale’s Undyne fight into a rhythm game and I kinda dig it.

Beatblock is a very simple rhythm game. Notes move towards your character, Cranky, and you have to hold your paddle out to catch them. You can wiggle the mouse around the screen to point Cranky’s paddle towards it, and as long as the notes collide with the paddle, you score points*.

There are 5 note types.

• Default Catch/Hold notes. Put the paddle in front of them and you’re good. For holds usually you have to make sure the paddle follows the hold body, but some more difficult charts may turn “hold leniency” on, which means you only have to be over the hold when the circular “ticks” hit the paddle.
• Mines. These are fully black and spiky looking, and you have to make sure that these don’t hit the paddle. This is also the only game I’ve seen with super cursed looking ＬＯＮＧＭＩＮＥＳ.
• Side Notes. Invented by Huxley J. Sidenote, who realized he was about to miss a note, and hit it with the side of his paddle, these bar-shaped notes have to be slammed into on the side instead of caught by the middle of your paddle. (“Ranked as the Most Popular Note in Beatblocker’s Magazine” my ass, these notes suck to play lol)
• Reversers. The hardest note type to read, these diamonds come in from behind Cranky, and must be caught on the inside of the paddle after crossing over the center of the screen.
• Bounce Notes. These triangle notes have to be caught multiple times, with a little arrow showing which direction (if any) that they will move once you start catching them.

There are also taps and tap notes, which is a modifier that can go on any other note (except mines), or appear on their own as concentric circles. When these reach cranky, you have to tap the X or Z button to catch them properly. Do be aware that you can “tap” hold tails by releasing the button as well, which is useful for more difficult songs and customs.

I need to talk about this game’s style. Cranky is such an adorable little bean of a character, all the more so if you use the beetle antennae skin (which is objectively the best one), and he’s so charming and expressive. When you’re doing well his usually neutral ( I I ) face turns into a happy ( ^^ ) one, and if you miss a note, he’ll panic with a cute lil ( OO’) face, some charts even set his expression to different ones for added chart value. For example in Rhythmic Shield there is a section of the chart with lots of fast spins where Cranky makes a ( >< ) face to get through it.

The song choice is pretty well done and varied, though most of the charts before reaching “Challenge” and “Extras” focus only on a single note type. Naturally that limitation doesn’t hold for the game’s customs, which are all up on the Steam Workshop for anyone to download and play. There is an in-game editor with a lot of tools and features, including a full fragment shader system to allow for some very extreme visual effects. (Charts with these effects have a seizure warning banner before you start them don’t worry.)

* The game runs on an accuracy system rather than a points system, and only actually counts how many notes you miss, not which ones you hit.

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3045200 £12.79
Itch.io: https://bubbletabby.itch.io/beatblock Free Demo