Harmonix, the studio behind Rock Band, Dance Central, and the original Guitar Hero games, has decided to bring its musical style to the Nintendo Switch. Today Harmonix revealed a new game named Super Beat Sports, a collection of 5 musical sports mini-games that will only be available on Nintendo's console.
Super Beat Sports' premise involves an alien invasion from a musical dimension. The aliens seem to have grown obsessed with Earth's sports and so they've challenged Earth's hero, Lil Slugger, to compete in five different sports competitions. These aren't the sports that most people would recognize, though, as the aliens have recreated them to suit their own musical aesthetics.
Lil Slugger will be able to unlock new "friends and family,"avatars in-game, by completing different tiers of levels and challenges. Earning the gold medal in each tier will unlock the next, as well as a new song. It's an intuitive progression, with more challenging tiers of content adding more complex music.
As for Super Beat Sports' five different mini-games, they are Whacky Bat, Buddy Ball, Rhythm Racket, Net Ball, and Gobble Golf. They are themed after baseball, tennis, hockey, volleyball, and golf, respectively.
In some ways, it is like a musical version of Fusion Frenzy. Each sport is unique, but all revolve around swinging an object at the ball -- as the pun in Super Beat Sports' title implies. Each character seems to have their own bat, guitar, racquet, etc. It doesn't seem like customization is included, but it's best not write it off just yet.
Here are short descriptions for each of Super Beat Sports' five mini-games:
- Whacky Bat: Dash between lanes and time your swings to return pitches and knock out alien opponents.
- Buddy Ball: A competitive mini-game where a ball bounces between aliens and players at variable speeds, where missing can make the difference between winning or losing.
- Rhythm Racket: Another competitive multiplayer mode, players protect their goals from the puck as it rhythmically ricochets around the top-down arena.
- Net Ball: A ball volleys back and forth over a net, with the rhythm growing increasingly difficult each serve.
- Gobble Golf: Players memorize a musical pattern and then must swing in time as aliens pop out of the ground in the distance.
This is a smaller project from Harmonix compared to some of its past work, part of the studio's shift towards games that require less risky investments. Super Beat Sports might be a perfect party game to share with friends or a fun musical way to relax if you take your Switch on your commute. Stay tuned for more information on Super Beat Sports in the weeks ahead.
Super Beat Sports releases early fall exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.