PSBlog Feed Feel the Beat in Jungle Rumble, Swinging Soon to PS Vita

[Commander Fury]

We are stoked to announce that our rhythm game sensation, Jungle Rumble: Freedom, Happiness, and Bananas is coming to PS Vita very soon! We are adding more monkeys, more beats, and more bedlam. This is bananas!

What’s Jungle Rumble? The player drums to control a tribe of monkeys. A rival tribe invades to steal bananas. The player sends monkey minions into the fray by drumming on the screen. It’s the world’s craziest rhythm game.

Using the PS Vita’s touch screen to tap along to the beat of the jungle, players drum on monkeys and then drum on trees to have their simian soldiers swing through the trees. Drum on coconuts and then drum on enemies to throw those coconuts with rhythmic flair. The player jaunts through the jungle with a rhythmic grammar. Unlike a traditional rhythm game there is no script to follow—in Jungle Rumble drumming controls the game.

As the game evolves, the questions pile up. Why would that tribe invade and shatter the peace in the jungle? What would cause them to risk war?

Jungle Rumble features a dynamic soundtrack — as more and more monkeys team up, the music swells with intensity. As more coconuts are grabbed, the beats bang bigger. Make a mistake? The music stops and the quiet is palpable.

For PS Vita we are expanding the game with some bright, shiny things.

• ‌New tutorial. Being a quite different control mechanic, the game explains how to play. We have playtested with (literally) thousands of con-going types in the Indie Megabooth at PAX, next to the Heian Shrine at BitSummit in Kyoto, and wherever else they let Disco Pixel set up shop. We watch what trips new players up. Then we fix it. We want you to love this as much as we do.
• More levels. We have expanded the game with bonus levels exploring the “hot step”, a way for monkeys to speed through the jungle. More levels, more medals to earn, more achievements.
• Badder beats. This is a rhythm game. More music. Hot stuff.
• Stay tuned for more!

What does it look like? Like

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Who am I? The first game I made was a Dreamcast launch title: NBA 2K. That’s not actually true. The first game I made was a Vic 20 text adventure: Knight Pirates. (Hey, I was 8.) It just took 15 more years for somebody to actually pay me to do it. After a decade of keeping the dev kits burning I ditched the world of AAA console games, big teams, and stable paychecks to go indie. That is a long time to spend making video games—I’m still waiting to find out the catch.

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