BIT.TRIP Presents… Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien (NSP, XCI) ROM

Bit.Trip Presents… Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien, generally shortened as Runner2, is a 2013 side-scrolling platformer developed by Gaijin Games. The game is the direct sequel to Bit. Trip Runner has been released as a downloadable title available on the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, and Wii U consoles, Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, and iOS, as well as PlayStation 4 in 2016 and Nintendo Switch in 2024. The PC, Mac, Linux, and Wii U versions were self-published by Gaijin Games, and the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions were published by Aksys Games. Cutscenes and menus are narrated by Charles Martinet.

While Runner2 has a lot in common with its predecessor, its polygonal graphics mark a significant departure from past entries in the Bit. Trip series. In an interview with Push Square, Gaijin Games co-founder Mike Roush cited the studio’s urge to “spread its wings a bit” as the inspiration behind the change. Runner2 has been well-received by video game critics. A sequel, Runner3, was released in 2018 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PC.

GAMEPLAY

Runner2 is divided into five themed worlds, each with fourteen regular levels and five bonus stages for a total of ninety-five. The goal of each level is to guide the chosen character to the end of the level without striking an obstacle or falling off the screen. The character runs automatically, and to arrive safely at the finish, the player must perform various simple actions such as jumping, sliding, and kicking, as well as more complex moves including hanging from rails, deflecting projectiles with a shield, and slide-kicking.

Most obstacles require the player to perform one specific action to survive—jumping over ground-based enemies, sliding under hovering enemies or fireballs (which fly at head height), kicking stop-sign walls—although the player can either deflect the square “beat” blocks to earn points or simply slide under them. If the player hits an obstacle (including failing to jump and thus running into a wall) or falls off the screen, the game rewinds to the beginning of the level.

Runner2 introduces checkpoints halfway through normal levels and after each phase of a boss level; if the player suffers a “bonk” after hitting a checkpoint, the game rewinds to that checkpoint. The game has very mild penalties for failure: it does not track lives, so the player can fail a level as many times as necessary to beat it. It does reset the rewound area, so the player must collect gold bars and mode upgrades again, and it does track the total number of player bonks and the ratio of bonks to level completions, though this only affects players curious enough to look at the stats page.

Although it shares the auto-running style of its predecessor, the game also boasts several new features. There’s a glide move that enables the character to travel further while jumping, a loop-the-loop that challenges the player to twirl their analog stick in tandem with the character’s placement on the circle, diamond-shaped structures that task the player with pressing buttons at the correct time, and a dance move.

The glide move proves necessary to make many of the game’s jumps. The loop-the-loop and diamond structures simply award players bonus points for good timing, with no way to suffer a hit. Dancing earns the player bonus points but causes the character to ignore other inputs, such as jumping and ducking, for the approximately half-second the dance animation takes, meaning the player must carefully time their dancing to maximize points while not crashing into obstacles.

As noted above, the game also introduces checkpoints at the halfway mark of each level. These take the form of crossbars which the player may run into, allowing them to continue at that point rather than the beginning of the level, or jump over, which does not set the rewind marker but does award bonus points.

If a player manages to gather every gold bar and mode upgrade in a level, they’re provided a chance to shoot the character into a large target from a cannon. The closer the character lands to the center, the more points the player receives. Hitting the bulls-eye earns the player a Perfect+ ranking for the level, the goal of some of the in-game challenges as well as achievements or trophies.