The Bit.Trip series of video games has long celebrated all things retro. The stark neon visuals and symphony of bleeps could almost have come straight from the 1980s, while the gameplay – always intense and based on high scoring – unashamedly delights in an affinity with the past.
Bit.Trip Saga, also released as Bit.Trip Complete on the Wii, brings six games from the series to the 3DS. Previously available as separate downloads across numerous gaming platforms, here they are converted to 3D for Nintendo's portable, and each title is handled with a great degree of success.
All six games, each a test of reaction, are minimalist and abstract, and charge the player with quickly manipulating esoteric forms in various ways. While they won't appeal to those with a taste for realism or elaborate gameworlds, for players interested in more instinctive thrills, the Bit.Trip games' precise fusion of rhythm, colour and movement make for a tremendous distraction for retro gaming fetishists.
