Rhythm games live and die by their rhythmic charts and their aesthetic and Tiny Jukebox is a small indie rhythm game with a tiny USP. The game comes with 72 songs but each song is only ten seconds long. Can you survive them all back to back in the ultimate challenge? Its surprisingly addicitive.
Tiny Jukebox follows the Dance Dance Revolution style of rhythm games. Four directional arrows scrolling down a 2D screen. Very rarely (if ever) do multiple arrows need to be pressed together. Instead, you’ll use WASD or the arrow keys to walk around rhythm charts to match the melody or beat. Tiny Jukebox is often melody first and each of the ten second songs is designed like a TV insert jingle or a YouTube outro theme. Usually you’ll get some power chords with a bouncy overture and a strong beat that most 16-bit chiptune artists would be proud of. We wander into chiprock, techno and lo-fi chill too. The soundtrack is created from the excellent Grizzly Cogs whom I’ve followed on Bandcamp for years and this soundtrack is a triumph in tiny music motif making.
Whilst the game has tiny ambitions, its very well designed. The 72 tracks are split into three themes according to the their main genres and then inside those 24 tracks per level, you’ll get them fired at you in a randomised order. Conquering the batches of levels tees you up for the whole 72 track run back to back. The challenge comes from being exacting. Press an incorrect button or miss an arrow entirely and you’ll lose a heart. You only have four but at the start of each track you gain one heart back again. Some levels have a flowing dance to them that require speed and precision and its surviving those that are key. Also, don’t panic. Spam a button and you’ll be out right away.
Simple, concise and appropriately priced to match its scope, Tiny Jukebox is a great low risk purchase for any rhythm action fan. The chiptune soundtrack is fantastic and the whole game just flows effortlessly. Yes, you may be able to clear the whole thing in well under an hour but if I fancy an interactive chiptune party, I can see myself returning back to Tiny Jukebox to enjoy it again in the future.
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