Game developers are really tooting their own horn today.
The freshly blown out “Trombone Champ” — a humorous take on the successful “Guitar Hero” franchise exclusively using the titular brass — has rapidly become a player’s favorite with many already calling it game of the year, dethroning Wordle for good.
Using a Wii villager look-alike as a musician, now you can “toot your way through over 20 tracks” ranging from classical Beethoven to crowd favorites like “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”
“The better you play, the more toots you earn!” boasts the PC game (a Mac release is being looked into), which launched for $15 on Steam Sept. 15.
While players earn coveted points for hitting the music on the head like in its precursor games, many play to get the songs wrong on purpose since there’s an equal satisfaction in hearing the trombone squeak silly and sour notes.
“It’s a joke first and a game second,” the game’s “surprised and happy” creator Dan Vecchitto told the Guardian. “I don’t know why there’s not more comedy in games, because games can be so funny.”
“I was kind of concerned that other people wouldn’t get it,” he added of the game that features 50 “tromboner cards” and “baboons on nearly every screen.”
Nevertheless, Vecchitto is sitting on symphonic gold with “Trombone Champ” as major brands such as Skittles and fans alike are tweeting about his creation — one that does anything but blow smoke to devoted players.
“Game of the year has been set in stone,” tweeted @PNDMustard.
One woman wants to see “O Canada” played on the game ahead of the Ottawa Senators hockey games.
“Petition to have people playing o Canada on trombone champ instead of people singing at sens home games,” tweeted @missbriannie.
That’s not the only Canadian connection to “Trombone Champ.” Twitter user Matt Eason shared a clip of Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” being played to a montage of “Titanic” clips.
A game controller designer, known online as Rudeism has already created a “trombone controller” from an ultrasonic sensor for the musical masterpiece.
“Unfortunately the sensor doesn’t reach as far as I’d like it to. Gonna work on that for version 2.0, I’ve got some ideas,” he tweeted.
One player, @Raicuparta has modded the game for virtual reality, calling it “even more immersive” that way.
“You really *feel* like trombone champ.”