Groove Coaster

This iOS rhythm game was developed by the Taito team behind Space Invaders Infinity Gene.

Released: 28 July 2011
Platforms: iOS
Genres: Rhythm
Developers: Degica Games Taito
Publishers: Taito
Perspective: Auditory
Themes: Action

About

Groove Coaster (Japanese: グルーヴコースター, Hepburn: Gurūvu Kōsutā) is a series of iOS / Android and arcade rhythm game franchise developed by Matrix Software and published by Taito. The first Groove Coaster was released for iOS on July 28, 2011. The game follows a musical roller coaster-type track on screen, where players must make the appropriate controller inputs. Like many rhythm games, a life bar is attached to the gameplay. Depending on the input timing, players gain or lose points on the long percentage bar at the top-right of the screen.

Keywords

abstract
music and rhythm
ranking system
original soundtrack release
downloadable content
leaderboard
unlockable difficulty level
in-app purchases

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

When the avatar reaches the target, input the command that the target requires. After a target is hit, a judgment is received, from the highest to lowest: GREAT, COOL, GOOD and MISS, depending on the timing of hitting the target. GREAT, COOL and GOOD fill the GROOVE gauge on the top of the screen, while MISS depletes it (Starting from 4SR, the FAST or SLOW is displayed on the top-right of the avatar, if COOL and GOOD is received). The player is required to fill up at least 70% of the GROOVE gauge to clear the stage (the gauge will flash in white in iOS version, yellow in arcade version) when the song ends, otherwise fails it.

When the target is hit, the target triggers a sound sample that recomposes or accompanies the song, or is a consistent sound for every target hit, depending on the song; these samples are consistent across all difficulties for the former. However, in Groove Coaster: Wai Wai Party!!!!, targets will always play a consistent sound when hit, with different sounds for different target types, which can be configured by style and/or volume.

Reception

The original, mobile version of the game had a Metacritic rating of 87% based on 21 critic reviews.

SlideToPlay said "We don't know what Space Invaders are doing in a rhythm game, but we like it." IGN wrote "Nearly perfect. The music is great. The visuals are great.