Viral hit Trombone Champ is being adapted for VR, thanks to Flat2VR Studios and original developer, Holy Wow Studios. Trombone Champ: Unflattened will adapt the toot-tooting gameplay of the original Trombone Champ, adapting 50 unique tracks into a virtual orchestra environment.
As you play through stages in Unflattened – in a new front-on view buoyed by audience support – you’ll unlock brand new trombones and trombone customisation options (you can spray-paint your instruments), while following a story “involving baboons and absurd, laugh-out-loud moments.”
“This game is more than just a rhythm game – it’s a trombone-powered rollercoaster of fun that will have you honking with joy,” Holy Wow said.
While this VR version has been rebuilt from the ground up, Unflattened certainly looks like it captures the pure, unfettered joy of the original Trombone Champ. This game became an unlikely hit in late 2022, with a combination of pandemic absurdity and the game’s addictive, funny tunes contributing to it being a wildly unexpected success for Holy Wow.
Read: Trombone Champ is the internet’s newest obsession
As of writing, Trombone Champ has achieved the rare Overwhelmingly Positive rating on Steam, with more than 8,000 reviews proclaiming its “fire” and silliness. Sometimes, all you need to make a great game is a sense of fun, and Trombone Champ brims with that by nature. In its toots and boops, it’s inherently very funny, and then you add a layer of challenge in replicating famous classical songs with those toots and boops.
A VR port for the game feels very appropriate, with its tromboning gameplay likely to adapt well to this virtual format. By slightly tweaking the game’s musical tracks to run front on, players can also well-embody the feeling of being a concert trombonist, with an audience ready to heap praise on their performance.
At this stage, Trombone Champ: Unflattened is set to hit VR devices, including the Meta Quest and PlayStation VR2 (as well as support in SteamVR), in Spring 2024 [Southern Hemisphere]. Updates are likely to arrive over the coming months, so keep an eye on the Flat2VR Studios website for more information. The big toot is just over the horizon.
