One of these compilations is not like the other.

Just a quick note I wanted to include about this review before you get into the meat of it. What I'm reviewing is the compilation of all six titles, and not the titles themselves. The Bit.Trip series as a whole is great, and you should totally play them all. I'm not too keen on Void, but even that one has some merit. At Gaming-Age I think we only did reviews for Core and Void. I gave Core an A-, and Aaron gave Void a B-, with both of the scores still being valid. What I'm basing my scores off of for this review is what you're getting in the package, and how well the ports/new stuff is handled.

The Bit.Trip series of WiiWare titles has remained one of the most popular series on the service since Bit.Trip Beat was introduced back in 2009. Now we've got a compilation of all six games, available on the Wii and 3DS. The Wii set, dubbed Bit.Trip Complete, has a bigger set of features than the 3DS port and ends up being the best of the two. You get all six games, which would run you 4200 points, equating to just a little over forty bucks. That's what the disc version is going to run too, but you get a soundtrack CD included in the box, 20 new challenge stages for each game, and online leaderboards too. The leaderboards are a little bit of a cop out, since you're still only inputting your initials, but it's still better than competing against yourself.

Of course, the 3DS version does have that whole 3D thing going for it, which you would think would be great for these games, but it really isn't. The 3D for most of the titles is more distracting than helpful, and dampens the performance of the titles with a drop in framerate. It doesn't make them unplayable, I can run through all six with 3D on or off and pretty much compensate for the difference, but if you've been playing the games on WiiWare for a while I can imagine it'll screw up your rhythm quite a bit.

If you're not familiar with the series, then you should consider picking up one of these two compilations. Developed by Gaijin Games, each Bit.Trip title features Commander Video as the mascot character. Every game looks simple on the surface, making use of a graphical style that's reminiscent of Atari 2600 and 7800, an era that doesn't tend to get mimicked a lot when people make "old" new games. The music side of the game is where the real magic is, featuring a number of super catchy chip-tune beats and bloops, some of which are composed by notable chip-tune musicians like Nullsleep and Anamanaguchi.

Each game, outside of Flux and Beat, are also vastly different from one another. The underlying mechanics are generally the same, it's all about timing and reflexes, but the overlay for the gameplay is unique. Beat resembles Pong, Runner is like a number of flash games that feature forced running with timed jumps, Fate takes its cue from bullet-hell style shooters, and so on. Each game is unique, but the mechanics featured in most are generally lifted from other genres or noteworthy classics.

Bit.Trip Saga, the 3DS set, is certainly disappointing in that it's more of a bare bones grouping of the titles as opposed to the Wii compilation. Also missing from the Wii compilation is the unlockable content, which features artwork, video, sounds, and letters that flesh out the underlying story for each game. I'm surprised none of these additions made it into the 3DS set, and the drop in framerate plus the lack of clarity when in 3D mode is kind of a bummer overall.

Bit.Trip Complete feels pretty much spot on to the WiiWare releases, but with bonus content to give previous players some incentive to buy it. Is it enough of an incentive to re-buy if you already own all six games? I don't think so. But it's certainly the best option out there for people that are new to the series.

To sum it up, skip the 3DS version and go straight to the Wii compilation. If you're dying to play these games on the go, then stick to the 2D at least. And if you own all six titles through WiiWare already, I don't think there's enough extra content present that warrants buying all six titles again. But again, all six games are worth playing, and if you haven't played them yet, then do yourself a favor and pick up one of these sets.

Complete (Wii): B Saga (3DS): C