Note: The developer updated the game to address the two biggest complaints I had with this game. I have updated this review to reflect this.

I'll start off with the negative. Often when I read reviews about a game, I want to know what's wrong with it first and foremost, so that's what i'll provide.

This game has a few technical problems. There is only one lag compensation setting, forcing you to synch the game to line up visually or line up audibly, just like the original Guitar Hero game on the PS2. Guitar Hero 2, a game released in 2006, had a separate compensation value for the video and audio to account for each device having separate latencies. It's frustrating that a rhythm game released this year has overlooked a problem that its influences have already solved. Additionally, on Windows 10, closing the game crashes it. Some process related to the game remains open, causing steam to track additional playtime for it. If you're on the fence about keeping this game and are a part of the 30%+ people on Steam that use Windows 10, be aware that this bug may cause you to run over the 2 hour window for returns.

The interface isn't perfect. Many rhythm games will give you a preview of the song you've selected when you highlight it in the track list, but this game keeps playing the menu music for you. It can make it a little harder to find the songs you like.

On to what's good!

The developers read my review and took into consideration my feedback, as well as the feedback of others. A patch came out addressing some major issues within 36 hours of this review, which buys them a lot of respect in my book. It's a sign that they care and weren't just looking to dump a game on Steam and never touch it again, as some other Indie devs often do. To be perfectly honest, I am waiting for another patch or two before I personally re-invest in this title. But the soundtrack is quite nice (i've listened to it outside of the game), and reports from other users suggest that the changes to note timing have made the game much more fun to play. I think this warrants a purchase and would recommend this title if you like rhythm games and chiptunes.

I fully anticipate that i'll have to continue to update this review to reflect changes made by the developer. When I re-invest in the title myself, i'll be able to talk more objectively about what I enjoy in the game.

As someone who has an MP3 player full of chiptunes, this game immediately grabbed my interest. After doing a little digging around (there are only like... 3 youtube reviews; the game released today), I decided to take the plunge and purchase the game.

So what is it?

Chiptune Champion is a Guitar Hero clone that exclusively uses chiptunes for the tracks you play to. Being a kid from the 80s, the music definitely brought back memories of summer vacations spent on the NES and Gameboy. There's a wide selection of music to choose from the outset, and the ability to create your own tracks in the track editor or download tracks from the Steam Workshop gives this game the huge potential for massive replayability.

So that's the good part.

The bad part is the control scheme. What Chiptune Champion wants you to do is take your keyboard and hold it like a guitar. The 1-5 buttons are used for the "strings" while the enter and shift are used for the strum bar. Holy smokes is that unintuitive.
It took my wife asking me what I was doing to the keyboard to convince me to go down into the basement looking for one of my old Guitar Hero controllers. And surprisingly, it worked.
While there is no ability to use a guitar controller from inside the game, downloading a free program like JoyToKey will allow you to map the game's controls to the buttons on your guitar, making the control scheme infinitely better and nearly identical to playing Guitar Hero or Rockband.

So do I recommend the game? Yeah, but only if you have a guitar controller that is compatible with your PC. The game is pretty fun and the music is great. The controls could use a little work and hopefully the game will eventually support an in-game guitar control scheme instead of players needing to use a third party.

A fun game with tons of great songs. I wish there was more rhythm based games on steam.

<<<the margin of error has now been fixed in a new update>>>

Something thats annoying is that the margin of error is so small, even if it looks like you are hitting the notes, you get a miss, there should be an option to change that margin but kick you from using the leaderboard.

Very fun game with built in workshop and level editor support :thumbs: - I swapped the default note keys out from 1 2 3 4 5 to Z X C V B.

Oh and also awesome music :D

Chiptune Champion is a rhythm game that fully takes gameplay from games like Guitar Hero, but has retro design and ubiquitous 8bit chiptunes.

There are two mods: Strum mode for those who want to experience it in Guitar Hero style, and tap mode for those who rather prefer the StepMania gameplay. Those two mods are further deepened by three difficulties, with rookie really friendly for new players without built reflexes - if you are new to the genre, you'll definitely have to start there. Other two difficulties expect some training from you, but beating songs on higher difficulty is mentally rewarding.

There are many 8bit chiptune songs (about 40) and if that's not enough for you, there is the track editor and Steam workshop support! You can already find there, for example, tracks from Sonic the Hedgehog, or for true internet connoisseurs there is John Cena's theme in 8bit ready. Due to possible copyright problems, you have to download the mp3 songs externally and then link them with proper note file in-game, but that small bother is worth for the result.

Only one thing I didn't like about Chiptune Champion is the resolution scaling. You can play only in windowed mode or on scaled fullscreen with black borders around. Otherwise it's definitely nice indie game that brought me many years back when I was playing Guitar Hero III and wanted to crush my keyboard.


Disclaimer: My copy of Chiptune Champion was obtained for free - I won the game in a giveaway that might have been sponsored by the developer. This fact hasn't changed my opinion about the game (and the review) in any way.

Note: I originally posted this review as "not recommended" but immediately decided that isn't fair to the developers. The game, for whatever reason, gave me a horrible headache and had the room literally spinning for about 20 minutes, after an hour of gameplay. This issue doesn't seem to be widespread, but keep it in mind if you have any motion sickness issues with games. Text review continues below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoDQKi6RlDk

This is basically Chiptune Guitar Hero, played with your keyboard. The music is great, and the interface (while extremely limited) works well. The controls are customizable, but on default you're using 1-5 (1-4 on easy) for what would be the colored buttons on the guitar if you were playing GH. It took some getting used to, and I found it difficult to get back on track when I flubbed once, but I don't think the controls could be any better. With more playtime I'm sure it would feel 100% natural.

Unfortunately I won't be playing the game anymore, but if you aren't sensitive to visual issues like I discussed in the opening, then give the game a shot.

Good idea, poor execution.

There is no actual fullscreen. You can only scale it up 2 or 3 times and then there is a giant black border around the entire game.

There is no automatic sound/monitor syncing, you have to exit out to the main menu, go into settings, and manually enter a number between -100 and 100, then go back into a level and try again.

The game uses prerecorded audio tracks rather than playing the notes live as they are pressed. Better for low-end computers, but it causes the gameplay to suffer. If you miss a note, the music continues to play, you just hear an annoying sound that the note was missed. It should not play the music if you miss the note. Worse yet, the music and the notes occasionally desync, because the notes were just placed there by someone who thinks that is where the music plays at, not EXACTLY where the music plays at.

There does not seem to be any progression, not even a tutorial. You can pick any song and the difficulty does not go up as you play the next song available. The next song is sometimes MUCH easier than the previous.

There probably should be 4 difficulty levels, not 3.

Difficulty level 1 would be 3 notes playable and few notes of the song show up.
Difficulty level 2 would be 4 notes playable.
Difficulty level 3 would be 5 notes playable.
Difficulty level 4 would be 5 notes playable and all the notes of the song show up.

That would be better for personal progression of getting better at the game. Those who have never played a music rythm game like this will most likely be overwhelmed by 4 notes at the current easiest difficulty.

Full disclosure: A review copy of the game was provided by the developer.

https://youtu.be/vxwDn6WenyY

Pros:
-Competent guitar hero clone
-40 songs
-You can import any song to make a custom track

Cons:
-Default control scheme is awkward.

I always wanted a Guitar Hero game on PC, but we got something even better. The level editor and workshop support is great. I play with a 360 Guitar Hero controller using Xpadder and it works flawlessly.

If you like Guitar Hero, get this game. Even better if you have a Guitar Hero controller.

200h+ and every achievement. Guess I like it?