Retro/Grade Rocks the Galaxy’s Face Off, in Reverse

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Retro/Grade Rocks the Galaxy’s Face Off, in Reverse
Jeff Rubenstein Sr. Social Media Manager

We’ve featured Retro/Grade several times on the PlayStation.Blog over the past couple of years. And so, we know a lot about it: it’s a shooter, controlled with a guitar controller, in reverse. But before Fantastic Fest 2011, I had never seen someone actually play the thing. As a pretty experienced Rock Band-er, I thought I’d be able to jump in and kick some ass, but the reality is, my gaming brain had never been taxed in quite this way.

So we set up a camera for 24 Caret Games’ Matt Gilgenbach, clad in a hard hat, to show you how the game actually plays. He actually beats the game in the first 30 seconds, but that’s not an accident…

While at Fantastic Fest, Destructoid called it “a blast in the pants.” I agree (I think). Retro/Grade will be coming exclusively to PSN in 2012. Hold on to those plastic guitars.

fantastic festplaystation gamesretro/grade

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40 Comments

  • dilbig5
    September 28, 2011 at 10:08 am PDT

    Looks pretty cool. Too bad I suck at using guitar controls

    • Avatar photo
      Matt Gilgenbach
      September 28, 2011 at 10:38 am PDT

      You can play with a DualShock if you prefer. Retro/Grade has been designed from the very beginning to be equally fun with the DualShock and the guitar controller, so you aren’t missing out if you don’t want to play with a guitar.

  • D-Squad3
    September 28, 2011 at 10:10 am PDT

    Only if I played the guitar. lol

  • infamousXX87XX
    September 28, 2011 at 10:14 am PDT

    looks good

  • SyrupCakeEater
    September 28, 2011 at 10:24 am PDT

    Looks really interesting, hope there is a demo some time soon :). Looking forward to playing it.

  • Midgetguy
    September 28, 2011 at 10:24 am PDT

    I love games like this!

    The PS2 was awesome because of all of the really creative original music games that came out on it. (Parappa the Rapper 2, Gitaroo Man, Amplitude, Frequency, etc…)

    So far, the current generation has been lacking in terms of really creative, unique music/rhythm games… and this game is definitely a step in the right direction!

    Thank you for keeping the music game genre alive! I’m not a fan of guitar hero or rock band… and thankfully, this title is fresh enough to keep me happy!

    = )

  • Kirkpad
    September 28, 2011 at 10:33 am PDT

    Woah! 2012… how many years is that now?

    • Avatar photo
      Matt Gilgenbach
      September 28, 2011 at 10:39 am PDT

      Retro/Grade has been in development for around 3 years now. We have a small team (basically 3 people), so it’s taking us a while to put together the game, but it should be worth the wait.

  • mcbuttz78
    September 28, 2011 at 10:34 am PDT

    is the game longer than 30 seconds or less (lol). . Also will gamer with t he gh ,rock band with the banjo’s/ guitars oe w/e they are be able to use those items.? How will the controller layout work..

    • Avatar photo
      Matt Gilgenbach
      September 28, 2011 at 10:44 am PDT

      You just play with time moving forward for 30 seconds, and then time reverses, and the actual gameplay begins.

      You can play with any Playstation 3 guitar controller. With the guitar controller, the colored fret buttons move the ship to the corresponding space lane, strum un-fires your lasers, the whammy bar activates the Retro/Rocket, which is they undo thing, and tilting the guitar activates a score multiplier.

  • mcbuttz78
    September 28, 2011 at 10:35 am PDT

    sorry for the errors typos.?

  • Shin-Ra
    September 28, 2011 at 10:37 am PDT

    1080p 60fps MLAA

    You’re one of my heroes of graphical polish.

  • madecrazy
    September 28, 2011 at 10:45 am PDT

    @mcbuttz78 anything with a whammy bar and the four color string button things can play the game

  • JLP_M
    September 28, 2011 at 11:27 am PDT

    Holy crap, this game looks interesting. Hmm, 2012. I will def like to hear more of this game!

  • GibbShift
    September 28, 2011 at 12:05 pm PDT

    Absolutely digging the music. How much do those plastic guitars go for nowadays?

  • plaztiksyke
    September 28, 2011 at 12:34 pm PDT

    @9, I’m with you!

    @12, the music does sound awesome. will it be 24-bit and/or losslessly-compressed while playing in-game? we don’t want another Fret Nice on our hands, which had amusing gameplay and art, but TERRIBLE sounding MP3 assets.

    PS: 24-bit doesn’t just mean 16-bit but LOUD. we want decent dynamic range, especially for explosions, not just the top end!

  • fester420
    September 28, 2011 at 12:54 pm PDT

    Wow we first heard of this game on the blog about 2-3 years ago, I remember because I’ve been wondering if it was ever coming out.

  • Solid-Snake-Eyes
    September 28, 2011 at 1:01 pm PDT

    Real cool idea.

  • ROLO_ONFIRE
    September 28, 2011 at 1:29 pm PDT

    looks cool, hopefully there will be a demo

  • kebebasan
    September 28, 2011 at 2:50 pm PDT

    This looks really cool.

  • DARKKNIGHT_2518
    September 28, 2011 at 3:26 pm PDT

    Idk if this is the right type of game for me but ill look into it

  • NATURALGUY
    September 28, 2011 at 3:38 pm PDT

    What tv model is that one?
    i might get it if its cheap.

  • lyfestory
    September 28, 2011 at 4:18 pm PDT

    does look really cool, but since those music games were never my thing, its good to know ya don’t have to play it using the guitars… you’d probably limit sales that way as well, since a shooter game is a far cry from a music game… im happy there are still devs who are thinking outside the box as well as willing to still do side-scrolling 2d work… i’d like to see more adventure 2d side-scrolling games tho… like Magician Lord was to the NEO-GEO or the Ghosts N Goblins series or Wizards & Warriors… those were fun games…

  • TubaDude49
    September 28, 2011 at 4:29 pm PDT

    Been watching this one for quite some time, still love the Terms of Use for the PC demo.

    Any chance of being able to use the drum controller?

    • Avatar photo
      Matt Gilgenbach
      September 28, 2011 at 5:05 pm PDT

      I tried implementing drum controls, but it was extremely difficult to control, so we decided against supporting them. Maybe next game!

  • EvoAnubis
    September 28, 2011 at 5:00 pm PDT

    I saw you try to +1 this for G+, Jeff. It doesn’t work; it never has. I have no idea why. I’ve brought it up here a few times, and then kinda forgot about it.

  • LordRazen38
    September 28, 2011 at 6:34 pm PDT

    Are there any news on the DARK SOULS? Or you want to make it a surprise???

  • TubaDude49
    September 28, 2011 at 7:54 pm PDT

    As difficult as they might be to control, drums would be a nice alternative. I plan to pick it up either way, but would it really have to wait for the next game? I’m assuming since you got it up and running before it wouldn’t be to terribly hard to add it back in, or at least patch it later.

    Of course this is coming from someone who’s played Mega Man on a drum controller and actually enjoyed Donkey Konga. Just a thought. Keep up the good work

    • Avatar photo
      Matt Gilgenbach
      September 29, 2011 at 9:47 am PDT

      Sorry, what I meant was maybe our next game would be designed around using the drums to control it. I tried to come up with ways to make drum control fun for Retro/Grade, but I wasn’t satisfied with anything I came up with.

  • TubaDude49
    September 28, 2011 at 7:58 pm PDT

    Also, would the game recognize RB3 keyboards? Like having the keys shift the ship and the pitch modifier button fire? That would be cool.

    • Avatar photo
      Matt Gilgenbach
      September 29, 2011 at 9:49 am PDT

      I don’t have a Rock Band 3 keyboard, but I will investigate the feasibility of including support. It may not be possible because the controller communication code may be proprietary.

  • kiNG_AzRaeL
    September 28, 2011 at 8:25 pm PDT

    hey guys, just wanna ask why cant I make a new account for ps3? if I go to the psn sign up through the internet it says under maintenance, but if I go to the ps3 psn sign up, it wont let me make a new account, I tried all kinds of diferent names but it really wont let me make a new one, I even tried qwerty123 and other random names.. can anybody tell me the problem? thanks :)

  • K3ViNPwNz-
    September 28, 2011 at 9:45 pm PDT

    Where is uncharted 3 mp demo?

  • HGX-SSZ
    September 29, 2011 at 12:38 am PDT

    woooooo

  • fester420
    September 29, 2011 at 4:17 am PDT

    If you add 3D support I will buy it.

  • ODINGameslayer
    September 29, 2011 at 6:39 am PDT

    Ya know, if you’d told me about it, I wouldn’t have been interested. But after seeing it in action, I gotta say, it was pretty intriguing.

  • patrickmolling
    September 29, 2011 at 12:17 pm PDT

    Since you can use a dualshock I’m down.

  • NATURALGUY
    September 29, 2011 at 1:13 pm PDT

    Can someone please tell me what bravia model this tv is?

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