Gitaroo Man and the Strange Occurence of Growing Up
Originally uploaded Mar. 6th, 2024.
The theme this time is in fact, legendary.
p>The game’s premise is simple. Press the corresponding face buttons when they pop up on screen, and use the left analog stick and the circle button to ride a path the game draws out for you to play a guitar riff, damaging your opponent.
And yet, the game is filled to the brim with charm it’s overwhelming.
2001’s Gitaroo Man is a darling, a precious gem. With a story just as maddening as its PS1 predecessors (i.e. NanaOn-Sha’s Parappa and Lammy), it provides a different angle to the rhythm game mix by being a little more than just that. It’s short (you can beat it in less than two hours), it’s got a simple story, it’s nonsensical, but… it’s got something else to it.
While Parappa has to believe and Lammy requests you to leave it to her, Gitaroo Man’s U-1 doesn’t want anything to do with you, or the game itself. U-1 is a loser, through and through. He’s whiny, he’s reluctant, he clams up when confronted, he panics, he’s insufferable…
But that’s the point.
Growing up is tough. As a kid, you don’t expect the world around you to change so quickly. One day, you’re lazing about on a weekend, without a care in the world. The next day, that world is ripped from you, and what you’re left with is unrecognizable and you’re expected to adapt or die.
So what do you do?
You fight back. You push back. You kick, you scream, you punch, you cause a fuss – especially at a younger age. It’s scary, lonely.
Gitaroo Man knows this feeling quite well. Aside from two tracks written to hammer in the game’s answer to the player, spliced intermittently between the game’s levels are drawings of U-1 and his canine companion, Puma. They’re joined by text meant to encourage the player and have them reflect on themselves. Most notable is the one that plays after the game’s intro, Soft Machine:
“The dreams I’ve abandoned couldn’t have come true. I have other dreams I haven’t given up on. They still shine bright. They still light my way.“
Gitaroo Man is a game in love with dreams, impossibilities, and possibilities. Impossible doesn’t have to be impossible. You can save a planet. You can talk to that person you like. You’re more than what you think you are. You just have to use all that damn strength in your well to answer the phone, because your dreams are calling.
And it rules. It hits an angle that other rhythm games – or games in general – aren’t trying to hit. It wants you to succeed, it wants you to achieve your dreams, and it wants you to realize that you aren’t a loser. Neither is U-1, wacky as he is. You guys are both going to be okay.
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