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Trombone Champ is my new favourite rhythm game

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Discover the mysterious of the Trombiverse in Trombone Champ, a new hilarious rhythm game and absolutely now a clear favourite of mine. Come listen to me destroy it. Note: personal purchase.

Released on Steam on September 16th, the developer says it's "the world's first trombone-based rhythm music game. Unlike most music games, you can freely play any note at any time. You're not just following along with the music, you're actually playing the music".

I came across a lot of noise about it on Twitter, including a Valve developer giving it a go on Steam Deck. I thought it looked and sounded hilarious and so I just had to give this one a go myself with the gyro controls on Steam Deck and it's as completely ridiculous as you might think but it wouldn't take all that much practice to get really good at it I think.

Here's a video of me committing musical murder:

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Game Features:

  • Toot your way through over 20 tracks. The better you play, the more toots you earn!
  • Collect all 50 Tromboner Cards!
  • Baboons on nearly every screen!
  • Improvise and play whatever you want in Freeplay Mode!
  • Uncover the secrets of the Trombiverse and become the True Trombone Champ!
  • Absolutely zero microtransactions!
  • Playable with mouse and keyboard (recommended) or USB controllers (coming after launch)!
  • Appropriate for all ages!

It works great on Steam Deck out of the box and on my Fedora Linux desktop it worked just as well there with Proton 7 using mouse controls. Although for mouse controls, they're inverted by default which felt pretty terrible but thankfully in the settings they do let you put it normal which felt better. Overall though, I had far more fun with it on Steam Deck with gyro than I did on desktop.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. You can also follow my personal adventures on Bluesky.
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20 comments

const Sep 26, 2022
This replaced Aperture Desk Job as my showoff game for the Deck. It's just instant fun, both playing and looking over the shoulder.
I play even worse then Liam, but who cares?
brokeassben Sep 26, 2022
It's like Liam hates Canada. What did Canada do to you???


Last edited by brokeassben on 26 September 2022 at 12:37 pm UTC
AsciiWolf Sep 26, 2022
  • Supporter Plus
Seems to run great, but sadly another game that has no native port.
legluondunet Sep 26, 2022
Seems to run great, but sadly another game that has no native port.

It's not really a problem today for Linux users, thank you Wine.
Did you try to play old Linux native games?
It's a very difficult task to launch them on recent Linux distributions.
Today it's more easy to launch a Windows game on Linux than an old Linux native game.


Last edited by legluondunet on 26 September 2022 at 4:03 pm UTC
Corben Sep 26, 2022
And there is even a VR mod for it (in the works)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3mzQDQ-iiE


Last edited by Corben on 26 September 2022 at 2:22 pm UTC
anewson Sep 26, 2022
Liam I've contacted the Canadian Embassy in London, you'll be hearing from them shortly.
Purple Library Guy Sep 26, 2022
It's like Liam hates Canada. What did Canada do to you???
Speaking as a Canadian, I quite enjoyed his, um, tribute, to my country.
AsciiWolf Sep 26, 2022
  • Supporter Plus
Did you try to play old Linux native games?
It's a very difficult task to launch them on recent Linux distributions.
Today it's more easy to launch a Windows game on Linux than an old Linux native game.
It is not that bad. Usually, most of the issues are quite easy to solve. I play UT2004 natively on my Fedora 36, it is an out-of-box experience thanks to Luxtorpeda, but it was not that hard to get working even without using Luxtorpeda or Lutris - just copy new versions of some libs to the UT2004/System directory, then edit one line in UT2004 config file, at least if I remember correctly. Similar "tweaking" is also common on Windows and its gaming community. Sure, backward compatibility of Windows is sadly way better, but many games still need various tweaks and fixes to be able to run properly on latest versions of Windows.
const Sep 26, 2022
Did you try to play old Linux native games?
It's a very difficult task to launch them on recent Linux distributions.
Today it's more easy to launch a Windows game on Linux than an old Linux native game.
It is not that bad. Usually, most of the issues are quite easy to solve. I play UT2004 natively on my Fedora 36, it is an out-of-box experience thanks to Luxtorpeda, but it was not that hard to get working even without using Luxtorpeda or Lutris - just copy new versions of some libs to the UT2004/System directory, then edit one line in UT2004 config file, at least if I remember correctly. Similar "tweaking" is also common on Windows and its gaming community. Sure, backward compatibility of Windows is sadly way better, but many games still need various tweaks and fixes to be able to run properly on latest versions of Windows.
+ Click to view long quote

It's still an issue and one to project into the future.
If a new native game isn't explicitly build against a Steam Runtime or similar, problems will probably come up at some point since distributions are still not providing a solid platform.
For the moment, I'm quite happy with the native situation. We still see some of these and I'm under the impression, it's back to pre-proton numbers since the SteamDeck is making things happen. Current native releases are mostly very good, because they are done by the actual developers and because these want to. That's a serious plus. To again get big native releases - and this time proper ports that actually do better then wine - SteamOS based devices and their influence on big game engines are our only hope. Let's cross our fingers, but I won't hold my breath. Linux gaming has never shined brighter then now :)


Last edited by const on 26 September 2022 at 6:26 pm UTC
Philadelphus Sep 26, 2022
Stop, Liam! My sides can only take so much laughter! 😂 Not at your playing (I certainly wouldn't be any better), just at the entire inherently hilarious concept. It's funny because just this weekend I was idly musing about games being developed for the Deck where its gyroscope would be an important part of the game, and here one is!

This replaced Aperture Desk Job as my showoff game for the Deck. It's just instant fun, both playing and looking over the shoulder.
I may have to do this.
const Sep 26, 2022
Stop, Liam! My sides can only take so much laughter! 😂 Not at your playing (I certainly wouldn't be any better), just at the entire inherently hilarious concept. It's funny because just this weekend I was idly musing about games being developed for the Deck where its gyroscope would be an important part of the game, and here one is!

Ha, and I searched for a fun, super casual rhythmgame for the Deck for a while.
We played it with two people yesterday, just switching after every run and couldn't stop laughing :)
no_information_here Sep 26, 2022
It's like Liam hates Canada. What did Canada do to you???
Speaking as a Canadian, I quite enjoyed his, um, tribute, to my country.

Haha. It sounded exactly like how I sing the anthem!
Pengling Sep 27, 2022
Oh man, this was some funny viewing! I like a good rhythm-game every now and then so I'll definitely have to look into this one more!
Philadelphus Sep 27, 2022
I had to go and watch Liam's video again, I got that much enjoyment from it. Does anyone know if they happen to have plans for support for custom songs or multiplayer? 'cause that might be an insta-buy for me.
const Sep 27, 2022
I had to go and watch Liam's video again, I got that much enjoyment from it. Does anyone know if they happen to have plans for support for custom songs or multiplayer? 'cause that might be an insta-buy for me.

No idea about custom songs. I sure hope so. Had some fun with freeplay mode and spotify in the background. Found this might actually be a valid musical instrument. We sometimes have jam sessions in the house and I seriously consider hooking this up for it :D

I don't think real-time multiplayer is on the table because it would sound so horribly, it wasn't even fun any more. Turn-table multiplayer is really really great already. Maybe video could be streamed to a TV in larger groups so everyone can see what you are supposed to do and what crazy stuff is happening in the background.


Last edited by const on 27 September 2022 at 8:01 am UTC
Philadelphus Sep 27, 2022
You're telling me you don't want a four-part trombone ensemble playing along to the same song, perhaps with different parts? That sounds amazing!

Well, OK, with people's general skill level it would probably sound cacophonic. But I bet with the right people it'd be a rip-roaring raucous good time!
Purple Library Guy Sep 27, 2022
it would probably sound cacophonic.
As I recall, he played a lyre, not a trombone.
Philadelphus Sep 30, 2022
it would probably sound cacophonic.
As I recall, he played a lyre, not a trombone.
Wait, you're telling me trombones aren't just modern lyres?!?
Purple Library Guy Sep 30, 2022
it would probably sound cacophonic.
As I recall, he played a lyre, not a trombone.
Wait, you're telling me trombones aren't just modern lyres?!?
Apparently in organology (something I had never heard of before five minutes ago) lyres are part of the zither family.
Ahh, I just wanted to say "zither". Zither, zither, zither . . .
const Oct 7, 2022
it would probably sound cacophonic.
As I recall, he played a lyre, not a trombone.
Wait, you're telling me trombones aren't just modern lyres?!?
Apparently in organology (something I had never heard of before five minutes ago) lyres are part of the zither family.
Ahh, I just wanted to say "zither". Zither, zither, zither . . .
I remember a family trip to a tavern in the black forest where someone very very old played the zither, like super epic.


Last edited by const on 7 October 2022 at 1:01 pm UTC
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