But yesterday Sony finally released the game here as a download on the PS3 and Vita (a PS4 version is expected later, though no date has been announced).įor $5.99 I was able to experience a 15-year-old game as if it were brand new. As a high school student, I never managed to scrounge together the cash to spend $100 or more on an import copy. Vib-Ribbon first launched in Japan, followed by Europe, but never made its way to North America in any official capacity. Parappa was followed by UmJammer Lammy in 1999, a game about a guitar-playing lamb, and Vib-Ribbon came out later that year - but not for everyone. Released in 1996 on the original PlayStation, the weird game about a rapping dog helped pioneer the concept of fusing gameplay and music, paving the way for games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Vib-Ribbon is the brainchild of Masaya Matsuura, a designer best known for his wildly influential rhythm game Parappa the Rapper. It's something I'd been waiting more than a decade to experience. I played levels multiple times, just to hear a song again, and when I did really good the rabbit danced for me. I stayed up until 1:00AM last night guiding a wireframe rabbit through a black-and-white world while listening to quirky Japanese pop music.