If you haven’t noticed, all of our hearts over at PC Gamer have turned trombone shaped over Trombone Champ (opens in new tab). This indie is just oozing charm with its trombone rhythm action, bum notes, and plenty of baboons. These oddities have delivered a fun tromboning experience with laugh out loud moments that skyrocketed the game to viral fame.
It’s always great to see an indie capture the attention of so many. We even got to have a chat with the brains behind this one to find out the important questions, like why, and also why, and what’s with the Baboons. (opens in new tab) While overall excellent this game has always had a slight problem – it would be perfect for VR.
To play the game, you move the mouse forward and backwards to mimic moving the slide of a trombone. Depending on the position of the slide, you’ll make different notes so you want to line these up with the incoming prompts. It’s essentially a rhythm game, but the lack of precise options and the trombone’s natural hilarity as an instrument make it extra special.
As someone who toyed with the bone in high school, it’s actually not that different to a real trombone. It doesn’t have the same positions, lacks the need for mouth input, and you can’t dump your spit valve out on the guy one seat in front of you in the band. So of course, it’s also not the same, but it’s close enough, especially for this fun video game. This becomes even more apparent with this excellent looking VR mod.
Raicuparta on Twitter (opens in new tab) is a self-confessed big fan of bringing VR to games that never asked for it, and has recently turned their talents to Trombone Champ. For this one example, I’d just like to say we were all asking this time, and thank you.
In a video posted to Raicuparta’s Twitter account you can see them playing the game with the VR controllers, using the slide by moving the controllers further from the face. Their grip could absolutely use some work, but otherwise Trombone Champ is looking excellent in the new digs. Though a VR trombone controller would make it even better, and maybe have a go at Megalovania from Undertale modded in (opens in new tab) while you’re at it.
Trombone Champ by @HolyWowStudios is even more immersive in VR. You really *feel* like trombone champ.#VR #TromboneChamp pic.twitter.com/3wgtLgwPoaSeptember 25, 2022
Holy Wow, the developer behind Trombone Champ even retweeted the video to its account (opens in new tab). “One of the amazing things from the past week is seeing people do in a few days what would probably have taken me months!” the tweet reads, which gives us the sense that this video is likely a legit mod.
It also further fuels the flames of hope towards an official VR version of Trombone Champ we can all have a go at, somewhere down the line. Hopefully someone will slide into our DMs and toot us a little message if they do.
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