‘Trombone Champ: Unflattened’ Brings Absurd Rhythm Game Antics to Meta Quest Today

J.J. Johnson. Wycliffe Gordon. Tommy Dorsey. Some of the most noteworthy trombone players of all time. But hold on a second—there’s a new kid in town. They say the kid’s style is…really distinct. And that their trombone looks like a fish.

No, it’s not a fever dream. It’s Trombone Champ: Unflattened, out today on Meta Quest 2, 3, and 3S. A made-for-VR version of the acclaimed flatscreen original, Trombone Champ: Unflattened is a rhythm game played entirely with the smooth out-and-back sliding motions of a real-life trombone.

It’s silly fun, and Trombone Champ: Unflattened ups the absurdity by plopping you on-stage in a stately concert hall in front of an audience. Grab your favorite novelty trombone—ours is that fish—and try to turn your squeaks and squawks into something that sort-of resembles Beethoven’s Fifth, if you can. There are over 50 songs in the base game, with more coming even in the next few weeks, so limber up those arms!

We sat down with Jasmine Uniza, Chief Executive Officer and Elliott Tate, Chief Creative Officer of Flat2VR Studios & Impact Reality, Inc., to chat about how Trombone Champ: Unflattened got its start, what a fish-shaped trombone sounds like, building out a quirky concert hall for your performances, and more.

Read on for the full interview, or pick up Trombone Champ: Unflattened on the Meta Horizon Store.

Jasmine Uniza: Pretend you’re holding a real trombone, moving the slider closer to and further from your mouth—that’s exactly how you play in VR! It’s really intuitive.

Actually, the way we got started on this project was by playing the massively popular flatscreen game and thinking “Man, how much fun would this be if you used VR motion controls and could play like a real trombone?” (The flatscreen game is controlled with a keyboard and mouse.) Our lead developer, Raicuparta, created a quick proof-of-concept VR mod, and the developers loved it. They almost immediately got on board with letting us build out a proper VR version of the game.

There are a lot of game mechanics that we kept from the original game, but the rocking-up-and-down motion wasn’t one of them. Pitch is controlled just like a real trombone with the slider.

We were, however, inspired by some videos of trombone players in bands swaying from left to right while playing and built note lanes that require you to do a similar motion—constantly shifting from left-to-right while playing. This mechanic really lets players take full advantage of the large 360° FOV of VR and allows you to better see the animated environment come to life around you as you play.

Elliott Tate: Yeah, exactly. The original game is 2D and a bit more simplistic, but it’s packed with an incredible amount of addictive charm. We really worked hard to reimagine that charm in a way that felt like it was built from the ground up for VR.

Our guiding thought with the environment was, “What if you were in this serious concert hall and then a circus broke into it all of a sudden and started creating all this syncopated chaos around you?” Every song is choreographed to cannons exploding confetti, lights turning on and off and changing colors to the song’s rhythm, an audience reacting emotionally to how you’re playing, and a ton of other things that feel wonderfully over-the-top in VR.

The visuals we built really immerse you in a world that is ridiculous in the best possible way. While reimagining everything for VR, we worked closely with Dan and Jackie of Holy Wow (the original developers) and it was an absolute blast figuring out new ways to convey the quirky charm of virtually playing the trombone. Holy Wow are so incredibly talented, and it was a dream come true to riff ideas with them about how to bring the game to life in VR.

ET: The unlockable trombones in Trombone Champ: Unflattened are SO much fun—and yes, many of them have custom sounds! We don’t want to spoil everything, but the "Purrfect Pitch" cat trombone meows and purrs along with your notes, which is just as funny as it sounds.

Then there’s "Sea-Scale," the flopping fish trombone that sounds…honestly, I have no idea how to describe it other than fishy?

Oh, and the pool noodle trombone? It’s wobbly and ridiculous—it’s a blast to play with because it’s just so floppy. The trombones really help take the already packed charm of Trombone Champ to the next level.

JU: I have so many! But a few really memorable songs for me are “Arirang” and “Funiculi Funicula.” With “Arirang,” the song is so peaceful and relaxing, with just enough variation between sliding notes and staccato notes. “Funiculi Funicula” is just so much fun to play. It’s difficult at first, but once you get the hang of it, it feels like you’re sliding all over the place. I’m the worst at playing “Mountain King.” It’s so fast, and the notes are spaced out quite a bit in range but not in pace.

ET: Ahh, there are so many! Dan, the original developer, took all these well-known public domain songs and put such a fun twist on them as he composed the arrangements from the ground up for the game. My favorite might be “Old McDonald.” Any song that might be the oldest song you remember hearing as a child shouldn’t be anyone’s favorite, but the arrangement Dan did for it is just so hilarious—it has me grinning from ear to ear every time I play it.

ET: Building Trombone Champ: Unflattened, we had so many ideas. A huge number of them made it into the launch version, but probably just as many didn’t. There will be quite a lot of new content updates even just weeks after launch, including two new free albums, a big Christmas and New Year’s update, new environments, new trombones, and a ton more.

Some of it is outlined in our post-launch roadmap on our website, but we also want players to vote on features they want to see and continue building the game with the community.

ET: Starting as game modders, being able to officially port Trombone Champ to VR has been an absolute dream come true and is just one of several games that we’re officially bringing to VR soon through Flat2VR Studios. We can’t wait to watch people discover some of the secrets and Easter eggs that we’ve packed into Trombone Champ: Unflattened.

JU: We also can’t wait to show you all what we’re building. The passionate community around Flat2VR has shown us so much love, and we’re so excited to begin this next chapter of bringing the absolute best flatscreen games into VR.

The lights are low and the audience is restless—get out there and show them what you’ve got! You’ll find Trombone Champ: Unflattened on the Meta Horizon Store for $14.99 USD.