Otto’s Galactic Groove!!
I cannot emphasize enough how much a day two patch can transform a gaming experience. When Otto’s Galactic Groove!! released on Thursday, everyone loved everything about it… except the note timing. It just felt off. I’m kind of a rhythm game expert, and even I was just… dropping notes on casual difficulty when I had no right to be dropping notes on Casual difficulty. It’s not like there’s HDMI lag like when you play Rock Band on a modern TV. It’s a Playdate, and they’re pretty much all the same.
By the next day, the developers had already fixed the timing issues. It went from a game that looked and sounded good but was frustrating to play into something incredible. This can happen because of small development teams that are actually listening to the players, along with an update system through Panic’s Catalog that makes everything easy to implement. Before the patch, I was dreading writing about this game because I was so excited for it before release and was just not having a good time actually playing it. No matter where you hit the buttons to activate the note, the game seemed to think you were wrong. Now, though, just 24 hours after release, with some small yet incredibly important adjustments? It’s one of the shining stars of not only Season Two, but of the Playdate’s entire library. Between this and The Whiteout’s “run” button, we’re really showing what reactive developers are capable of just a day after launch.
At its core, Otto’s Galactic Groove!! plays a lot like Trombone Champ or Theatrhythm Final Fantasy. You control a little cursor on the right side of the screen with the crank (or left — there’s a lefty mode if you want to flip the whole thing upside down and use your other hand!), and push any button when the notes scrolling from the far side hit your bar. You move the cursor up or down 1:1 with the crank, and you’ll either hit a note once or hold it for a short duration, where you might also be adjusting the pitch with the crank while sustaining. Crank the cursor high to hit high notes and down low to hit the low notes. Very easy to come to grips with, and the ability to use any face button or direction on the d-pad to activate notes means your hand won’t cramp up so quickly.
The breadth of musical styles is crazy, and despite (or because of?) the variety, I really loved all of them. The songs range from “great” to “incredible,” and there’s tons of replayability. They’re mostly by Rupert Cole, musical mastermind behind Resonant Tale and tons of other things, and you can tell he has a deep appreciation for all genres, from hip hop to punk rock to grunge to whatever that music from games like Katamari Damacy is classified as. There are one or two songs from each style as you move through the story mode, and a bunch of bonus songs from other Playdate games are included, as well. You can definitely hear some Space Channel 5 in here, too, which makes sense given the space setting. One note is that quite a few songs seem to have false endings in the middle, but I think that’s to give your hand a rest for a moment before getting back into it? It’s a very focus-intensive game; and not one you’ll want to try and play in the back of the car while your dad is driving across the country.
Protagonist Otto is… okay, so I thought Otto was like an alien rabbit for most of the game, but Otto is a little space slug. You know, those ones that kind of look like rabbits. His owner/master is a real piece of work, so he sticks Otto in a tiny spaceship like he’s Nibbler from Futurama and sends him out into the stars to find musical inspiration for him. Because what’s the best way to get inspired? Having someone else do the work! Thanks, modern world.
Otto gets into many misadventures and meets lots of people/fish/cats on different planets, each with their own thing. Their issues are solved by jamming with Otto, then he gets a piece of inspiration and heads off to another world. The cutscenes have a Panels look but I think they’re just good ol’ jpegs? The art is terrific and charming in an almost comic book storyboard way. Scrolling through the intro comic for each level, the music swells as you get closer to the playable part. Nice little touch I appreciated a lot.
The closest game to this on the Playdate is maybe Direct Drive? But that’s a very different style of music and game. Otto’s Galactic Groove!! is groovy in a way that few games manage, and it comes down to gameplay that feels good and music that’s amazing. And it’s all because of one little adjustment to the timing and controls on the day after release (besides the timing, they added an “absolute” crank setting that feels so natural, it’s almost like playing a real instrument). And there’s online scoreboards, and the bonus songs are fun, too, like discovering new bands you’d never heard of at the end of the first Guitar Hero playlist, except these ones will inspire you to try new Playdate games.
One thing: play with some good quality headphones. This isn’t the largest game, file-size-wise, of Season Two for no good reason. It sounds like I’m listening to a new Jet Set Radio sometimes. I cannot overstate how great the songs are, no matter the genre. I think we’re ready for the Stereo Dock now, Panic!
One last thing I almost forgot: you can even upload and create your own levels with your own tracks! Try it out if you’re musically inclined!
(Released June 12, 2025, as part of Season Two.)