Bongo Blitz is a music rhythm game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. You play the role of the bongo player in a rock band, tapping your thumbs to the beat on the left and right drum pads, as well as shaking the device like a maraca. The game features playable tracks from independent and up-and-coming music acts, such as Ernie Halter, Hey Young Believer, and Back Pocket Memory.
The game comes with a free month of video streaming courtesy of various IPTV provider sponsors. And also features NoteTracks, which allow you to play along to popular music found in your own iTunes library. Playable NoteTracks include songs from Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, and OneRepublic, among others.
Download Bongo Blitz in the iTunes App Store
Why did we make Bongo Blitz?
The impetus of Bongo Blitz came from the lack of fun, accessible music games in the iOS market at the time. The #1 game in the App Store was Tap Tap Revenge, and as nice as that game was, its gameplay didn’t have the same visceral feeling of playing music that you got from console music games. The core mechanic centered around tapping falling notes on the screen, and the worst part was, the music would play back the same way regardless of whether or not you tapped on the notes. The gameplay was akin to catching falling eggs into a basket with an accompanying soundtrack, and frankly, this wasn’t very fun to us.
While we brainstormed for a better way to play music games on your iPhone, we remembered a music game that we were incredibly addicted to in college: Donkey Konga for the Nintendo Gamecube. We realized that the game’s core mechanic could translate very well in portable form, so we took our cue from there and went running.
We set out to make a music game that took advantage of the iPhone’s unique properties. Two large drum pads were placed where your thumbs would naturally be when holding the device horizontally. The accelerometer was used to include maraca shakes with the gameplay. Notes scrolled horizontally, much like how you would read sheet music. And most importantly, the percussion sounds you made were played on top of the music, thus making you feel like an additional member of the band. If you messed up, the song sounded bad, but if you had the right beat and were in sync with the band, it sounded pretty awesome.