Tadpole Treble Encore

When I first reviewed Tadpole Treble back in 2016, I concluded that it was the perfect antidote for what was a truly terrible year. Of course, little did any of us know that 2020 was going to be so much worse. That's why I was so excited to see that BitFinity's delightful rhythm game would be swimming over to the Switch in the form of Tadpole Treble Encore, a faithful port with a few extra unlockables and even a brand-new song. It's an upbeat and endlessly delightful adventure with some of the best video game music ever created. It's easy to see why I (and so many other people) fell in love with Tadpole Treble nearly five-years-ago, and why this Encore edition is the right game at the right time.

Tadpole Treble Encore is an aggressively charming rhythm game that takes a small tadpole on a musical adventure where there's not just danger around every corner, but also a new song. After getting gobbled up by a hungry stork, our little hero finds herself stranded in uncharted waters. The goal is to help the tadpole make its way back home, a perilous task that will take us on a journey through more than a dozen catchy songs from all kinds of musical genres.

Tadpole Treble attempts to split the difference between a 2D shoot 'em up and a timing-based rhythm game. Our little hero swims through an obstacle-filled stream where the goal is to dodge the spikes and pick up as many bubbles as possible. Of course, there's more to it than that. You'll also need to press the "smack" button every time you swim past a reed or flower. Some of these objects will send you flying into the air, avoiding all the dangers that persist underwater.

The tadpole swims along a familiar musical staff, giving us a chance to stay on the lines and make half-steps up and down. You don't really need to know much about written music to enjoy Tadpot Treble, because you'll spend most of the time dodging spikes and keeping the score multiplier going. With no arms or legs, our hero is limited to simply moving around smacking objects at the right beat. But don't paint the experience as shallow, because this game makes the most out of an admittedly simple concept.

Among the many things that impressed me about the original 2016 release, it was the wide variety of musical genres and moods that stood out the most. A lot of the game sounds like you're playing along to the scores from your favorite classic films, filled with dynamic moments and memorable hooks. In another stage you'll be fighting the 8-bit current while playing along to a chiptunes song. It's an eclectic soundtrack that includes everything from lounge music to old-timey country to prog rock. The songs effortlessly jump from being funny to scary to emotionally devastating. The game never hits a sour note.

This extends to the new song found in Tadpole Treble Encore -- a snappy little number about the joys of automation called ELE-94. It's not only a biting commentary on the rush to rely on technology, but works as a fantastic bridge to the game's end boss. I like that rather than feel like it was added years after release, it actually complements the story and ultimately makes the game better. ELE-94 whets my appetite for more new songs, which only makes me yearn for a proper sequel.

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For such a simple concept, I was surprised by how much the developers were able to do. It seems like every level has something in it that sets it apart, and the game is coming up with clever ideas right up to the very end. And because every stage looks and feels so different, I actually looked forward to going back and revisiting them to mine for higher scores. Tadpole Treble does an excellent job skirting the sameness problem that plagues so many rhythm games.

On top of swimming through the story mode, players will also have a chance to construct their own stages. This brought me back to the days of making music in Mario Paint, only this time around I have to factor in enemies and secret areas. This is pretty cool, but I'm not especially good at creating levels and music. That wasn't a problem in past versions of the game, because you could just download user-created content from other players. Unfortunately, that functionality seems to have been stripped out of the Switch version. This removes a lot of the songs and custom levels from the game, something that essentially makes the music creator pointless. This was one of the main selling points for Tadpole Treble, and removing it was a terrible decision.

Thankfully, the original songs created by BitFinity are so good that they help to make up for this unfortunate oversight. And it's not just the cool level designs and bubble-collecting gameplay, because every moment in the game is ready to surprise. Tadpole Treble Encore has the best credits theme since Portal, and even a simple thing like pausing the game is accompanied by a silly song. From beginning to end, I couldn't stop laughing and tapping my toes, two fortunate side-effects of Tadpole Treble coming to the Switch.