Trip'd is a puzzle video game developed by Japanese studio Warp for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer. Using the falling block puzzle format, Trip'd presents the player with triads of colored, tile-shaped eggs that gradually descend the screen to stack up on the bottom. The objective is to connect four or more matching eggs to eliminate them from the play field. Creatures called Deow'Nz can be formed and destroyed to create various effects depending on the number of players.
The game was created by a small team led by Warp president Kenji Eno. It was initially released in Japan in August 1994 by San-ei Shobo Publishing as . Asmik released an enhanced version of the game for PlayStation in Japan in March 1995 while Panasonic localized another version as Trip'd for the 3DO in North America that August. Trip'd received a mediocre response from critics. Its core gameplay was largely seen as derivative of other puzzle titles while its distinct mechanics, graphics, and audio polarized reviewers.
Gameplay
Trip'd is a falling block puzzle game where triads of colored, tile-shaped eggs gradually descend the screen to stack up on the bottom. Should the stack of eggs reach the line at the top of the play field, the game ends. To avoid this, triads can be moved, rotated, and reoriented by the player as they fall. When four or more eggs of the same color are connected in a line, they are eliminated from the screen, causing any eggs stacked on top to shift down. However, aligning four similar eggs in a two-by-two square will spawn a creature called a Deow'Nz within that space instead. The player can also align a quartet of Deow'Nz of any color in a four-by-four square pattern to make one giant creature appear.
Connecting egg tiles in the aforementioned manner will destroy any Deow'Nz of that same color and trigger a special effect. These effects may differ slightly depending on the game mode. For instance, in single-player mode, destroying a gray Hawk'n will wipe out 12 additional eggs. Doing so in a split screen versus mode will spawn another creature, the green Citr'n, on the opponent's play field. Destroying a Citr'n will cause a layer of mismatched eggs to fall on that player's own field in all modes. The single-player option in Trip'd acts as a practice or survival mode and features a score that increases when eggs and Deow'Nz are eliminated. The speed at which the triads fall will steadily rise until the level increases, resulting in a layer of eggs disappearing and the speed resetting. The game features two versus modes which allow the player to either battle a second human opponent or choose a match against one of eight computer-controlled opponents of varying difficulty. A fourth mode called "Trip'Dance" allows the player to create music with each of the gamepad's buttons corresponding to a different instrument and psychedelic visual displayed on-screen.
Development and release
The game's original incarnation Uchū Seibutsu Flopon-kun was developed by Japanese studio Warp and directed by its president Kenji Eno. It was Warp's second release after the action game Totsugeki Karakuri Megadasu!!. Both works were created out of Eno's philosophy to balance the company with the production of simpler, casual games and the larger, more serious projects like the horror title D. Alongside Eno, the development staff consisted of graphic designer Tomohiro Miyazaki and programmers Hideki Miura and Hirofumi Hayashida.
The game was launched in Japan on the 3DO on August 6, 1994 by San-ei Shobo Publishing. An enhanced edition called Uchū Seibutsu Flopon-kun P! was released by Asmik on PlayStation in Japan on March 31, 1995. The localized version, Trip'd, was published on the North America 3DO by Panasonic in August of that year as Warp's first release outside Japan. The name Trip'd is a nod to The 3DO Company founder Trip Hawkins. Eno took credit for the bizarre design of the game's packaging, explaining that he "basically put bulls*** all over [the] manual." This poked fun at stereotypical Western views of Japan like depicting the location of Warp's office with images of Mount Fuji, a Shinto shrine, and a bullet train, as well as introducing its designers as the children of people like geisha, samurai, sumo wrestlers, and ninjas.