The trombone is a beautiful instrument...when played correctly. In Trombone Champ, there is no way to play your instrument correctly. The result is beautiful, irreverent chaos.
Trombone Champ was released in 2022 by Holy Wow Studies and almost immediately became an internet sensation thanks to its meme potential. It was nominated for the Family Game of the Year and British Academy Games Award for Debut Game—not too bad for an indie debut!
From Indie Debut To Internet Darling
On the surface, Trombone Champ is a rhythm game in the same vein as Guitar Hero or Wii Music—remember Wii Music, one of the console's worst-selling games of all time—but it's actually so much more.
Players scroll to adjust the pitch of their trombone slider and click to hit notes as they appear on the screen. Extended notes will cause your player to run out of breath and take a few moments to recover. Once you survive your turn, you're graded on a scale from F to S and granted currency that you can turn into trading cards.
The goal with trombone champ isn't just to get high scores and earn trading cards with facts—some real, some fictional—about trombone history, composers, and baboons (we don't have time to get into the baboons). The goal is to make is through your turn without collapsing into a pile of uncontrollable laughter.
Become The Trombone Champ
Even if you play trombone for a living, there is no feasible way to make the game sound good. Every single note is flat, no matter how well you play. The in-game currency being called "toots" isn't just a silly gag, it's an accurate representation of the game's resemblance to flatulence.
For example, the Trombone Champ version of "The Sailor's Hornpipe" is more an auditory simulation of seasickness than anything that can rightfully be called music. The trap remix of Mozart's "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" feels like you're being held hostage. Most of the tracks sound like your poor virtual trombonist is actively trying not to vomit into the mouthpiece.
It should feel torturous or gimmicky, but somehow, it doesn't. There's an earnestness to Trombone Champ that makes its success all the more understandable. This isn't a game that you use to show off your skills; the worse you are it, the more fun you're likely to have.
If you've played through all 76 tracks, including 10 original compositions (titles include "Baboons!", "Trombone Skyze (Nasty Mix)", and "ARE U READY 4 THIS?"), the modding community has blessed players with custom tracks. Guitar Hero faves "Through the Fire and Flames" and "Freebird" are among those available for download. Be careful with "Freebird", some of those notes really test your player character's lung capacity.
In keeping with the game's meme potential, there are even a few non-music custom tracks. Most infamous among them is former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss's resignation speech. Nothing is safe from Trombone Champ, nothing is sacred.
If Guitar Hero is feeling a little played out, and you want a game that doesn't take itself seriously at all, download Trombone Champ for your next game night and prepare to have abs at the end of the night from laughing so hard.
Trombone Champ is available on Mac, PC, Nintendo Switch, and VR platforms.
