Solution to Rhythm Game Arcade
The puzzle features nine videos, each depicting a different rhythm game. (The background music for all videos is a cut version of Crab Rave by Noisestorm, a song that is well-known in the rhythm game community. The song choice is not relevant to the puzzle.)
The first step is to identify the names of each game, which can be used to fill in the blanks below each video. The boxed letters spell the message COMBO NUMS.
The second step is to count the combo number of each chart, which gives a number between 69 and 89 inclusive. (This number is shown at the end of each video except for the last one, since the authors are unable to find a chart editor for Beat Saber that displays the combo number. In Beat Saber, each block counts as one combo, so the combo number can be obtained via counting all the blocks.) Converting them to letters via ASCII gives the message FORTY-FIVE.
The last step is to look at each chart around 45 combo. The notes at that time all encode semaphore in some form, and reading the encoded letters gives the answer DARN IT ALL, a phrase a rhythm game player might say when they (say) missed a note and broke the combo.
Game | Combo (ASCII) | Semaphore | Explanation |
---|---|---|---|
Arcaea | 70 (F) | D | The sky notes go from top to bottom |
osu! | 79 (O) | A | Shape of slider |
StepMania | 82 (R) | R | A jump with a left arrow and a right arrow |
Jubeat | 84 (T) | N | Arrangement of three simultaneous notes |
Deemo | 89 (Y) | I | Shape of three consecutive slide (yellow) notes |
Lanota | 70 (F) | T | Placement of notes around the circle |
Cytus II | 73 (I) | A | Direction of two simultaneous slide notes |
Pump It Up | 86 (V) | L | A jump with a DL and a UR arrow |
Beat Saber | 69 (E) | L | Direction of slicing of two simultaneous blocks |