Vib-Ribbon Xmas Disc (found promotional mini CD for PlayStation game; 1999)
The packaging of the disc (right) next to a Japanese copy of Vib-Ribbon (left).
Status: Found
Date found: 12 Jun 2021
Found by: good ol' erick (vib ribbon manager)
Vib-Ribbon was a rhythm video game developed by NanaOn-Sha and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. In the game, the player controls a wireframe rabbit named Vibri who must travel across a line filled with obstacles that she can overcome by performing certain actions to the beat of a piece of music. The game released in Japan on December 9th, 1999, and received generally positive reviews from critics of the time, many of whom praised the game's graphics and simplistic design,[1] with two Japan-exclusive sequels later being produced; Mojib-Ribbon and Vib-Ribble.
One of Vib-Ribbon's most unique and noteworthy features was that, if a player were to insert a music CD into their PlayStation while Vib-Ribbon was still running, the game would automatically generate a series of levels based around the rhythm of the music on the CD, which the player could then go through at their leisure. To further advertise this feature of the game, a promotional mini-CD was released alongside it in December of 1999 which prominently displayed its functionality with the game as a key selling point.
This CD, referred to by fans as the Vib-Ribbon Xmas Disc, was exclusively sold via Tsutaya, a Japanese chain of book and video rental stores, and was designed to simultaneously promote Vib-Ribbon and the Symphonic Orgel OPUS series of albums available at Tsutaya stores. The CD only contained one song, an instrumental musical chimes rendition of the Christmas song "O Tannebaum" (aka "O Christmas Tree") that was previously available on the album OPUS 4: Christmas Carol.[2] The CD also came packaged with a Vib-Ribbon themed black envelope that buyers could use to mail the disc to someone else as a Christmas present.
The CD fell into obscurity following Vib-Ribbon's Japanese release, with it subsequently becoming an extremely rare collector's item due to the low amount of copies produced and its exclusivity to a single retail chain. Such was the disc's obscurity that no photographs of it were available online at all until 2019,[3] with it later becoming a major point of fascination among Vib-Ribbon's cult fanbase as a result.[4] Initial efforts to locate a copy of the disc were unsuccessful,[5][6] but on May 23rd, 2021, an auction would be set up on Yahoo! Japan for a Japanese copy of Vib-Ribbon that came alongside a copy of the disc.[7] This auction would later be won by Twitter user good ol' erick (vib ribbon manager),[8] who uploaded the disc's contents onto the Internet Archive on June 12th, at which point the disc was rendered found.
Gallery
External Links
- Wikipedia page for Vib-Ribbon.
- Page for the disc on the Vib-Ribbon Wikia.
- Upload of the disc's contents on archive.org.
References
- ↑ Page for Vib-Ribbon on MobyGames. Retrieved 18 Dec '22
- ↑ Reddit post translating the text on the disc's packaging. Retrieved 18 Dec '22
- ↑ Twitter post containing the first known images of the disc. Retrieved 18 Dec '22
- ↑ Post from a Twitter user inquiring about the disc. Retrieved 18 Dec '22
- ↑ Post in the lost media subreddit about the disc. Retrieved 18 Dec '22
- ↑ Thread in the Lost Media Wiki Forums about the disc. Retrieved 18 Dec '22
- ↑ Archived page for the auction on Yahoo! Japan. Retrieved 18 Dec '22
- ↑ Tweet from good ol' erick announcing their acquisition of the disc. Retrieved 18 Dec '22