Gaijin Games has been pretty quiet since the reveal of Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien, the sequel to the WiiWare/Steam title Bit.Trip.Runner. But they’ve recently updated their development blog with some new footage above which replaces the pixel art look of the original with a much more eye-popping whimsical look. CommanderVideo has more fluidity in his moves from springs, jumps, and slides away from danger while collecting gold. Joystiq recently had a preview during GDC and new details of the game came about.

First, they’ve made the game a little more easier for newcomers as well as Bit.Trip fans to enjoy the game. While the goal of the original was to collect all the gold bars for a perfect run, Runner2 sees new ways to get your score at the top of the leaderboards. There’ll also be checkpoints since some people didn’t like starting at the beginning of each level after only one mistake. They are completely optional if you choose to play it in the original style since you’ll get more points. There’s also branching paths where you’ll need keys in order to enter, mess up on not getting the key and going the wrong path and you’re looking at a painful death. Not to mention you can dance, but it’s a full beat so you’ll have to dance accordingly to avoid obstacles.

The shapes of the levels will also transform a bit, with loops and squares. You’ll have to hit the right trigger to enter and a minigame within the game will begin. You’ll also have to combine moves like slide-jumps or jump-kicks for some of the tricker spots. Another new addition is multiplayer with two-person co-op where they’ll have to work together to get the best scores and a Hard Mode for people who want the original difficulty back. Gaijin Games plans on showing the game off at PAX East and XBLA Fans will definitely be running to see it.

Source: Gaijin Games, Joystiq