I gave up on the first BIT.TRIP RUNNER before I finished the first of its three worlds. For the most part, it was a great, fun game, but the level just before the first boss was so long and so boring before it even gets to the parts where it tries to actively get you killed that playing it tried the hell out of my patience.

BIT.TRIP Presents… RUNNER 2, however, changes a lot of things, turning what was once a fairly impenetrably difficult game into one that is accessible, challenging, and rewarding. The addition of optional checkpoints throughout each level, and levels that don’t overstay their welcome on a regular basis, take the strong core gameplay from the original game and give it room to breathe.

RUNNER 2’s story is nonsense, but it’s a charming nonsense. Narrated by Charles Martinet (the voice of Mario), the game follows the series protagonist and mascot Commander Video as he is sucked into another dimension. Here, the game’s aesthetic changes from the series’ trademark 2D pixelated style to a fully 3D world.

The game is a rhythm-centric sidescrolling platformer where the player must jump, slide, punch, block, and any combination of the former to avoid obstacles and reach the finish line of each level. Each obstacle in the environment is tied to a specific sound, and playing through levels perfectly results in a soundtrack that feels organic and almost always works.

The impetus for getting perfect ratings in each level is the reward of a superb song selection composed by Disasterpiece (who previously scored last year’s excellent FEZ). The only issue with the soundtrack is that, due to the sheer amount of levels (100 for each of the three difficulty settings), each world’s specific style becomes clear early on and then every song sounds a lot like the others. There are very few examples of levels with out-and-out bad songs, but they do blend together after a while.

Throughout the game’s five worlds, Commander Video must complete worlds of 20 levels in a Super Mario Bros. 3 overworld. The worlds range from a land of cloudy ruins to a shoreline to a volcanic lab complex. The backgrounds are dynamic and provide an interesting backdrop for the awesome platforming.

The only problem I encountered was one of visibility in some of these worlds, but in particular the volcano world. Things that Commander Video needs to punch are designated by red octagons, and the enemies in this world are colored yellow. These don’t contrast very well at all against a red and yellow background, and it makes levels pretty frustrating. Every other world seems to understand contrast, but this one gets it remarkably wrong in that regard.

The addition of checkpoints may seem minor, but it’s a simple step towards making the game a lot more accessible without really having to tone down the difficulty, because make no mistake; the game’s still pretty brutal. Each level is also paced better than any that I played in the previous game. Levels don’t have overlong overtures before getting to the meat of each level, and they don’t last way too long (except for the penultimate level, which is awesome).

A good portion of the levels contain branching paths at certain points, where one route will be pretty easy and the other will be more difficult, but also more rewarding. There may be a treasure chest with a new character or costume inside, or an alternate exit which unlocks certain levels on the overworld.

The original games’ unfairness would’ve made me never even consider going the harder route, but with a less harsh punishment for failure, I found myself always testing myself just because I knew I could do it at some point. The game’s learning curve is smooth and gives you a strong sense of confidence early on, which helps when things get crazy near the end.

Overall, I have very few problems with BIT.TRIP Presents… RUNNER 2. With a roster of levels this large, some are unfortunately not going to be as great as most of them, but the average quality level is high throughout. It fixes just about every problem I had with the first game while giving us a more polished, inventive, and plain fun experience with that excellent core gameplay.