Amplitude (2003 video game)

Lore & Background

In Amplitude, the player controls a beat blaster ship across a lane of six tracks, each representing a musical instrument and containing note gems that the player shoots in time with the music. The player earns points for accurate playing and increases their scoring multiplier by playing flawless sequences; missing too many notes depletes energy and can end the song prematurely. Compared to Frequency, which used more electronica and trance, Amplitude included additional pop rock songs in its soundtrack.

The game offers three modes: single player, remix, and multiplayer. In single player, the player unlocks and completes songs across four difficulty levels: Mellow, Normal, Brutal, and Insane. Remix mode allows players to place notes on sections of a song and control effects and tempo.

Reader's Guide

Amplitude is significant as the sequel that built on Frequency's foundation, helping Harmonix become a major studio in music games. Its gameplay innovations—such as the spread-out track and FreQ avatar—addressed criticisms of its predecessor. The game received favorable reviews and was named best PlayStation 2 game of March 2003 by GameSpot, which also awarded it "Best Game No One Played" in 2003. It was nominated for three Interactive Achievement Awards. Though not a financial success, it sold more units than Frequency. In 2014, Harmonix raised over $840,000 via Kickstarter to create a reboot, released for PlayStation 4 in January 2016 and PlayStation 3 in April 2016 under license from Sony. The game's legacy includes influencing later rhythm titles and demonstrating the viability of crowdfunding for niche game revivals.

Did You Know?

• Amplitude includes 26 songs, with genres ranging from electronica and dance to hip hop and alternative rock.
• The game's online servers for the North American version were shut down on February 26, 2007.
• Harmonix raised over $840,000 through a 2014 Kickstarter campaign to build a new Amplitude game.
• The reboot of Amplitude was released for PlayStation 4 in January 2016 and for PlayStation 3 in April 2016.

A Year of Sequels and New Franchises

The 2003 gaming calendar was packed with follow-up titles that kept beloved series alive. Fans of sports simulation could choose between Madden NFL 2004, NBA Live 2004, and ESPN NBA Basketball, while action and adventure players had options ranging from Tony Hawk's Underground to Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Sonic Heroes. Franchise continuations like Final Fantasy X-2, Mario Kart: Double Dash, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, and WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain all landed in the same twelve-month window, creating an unusually dense release schedule. At the same time, publishers launched a wave of entirely new intellectual properties, including Call of Duty, Beyond Good & Evil, Manhunt, PlanetSide, TrackMania, Disgaea, Drakengard, Viewtiful Joe, True Crime: Streets of LA, and the sun-tracking novelty Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand. Despite this flood of new and returning titles, the worldwide best-seller of the year was Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire, marking the fifth occasion since 1998 that a Pokémon entry claimed the global top-selling spot.

Hardware Milestones and Retirements

2003 marked a significant turning point for Nintendo's handheld line. The company unveiled the Game Boy Advance SP, which it positioned as the definitive second iteration of the GBA and which many observers later regarded as the finest entry in the entire Game Boy family. A key engineering change was the switch from disposable AA batteries to a rechargeable cell topped up via an AC adapter, making the SP the first Nintendo handheld to offer that convenience. The launch of the SP also signified the end of an era for older hardware. On March 23, Nintendo halted worldwide production of both the original Game Boy and the Game Boy Color, effectively retiring the two systems that had defined portable gaming since the early 1990s. Later in the year, on September 23, the company ceased manufacturing the Family Computer and Super Famicom in Japan, closing out production of the 8-bit and 16-bit consoles that had anchored the company's domestic market for over a decade.

The Widening Gap Between PC and Console

By 2003, the balance of power in the American entertainment software market had shifted decisively toward living-room hardware. Computer games experienced a fourteen percent sales decline in the United States, continuing a pattern of losing ground to console titles. The overall US entertainment software market still managed a modest increase, reaching roughly seven billion dollars for the year, but the composition of that figure told a clear story. Console games accounted for approximately 5.8 billion dollars of the total, while the PC segment shrank to just 1.2 billion dollars. In practical terms, nearly four out of every five dollars spent on software in America went toward titles designed for dedicated gaming hardware rather than personal computers. This trend underscored how the industry's center of gravity had moved away from the desktop and toward the television-connected machines that dominated the household entertainment space.

The Platforms That Defined the Year

The console landscape in 2003 was anchored by four major systems competing for the living-room spotlight: Sony's PlayStation 2, Nintendo's GameCube, Microsoft's Xbox, and the aging but still relevant PlayStation. Together, these four machines carried the bulk of the 5.8 billion dollars in US console software sales. In the portable space, Nintendo's Game Boy Advance held a near-untouchable position as the dominant handheld, a status that only strengthened with the arrival of the GBA SP. Critical reception of the year's titles was tracked by review aggregators such as Metacritic and GameRankings, which compiled scores from professional journalists into single reference points. In Japan, Famitsu magazine maintained its own prestige recognition, the Platinum Hall of Fame, awarding the distinction to titles scoring at least 36 out of 40. Games that fell short of critical expectations were similarly catalogued, giving players a broader picture of which 2003 releases earned praise and which drew widespread disappointment.