Friday Night Funkin’ has quirky beats, but you may not do well enough to hear the mesmerizing music without the right control setup. We’ve prepared some quick tips to make sure you have a funkin’ good time. You have the option of using your keyboard, a controller, and even a dance pad whether you’re playing Friday Night Funkin’ in your browser or through a downloaded copy.
Your character, named Boyfriend, needs to overwhelm his opponents with his singing to get some “alone time” with his girlfriend, let’s say. To do this, you need to hit the right notes as they move from the bottom of the screen to the top.
This can be done in several different ways. After starting the game in-browser on itch.io or Newgrounds, or once the download from itch.io finishes, you’re greeted with the main menu. It will say to hit enter, but if you already have a controller plugged in, you can simply hit Start or the equivalent button and jam with your D-pad.
If you have a DDR dance pad compatible with PC, then it’s the same process. The game will automatically recognize it if it’s plugged in. The default keyboard controls are WASD or the Arrow keys.
The default keyboard controls work just fine but if you can customize the controls if you’re playing the downloaded version or in-browser on Newgrounds. The game doesn’t let you customize your controls if you’re playing in-browser on itch.io. We’re not sure why but the Newground version has more features and is more up to date — it was likely just a later update.
We didn’t have a DDR dance mat for testing, but it appears to be the best way to play if you want to get up and move. Between the keyboard controls and controller, we found the latter to be most effective. The game picks up and gets difficult pretty quick; notes will come faster and you’ll need to bounce between them quickly. Rocking your thumb in place on an Xbox controller’s D-Pad will make it much easier to keep up when it feels impossible.
However you play, the game has multiple difficulty options and a solid tutorial to ease you into this addictive rhythm battler. This version is just a demo, even though it doesn’t feel like it with the absurd amount of content, so it’s free however you choose to play it. Its Kickstarter fund has exceeded the $60,000 goal by over a million dollars and this upcoming paid version will include 60 total songs, additional gameplay mechanics, cutscenes, local multiplayer, and more.
