The difficulty scaling mechanic is the chosen means of ramping up the challenge of gameplay as time goes on.

When gameplay begins, Nibbles begins spinning on his wheel and picks up more speed the longer he remains spinning. (More of this is detailed in the "Gameplay" section.) As Nibbles breaks more speed thresholds, the speed pacing of the game will gain a "burst", suddenly picking up the pace and for every burst of speed causes the gameplay to become faster-paced, and more frequent and challenging obstacles to spawn.