The first time I played Rhythm Heaven was about... 8 years ago? Back then I managed to beat a bunch of the games, but eventually my playthrough was stopped by my DS' bottom screen breaking (which obviously isn't the best for a game that is controlled exclusively* through the touchscreen :P). Funnily enough, even before my eventual full playthrough this year and without really thinking about the game much, I still remembered so much of the music and timing for certain cues, which I guess should've been a warning of what would happen whenever I finally got around playing it again.
In case you don't know what Rhythm Heaven is, I'd say "Space Channel 5 meets Warioware" is not a terrible way to describe it. Each game is really a collection of smaller rhythm games that all play completely differently from each other with one key characteristic: there's no direct visual indicator for when exactly you need to place your inputs, which makes it much more about keeping an actual sense of rhythm than pattern recognition like most rhythm games (hence the SC5 comparison). Ranking is equally as invisible to the player - characters will generally always react to you messing up and viceversa, but you will never know exactly how well you did until you finish the game and get a "Try Again", "OK" or "Superb" ranking.
Anyways, long story short, with the broken touchscreen out of the way, a few months ago I figured it was finally time to revisit the game (and its sequel on the Wii) and well... it has pretty much taken control of my brain, to put it lighly. I truly can't get the stupid songs outside of my head to the point where sometimes I even find myself tapping to the rhythm or repeating some of the cues from the games without even realizing, it's absolutely fucked up. But well, that's probably the best thing you could say about a music-oriented game, istn't it? It's not only the incredibly catchy music either - the games' vibrant and unique artsyle and all the fluff text definitely helps it stick out on your memory for longer.
Personally, I like the DS game more than its sequel because it does really interesting things with the touchscreen that simply can't be replicated with buttons, even if it takes a while to get used to how to time the flicks and other motions. I also prefer the more rough pixelated sprites over the clean smooth lines from the later entries since it gives it a sorta lighthearted vibe that I love, and it's just a perfect fit for the system it was designed for. Anyways, the standouts for me for the first entry were:
After releasing the DS game, an entry for the Wii would shortly follow. Rhythm Heaven Fever is pretty much as iterative of a sequel as you could ask for, since there isn't really anything new in terms of game structure. You still get booted onto a menu where you play different rhythm games to progress, get medals to unlock extra content as a reward for doing well and that's pretty much it. This isn't a bad thing at all though, considering that it worked well for the DS game and such a straight-to-the-point game is also fitting for the Wii, and while it might not be particularly innovative, having pretty much no technological limitations for the game definitely shows. The music now is of much higher quality, the games themselves have much more detail going on, the remixes always have new art for the games featured in them, and there are more games in general compared to the DS entry.
The biggest change now is that instead of having a touchscreen to play around with, they've limited themselves to using only using A or A+B as inputs, which makes the game much easier to play. I liked the touch controls more because of their flexibility, but I can totally understand why someone would prefer Fever's streamlining. Anyways, my favorites of this one were:
It's been a while since I've had access to a 3DS, so unfortunately while I'd love to I can't check out Megamix (though it's mostly remakes right? so not really missing much I guess). I really, really hope Nintendo is planning on giving the series another entry for the Switch once Wario is out of the way, with the Switch being an hybrid system they could potentially get the best of both worlds when it comes to inputs and to be honest I just really need more Rhythm Heaven. It doesn't help that as far as I know there isn't really much like it out there, and certainly not with the same charm.
In case you don't know what Rhythm Heaven is, I'd say "Space Channel 5 meets Warioware" is not a terrible way to describe it. Each game is really a collection of smaller rhythm games that all play completely differently from each other with one key characteristic: there's no direct visual indicator for when exactly you need to place your inputs, which makes it much more about keeping an actual sense of rhythm than pattern recognition like most rhythm games (hence the SC5 comparison). Ranking is equally as invisible to the player - characters will generally always react to you messing up and viceversa, but you will never know exactly how well you did until you finish the game and get a "Try Again", "OK" or "Superb" ranking.
Anyways, long story short, with the broken touchscreen out of the way, a few months ago I figured it was finally time to revisit the game (and its sequel on the Wii) and well... it has pretty much taken control of my brain, to put it lighly. I truly can't get the stupid songs outside of my head to the point where sometimes I even find myself tapping to the rhythm or repeating some of the cues from the games without even realizing, it's absolutely fucked up. But well, that's probably the best thing you could say about a music-oriented game, istn't it? It's not only the incredibly catchy music either - the games' vibrant and unique artsyle and all the fluff text definitely helps it stick out on your memory for longer.
Personally, I like the DS game more than its sequel because it does really interesting things with the touchscreen that simply can't be replicated with buttons, even if it takes a while to get used to how to time the flicks and other motions. I also prefer the more rough pixelated sprites over the clean smooth lines from the later entries since it gives it a sorta lighthearted vibe that I love, and it's just a perfect fit for the system it was designed for. Anyways, the standouts for me for the first entry were:
Lockstep
| Lockstep was a game I initially dreaded, since it takes a while for your brain to adapt from tapping on-beat to going off-beat quickly. However, the more I played it the easier that the swap between the two became and now I pretty much don't have to think about it. Also loved the gag of the Stepswitchers forming a Bach portrait when the camera pans out. |
DJ School
| DJ School I loved from the very beggining. It's probably the easiest game in the whole package, but the music is very very catchy, the animations are great and DJ Yellow's cues are some of those that have been engraved in my brain for probably the rest of my life. |
Love Lab
| Love Lab is probably my favorite game of the entire series. Everything here is on point, the gameplay, the music, the cute art; it's one of the easier ones once you get a hang of the shaking and throwing, but it just flows so well that the lack of difficulty doesn't even matter. |
Fan Club
| Fan Club is just too cute. It is the main culprit of not being able to hear the words "I suppose" without my mind immediately going back to Rhythm Heaven, but it's one of the best examples of how the touchscreen can be used for fun inputs that buttons can't easily replicate. Fan Club 2 in particular and its remixed versions are easily one of the most fun to play. |
Blue Birds
| Blue Birds is not particularly complex mechanically, but I had the hardest time getting the timing right for the consecutive peaks in Blue Birds 2 and playing this game over and over made me fall in love with the poor birds. They're just adorable. |
After releasing the DS game, an entry for the Wii would shortly follow. Rhythm Heaven Fever is pretty much as iterative of a sequel as you could ask for, since there isn't really anything new in terms of game structure. You still get booted onto a menu where you play different rhythm games to progress, get medals to unlock extra content as a reward for doing well and that's pretty much it. This isn't a bad thing at all though, considering that it worked well for the DS game and such a straight-to-the-point game is also fitting for the Wii, and while it might not be particularly innovative, having pretty much no technological limitations for the game definitely shows. The music now is of much higher quality, the games themselves have much more detail going on, the remixes always have new art for the games featured in them, and there are more games in general compared to the DS entry.
The biggest change now is that instead of having a touchscreen to play around with, they've limited themselves to using only using A or A+B as inputs, which makes the game much easier to play. I liked the touch controls more because of their flexibility, but I can totally understand why someone would prefer Fever's streamlining. Anyways, my favorites of this one were:
Ringside
| Ringside is AWESOME, probably a top 3 game in the series. Not really sure what made it click with me so much, but "Wubba dubba dub is that true? Yes" is also one of those cues that just pops up in my mind every now and then for no reason. |
FlockStep
| FlockStep is fairly not particularly unique mechanically since there's many games across the franchise that are basically the same "tap to the beat with a special input every now and then", but as weird as it sounds the fakeout nearing the end made it one of my favorite ones. |
CheerReaders
| CheerReaders, on top of being a great pun, really shines once they start mixing different patterns at the same time and you have to keep track of when exactly it's your turn to flip the book in each of them. It's one of the most satisfying games to play on here, imo. |
Tap Troupe
| Tap Troupe is a sort of spiritual successor to Lockstep, so it's not surprising it was one of the ones I liked the most. Instead of alternating between on-beat and off-beat, you have to swap between different rhythms entirely which is mindbending at first. Like Lockstep though, with practice you will eventually be able to swap between them without thinking pretty much. |
Board Meeting
| Board Meeting as a standalone game isn't the most engaging, since it's one of the first ones and it doesn't have an arranged version later on. However, it becomes much more interesting in the remixes (its appearances on Remix 9 in particular is so fun to play through). |
It's been a while since I've had access to a 3DS, so unfortunately while I'd love to I can't check out Megamix (though it's mostly remakes right? so not really missing much I guess). I really, really hope Nintendo is planning on giving the series another entry for the Switch once Wario is out of the way, with the Switch being an hybrid system they could potentially get the best of both worlds when it comes to inputs and to be honest I just really need more Rhythm Heaven. It doesn't help that as far as I know there isn't really much like it out there, and certainly not with the same charm.
