Out February 13th for Wii!
The Rhythm Heaven series is a, unsurprising, series of rhythm games from Nintendo. Like
another series of
games from Nintendo, it's a bit different from other music games, and features a weird/quirky range of scenarios. It's also known for being pretty hard and demanding a true sense rhythm in order to get perfect scores. The game is like an evil sorcerer regarding its musical nature, and won't shy from obfuscating the screen and forcing you to rely solely on musical cues. Especially in the harder stages. So you're probably screwed if you don't know what an "off-beat" is. But hey, it's the most fun you'll have failing miserably.
The series is developed by the same folks that worked on the Wario Ware series, and that translates in quick play sessions with very simple control schemes. It's a series that anyone can get into, and next month it'll be making its console debut on the Wii.
But first, a history lesson.
Rhythm Tengoku (GBA)
Released: August 3rd, 2006 (JP)
The last game on the Game Boy Advance to be made by Nintendo, the first title in the series was highly anticipated but ultimately never released outside of Japan. Lacking any kind of UI to represent any kind of music, the game instead relied on visual cues in whatever odd event was going on, be it hitting baseballs into space or plucking hairs off an onion. The game was highly praised by critics and fans, and even on this very forum it's the number one GBA game to the point where people bought GBA Micros
just to have a dedicated system for it. Being about six years old, the game is pretty rare now, and a cursory glance at eBay shows the first result going for nearly $100. With the virtual console on the 3DS now, there is small hope that an English version will get to us. If you do track down a copy, the GBA isn't region locked, and the game isn't too dependent on the language.
Rhythm Heaven (NDS)
Released: July 31st, 2008 (JP); April 5, 2009 (NA); May 1st, 2009 (EU); June 4th, 2009 (AUS)
I guess the fact that the sequel got green-lit for overseas is kinda surprising, especially in light of Elite Beat Agents not doing as well as hoped back in 2005. Not only did we get Rhythm Heaven, it was one of the flagship titles to debut alongside the DSi with a pretty heavy promotional push (it's well-known for a TV commercial featuring Beyonce). Besides the standard bump in sound and graphic quality that new hardware brings, the game also employed a "tap and flick" kind of control scheme using the DS touchpad. The game was played in the "book" style with the game playing entirely on the non-touch screen and the touch screen being totally blank. While getting solid reviews from player and critic alike, the game was not viewed as favorably as the original. Blame for this might be pinned on the touch controls, which have been stated as good but inherently less accurate than buttons. Nonetheless, it's one of the best games on the DS, and copies are still easy to find. The 3DS is backwards compatible with DS games, so give it a shot.
Rhythm Heaven Fever (Wii)
Released: July 21st, 2011 (JP), February 13th, 2012 (NA), TBA 2012 (EU)
And so we come to the latest in the series. This is the first time the series will not be on a handheld, and yet it will be sold at a handheld price of just $29.99! The series will be returning to its roots (so to speak), and will eschew motion controls for a simple scheme using just A and/or B. Fever is also introducing multiplayer into the series, allowing two players to tackle a stage simultaneously and see who better kept the beat. You'll also be able to enjoy the game's simple art style in a clean widescreen, along with fancy features such as television speaker sound. Admittedly it's not turning the series on its head, but for thirty bucks it looks like a nice addition to the series. Not to mention enjoying the tradition of being one of the last games on the Wii from Nintendo.
This is the only English video of a full song I have seen thus far and, while well-done, its authenticity remains in question. So take it with a grain of salt, although it seems like the real deal. The practice segment ends around the three minute mark if you'd rather not watch the person fail the practice stuff a bunch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_et3ibrOg0
Posts
I love this remix. Hope it's as catchy in English. The music enhances the gameplay so much. Building robots was never so funky.
Thank fuck. I thought Nintendo's mad dash to make everything contain motion (read: stupid) controls would taint this; in fact it seemed like such an imprecise input that I felt it would ruin the whole game.
I don't have my Wii anymore, but this and the new Kirby means I'll be playing at a friend's at some point
I thought the DS game was great. I didn't have any problem with the controls being less accurate or anything. Just a bit of a learning curve on the harder games. But it felt so awesome to go from figuring out how the hell to do Lockstep, to being able to do it literally with my eyes closed. Though I'm sure having a pretty good sense of rhythm thanks to a musical background in high school helped a lot. :P
My Secret Santa from 2010 got me the DS game, and I still play the shit out of it.
Lockstep is fucking eeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsS-ZH38nTU
Also my favorite song from the game.
If I am lacking a medal on anything, it's the second doo-wop.
It took me forever to figure out just the demo.
Once it clicked though... Like I said. Literally eyes closed.
To put it simply, you're just changing from on-beat steps to off-beat steps, same tempo on each. One, two, three four, one, two, three, four, one two three fo-four, one two three etc
Even if I manage to do it right for a bit, I almost always mess up when it switches.
Yeah, it was the switching that was screwing me up, with the added problem that I couldn't initially hear the verbal cues all that well. They're the real trick. "Hai hai hai hu-huh" and "Oompa oompa". Just gotta get the hang of them, and it's a total breeze.
I kinda think they got the songs backwards. They should have had Lockstep 2 as the first version you play. It's slower and so much easier. Then have the faster version as the hard mode.
I think I have medals on most everything, barring the later remixes (oh my god fuck 9 so much). I've been trying to get perfects whenever they show up. I hate choking on getting a perfect nailed, especially when it's a song I otherwise do really well at.
This is what fucks me up in the robot factory song (part 2).
Were you tapping your finger along with the song, and laughing at the guy when he kept screwing up on the "Big guy" part?
...Uh, 'cuz I sure wasn't. That... that would just be crazy, heh heh heh... :rotate:
wubbazubbazubba, is that true?
hep
WHOA! You go big guy!
hraw
AND POSE FOR THE FANS!
GRAWWWWWWW
I urge you not to spoil yourself, but if you must...
Karate man is back! Fuck yeah!!!
Game sold. Day 1 purchase for me baby.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMOPdEtd0PE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD_1tG4eSj0
I have the Japanese versions of all three games. Unfortunately there's some kind of wireless interference issue at this house and I can barely play the Wii game, because inputs are randomly dropped. It only happens in this house (and it happens in every game), so it's not an issue with the game itself, but this is the only time it has posed a significant problem for gameplay. I still beat it, but medals are hard to get even when I do everything perfectly.
Multiplayer mode is amazing, by the way. By far the best multiplayer rhythm game, ever.
Also, THIS is the best Ringside interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IySZI0-NMdQ&feature=related
That poor reporter...
EDIT: More generally, I'm of the opinion that as many games as can bear it should make failure hilarious.
However, if it's like Rhythm Heaven, you can talk to the barista in the options menu after failing X times, and she will let you skip the stage.
HRAH-HROOO HRAH-HRAH HROOOOOOOOO!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OoMMLvJB9Q
Remix 3 sounds good anyway. (Skip to 1:25)
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
In anticipation of RHF I pulled out RH for the DS...jesus christ Lockstep is ridiculously difficult.
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir516vWvpJs
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
Add me!
One of two was fine, but let's not load this up with a 1,000 Wrestler edits or MLP edits.