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What is Rhythm Heaven?
Rhythm heaven is a series of rhythm games developed by Nintendo EPD (formally Nintendo SPD), and produced by Japanese songwriter, musician, and record producer, Tsunku♂. The series goes by multiple different titles in different regions, including:
- "Rhythm Tengoku" (リズム天国) in Japan
- "Rhythm Heaven" in North America
- "Rhythm Paradise" in Europe
- "Rhythm World" (리듬 세상) in Korea
As of 2023, the franchise has four installments, made for the Game Boy Advance (2006), Nintendo DS (2008), Wii (2011), and Nintendo 3DS (2015).
Each game in the series consists of a collection of minigames, separated into sets of four (or five, in the original GBA game.). Each minigame has it’s own unique music and audio cues. At the end of every set of minigames, is a "remix", where the game switches between multiple minigames over the course of one song. Unlike most rhythm games, which use visual cues to tell the player which buttons to press and when, Rhythm Heavens gameplay is mostly based on audio cues. You can play most of the minigames without even having to look at the screen!
My History with Rhythm Heaven
My memory’s a little fuzzy, but I think I first learned about the series either from a video on the (now defunct) Nintendo Wii Channel, or the commercial for Rhythm Heaven DS featuring Beyoncé. While I was aware of the series, it wasn’t until around late 2012/early 2013 that I became more interested in it after watching one of MysteryBen27’s “Rhythm is Magic” animations (not 100% sure but I think it was specifically the remix apple apple apple video). After falling down a rabbit hole of Animated Rhythm Heaven Parodies on YouTube, I became curious about the actual game. After listening to some of the soundtrack and watching some reviews, I asked my mom to buy it for me. Despite the game being fairly new at the time, we were able to get a copy for less than $20!
I played it in our basement when I got home from school and loved every second of it. As my brothers got old enough to play video games, they loved it too!
I was so excited when I found out about the Japan-exclusive GBA game, and attempted to emulate it on the cheap shitty chromebook my high school gave me. As you could probably imagine, it didn’t go well. Eventually my brother got a physical copy of the games popular fan-translation, Rhythm Heaven Silver, which he let me borrow a few times. Me and my brothers also eventually got our hands on the DS game, which we all took turns playing.
When I first learned about Rhythm Heaven Megamix for the 3DS, I wasn’t too impressed at first. Most of the minigames were just remakes of minigames from the previous games, so I assumed it wasn’t worth playing if I already had all those other games. I’ve never been so happy to be proven wrong.