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. 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. 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. They're just adorable.Īfter releasing the DS game, an entry for the Wii would shortly follow. Anyways, the standouts for me for the first entry were:īlue 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. 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.
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. 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. 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. it has pretty much taken control of my brain, to put it lighly. 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.Īnyways, 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. 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). 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.
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. 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). The first time I played Rhythm Heaven was about.