Rhythm Tengoku

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Rhythm Tengoku
"Hey baby, listen to my phrase!
I can give you a sense of rhythm!"
— The girl singing in Karate Man
Genre(s): Rhythm Game
Platform(s): Game Boy Advance
Release Date: JP: August 3, 2006
Developer(s): Nintendo SPD
J.P.Room
Publisher(s): Nintendo
Country: Japan
Series: Rhythm Heaven
Successor: Rhythm Heaven


Rhythm Tengoku (meaning Rhythm Heaven) unofficially translated as Rhythm Heaven Silver, is a rhythm game developed by Nintendo SPD and J.P.Room, with Nintendo acting as the publisher, for the Game Boy Advance. It was released on August 3, 2006, exclusively in Japan, and was the last first-party game released for the GBA.

Why It's a "Go for a Perfect"

  1. The concept of a WarioWare-esque game using music and rhythm as a basis is an interesting one, and this game pulls it off nicely.
    • This game, unlike most rhythm games, primarily relies on audio cues rather than just visuals to give the player an actual sense of rhythm.
    • The concept also inspired custom remixes, Rhythm Heaven Reanimated, and several fangames, such as Heaven Studio (formerly Rhythm Heaven Mania), Rhythm Heaven Remix Editor, Karateka Mania, Bouncy Road Mania, and Polyrhythm Mania.
  2. A variety of fun minigames, including:
    • Karate Man (The first ever game)
    • The Clappy Trio
    • Sneaky Spirits
    • The☆Bon Odori
    • Tap Trial
    • Sick Beats
    • Space Dance
    • Toss Boys
    • Rap Men
      • Once a set of rhythm games is completed, the player must then complete a Remix that will test their skills from that particular set.
  3. A colorful collection of characters, all of whom have plenty of personality. Some of them include Karate Joe, The Clappy Trio, Yuka the Tap Girl, the Donpans and Yagura-chan, the Toss Boys (Ao-kun, Aka-chan and Kii-yan) and the Rap Men.
  4. Decent graphics for a late GBA game, with Bouncy Road even utilizing 3D for its pistons.
  5. Excellent soundtrack composed by Tsunku♂(who is also the games' creator), with some of the tracks even having vocals in them, such as the song in The☆Bon Odori/Bon Dance, Rap Men/Rap Women's rap vocals, Remix 3's "Koi no Honey Sweet Angel" and Remix 5's WISH "Kimi o Matenakute."
  6. After scoring a Superb on a particular rhythm game, you will be awarded a Medal; these can then be used to unlock Rhythm Toys and Endless Games.
    • Additionally, you can try for a Perfect run (where you must not make any mistakes while playing said rhythm game) to unlock supplemental material such as music, stories, etc.
  7. There are plenty of references to the WarioWare series, including Orbulon's Space Hares appearing during Remix 7's Marching Orders section.
  8. Tons of replay value, in no small part due to the amount of rhythm games one can play and the unlockables earned by completing them.

"Try Again" Qualities

  1. Due to the release window, this game wasn't released outside of Japan .
  2. Due to early installment weirdness, a lot of games rely on visuals or have weird quirks.
    • Remix 1 has no audio cue to start marching during the second and third Marching Orders sections. It also has a section where there are 4 Clappy Trio members which is impossible to predict.
    • Samurai Slice has no practice.
    • Rat Race gets a bit unfair near the end with its "rapid-fire" cues.
    • Sick Beats has no practice, and while possible without visuals, it's a bit confusing, since the audio cue indicating how many tubes the virus will zip through is really fast.
    • The☆Bon-Odori relies entirely on visuals if you don't know the patterns beforehand. There's also two claps in the end that you can't predict even with visuals.
    • Remix 2 has two inconsistencies:
      • The viruses in Sick Beats can appear anywhere without a sound cue.
      • The ghosts in Sneaky Spirits have to be shot at 7 beats, except the last one which is the regular 8.
    • Bunny Hop's rests are entirely visual. However, the music comes back on one beat before you have to input again.
    • Tram & Poline has no indicator on which one is jumping since they both use the same bounce sound effect.
    • Remix 3:
      • The rests in Bunny Hop in Remix 3 don't even have visuals telling you how long to rest for.
      • Wizard's Waltz is in 4/4.
    • Quiz Show just sucks and doesn't even require rhythm. It's also the only game in the entire Rhythm Heaven franchise that will give you an instant "Try Again" if you fail the practice.
    • Night Walk has no practice.
    • Power Calligraphy only teaches you two of the six cues (minus the face).
    • Polyrhythm has no practice.
    • Bouncy Road will give you a "Just OK" if you miss a single ball.
    • Ninja Bodyguard has no practice and instead has an opening cutscene.
    • If you miss in Toss Boys, you have no way of telling who the ball is being dispensed toward without visuals.
    • The Snappy Trio has a "simultaneous" clap that you would have no way of knowing about it.
    • If you miss the pot in Karate Man 2 on the line "New groove in your soul", you get an instant "Try Again" even if you hit every other object.
    • Rhythm Tweezers 2 has a diabolical 32nd beat pattern at the end in a franchise that barely goes beyond eighth beats.
    • Ninja's Descendant has one section where you block five rocks in a row, and another where you slice two rocks at the same time.
    • Night Walk 2 has electric fish you can't hit that are purely visual.
    • Remix 7 brings back the 4 Clappy Trio members from Remix 1.
    • Polyrhythm 2 pulls out an actual 2:3 polyrhythm near the end.

Reception

Rhythm Tengoku received positive reviews from critics and audiences (Eurogamer gave it an 8/10), despite not receiving much attention at the time of its release. Critics praised the game's music, gameplay and sheer variety, but criticized the short length.

Trivia

  • As this is the first Rhythm Heaven game, there are several differences from later ones:
    • The games are split into eight sets of six (48 total) rather than the usual ten sets of five (50 total). This would later return in Megamix, albeit with non-Tower areas using nine sets of four (36 total, plus the usual division of the 50 games in each tower).
    • As listed above, there are significantly fewer audio cues than in later games, with many of the minigames relying on visuals as well as audio or having strange quirks.
      • Similarly, remixes sometimes introduce new elements that weren't used previously, such as Sick Beats' multi-hit viruses or the "No Peeking" sign put over the vegetables in Rhythm Tweezers.
    • The game only messes with your interface in five games (those being Marching Orders, Spaceball, Sneaky Spirits, Samurai Slice, and Remix 8). Later games use this tactic a lot more.
    • The "Final Remix" (the remix with each game you've played) of this game is Remix 6, with Remix 8 feeling more like a "Thanks for playing!" type of remix.
    • Five minigames (specifically Samurai Slice, Sick Beats, Night Walk, Polyrhythm, and Ninja Bodyguard) don't have any sort of practice before the actual game, with the last one having an intro cutscene instead.
    • There are more Japanese culture-based minigames than there usually are, with five of them (those being Samurai Slice, The☆Bon Odori, Fireworks, Power Calligraphy, and Ninja Bodyguard). Later games will only have one or two games in this style and keep the themes more general.
    • This game's version of Karate Man is the only one to utilize the Flow Meter.
    • The first set of sequel games happens before the credits rather than after them.

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