Hi, hello, we’re getting a new Rhythm Heaven game in just a little over a month! Can you believe it?! It’s been over a year since Nintendo announced Rhythm Heaven Groove, and over a decade since the last Rhythm Heaven, and I am absolutely losing my mind over here thinking about how Nintendo actually remembered and cared enough about this silly little microgame franchise to make a brand new one, just in time to send off the original Nintendo Switch.
Stairway to Rhythm Heaven
You’re forgiven if you’ve never picked up a Rhythm Heaven before. After all, it’s been over a decade since Rhythm Heaven: Megamix on Nintendo 3DS. The Rhythm Heaven games are, well, collections of rhythm games! Each one contains dozens of little minigames featuring cute characters in goofy scenarios where you respond to audio and visual cues by tapping buttons in a set rhythm, generally in time with music. You’re then rated based on how accurate your responses were. The games are beloved for their very precise rhythm mechanics, silly scenarios, satisfying sound effects, and excellent music.
I mentioned Megamix as the most recent Rhythm Heaven, but Megamix was also only sort of a new Rhythm Heaven—while it featured a story and some new game modes, over 100 of its rhythm games were returning games from prior games, and there were only 30 brand new ones added. Prior to Megamix, we got Rhythm Heaven Fever for Wii in 2011, Rhythm Heaven for DS in 2008, and the original Rhythm Tengoku, which was only released in Japan in 2006 for GBA.
Given that somewhat spotty history, it’s rather surprising that Nintendo is opting to revisit this silly minigame franchise, which may owe its infrequent appearances to the fact that it’s…never exactly been Nintendo’s most popular franchise, as much as the fervor for Chorus Kids in Smash would have you believe. While a beloved cult favorite, Rhythm Heaven hasn’t sold exceptionally well in its most recent incarnations. Megamix sold just over a million copies at last official count, a little more than the 3DS Fire Emblem remake and a little less than Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam. That’s a significant drop from the three million that Rhythm Heaven on DS sold (We don’t have hard numbers on Rhythm Heaven Fever, sadly).
And then there’s the matter of Tsunku, the franchise’s beloved composer. Tsunku is a popular Japanese songwriter who partnered with Nintendo for the original Rhythm Heaven and has worked on every game since. However, in 2014, Tsunku announced that he had laryngeal cancer, and in 2015 had his vocal cords removed as part of the treatment. While he’s continued to write some music and remained involved in music production since, he’s naturally been significantly less active in the music scene ever since. Knowing that, it’s not shocking we haven’t had a new Rhythm Heaven game since 2015, and that the one we got then didn’t have much in the way of new songs.
Getting the groove back
But there’s good news: Tsunku is confirmed to be involved with Rhythm Heaven Groove. We don’t know how extensive his role is, but him being able to participate in Groove in any capacity could very well be why Nintendo was willing to revisit the franchise in the first place. Tsunku himself hasn’t said much about Groove beyond posting the Japanese box art on his blog recently. His blog is actually extremely charming, mostly consisting of food pictures and talking about hanging out with his family. I’m glad he’s doing so well and I hope his children are enjoying those adorable bentos.
But beyond that we don’t actually know much about what Groove will entail at all. Apart from the announcement trailer, we’ve only seen one other bit of footage from the game, and that’s a truncated version of the “Slice N Dice Kitchen” game. Though brief, it certainly looks like very classic Rhythm Heaven.
Slice N Dice Kitchen is a brand new game, and the only one we’ve seen extensive footage of, but it’s not the only game that’s confirmed. Groove’s box art contains a number of familiar characters returning from previous games, including the onion from Rhythm Tweezers, the space men from Space Dance, and what looks like one of the birds from one of my personal favorites, Flock Step. It’s funny, despite feeling sort of put out that Megamix was mostly returning games and not new ones, I nonetheless find myself hoping for a bunch of old favorites to come back. Apart from Flock Step, I’m really hoping to see the adorable seals from Flipper Flop, and my own personal journalistic inspiration, the girl from Ringside:
Regardless of what new or returning games show up, I’m just thrilled we’re getting a new Rhythm Heaven at all. There are a handful of really interesting little franchises that are either entirely or mostly tied up in Nintendo’s handheld era and never made the jump to Switch—Style Savvy, Nintendogs, and Art Academy come to mind. We’ve recently seen a few of these finally pull through, with games like Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream and the upcoming Professor Layton. But I truly had given up hope for Rhythm Heaven until this was announced, especially after everything with Tsunku. It’s a bummer we won’t get a dedicated Switch 2 version, but also, I’m not sure I care that much. A Switch 2 isn’t going to do anything for the cute and quirky Rhythm Heaven, a game defined primarily by its snappy sounds and music and its cast of weird little dudes rather than swanky graphics or the like. And what a weird, wonderful, Nintendo-flavored swan song for the original Nintendo Switch it is!
Okay, okay, one more Rhythm Heaven game for the road. Watch this and then try and tell me it’s not incredibly satisfying. Now just imagine pushing the buttons yourself!
Also, please tell me your favorite Rhythm Heaven rhythm games in the comments so we can all watch YouTube videos of them together over the next month before Groove comes out (July 2)! Thanks!
