Rhythm Heaven Megamix (3DS)

RHYTHM_BOXThere is a little-known series of music games by Nintendo called Rhythm Heaven, yet they have a cult following.  The series first appeared on the Game Boy Advance in Japan only, but also globally on the DS and Wii.  A couple of weeks ago during E3, Nintendo surprised everyone by releasing the newest game in the lineup: Rhythm Heaven Megamix, as a downloadable title on the 3DS eShop in the US! 

Gameplay is simple enough.  You must press buttons in time with the beat in rhythm mini-games that last about 1 to 2 minutes long.  In the games, you’ll be doing a variety of crazy things, like marching with a flock of birds, shooting space aliens, chopping wood, or even interviewing a professional wrestler!  The premise is very quirky and weird, and may remind you of another crazy Nintendo game series: WarioWare.  In fact, both Rhythm Heaven and WarioWare were made by the same folks, so they appear very similar. 

The newest game in the series adds a few new handy features.  Megamix is the first title in the lineup to have a story mode, although it really doesn’t matter too much.  They make great use of the bottom screen in this one, as you can tell if you press the button too early, too late, or just right with the rhythm.  As with the other games, before you start each mini-challenge, you’ll be able to practice the rhythm cues first.  If you can’t get the hang of it, the bottom screen will also show you a grid to let you know exactly when to press the buttons (except it stops doing this way later in the game, unfortunately).  And finally, this game is really a collection of past Rhythm Heaven games, hence the name Megamix.  But don’t worry, many of the songs have been changed to make them easier (depending on where you are in the game), and some have harder modes for later on.  And since the GBA game was never released in the US, that means more of the games here are new to players outside of Japan.  Don’t worry, Rhythm Heaven experts, there are plenty of chances to try Perfect Challenges and other tougher games, too!

As you complete mini-games, you’ll earn coins.  Coins are used to help you progress at first, but later once you unlock the café, you’ll be able to use them to buy all sorts of unlockables and goodies.  You get more coins the better you score, and you can earn extra coins if you complete a song without missing a beat, or by getting a skill star where you hit the button perfectly during a certain part of the song.  The café also has a few extra mini-games, a two-player StreetPass feature, and a museum where you can view which game console each song challenge is from, among other things.  One last mode is the Challenge Train, where one to four players can compete via local wireless at the same time in a stream of music mini-games with a variety of rules.

Rhythm Heaven Megamix has a few small problems hardly worth mentioning, but I’ll do so anyway.  As said earlier, the game gets REALLY hard later on, and you have to be extremely good at keeping the beat if you want to finish the game.  While you can use coins to skip some of the games that you fail a bunch of times, it doesn’t feel very rewarding.  Also, in order to unlock everything, you’ll have to play the games tons of times in order to get enough coins and ‘flow balls’ to buy all the goodies, so it almost feels like ‘grinding.’  And it isn’t clear sometimes what you’ve unlocked and what the goodies might do.  And sometimes you might unlock something and go to it, only to have the game say, “Oh you can’t go here yet.” 

And finally, the biggest problem I had with the game is that it’s a downloadable title only.  I know they probably did this since the other games in the series didn’t sell as well here in the US (don’t blame me, I bought them all).  But the price you pay to download it is the same price as a cartridge.  And while this is the most robust and biggest Rhythm Heaven game ever, I’d be more inclined to buy it if it were a cartridge (I’m not 100 percent sure, but a believe it was a cartridge release in Japan).  However, I will say that you’ll certainly get what you pay for with this game, as it contains over 70 music mini-games and challenges (I’ve counted almost 100 myself).  And it’ll definitely keep Rhythm Heaven fans happy.  It’s quirky and weird and cheerful and colorful and the kind of game I really live for.  I wish more companies would make games like this nowadays. 

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Kid Factor:

Rhythm Heaven Megamix is rated E for Everyone with an ESRB descriptor of Mild Fantasy Violence.  Some of the mini-games have you chopping monsters in two as a samurai, among other things, but everything is very cartoony, slapstick, and unrealistic.  Reading skill is a must for all the text.  Younger gamers and players without a good sense of rhythm may get frustrated at the later stages of difficulty.  This game could be considered educational as it teaches and reinforces rhythm and tempo concepts.  Good for kids taking piano or other music instrument lessons, or if they are in a school band.

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