Rhythm Heaven has been one of the more underserved Nintendo franchises over the last decade and a half. Excluding the compilation-style 3DS release in 2015, the last all-new entry in the franchise arrived in 2011 on Wii, meaning it’s been around two and a half full console generations since we last played a brand-new game in the series. That changes soon with Rhythm Heaven Groove on Switch, and we had the chance to get our hands on the franchise-reviving entry.
Rhythm Heaven Groove features the largest collection of rhythm-based minigames in franchise history, with more than 80 solo games and more than 30 multiplayer games across cooperative and competitive modes. On top of that, players can unlock access to a mini rhythm-based RPG called Beatspell.
In the single-player mode, the sheer variety of games on offer is impressive. Yes, they’re all rhythm-driven, but each brings a different gameplay mechanic, and perhaps more importantly, a new earworm with which to play along. Hoop Trundling puts you at the end of a line, tasking you with following the rhythm of those in front of you as you jump through incoming hoops. Brolly Good Show adds some complexity by having you open and close your umbrella in time with those next to you. Disc Dog was one of the more challenging ones, as you needed to jump to catch a frisbee seven beats following a toss. The final challenge in the first collection is Feeding The Beast, where you control a dinosaur-like creature eating plants to the beat.
Once you complete all games in a collection, you unlock the Remix, which combines the preceding games into one song. Unified by the song’s beat, I enjoyed how it kept me on my toes, even in the first collection. I can’t wait to see how it ramps up in difficulty and chaos as the games themselves become more involved.
Each minigame provides a familiar yet unique challenge, and ends with an assessment of how you did. If you do well enough to earn the “Amazing” rating, you get a medal. I made it my personal goal to get medals for every rhythm game I was able to play, and sadly, I only fell just shy in the second part of my single-player gameplay when we jumped ahead to the third collection of games. There, I played two games: Slice N Dice and Hop, Stop N Roll. Slice N Dice put me in control of a woman chopping veggies in her kitchen, while Hop, Stop N Roll turned me into a lucky cat figure hopping and rolling in time with other cats. Both were more demanding than the games in the first collection, which meant more fun for me.
In multiplayer, I played two games with a group of four players. Cake Wait is a competitive game where a timer counts down from 10 and everyone needs to press a button as close to when the clock hits 0 as possible. This resulted in some tense moments between players, because the clock disappears as the seconds tick away, serving as a strong test of timing. Then, in Ninja Bodyguard, the four of us worked together to protect a carriage from archers. This experience was less tense but delivered the same rhythmic fun as the other games, but with an added layer of camaraderie.
My gameplay session ended with Beatspell, the unlockable RPG-style mode built into Rhythm Heaven Groove. After earning a certain number of medals, new chapters of Beatspell become available. I played through the first two chapters. As encounters progress, you tap different commands as the beat progresses around a diamond chart. Each command casts a different spell. For example, tapping B on one corner, then A on the next, casts the flame spell to deal damage to the enemy you’re facing. However, if you add down on the d-pad on the half-beat between them, it instead casts Cure on yourself.
After taking down two monsters from a group called The Four Fears, my session ended. I have always enjoyed Rhythm Heaven, and I’m beyond happy that the Switch’s popularity has enabled Nintendo to take more chances on dormant franchises. I’m excited to see how the single-player offerings play out as you get deeper into them, and I look forward to busting this game out at future friend gatherings.
