Rhythm Heaven Megamix
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Rhythm Heaven Megamix'', known in Europe and Australia as ''Rhythm Paradise Megamix'', in Japan as and ''Rhythm World: The Best Plus'' in Korea, is a
rhythm game Rhythm game or rhythm action is a genre of music-themed action video game that challenges a player's sense of rhythm. Games in the genre typically focus on dance or the simulated performance of musical instruments, and require players to pres ...
developed and published by
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
for the
Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...
. It is the fourth game in Nintendo's ''Rhythm Heaven'' series and compiles stages from the series' previous entries; '' Rhythm Tengoku'', ''
Rhythm Heaven ''Rhythm Heaven'', known as ''Rhythm Tengoku Gold'' in Japan, ''Rhythm Paradise'' in Europe, and ''Rhythm World'' in Korea, is a Rhythm game, rhythm video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. It is the second game in the ...
'', and '' Rhythm Heaven Fever'', as well as adding new ones. The game was released in Japan in June 2015 and in North America, Europe, Oceania, and South Korea throughout 2016. The game will be succeeded by Rhythm Heaven Groove for
Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...
in 2026.


Gameplay

Like the previous three entries in the series, ''Rhythm Heaven Megamix'' is composed of several Rhythm Games, requiring players to play in time with the music in order to clear each one. The game uses the traditional control scheme featured in the original ''Rhythm Tengoku'', which uses the A, B, and directional buttons on the Nintendo 3DS. The game can be optionally played with the stylus, though controls are more simplified compared to ''Rhythm Heaven''. The game features over 100 Rhythm Games, including 70 taken from previous titles (including the GBA release, which was never released outside of Japan) and 30 brand new ones, as well as new Remix stages based on the game's Rainbow Towers which combine the previous rhythm games in the tower (or more rhythm games) into one song. Tower-themed elements are incorporated into the remix while every character in the present rhythm games gets to wear special tower-themed alternate costumes (except for the Left-Hand, Right-Hand and Final Remixes). Ratings for the Rhythm Games are now awarded based on a score meter indicating how well the player performed. Each Rhythm Game also features a special Skill Star point, which awards bonuses for hitting a certain part of the game with precise timing. Playing through Rhythm Games earns Medals that can be used to unlock bonuses such as additional rhythm games. ''Megamix'' features a Story Mode in which players try to help a character named Tibby reach Heaven World, his home. The mode has players play through stages in a linear format (where they are grouped into Stages of four; one from ''Rhythm Tengoku'', one from ''Rhythm Heaven'', one from ''Rhythm Heaven Fever'', and one new), which is broken up by challenge games, before allowing players to tackle various towers in any order they choose. Some older Rhythm Games that returned in ''Megamix'' (such as ''Karate Man'', ''Shoot-'em-up'', ''Micro-Row'', and ''Air Rally''), received a prequel version, an easier version which takes the original name and description of each game, and has new graphics and an alternated music (to match the music style of the new rhythm games featured in ''Megamix''), while the original Rhythm Games have been labelled as sequels and are given new names (e.g. ''Sneaky Spirits'' from ''Tengoku'' is labelled as ''Sneaky Spirits 2'' in ''Megamix'', ''Glee Club'' from ''Heaven'' is labelled as ''Glee Club 2'' in ''Megamix'', and ''Figure Fighter 2'' from ''Fever'' is labelled as ''Figure Fighter 3'' in ''Megamix''). Some of the returning games from ''Tengoku'' and ''Heaven (DS)'' have added new music and redesigned graphics. Outside of the Story Mode, players can attempt Perfect Campaigns, which require players to clear selected stages without making any mistakes, or take on challenges on the Challenge Train, which can be played with up to four players via Download Play. The Challenge Mode in the game also has two ''
WarioWare is a video game series, a spin-off of the ''Mario'' franchise. It comprises various video games created by Nintendo, starring the character Wario. The series began with '' Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3'', the first game to feature Wario as a p ...
'' crossover challenges named as "
Wario is a character in Nintendo's Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise that was designed as an Archenemy, archnemesis to Mario. Wario first appeared as the main antagonist and final Boss (video games), boss in the 1992 Game Boy game ''Super Mar ...
... Where?", which replaces some of the rhythm games' main characters with characters from the ''WarioWare'' series. This is due to both the ''WarioWare'' and ''Rhythm Heaven'' franchises being made by the same developers. The game also features bonus rhythm games, all of which are from previous titles, and a ''Figure Fighter Duel'' challenge that uses the 3DS' StreetPass functionality.


Plot

Tibby, a citizen of Heaven World, falls from the sky into Earth World. Upon regaining consciousness, he meets the player, who agrees to help him return to Heaven World. The two clear several worlds, meeting several people along the way, before arriving at the Lush Tower. At said tower, the game-play style slightly changes, as Remixes are added. The first fake-out scene happens after Lush Remix is cleared, where Tibby was supposed to go back to Heaven World, but falls and hits his head before he can reach Heaven World. Several Towers appear, each containing either sequels of the games the player has played before, or entirely new games. After the player clears all 6 of the extra worlds, the second fake-out scene occurs, with Tibby being sent back up to Heaven World, but upon arrival, the place is "gloomy". Upon clearing several more game sets, they come upon the final 3 towers. Left-hand Tower, Right-Hand Tower, and Tibby's Mom. (The species of which Tibby belongs to become houses as they grow up.) The player clears the games in each of the 3 towers, before Heaven World returns to normal. It had become changed because Tibby's Mom had held her breath, due to her getting hiccups. The game ends shortly thereafter, however the player can still play the game if he or she still chooses to.


Development

Masami Yone, the director of ''Rhythm Heaven Fever'', assumed the same role for ''Megamix''. He was assisted by Takumi Hatakeyama, who previously worked as a programmer and designer for ''
WarioWare D.I.Y. ''WarioWare D.I.Y.'', known as ''WarioWare: Do It Yourself'' in the PAL region, is a minigame compilation and game creation system by Nintendo SPD and Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. It is the seventh title in ...
'' and ''Rhythm Heaven Fever''. Ko Takeuchi returns as the art director, and Yoshio Sakamoto as the general producer. The game was first announced near the end of a Japanese
Nintendo Direct Nintendo Direct is a series of online presentations or live shows produced by Nintendo, where information regarding the company's upcoming content or franchises is presented, such as information about games and consoles. The presentations began ...
on January 14, 2015 in Japan, when Satoru Iwata is seen involved in a Nintendo Direct take of ''Karate Man Returns'', before the gameplay footage is shown. More gameplay footage was shown in the Japanese April 1 Nintendo Direct. The game's music is done by Tsunku♂ (who also serves as the game's producer), as well as Shinji Ushiroda, Asuka Ito, Yumi Takahashi, and Megumi Inoue. While some music pieces from the original ''Rhythm Tengoku'' and ''Rhythm Heaven (DS)'' were re-used, ''Rhythm Heaven Megamix'' re-uses several music themes from the previous game, ''Rhythm Heaven Fever''. For the prequel versions of older rhythm games from previous titles and for the new rhythm games and remixes in the game, most of the music that Tsunku♂ had composed for them was given a techno-themed motif. This is different from the music styles used in the previous three ''Rhythm Heaven'' titles, which in ''Rhythm Tengoku'', ''Rhythm Heaven'' (DS), and ''Rhythm Heaven Fever'', the music for those titles was a mix of catchy tunes and vocal songs. In a Iwata Asks interview, Satoru Iwata said; "Making music for the game was difficult, but that's what it was like". Tsunku♂ said; "As with music, to compete with the original work... It's very tricky, but while leaving the theme, the newly created Prequels. In making music for the games (the prequel of Karate Man for example), I'd have a strong feeling for it because it was unexpectedly tough. I am very particular about the game, but no matter how many times I submit a music piece, it doesn't look right... If you make one at Nintendo's request while thinking, some think; The image is a little different, though. The piece for ''Karate Man'' submitted for the second time. It was a minor in changes and the guitar was fierce, it's so intense that it's cool! Not the game of the same name that appears in the beginning, though. It is used by those who appear in the final game". In addition to using vocal songs from previous entries, newly written songs for the game were being made. Tsunku♂ commented; "We have selected people who are suitable for singing fresh songs in the game". The four new vocal songs for ''Megamix'' are "Tokimeki no Monogatari" (used for the Lush Remix), "I'm a lady now/Hotzmic" (used for the Honeybee Remix), "For That One Big Tear" (used for the Machine Remix), and "Classmate" (used for the game's Staff Roll). For "Tokimeki no Monogatari", Tsunku♂ commented; "There is a feeling of twilight at dusk. The singers who sing this song did a great job". He brought in Tokimekist (Chi-chan, Rino Hirayama, Mai-chan, Yurinko) to record the song. For "I'm a lady now/Hotzmic", Tsunku♂ asked a person he met in New York to write the lyrics. To provide the vocals, Azuki Moeno participated, and as will be described later, Tsunku's eldest daughter, who was 6 years old at the time of recording the song, participated under the name of Hotzmic. In recording "For That One Big Tear", Tsunku♂ really liked the song's melody and lyrics, so he brought in Hikaru Ohashi, a singer from the Ishikawa prefecture, to sing. For "Classmate", Tsunku♂ said; "It's a song that you can hear if you play this game quite a bit. I had a pretty concrete image from the beginning, when I wondered what kind of game it would be. I'm surprised that this will happen... I was so moved that I almost cried. The song here is somehow sweet and sour. The feeling that I'm not so good is really good, and I think I'm addicted to it". He brought in Pajama Musume Club (Karen, Azuki Moeno,
Hitomi Yoshida is a Japanese singer and actress previously affiliated with Amuleto. She is known for voicing Haru Miura in ''Reborn!'', Muco in '' Lovely Muco'', Mimi Tachikawa in ''Digimon Adventure tri.'', and Miyū Aikawa in ''Occultic;Nine''. Her singing ...
) to record the song. The music video for "I'm a lady now/Hotzmic" was released (probably to promote ''Megamix'') in Japan, in which the song is extended than the 1-minute version heard in the Honeybee Remix. The video features Hotzmic singing the song while dancing in a room. "Tokimeki no Monogatari", "For That One Big Tear" and "Classmate" were replaced by instrumental versions of the three songs in the American, European, and Korean versions of the game, replacing the singing because there are no lyrics for the respective languages. ''Megamix'' was the final game developed by Nintendo SPD1 before it was merged into Nintendo Entertainment Planning and Development. In 2016, Nintendo announced that the game would launch in North America, Europe, Australia and Korea "later" that year. The game was released as a
Nintendo eShop The is a digital distribution service for the Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo Switch 2, and formerly available via the Nintendo Network for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. Launched in June 2011 on the Nintendo 3DS, the Nintendo eShop served ...
exclusive in North America on June 15, 2016 during Nintendo's Treehouse Livestream presentation at
E3 2016 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2016 (E3 2016) was the 22nd E3, during which hardware manufacturers and software developers and publishers from the video game industry presented new and upcoming products to attendees, primarily retailers and m ...
. The game received a physical retail release in Europe on October 21, 2016. Like the European release of '' Beat the Beat: Rhythm Paradise'', the English versions of the game feature both English and Japanese audio.


Reception

''Rhythm Heaven Megamix'' received "generally favorable reviews" on review aggregation site
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, scoring a 83/100.
Famitsu , formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...
reviewers rated the game a 34/40 (8/8/8/10) in Famitsu Score, and was praised for various aspects including its great variety in gameplay despite the simple controls, and supportive feedback from input timing effects. The game debuted at No. 1 in Japanese charts maintained by
Media Create is a Japanese company that gathers and analyzes data from the digital entertainment industry, specifically focusing on the Japanese console gaming market. Business operations include publishing, market research and consulting. It is a popular w ...
, recording 158,000 copies sold in its first week of release. As of 26 February 2016, total Japanese sales reached 650,000 copies. As of December 31, 2022, the game had sold over 1.03 million copies worldwide.


Notes


References


External links

* {{Wario series 2015 video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Music video games Nintendo 3DS eShop games Nintendo 3DS games Nintendo 3DS-only games Nintendo Network games Rhythm Heaven Video games developed in Japan