Rhythm Tengoku was released in 2006 in Japan - and is only in Japanese - but the Wario Ware like notion of following your senses instead of just sitting and reading text explanations encouraged me to import it from Play-Asia.com.
I'm glad I did, too, because this is certainly a rhythm game worth playing. Basically, the game puts you in roughly fifty different scenarios. Maybe you're a martial artist punching things out of the air, or perhaps you're a mouse running and hiding from a cat with his buddies; hell, maybe you're even doing strange rhythmic noises as backup for a Japanese rap song. All of these activities are done to a beat and accompanying song, requiring you to to use the 'A', 'B', and directional buttons to make sure the characters on-screen play along with the rhythm.
Developed by the same team that conceived Wario Ware, Tengoku goes in a similar direction of having you interpret the music and what's going on visually to figure out how to play the game. Virtually every game can be played this way, without using the Japanese language; I was able to get through the game pretty much without incident, although a level or two did prompt me to look up an FAQ online to figure out the instructions. Really, though, this a game that pretty much transcends language, which is definitely something special. What's more, it's actually a lot of fun to jump into a level and quickly figure out what buttons you're supposed to be pressing and when. It takes the frenzied feel of WarioWare and adds a rewarding rhythm element to that as well. In so many words, the chaos is pleasantly controlled by a beat here.
Although you'll have fun working your way through the levels, many of which have distinctly different (very high-quality) songs and visual styles, many of them only take a minute or two to complete, and some scenarios repeat - with only slightly more difficulty - later down the line. This quickly makes that fifty-or-so scenarios seem quite small, quite quickly. The game may be a little tricky at first, but once you catch on to the game's rhythmic style, you'll be able to get gold medals on a lot of the levels on your first or second time through.
So, it won't take you long to finish, and the extras that unlock as you go through the game (with the notable exception of the drum lessons, which have you repeat rhythms on a kit using all the buttons) aren't all that special. But what you do get in Rhythm Tengoku is some good music, a very upbeat and relaxing game, and the fun, frenzied pace that comes from switching styles so frequently as you play. If you liked Wario Ware or have enjoyed a rhythm game before, Rhythm Tengoku is a great way to do so on the go and is worth the forty or so dollars it currently costs to import...assuming you don't mind a very short-lived experience, that is.
I'm glad I did, too, because this is certainly a rhythm game worth playing. Basically, the game puts you in roughly fifty different scenarios. Maybe you're a martial artist punching things out of the air, or perhaps you're a mouse running and hiding from a cat with his buddies; hell, maybe you're even doing strange rhythmic noises as backup for a Japanese rap song. All of these activities are done to a beat and accompanying song, requiring you to to use the 'A', 'B', and directional buttons to make sure the characters on-screen play along with the rhythm.
Developed by the same team that conceived Wario Ware, Tengoku goes in a similar direction of having you interpret the music and what's going on visually to figure out how to play the game. Virtually every game can be played this way, without using the Japanese language; I was able to get through the game pretty much without incident, although a level or two did prompt me to look up an FAQ online to figure out the instructions. Really, though, this a game that pretty much transcends language, which is definitely something special. What's more, it's actually a lot of fun to jump into a level and quickly figure out what buttons you're supposed to be pressing and when. It takes the frenzied feel of WarioWare and adds a rewarding rhythm element to that as well. In so many words, the chaos is pleasantly controlled by a beat here.
Although you'll have fun working your way through the levels, many of which have distinctly different (very high-quality) songs and visual styles, many of them only take a minute or two to complete, and some scenarios repeat - with only slightly more difficulty - later down the line. This quickly makes that fifty-or-so scenarios seem quite small, quite quickly. The game may be a little tricky at first, but once you catch on to the game's rhythmic style, you'll be able to get gold medals on a lot of the levels on your first or second time through.
So, it won't take you long to finish, and the extras that unlock as you go through the game (with the notable exception of the drum lessons, which have you repeat rhythms on a kit using all the buttons) aren't all that special. But what you do get in Rhythm Tengoku is some good music, a very upbeat and relaxing game, and the fun, frenzied pace that comes from switching styles so frequently as you play. If you liked Wario Ware or have enjoyed a rhythm game before, Rhythm Tengoku is a great way to do so on the go and is worth the forty or so dollars it currently costs to import...assuming you don't mind a very short-lived experience, that is.