I have a confession to make... despite the fact I hold this game in a extremely high regard and I even already praised it when I reviewed Fever, I actually never reached its end, and you know, after finally beating it after so long... I understand why.

Rhythm Heaven/Paradise doesn't pull any punches, I don't know if I would call it the hardest game in the series, but it's for sure the most consistently challenging out of all of them, especially when going for the Superbs. In occasions it feels like the game it's saying to your face ''Oh, do you want a reward? Maybe a pat on the back? Then you gotta earn it, bucko'' and proceeds to tell that you did ''Just OK'' despite only making ONE (1) mistake in the whole rhythm minigame, and that's not something that happens one or two times, it's an extremely common occurrence... and I love it for it!

I love that it's so demanding that in some cases it asks for perfection, I love that it requires to put the DS in such a seemingly weird position and can only be controlled with the touch screen, I love that it was marketed as a game that everyone can enjoy and learn from despite its absurdity and difficulty, I just love that it doesn't feel ashamed to be what it is, and on the contrary, it constantly enjoys simply existing. And you may be thinking: ''...well, that's nice I guess, but you've said really similar things about both Tengoku and Fever, so what makes Heaven/Paradise so special?’’ and the answer to that is quite simple… FROGS SINGING IN SPANISH.

Take everything I said about Fever making you feel incredibly happy while you are playing it, multiply it by at least a hundred, and you get the exact way I feel when I’m experiencing Blue Birds; while I’d say that both games are on par quality wise, all of the rhythm minigames in both experiences being incredibly creative and fun, Heaven/Paradise has a certain charm that I find extremely difficult to describe despite how easy is to pint out; every game has its unique visual flare, the music has that unique feeling that only the DS sound font can give off while also being unlike anything else on the system and producing some absolute BANGERS, and in spite of Megamix proving that a lot of this minigames can be controlled with a button control system just fine and even improving upon them, I’d still say that is this ‘’Touch book’’ system of controlling the game and holding the handheld what makes it that much more unique and injects so much fun into it. There is not other game like Rhythm Heaven/Paradise for the DS, even if I think Megamix is the superior experience in the series, is this one that it’s the most… well, itself; the one that pulls all the stops, the one the weirder stuff (as hard as that is to believe), the one that went as far as to even have full-blown vocal translations of songs to other languages, and as such the one that feels more personal, the one that feels just like paraíso.

Even if there are a lot of re-used minigames which don’t feel expanded upon enough, even if the flicking and touching control scheme can get a bit to get used to (even tho it ends up being a fantastic way to play the game and I absolutely loved it), even when the difficulty to get 100% completion can begin feeling a bit like bullshit (Remix 6 is absolute evil), I still love it. I still love it with minor flaws and gripes, I enjoyed every single moment I spent with it, and I will never forget the satisfaction that gave me not only beating Remix 8, the minigame in which I gave up in my first time back when I played it so long ago, in my second try, but also getting a superb. I’m so glad I finally beaten it, and I’m so happy to say I’ve loved it so, so much more than those years ago, and I found value in things I wouldn’t have even considered back then.
Time sure flies, it seems so long ago, I finally got some rhythm, and we’re on our own path now…

So let’s go!


Oh and also, this game’s Remix 10 is better than Fever’s in both the music and fun department and yes, I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL AND NOBODY CAN CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE, TAKE IT AWAY, CONDUCTOR!

Takes a lot of the greatness of Rhythm Tengoku and amps it up a bit for me, making for a game that I find equally as delightful as that one, but without a lot of the little caveats that prevented me from feeling outright adoration towards everything it did. The biggest glow up for me is the way that a lot more of these minigames feel structured towards playing along with the music rather than Tengoku often finding itself in this slightly strange position where I felt more like I was responding and reacting to split second musical cues within any given track. It essentially led to an experience that felt far more intuitive and natural to follow from moment to moment, with the bits that did lean into making the player react to something incredibly quick/memorise what's coming up feel more in line with a playful switch up as opposed to the core approach that was taken.

I felt that this was most apparent with the way that my failures in this were primarily execution errors based on losing the flow of a song momentarily, rather than being blindsided by something that was a bit too fast for me to comfortably hit without already having such knowledge in advance. My favourite change to how the game plays however, is the tactility that gets added thanks to the tap and flick controls that this takes on, as opposed to just button presses. So many basic actions immediately feel much more impactful when accompanied by the layers upon layers of feedback that's usually associated with hitting such cues, and adds a lot of appeal to some games that I otherwise feel I wouldn't care as much about, not to mention whenever it has something a bit more unique here and there, like the bottle shaking in love labs. While not all of the remixes are great, still having a few too many moments where it's just basic interactions strung together, there are a few of them that are absolutely fantastic both musically and how it messes with the cues to make for some incredibly cool, clever moments that feel good even after you've gone through and done them a bunch of times. One of the coolest DS games that happens to also use the hardware in one of my favourite ways, essential gaming.

I was so pleasantly surprised by this game!

The only experience I'd had with the series previously was Rhythm Heaven Fever for the Wii and I enjoyed it enough, but I wasn't sure how the series' worldwide debut would compare.

As a Rhythm game there are really two critical elements that need to be nailed for a satisfying experience: the music needs to be good and the controls need to be responsive enough that losing feels fair. Needless to say, Nintendo SPD nailed both. The tracks in the game vary in terms of how fleshed out the music is, but I always found them catchy and it was always easy to understand what beats the game wanted me to hit. This was in no small part due to the call-and-response style that the game sticks with throughout its run time. The controls are simple and responsive: tap the touch screen and/or flick it depending on the action required. I never felt like my inputs were missed or registered without me touching the screen.

With the fundamentals out of the way, why else do I love this game so much? For one, the game has a sense of absurd humor that pervades everything from the characters (the chorus boys are by no means the wackiest cast members) to the game over screens. Visually, the game is also stunning: all of the pixel art is crisp and the polygonal elements are used sparingly. Once you've explored the rest of the game, there's side content that's pretty engaging but is obviously meant as a distraction.

Something worth mentioning is that the DS is held on its side, like a book, for the entirety of the game. Some games adopted this as a gimmick but I feel like it genuinely enhances the experience of the game here by making the flicking motion much less restricted.

This game also deals with difficulty in a fascinating way. After playing for a certain length of time, a level you've previously beaten is highlighted and you're incentivized to shoot for a perfect score on it. However, the catch is that you only get 3 tries after which another level gets highlighted. This ups the stakes when you're going for completion and de-incentivizes grinding a particular level until you happen to get one perfect run by chance.

Anyone who has a DS owes it to themself to give this game a go. If you're into rhythm games or love the absurdist humor of the Wario Ware series you have even more reason to check this gem out.

Maravilhoso; tão bonitinho jogar segurando o DS que nem um livrim ehehe

Joguei só o Rhythm Heaven Megamix antes desse e foi muito bom encontrar alguns minigames super legais que eu não tinha visto antes (o da Química, dos Lagartinhos e do DJ!!!!)

Só não dou 5 estrela porque o critério de Medalha de Ouro/Prata é bastante inconsistente hjdfghjd E, como diferente do Megamix tu não tem feedback de se tá acertando mais ou menos próximo da batida, fica difícil de entender como isso tá afetando a tua pontuação. De qualquer jeito, muito bom recomendo :3

I don't prefer this game to the Wii entry, it lacks difficulty at times, and is frustratingly hard in others. Typically a level will require you to nail one specific section, which will be slightly different in timing than usual, in order to get a "superb" score. The problem arises when the bit you have to hit is right at the end of a 3 minute level and that is your only opportunity to learn the timing. I did only find this for a couple of levels, however.

Remix 3 in particular left me feeling sour, I finished the level without seeing any indication that I had made a mistake, which the game is usually flawless at telegraphing, but was still only given an "OK". I had to look this up and learnt that one of the minigames will give you a passing score and indicate you did well even if your timing was off, but will register that your timing was off when it comes to the final grading. I was unimpressed by this.

Has really got me in the mood to play the 3ds entry, before moving on to Rhythm Heaven Studio!

don't gel with this as much as warioware for multiple reasons, it needs so much tutorializing, feels imprecise at points because of the flicking motion, has total nonsense ranking standards and is generally less funny (besides the moais) or charming. plus the soccer stages are easier with my eyes shut?? besides a couple songs they're all good but not great. well it's cool and shit sure but besides having more challenge this isn't significantly better than touched and it's way worse than the first two, which can also be played on the first two models of the ds! i'm probably sounding like a hater but i'm keeping it 100