Collection essentials #535: Rhythm Tengoku (GBA)

Here we have the last Nintendo-developed game released on the Game Boy Advance, one that would spawn a new series. As you’d expect from the name, this is a rhythm game. But it’s not your typical rhythm game. 

Usually when you think of rhythm games, you think of games where you pick a song, then input a series of button presses along to the beat as the game prescribes. In Rhythm Tengoku, you are going to be pressing buttons along with some sort of beat, but the focus isn’t on the songs themselves, rather the quirky scenario that comes with a given stage. You never really know what you’re going to see next. Sometimes you’re a batter hitting a series of baseballs, sometimes you’re plucking chin hairs off of anthropomorphic onions, sometimes you’re a group of mice trying to get across the table without being caught by a cat. Whatever the case may be, the action tends to move at the pace of the rhythm of the background music, and you must press the right buttons to accomplish whatever the goal is in a given stage. And what’s cool is that, after clearing a few of the stages, you’ll get to a “remix” stage which is a sort of mashup involving the previous few scenarios you most recently encountered, switching between them on the fly.

There’s a series of neat little bonus unlockables in Rhythm Tengoku, and it’s one of those games that makes trying for 100% completion actually fun. Sometimes when you’re browning the menu, the game will randomly give you an opportunity to try and earn a medal in a random stage by getting a perfect score, right then and there. If you try to get the perfect and mess up, you CANNOT retry until the game randomly gives you that opportunity again. So the pressure is really on! 

What makes Rhythm Tengoku stand out the most, though, is its style. This is one whimsical games from Japan that occasionally dabbles in the bizarre, and leaves an impression with its unique artstyle and charm. 

I forget when I first got word that this game existed, but I know I first tried it out a couple years or so after it came out. I got hooked! I never managed to 100% complete it, but I may do that someday.

I’d stop short of saying Rhythm Tengoku is one of my absolute favorite rhythm games. Some of the earlier stages in particular are quite simplistic and can be a little boring to go back to. But it’s a game that definitely left an impression, so much so that it’s earned its status as an essential in my GBA library. Sadly this game has never received an official release outside Japan, but an English fan translation exists. If you like to test your sense of rhythm, this is one you ought to find a way to play.