As I’m playing a cooperative game of Rhythm Heaven Fever with a Nintendo representative during a private demo last week, I can’t help but get caught up in the beat of the music and the hilarity of our current objective. We each control a kung fu student in one of the modes titled “Endless Games” — a set of rhythm challenges that continues infinitely until we exhaust our chances. Our pair of martial arts prodigies have to strike a training ball back and forth between them with punches and kicks; the goal is to keep it in the air until it breaks and needs a replacement. The core gameplay idea is simple, and reminds me of a similar (real life) game involving a basketball that I played as a kid — minus all the light-hearted acrobatics and martial arts mastery. The ball travels back and forth between a flurry of punches, kicks, and other wacky moves — one involving a volleyball-style spike that has a very small timing window — as our pair of students alternate positions on four poles. The longest string of hits from the playthrough gets recorded, and trying to top it becomes your next goal.
Much like all the rhythm-based challenges in Rhythm Heaven, catchy music is the byproduct of your efforts, and similar to the past GBA (Japan-only) and DS installments, the light-hearted context makes each song entertaining and fun. On many levels, the playful tone connects with the most basic understanding of music — requiring very little knowledge of actual instrumentation (like Rock Band), and emphasize keeping time with a beat instead. The basic controls almost always involve timed presses of the A button, or pushing both the A and B buttons of the Wii Remote together simultaneously. Specific audio cues or animations help sync your timing, and are covered up with other on-screen elements to see if you’re really paying attention to the music.
