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[00:00] After a decade-long sleep, one of Nintendo's best handheld series is finally making its swift debut, and I couldn't be more thrilled. I've always loved the Rhythm Heaven game series for their irreverent humor and formidable musical gameplay,

[00:15] and now Rhythm Heaven Groove has rekindled my competitive spirit, challenging me to tackle an onslaught of temper-shifting trials in hungry pursuit of perfect scores. Its RTT-inspired geek film mode isn't quite the hit I was hoping for,

[00:28] But the rest of this energetic installment is still a more than worthy successor, packed with a medley of moreish minigames that are both deeply satisfying and surprisingly difficult to master.

[00:44] It all starts with the controls, which are deceptively simple. Different button clusters, from quick taps to lengthy holds, cause the character to control across its bite-sized levels to perform all manner of odd tasks,

[00:56] to a variety of specific needs. You'll accelerate and brake in a sports car to film a promotional video, engage in a thrash of the Ralph F. Cohen response with an alien, and dance with a troop of sentient umbrellas. And that's just the starters.

[01:08] The clever twist is that there isn't a clear note highway telling you when exactly to tap, so you have to recognize and mix your visual and auditory clues to hit the sonic sweet spot. As you progress, reaching rhythm's excellence becomes harder as tunes go on complexly.

[01:24] this process encouraged me to lock in and enter a state of meditative listening to succeed, which felt like the perfect blend of demanding and relaxing. Thankfully, each game starts with an in-depth tutorial that guides you through the upcoming beat patterns. With the help of Rhythm

[01:40] Heaven Groove's adorable mascot, you'll try out new skills one at a time, before getting a taste of them layered all together. Even with these interactive pointers, it typically takes some practice to get it right, particularly because the arrangements featured in the actual level differ

[01:52] quite a bit from the warm-up. Arriving courtesy of series veteran composer Sun Ku among a handful of other secret artists the music runs the gamut in terms of both BPM and genre skillfully splitting between shredding guitars sustained synths and percussive performances to keep you on your toes

[02:10] This randomized approach is mirrored in the central loop of each minigame too, and where one level might require you to match up with your fellow creatures, another will have you bouncing items or popping bubbles all by yourself. This kind of unpredictability could easily ruin your momentum, but instead the diversity

[02:28] is brilliantly orchestrated, ensuring rhythm heaven grew so fresh throughout the solo campaign's approximately eight hour run time. It's not enough just to stay on beat, as most minigames are packed with little surprises

[02:42] hellbent on ruining your blur. During a game called Disc Dog, I was tasked with counting down from seven before telling a pup to catch a first beat. Halfway through, the camera slowly zoomed in on the film due to my owner, while I was in the dog, so I was forced to rely on my ears to find the ideal jump window.

[02:58] Elsewhere, in the aptly named Rivet Rocket minigame, the aim was to shoot frogs into the sky using a powerful lily launch pad. As the music ramped up, an amphibious creature suddenly appeared in front of the pad, limiting my vision. It might seem cool at first, but these subtractions exist to train you on rhythm heaven's rewarding approach to the genre.

[03:14] Instead of relying on falling notes or consistent visual targets, audio comps are far more important. Eventually, you'll be able to ignore these distractions and achieve perfection nonetheless. The solo campaign is split into eight stages, with four games per stage and a finale remix that blends all the stages' rhythm games and their accompanying tracks into an engaging, interactive DJ set.

[03:36] While the individual minigames are a joy, the remixes are particularly exhilarating and capture the ultimate rhythm game high, that moment when muscle memory takes over and you nail almost every beat on pure instinct. Once you complete one of the rhythm games, you receive a rating that ranges from Keep

[03:52] Trying up to Amazing To progress you need to earn at least a good on every music puzzle in the stage as well as its respective remix which naturally becomes more challenging the furthering you get Still the difficulty is carefully balanced ensuring I was rarely overwhelmed and continued to feel a burning sense of purpose as I unlock new games You

[04:10] earn an amazing rating and you'll also receive medals, which unlock additional mini-games within a submenu called the Rhythm Toy Box. The options here are a lot more straightforward than the campaign levels, but they can still be amusing in their own way, and I can't

[04:22] to see who'll earn the record for the longest game of Poplarfish tippy-uppy post-launch. The mechanical momentum is key here, as Rhythm Heaven Groove doesn't have an overarching

[04:34] story to cling to. Although familiar characters appear on an art, it's all about enjoying these two-size vignettes at face value. Just because they're small doesn't mean they aren't meaningful, though. For example, during the crunching pixel game Hop and Slide, the

[04:46] aim is to test a game within a game coded by a young girl for programming class. The premise is simple enough, control a bunny to jump over and slide under a series of petals to reach the finish line. However, halfway through the project, you start experiencing

[04:59] bugs, and your screen bursts into a warped hyperspeed, leaving you helplessly tapping to avoid smacking into obstacles. This high-octane twist was a thrilling challenge, whilst also delivering a sweet micro-story.

[05:12] It's this kind of ingenuity that makes Live in Heaven Groove's disparate world of wonder a real joy to spend time in. Even when the game got so infuriating, I was tempted to remote control without the window. From matching lettering on stock images to bouncing fruit

[05:24] on a buff beach girl with ice caps, it's irreverent in a way that feels intentional, with an effervescent sprinkling of randomness to keep your curiosity piqued.

[05:36] Rhythm Heaven Groove also features a separate pool of cooperative minigames that expertly harness the same infectious feeling found in the campaign, just with the added chaos of up to three more players. There are ten games total, each with three levels of difficulty,

[05:48] and you'll need to succeed at the first iteration to unlock the later game. There's a mixture of collaborative and competitive options, though admittedly the player stages were a tad more fun My personal favorite was Take Wave a game in which you and your friends had to count down in your head to death time all aiming to never treat it exactly

[06:07] 3pm. As you slap at the plate, the player who pressed down closest to the target time ends up smashing it away and earning a delicious reward. There are ratings here and two, and you can unlock rings here instead of medals, which in turn unlock their own toy box with

[06:21] games intended for more than one player. I would be remiss not to mention Rhythm Heaven improved prank-sized RPG mode called Beast Spell, in which you earn lost chapters by earning medals. In this fantasy side-story, you step into the shoes of a young magician

[06:34] who chains together button presses to cast spells and slowly chip away at any health bars. It starts novel, but quickly becomes tedious, with constant repetition leading to silly mistakes during battles. That tedium improves significantly as you start to learn

[06:48] more spells, but even so, this extra feels slightly underbaked, especially compared to the other frenetic minigames on offer. Rhythm Heaven Groove is a superb sequel that expertly capitalizes on the captivating energy of its excellent music across a series of joyfully animated minigames.

[07:07] The solo campaign is well-balanced, and stealthy genre-shifting earworms you won't forget fast. The new beat-spell RPG mode and more straightforward toybox levels don't quite reach that same impressive bar, but the co-op mode does stand as a great addition with a solid range of competitive and collaborative games that quickly got me and my friends laughing.

[07:24] Even so, this irreverent return to rhythm heaven hits all the right notes, solidifying itself as an unmissable addition to the series. For more on Nintendo, check out our reviews of Star Fox

[07:37] or The Adventures of Elliot the Millennium Tale. And for everything else, stick with IGN.

[07:54] Thank you.