GAME REVIEW: Rhythm Paradise Megamix (3DS)

Rhythm Paradise Megamix is a large collection of unique rhythm minigames, although quite a few of these mini-games have existed in previous titles in the series, including Rhythm Heaven for the DS, Rhythm Heaven Fever for the Wii and the Japanese only title Rhythm Tengoku for the GBA. Now for the first time, a best of mix makes its debut for the 3DS, providing a solid purchase if you’re a first time player.

Although the progression in most rhythm games tends to be very linear from one song to the next, this time there is an actual story that helps tie the games together. This involves Tibby, a bear with a pink afro, who falls from the sky and requires your Flow skills to find his way back home to Heaven World.

Tibby makes me laugh even when he’s not doing anything. The confusion on his cute, expressionless face when encountering all the crazy oddball characters is a constant charm. These characters include Boondog, a dog who wears bee outfit, Dieter, who has a car on his head (don’t ask), and Eglantine, a woman with a split personality, one side calm the other with a seriously short fuse. Comedy in games is hard to pull off, but thanks to a great localisation effort, the humour of the writing works really well.

When it comes to the gameplay, each mini-game has a unique song and premise. Controls are simple enough and require you mostly to hit A rhythmically, later opening up B and ← →. The game really looks great thanks to a strong art style and runs at a solid 60 frames, which is really important for a rhythm game.

The game’s music varies in beat, pitch and tempo. Each game is short but leaves you smiling with its mad Japanese quirks. Some of my favorites include an astronaut translating Martian dialogue back to ground control, a dog and a cat playing badminton while systematically flying planes and a Luchador wrestler giving an interview while flexing for photographers.

Every time you beat a song, you get graded. If you fail, you get 1 coin, 2 coins if it’s just passable, 3 coins if you do a superb job. There is a secret star coin in every song, usually on one of the harder beats to hit in the song. More coins are also given if you hit every beat in the song.

Rhythm Paradise Megamix starts with stages, each stage having 4 mini games to beat before you can unlock the next stage. Eventually, you will run into the Gatekeeper Trio. Here, you’re given a challenge that sees the same mini-game played either on easy, medium or hard. The catch being the easiest requires the most coins and the hardest requires less coins to play. So you have to weigh out the risk reward on how many times you may fail on the more challenging difficulties.

Further on in the game, there are some amazing remixes that combine five or more mini-games you’ve played previously, requiring you to think fast and combine a lot of skills you’ve gathered on the fly. These are probably the most fun as the game goes all out on production levels, often leaving you mesmerised at what is happening on the screen.

A new feature to Megamix also includes Challenge Land where you need to beat a series of mini-games in succession this time though the rules are modified and the tempo changed. There is also a Perfect stage that will randomly select a mini-game you need to get a perfect hit score in. If you are successful it will award you with a Flow ball that can be used to unlock more hidden mini-games.

There’s a great feeling in Rhythm Paradise Megamix when you zone in on a song and you nail things perfectly. I never really felt I was being cheated either when I missed a beat as it always felt like it was my fault. At times you can even try to close your eyes like some rhythm monk, listening instead for audio cues and you may find you’re more successful.

That said, I’m really not that good at rhythm games. So I was really thankful that the game takes pity when you fail three times in a row and just asks if you want to use your coins you’ve collected to skip it. Without this system in place, the game would not have been fun and I would have quit out of frustration, but thankfully the game is easily accessible to just about anyone while remaining challenging enough for people who want try go for a perfect score.

Rhythm Paradise Megamix has over 100 mini-games to keep you busy and is perfectly suited for a portable system that you can play in short bursts on your commute. If you have enjoyed the dying breed of games like Elite Beat Agents or Warioware, this game needs your support. Veterans to the series may not get what they’re looking for as it mostly recycles a lot of content but if you’re new, like me, then I highly recommend it.