Rhythm Heaven Megamix

Rhythm Heaven Megamix, known as Rhythm Paradise Megamix in PAL regions and Rhythm Sesang: The Best Plus in Korea, is a rhythm game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. It is the fourth game in Nintendo's Rhythm Heaven series, following Rhythm Heaven Fever (2011). The game was first released in Japan in June 2015, and in North America, Europe, Oceania, and South Korea throughout 2016.

Rhythm Heaven Megamix is primarily a compilation of 100 Rhythm Games (rhythm minigames) from the series' previous entries; the Japan-only Rhythm Tengoku, Rhythm Heaven, and Rhythm Heaven Fever, as well as 30 new ones. Unlike previous entries in the series, Megamix features a story, where the players' objective is to rescue Tibby, which had fallen to Earth, and bring him back home to Heaven World, passing through various sets of Rhythm Games to make their way back. In addition to the main story, the game features additional game modes such as the Challenge Train, which are Rhythm Games with a twist and faster paced gameplay. Longtime series composer Tsunku returns to compose music for the game.

Rhythm Heaven Megamix sold at least 1 million copies, and received generally favorable reviews, with praise for its soundtrack, artstyle, and assistive features for newcomers, but criticism for its lengthy story mode, simplicity, and certain design choices. Rhythm Heaven Megamix will be succeeded by Rhythm Heaven Groove for Nintendo Switch in 2026.

Gameplay

Like the previous three entries in the series, Rhythm Heaven Megamix is composed of several Rhythm Games, requiring players to play in time with the music in order to clear each one. The game uses the traditional control scheme featured in Rhythm Tengoku, which uses the A, B, and directional buttons on the Nintendo 3DS. The game can be optionally played with the stylus, though controls are more simplified compared to Rhythm Heaven. The game introduces new features to help the player understand their rhythm, such as an input timing gauge to show how precise the player's timing is as they play through the game. In certain places throughout the Rhythm Game, players have the opportunity to earn a Skill Star for precise timing in a crucial spot in the game. At the end of each Rhythm Game, ratings to show how well the player did are more detailed,  now awarded based on a numerical score meter with scores ranging from 0-100 alongside the traditional "Try Again", "Just OK", and "Superb" rankings. Based on the results, players are awarded coins on how well they did, with extra coins for the Skill Star and no miss runs. Coins can be used to unlock bonuses such as additional rhythm games, and to pay for certain trials that can be found throughout the story.

Megamix features a Story Mode in which players try to help a character named Tibby reach Heaven World, his home. In the story, Rhythm Games are grouped into sets of fours and fives, including 1 Rhythm Game from each entry in the series (Rhythm Tengoku, Rhythm Heaven, Rhythm Heaven Fever, and one new one), with one Remix in sets of five. The game features over 100 Rhythm Games, including 70 taken from previous titles (including the GBA release, which was never released outside of Japan) and 30 brand new ones, as well as new Remix stages themed related to the set's towers in the story which combine the previous rhythm games in the tower (or more rhythm games) into one song. Tower-themed elements are incorporated into the remix while every character in the present rhythm games gets to wear special tower-themed alternate costumes (except for the Left-Hand, Right-Hand and Final Remixes).

Megamix also features 3 returning endless games and 1 new one. These are implemented in the story through paid trials, which the players must pass to unlock the gate to continue with the story.  The players can choose three trials with different difficulties, with the easiest costing the most coins. Completing at least 1 ttrial successfully allows the player to move on and continue the story.

Some older Rhythm Games that returned in Megamix (such as Karate Man, Shoot-'em-up, Micro-Row, and Air Rally), received a prequel version, an easier version which takes the original name and description of each game, and has new graphics and an alternated music (to match the music style of the new rhythm games featured in Megamix), while the original Rhythm Games have been labelled as sequels and are given new names (e.g. Sneaky Spirits from Tengoku is labelled as Sneaky Spirits 2 in Megamix, Glee Club from Heaven is labelled as Glee Club 2 in Megamix, and Figure Fighter 2 from Fever is labelled as Figure Fighter 3 in Megamix). Some of the returning games from Tengoku and Heaven (DS) have added new music and redesigned graphics.

Outside of the Story Mode, players can attempt Perfect Campaigns on random Rhythm Games that they have a "Superb" on, which require players to clear selected stages without making any mistakes. Players can also take challenges on the Challenge Train, which can be played with up to four players via Download Play. Notably, the Challenge Train also has two WarioWare crossover challenges named as "Wario... Where?", which replaces some of the rhythm games' main characters with characters from the WarioWare series. This is due to both the WarioWare and Rhythm Heaven franchises being made by the same developers. The game also features bonus rhythm games, all of which are from previous titles, and a Figure Fighter Duel challenge that uses the 3DS' StreetPass functionality.

 Plot 
Tibby, a citizen of Heaven World, falls from the sky into Earth World. Upon regaining consciousness, he meets the player, who agrees to help him return to Heaven World. The two clear several worlds, meeting several people along the way, before arriving at the Lush Tower. At said tower, the game-play style slightly changes, as Remixes are added. The first fake-out scene happens after Lush Remix is cleared, where Tibby was supposed to go back to Heaven World, but falls and hits his head before he can reach Heaven World. Several Towers appear, each containing either sequels of the games the player has played before, or entirely new games. After the player clears all 6 of the extra worlds, the second fake-out scene occurs, with Tibby being sent back up to Heaven World, but upon arrival, the place is "gloomy". Upon clearing several more game sets, they come upon the final 3 towers. Left-hand Tower, Right-Hand Tower, and Tibby's Mom. (The species of which Tibby belongs to become houses as they grow up.) The player clears the games in each of the 3 towers, before Heaven World returns to normal. It had become changed because Tibby's Mom had held her breath, due to her getting hiccups. The game ends shortly thereafter, however the player can still play the game if they still choose to.

Development
Masami Yone, the director of Rhythm Heaven Fever, assumed the same role for Megamix. He was assisted by Takumi Hatakeyama, who previously worked as a programmer and designer for WarioWare D.I.Y. and Rhythm Heaven Fever. Ko Takeuchi returns as the art director, and Yoshio Sakamoto as the general producer. 

Megamix was the final game developed by Nintendo SPD1 before it was merged with Nintendo EAD to form Nintendo EPD.

 Music 
The game's music was composed by Tsunku, Shinji Ushiroda, Asuka Ito, Yumi Takahashi, and Megumi Inoue. While some music pieces from the original Rhythm Tengoku and Rhythm Heaven (DS) were re-used, Rhythm Heaven Megamix re-uses several music themes from the previous game, Rhythm Heaven Fever. For the prequel versions of older rhythm games from previous titles and for the new rhythm games and remixes in the game, most of the music that Tsunku had composed for them was given a techno-themed motif. This is different from the music styles used in the previous three Rhythm Heaven titles, which in Rhythm Tengoku, Rhythm Heaven (DS), and Rhythm Heaven Fever, the music for those titles was a mix of catchy tunes and vocal songs. In a Iwata Asks interview, Satoru Iwata said; "Making music for the game was difficult, but that's what it was like". Tsunku said; "As with music, to compete with the original work... It's very tricky, but while leaving the theme, the newly created Prequels. In making music for the games (the prequel of Karate Man for example), I'd have a strong feeling for it because it was unexpectedly tough. I am very particular about the game, but no matter how many times I submit a music piece, it doesn't look right... If you make one at Nintendo's request while thinking, some think; The image is a little different, though. The piece for Karate Man submitted for the second time. It was a minor in changes and the guitar was fierce, it's so intense that it's cool! Not the game of the same name that appears in the beginning, though. It is used by those who appear in the final game".

In addition to using vocal songs from previous entries, newly written songs for the game were being made. Tsunku commented; "We have selected people who are suitable for singing fresh songs in the game". The four new vocal songs for Megamix are "Tokimeki no Story" (used for the Lush Remix), "I'm a lady now" (used for the Honeybee Remix), "For That One Big Tear" (used for the Machine Remix), and "Classmate" (used for the game's Staff Credits). For "Tokimeki no Story", Tsunku commented; "There is a feeling of twilight at dusk. The singers who sing this song did a great job". He brought in Tokimekist (Chi-chan, Rino Hirayama, Mai-chan, Yurinko) to record the song. For "I'm a lady now", Tsunku asked someone he met in New York to write the lyrics. For the vocals, Azuki Moeno participated, and as will be described later, Tsunku's daughter participated under the name of Hotzmic. In recording "For That One Big Tear", Tsunku really liked the song's melody and lyrics, so he brought in Hikaru Ohashi, a singer from the Ishikawa prefecture, to sing. For "Classmate", Tsunku said; "It's a song that you can hear if you play this game quite a bit. I had a pretty concrete image from the beginning, when I wondered what kind of game it would be. I'm surprised that this will happen... I was so moved that I almost cried. The song here is somehow sweet and sour. The feeling that I'm not so good is really good, and I think I'm addicted to it". He brought in Pajama Musume Club (Karen, Azuki Moeno, Hitomi Yoshida) to record the song. The music video for "I'm a lady now" was released in Japan, in which the song is extended than the 1-minute version heard in the Honeybee Remix. The video features Hotzmic singing the song while dancing in a room. "Tokimeki no Story", "For That One Big Tear" and "Classmate" were replaced by instrumental versions of the three songs in the international releases of the game.

 Release 
The game was first announced near the end of a Japanese Nintendo Direct on January 2015 in Japan, when Nintendo president Satoru Iwata is seen involved in a take of the Rhythm Game Karate Man, with a set release in 2015. More gameplay footage was shown in the Japanese April 2015 Nintendo Direct, accompanied with the release date for June 11, 2015, with both a physical retail and digital release in Japan. Nintendo also released badges in the Nintendo Badge Arcade and console themes to accompany the games' release.

In March 2016, through a Nintendo Direct, Nintendo announced that the game would launch in North America, Europe, Australia and Korea "later" that year. The game was released as a Nintendo eShop exclusive in North America on June 15, 2016 during the Nintendo Treehouse Livestream presentation at E3 2016. The game received a physical retail release in Europe and Australia on October 21, 2016. Like the European release of Beat the Beat: Rhythm Paradise, the English versions of the game for both North America and PAL regions feature both English and Japanese audio.

Reception

Rhythm Heaven Megamix received "generally favorable" reviews on review aggregation website Metacritic, and 74% of critics recommended the game on OpenCritic. Reviewers from the Japanese magazine Famitsu rated the game with three eights and one ten, bringing the total score to a 34/40.

Critics praised the art style and music in the game. Zachary Miller from Nintendo World Report called the art and music "wildly experimental and never dull", but called the story mode "inconsequential" and criticized the "trials", where players must pay coins to pass through a set of challenges, calling it "antithetical to how the game is otherwise played". Jon Wahlgren of Nintendo Life praised the assortment of various songs in the game and that the game makes for a "great introduction to the series". Caitlin Cooke from Destructoid gave the game a 9/10, praising the new Rhythm Games and its "catchy repeatable gameplay", but criticized the remixes, calling them "lackluster" compared to Rhythm Heaven Fever. She also praised the new additions that makes the experience smoother to help the player, such as showing the buttons in tutorials and giving "a free pass to move forward". Famitsu reviewers similarly welcomed the assistive features, such as the input timing gauge system, allowing users to see "whether you missed because of being too slow or too fast", despite criticizing the overall simplicity of the Rhythm Games.

 Sales 
The game debuted at No. 1 in Japanese charts maintained by Media Create, recording 158,000 copies sold in its first week of release, ahead of games such as Splatoon and Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden. As of December 31, 2022, the game had sold over 1.03 million copies worldwide.

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Category:2015 video games
Category:Multiplayer and single-player video games
Category:Music video games
Category:Nintendo 3DS eShop games
Category:Nintendo 3DS games
Category:Nintendo 3DS-only games
Category:Nintendo Network games
Category:Rhythm Heaven
Category:Video games developed in Japan