Game Boy Advance

Rhythm Tengoku

Rhythm Heaven is a collection of mini-games all based around, well, rhythm. Each of the 46 mini-games in this collection is based around performing actions (from marching in time to hiding a troupe of mice from a hungry cat) in time to a varied and fun collection of music. Games are a bit longer than the five second variety seen in WarioWare, but most still take no more than one or two minutes.

One thing is for sure - I’ve never played anything quite like this game. It’s a fantastic combination of the rhythm genre and WarioWare mini-games, made expertly by the WarioWare team. I can say that there’s absolutely no language barrier in the Japanese version as I don’t understand a single katakana character and I enjoyed it immensely. There’s also no word of the game coming to Europe or America - I think the best we can hope for is a Rhythm Tengoku 2 on the DS, so if you’re interested do yourself a favour and import it already.

The genius of Rhythm Tengoku is that it's so very, very easy to enjoy. There's none of the tiresome investment that has come to characterise gaming as a whole these days, with its obsessive character creation tools and its gradual rewards and online integration and drip-fed incentives (a horrible, dour word that has nonetheless somehow made its way into every game's press release over the last year). All of that has its place, but it's just wonderful to play something silly from time to time. Like WarioWare before it, Rhythm Tengoku is exceedingly simple, and like all the best Nintendo games it is effortlessly entertaining. This is a super little handheld title whose daft exuberance and unforced likeability more than make up for its brevity; and now that there are SIX different ways to play your GBA games, there's really no excuse for missing out.

The fun may be short-lived, but while it lasts, Tengoku is a charming musical delight that can be enjoyed by anyone.