Rhythm Heaven Groove Review: A Familiar Tune in a Changing Genre

It has been a strange decade for the rhythm game genre. The legendary progenitors Rock Band and Guitar Hero are seemingly gone, yet companies are manufacturing plastic guitars again. Tango Gameworks, a studio best known for delivering survival horror hauntings, made Hi-Fi Rush and it ruled, but Microsoft sold the studio. Indie titles such as Sayonara Wild Hearts and Rift of the NecroDancer have done well on the margins, but now Epic Games has swept in, adding a rhythm action mode to Fortnite so now its mainstream again. All these titles have reinforced the ideas laid out by their forefathers: rhythm can intersect with video games as much as it already intersects with our everyday lives.

Few series hold this ethos to heart as strongly as Rhythm Heaven. Dormant since 2015, a new entry, Rhythm Heaven Groove (known as Rhythm Paradise Groove in Pal territories), doubles down on the concept of offering bitesize, rhythm-based experiences where you follow auditive cues to perform all manner of increasingly exhilarating actions with just a few buttons. Whether you’re catching veggies in mid-air, practising dance choreographies, or speaking to an alien, each mini-game is intended to be a vibrant, micro cacophony with its own rules.

Some of the offerings in this new selection pay clear homage to old mini-games from previous titles, but generally speaking, there are dozens upon dozens of fresh challenges to complete. Multiplayer also makes a comeback, allowing a group of up to four to play together, revealing if your reflexes and sense of rhythm are really as good as you think. In between are side modes and activities to unlock, with Beatspell being a standout. It’s an RPG-lite where you must press button patterns tied to the beat to cast spells. It’s a fun idea that’s properly fleshed out, and one that could stand as its own independent adventure.

In the last decade, some games have tried to replicate the Rhythm Heaven spirit (see Melatonin, Rhythm Doctor, and the mini-games in Rift of the Necrodancer). But the series has an unmistakable charm to it. Considering how risk-averse Nintendo has been during the Switch 2 era, it’s surprising to see the company investing time and resources into a fully developed modern entry.

This isn’t without compromises, however. The bizarro WarioWare, DS-era spirit of the originals is somewhat missing, with a majority of levels playing it safe in terms of presentation or gimmicks. And it does feel easier in general, with only a handful of stages demanding a few retries to progress. Sadly, something that hasn’t changed is latency and precision issues. If you play Beatspell on a TV, for example, a warning will recommend you to switch to handheld for a better experience. This largely applies to most games. There have been many times in which I felt I had pressed a button at the right time but the game didn’t register it as so, which becomes particularly frustrating when attempting perfect scores.

Yet, none of these elements hindered my enjoyment too much. The mini-games in Rhythm Heaven Groove might not reach the same cohesive and triumphant highs as series classics Ringside or Hole in One, nor is the entire package attempting to reinvent the wheel like many of its contemporaries. But it doesn’t need to. After 11 years, it feels like being reunited with an old friend who has remained untroubled by the passage of time. Even if they ring a familiar tune, you’re still eager to hear what new stories they have to tell.