Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
For the first time in the series (that I know of), the Rhythm Heaven series gets a demo, which I think was the right call to get people to better understand it—this series has always been a poor seller, even on the Wii with Rhythm Heaven Fever, outside of Japan because people largely mistook it for shovelware, probably due to it consisting of a large number of minigames (but not in the same sense as “minigames” elsewhere) and its appearance and presentation.
I had already covered Rhythm Heaven Fever in the past, but in case you’re just tuning in, Rhythm Heaven is a series in which completely different characters in different scenarios do different things, but what they all have in common is that they must do it to the beat of the music playing. The inputs are mostly the same, but the cues vary dramatically. There are always at least 50 such sets of independent, self-contained stories (Groove has 80), though the later ones are usually harder versions of previous ones. They are harder than they look, as the timing is very strict: unlike other rhythm games, it doesn’t have assessments like “perfect” or “good” for each input; you either do it successfully, or you don’t.
There hadn’t been a Rhythm Heaven game in over a decade; this is likely due to Megamix intending to be a grand finale for the series and the rapidly declining health of producer Tsunku♂ at the time. (I don’t know how he’s doing now.)
The Rhythm Heaven Demo goes through Stage 1 of the game, consisting of four minigames and Remix 1, as it has been for Rhythm Heaven for the DS and Rhythm Heaven Fever; plus one single multiplayer game, Rhythm Tweezers.
04:21 - Hoop Trundling
This is the first stage, and the simplest one: you’re fifth in line of a group of abstract, “waddling head” joggers, who jump through hoops. You follow the rhythm established by the first four and press A to jump over the hoops as they pass by. (Note that the beginning of the tutorial will not proceed until your lone jogger character trips over at least two hoops.) Unlike previous first stages like Karate Man or Hole in One, Hoop Trundling’s abstract appearance really establishes the weird, wacky nature of the series.
08:36 - Brolly Good Show
You play as an umbrella creature in a vaguly old-timey European landscape (presumably a café in Japanese-romanticized Paris) putting on a performance involving opening and closing your umbrella. Press A to open the umbrella and Down to close it. You will do nothing if you press A while it’s already open or Down if it’s already closed. Just like in Hoop Trundling, the other umbrella critters next to you will establish the rhythm, and you follow their lead. Getting the Amazing rank in this on was way harder than Hoop Trundling; even a few errors will knock you down to the Really Good rank.
13:09 - Disc Dog
This is the first one without other characters to follow: you’ll have to be on beat yourself. You’re a dog catching discs thrown by the trainer. She (the trainer) will whistle, then throw a disc. Jump up with A on the seventh beat, then (though not explained in the tutorial), catch the disc with A or any directional button on the eighth beat. I don’t know what the smaller dog on the left is for. The straightforward nature of this game, that there is only one kind of disc thrown and is always done during on-beats, makes me think there will be a tougher version of Disc Dog later on.
17:03 - Feed the Beast
Only one input for this one: flowers will pass by and shoot heart-shaped fruit at the dinosaur (a theropod, not strictly any of them in particular) you play as, who will automatically walk along its path; two beats later, press A to eat the fruit as it flies into the dinosaur’s mouth. I do not know enough Japanese to make captions for the lyrics in this song, but it is a recurring thing since the start of the series: peppy J-pop songs turning up here and there. Makes sense, as Tsunku♂ is an idol producer). For this one, it is “My Telepathy!, Watashi No Atsui Kosen,” sung by Yui Sakurai of FRUITS ZIPPER.
21:12 - Remix 1
And then, you’re given a exam, of sorts, combining the previous few games together with a different theme. I don’t know what Remix 1’s theme is, and there might not be one, but putting it in the demo gives a taste of having to mentally rapidly shift gears.
22:59 - Rhythm Tweezers
This is a remake of the stage from the original Rhythm Heaven for the Game Boy Advance, except the players take turns this time: play as a moving pair of tweezers plucking hairs growing out of onions. The extra one, with the party popper, is new to this one, and the patterns throughout are different. Interesting how Li’l Miss Reeds pronounces “Puppycorn.”
Coverage of the full game of Rhythm heaven Groove is scheduled to begin in mid-August 2026, after my coverage of Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble ends.
For the first time in the series (that I know of), the Rhythm Heaven series gets a demo, which I think was the right call to get people to better understand it—this series has always been a poor seller, even on the Wii with Rhythm Heaven Fever, outside of Japan because people largely mistook it for shovelware, probably due to it consisting of a large number of minigames (but not in the same sense as “minigames” elsewhere) and its appearance and presentation.
I had already covered Rhythm Heaven Fever in the past, but in case you’re just tuning in, Rhythm Heaven is a series in which completely different characters in different scenarios do different things, but what they all have in common is that they must do it to the beat of the music playing. The inputs are mostly the same, but the cues vary dramatically. There are always at least 50 such sets of independent, self-contained stories (Groove has 80), though the later ones are usually harder versions of previous ones. They are harder than they look, as the timing is very strict: unlike other rhythm games, it doesn’t have assessments like “perfect” or “good” for each input; you either do it successfully, or you don’t.
There hadn’t been a Rhythm Heaven game in over a decade; this is likely due to Megamix intending to be a grand finale for the series and the rapidly declining health of producer Tsunku♂ at the time. (I don’t know how he’s doing now.)
The Rhythm Heaven Demo goes through Stage 1 of the game, consisting of four minigames and Remix 1, as it has been for Rhythm Heaven for the DS and Rhythm Heaven Fever; plus one single multiplayer game, Rhythm Tweezers.
04:21 - Hoop Trundling
This is the first stage, and the simplest one: you’re fifth in line of a group of abstract, “waddling head” joggers, who jump through hoops. You follow the rhythm established by the first four and press A to jump over the hoops as they pass by. (Note that the beginning of the tutorial will not proceed until your lone jogger character trips over at least two hoops.) Unlike previous first stages like Karate Man or Hole in One, Hoop Trundling’s abstract appearance really establishes the weird, wacky nature of the series.
08:36 - Brolly Good Show
You play as an umbrella creature in a vaguly old-timey European landscape (presumably a café in Japanese-romanticized Paris) putting on a performance involving opening and closing your umbrella. Press A to open the umbrella and Down to close it. You will do nothing if you press A while it’s already open or Down if it’s already closed. Just like in Hoop Trundling, the other umbrella critters next to you will establish the rhythm, and you follow their lead. Getting the Amazing rank in this on was way harder than Hoop Trundling; even a few errors will knock you down to the Really Good rank.
13:09 - Disc Dog
This is the first one without other characters to follow: you’ll have to be on beat yourself. You’re a dog catching discs thrown by the trainer. She (the trainer) will whistle, then throw a disc. Jump up with A on the seventh beat, then (though not explained in the tutorial), catch the disc with A or any directional button on the eighth beat. I don’t know what the smaller dog on the left is for. The straightforward nature of this game, that there is only one kind of disc thrown and is always done during on-beats, makes me think there will be a tougher version of Disc Dog later on.
17:03 - Feed the Beast
Only one input for this one: flowers will pass by and shoot heart-shaped fruit at the dinosaur (a theropod, not strictly any of them in particular) you play as, who will automatically walk along its path; two beats later, press A to eat the fruit as it flies into the dinosaur’s mouth. I do not know enough Japanese to make captions for the lyrics in this song, but it is a recurring thing since the start of the series: peppy J-pop songs turning up here and there. Makes sense, as Tsunku♂ is an idol producer). For this one, it is “My Telepathy!, Watashi No Atsui Kosen,” sung by Yui Sakurai of FRUITS ZIPPER.
21:12 - Remix 1
And then, you’re given a exam, of sorts, combining the previous few games together with a different theme. I don’t know what Remix 1’s theme is, and there might not be one, but putting it in the demo gives a taste of having to mentally rapidly shift gears.
22:59 - Rhythm Tweezers
This is a remake of the stage from the original Rhythm Heaven for the Game Boy Advance, except the players take turns this time: play as a moving pair of tweezers plucking hairs growing out of onions. The extra one, with the party popper, is new to this one, and the patterns throughout are different. Interesting how Li’l Miss Reeds pronounces “Puppycorn.”
Coverage of the full game of Rhythm heaven Groove is scheduled to begin in mid-August 2026, after my coverage of Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble ends.
