The Japanese games industry is well-known for its unique and quirky releases. Many of which never see a release outside of the country. Perhaps the rise of indie gaming in the West has helped to change this with the likes of Nintendo making an effort to change this. The latest title being a new entry in the Rhythm series with Rhythm Paradise Megamix on the Nintendo 3DS.
Not that Rhythm Paradise Megamix is a new title since it is more like a best of collections that brings together various mini-games from previous Rhythm titles. Are these the very best mini-games that the development team has come up over the years? Whilst it’s not possible to verify this without access to every Rhythm title developed (some are exclusive to Japan) it’s far easier to state that they are fun to play.
The whole premise behind this title is that an afro sporting little creature called Tibby has fallen down from heaven. It’s up to players to help the little pink guy out by completing a series of mini-games. The addition of dialogue could have been a waste of time, but it actually works mainly due to the fantastic cast of eccentric characters that want players to complete the mini-games. There’s Donna for example who just loves donuts so much that she can’t let Tibby and the player continue their journey until she gets them back, by completing mini-games.
This is pure unrefined Japanese gaming eccentricity at its best from the quirky dialogue to the various obsessions characters have, from hatching eggs to professing their adoration for citrus fruits. The mini-games themselves make use of simple game mechanics that merely require players to press buttons/d-pad with the right timing. The idea being to use the excellent music tracks as a guide to know when to press the buttons/d-pad.
Like with the characters, each of the mini-games has a distinct objective that relies on finding the extraordinaire in otherwise mundane tasks, such as slicing vegetables with a ninja or chopping some wood for a band of groovy cats. Nothing is too out of reach for a title that embraces its weirdness and does so in the best way possible.
Albeit simple, the buttons control scheme is effective and it definitely feels more natural to use it. The option to switch to a touch screen control scheme is available in the Options menu, but it’s definitely better to stick to the buttons control scheme. There is a certain satisfaction that derives from finding the right timing when playing each of the mini-games.
At certain points in the adventure, there are three gatekeepers that appear with a challenge for players. Each of them provide a different difficulty setting for a mini-game in exchange for coins earned by completing mini-games. It’s a lot tougher to complete these mini-games and so it could potentially ruin the fun and flow of the story. Fortunately, failing to complete each of these challenges a few times results in being allowed to continue the journey. It does seem to defeat the point of the challenge, but at the same time it also means players will not become frustrated by having to play unlocked mini-games several times to earn more coins needed to tackle the challenge.
Whereas mini-games have a better difficulty curve in that only those found really late into the story will truly test players. Otherwise, it’s relatively easy to complete them and just enjoy the quirky story and unusual objective for each of the mini-games. In addition, a remix appears at the end of some of the mini-game sets. These mash together different mini-games and it makes for a worthy challenge trying to quickly remember the rules for each of them.
Different sections of a Café area become available with story progression. At first it’s just the Café where the chatty barista introduces players to the area. It eventually opens up to introduce such delightful sights as a goat that players can feed to level up and a museum that dishes out information on the origins for each of the mini-games. The goat even has its own mini-game where players try to feed it items like turnips. Then there is the challenge entrance where players can tackle sets of mini-games, with modified rules, such as faster music tempo, alone or with the assistance of other players. What’s even better is that the title supports Download Play which means only one copy of the title is needed to play with others.
Those that still make use of StreePass will also enjoy taking part in mech fights with ghost data from strangers that have the title and the feature active. This mini-game involves seeing who can land the most hits to blow up the adversary’s balloon first. It’s impressive to see everything that the title has to offer and the fact that developers went to the trouble of even making it possible to switch between English and Japanese soundtracks for the mini-games.
It’s not just the soundtrack that makes playing the mini-games a joy to play. The colourful visuals and eccentric representation of the different characters are also just as enjoyable to see. Rhythm Paradise Megamix is essentially a best of collection of mini-games, but it’s presented in such a confident manner that it’s impossible to not get drawn into its world of the bizarre and wonderful and is another must play title on the Nintendo 3DS.
