Welcome to the soundtrack of your summer! Jammed with catchy earworms and well-timed button hammering, Rhythm Paradise Groove (or Rhythm Heaven Groove to those of you across the pond in the United States) ends a decade-long-wait for the series’ triumphant return. It was worth it.
It is the antenna-toting Lil’ Miss Reeds who is your guide to everything that Rhythm Paradise Groove has to offer, whether you choose to let the minuscule character communicate with you in a Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream-like text-to-speech robotic voice or prefer to simply read her dialogue on-screen.
If you are among the disappointingly many who have yet to cross paths with it, Rhythm Paradise is a joyous series in which you are simply challenged to match your actions to the beat. The way that the game describes itself is that while it may not offer you an epic story, it comes packed with lots of quirky rhythm-based games that the development team hopes will make you smile.
This is, ultimately, a casual experience that you can pick up and play at any time, whenever the mood strikes you. Whether grooving to the beat solo while chilling on your sofa or gathering your friends on a sunny rooftop for some competitive chaos, it’s accessible to all, as anyone can quickly grasp how to play.
As with other entries in the series, repetition is key. You must learn the melodies in each rhythm game, with familiarity leading you to greater accuracy and the chance to increase your Rank. You will need to score a “Good” Rank or better to unlock the next rhythm game, with your true test coming from being accurate enough to receive an “Amazing!” Rank to be rewarded with a heroically shiny Medal for your efforts. Have no rhythm? No problem! The game has practice tutorials and example videos to show the audio and visual cues that are used to help you time your button presses to near perfection.
Humour plays just as important a part in Rhythm Paradise Groove, too. To try to throw you off, anything can happen on-screen to distract you. Your view can become obscured with a frog that’s leapt on your screen, scenes can completely transform, a power blackout could temporarily turn the screen black, or the camera could excessively zoom in on something random. And when laughing at your own failure isn’t enough to power you on through, there are visual cues to make you feel guilty when your timing’s wrong. This could see you elbow fellow dancers in the face or simply be on the receiving end of an unimpressed side eye. The game never takes itself seriously, and that only adds to its heartwarming charm.
The way that Rhythm Paradise Groove’s core single-player content is structured is in Stages. There are four individual rhythm games per Stage, which each then close out with a Remix that, well… remixes their four games into a glorious rhythmic mashup for the ages. To no one’s surprise, the early Stages are more straightforward (although I’m still shockingly poor at Hoop Trundling!) and gradually increase in complexity as you progress through them.
Rhythm Paradise Groove can certainly be trickier than it looks. While there were rhythm games that I surprisingly excelled at and somehow managed to receive a Medal first time around, like performing traps and volleys in Football Dreams, there were others that I struggled with. Those that perplexed my noggin were Can Do, where you are tasked with crushing cans with a giant hammer so that they can be recycled into… more cans, and Yum-Bot Simulator, in which you play as a robot working a late-night shift at a factory to catch tasty plates of pudding or using your laser eyes to vaporise any defective creations.
There are too many standout rhythm games to mention, but a handful of my favourites were playing as an alien who’s forced to warp out of harm’s way to dodge consecutive lightning strikes, helping Mr. Blue and Ms. Pink safely jump over windshield wipers, starring in a promotional video for a new car model, and a rhythm game that’s entirely themed after the letter A. I’ll let you find out more about those for yourselves.
Rhythm Paradise Groove’s easily induced hilarity really enters its own in multiplayer. In group sessions, each player uses either a single Joy-Con horizontally or a Nintendo Switch Pro Controller. You can then choose from Co-op Games and VS Games to participate in. These multiplayer rhythm games are designed for four players to get in on the action, but worry not, if you don’t have enough humans in your midst, CPU players will fill in the gaps when needed.
In some rhythm games, you will take turns, whereas in others, you will all be playing at the same time. I have already declared Cake Wait as a MOAT (Minigame of all Time), but, as with Rhythm Paradise Groove’s single-player content, few games proved to be duds. Whether it be plucking an onion’s hairs with tweezers, an epic tennis quest to rescue a prince, or a rhythm-based memory competitive card game, there’s more than enough content variety here to keep a crowd entertained for a long while.
Back now to the game’s single-player content, an unexpected scene-stealing addition is BeatSpell. This RPG-inspired rhythm game spans several Chapters, each requiring you to accumulate Medals in the other solo rhythm games to unlock them. You play as an amnesia-struck magician who, with guidance from the leader of the Magicians’ Guild, must cast the spells that she steadily relearns to defeat the Four Fears and their minions to protect your kingdom from devastation.
Wielding the magical power of rhythm, you can use different button combinations in time with the beat to cast spells like Flame, Cure and Wave, with the chance to level up their potency after you eradicate an enemy. Increased challenge from tougher enemies will necessitate switching from hammering out damage-dealing rhythms to the one to heal yourself, and I enjoyed this side content that much that my only complaint is that I wish there was more of it to play through.
There are so many other ways to spend your time in Rhythm Paradise Groove, too. From mucking around in the Rhythm Toy Box to learning how to play the drums in guided lessons, you can even take a moment to relax in the in-game Café, where you can learn facts about the game. It’s like a surprise-packed bag of Pick and Mix, where you’re left beaming at everything the game presents you with to enjoy. There’s not a single misjudged beat across the whole game.
Rhythm Paradise Groove doesn’t miss a beat. Whether getting in the groove with friends and family or honing your skill to accumulate Medals playing solo, this game deserves its chance to shine in the spotlight and a place in your Nintendo Switch collection. Its kaleidoscopic colours, hypnotic soundscape and flawlessly addictive formula make for an uplifting experience that you won’t want to put down all summer.
Version Tested: Nintendo Switch
Review Copy Provided by Nintendo
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