by Ryoken Ifould

Created on: December 01, 2008

Rhythm Tengoku Gold DS

Looking for music games on your Nintendo DS? Enjoyed Elite Beat Agents and Guitar Hero and want more music and rhythm related hijinks? Then Rhythm Tengoku Gold may be just what you are looking for.

Whats this Rhythm Tengoku Gold and why haven't I heard of it? Glad you asked! (ok maybe you didn't but it gives me a good excuse to tell you about this quirky little game and bring it out of obscurity).

Rhythm Tengoku is a rhythm game series which started out on Nintendo's Game Boy Advance (it was one of the last games released for that platform, useless bit of trivia). The latest installment Rhythm Tengoku DS was released for the Nintendo DS in japan in July 2008. Essentially it is a collection of mini games which test and train the players rhythm.

The Nintendo DS is held like a book and the stylus is used to perform taps and flicks which will hopefully be done in time to the music. The mini games have you doing various tasks to the backdrop of music, in one game you have to memorise a sequence and then shoot with your spaceship at the correct time. Another mini game has you stomping turnips and moles with a farmer, each tap, stroke or flick providing a sound effect which becomes part of the tune. This is implemented exceptionally on the DS and it's interesting to see how they have used some very ordinary scenarios to provide an amusing and immersive experience.

Thats not to say it's all ordinary though, some of the scenarios are completely outlandish and weird, I challenge you to name a game where you can play as singing Easter Island statues that get punished with bird poop for making mistakes. Which leads to the sense of humour in this game, I often found myself laughing when I was actually losing, you don't often get that in a game especially one requiring the precision and timing that Rhythm Tengoku demands.

Some of the mini games may be quite difficult, fortunately the game will let you skip them if you fail at them continously, it's kind like that. The fact that it's in japanese shouldn't be too much of an issue, most of the games have fairly straight forward objectives, it's easy enough to figure out what you need to be doing, very intuitive in that respect.

One of the messages of this game might be something like "rhythym is life and life is rhythm", after playing this game you'll find yourself walking down the road with rhythm, washing the dishes with rhythm, listening to the rhythm of the trains and cars as they pass you, you name it, it's got rhythm.

In closing I would say this is one of those hidden treasures from japan for the Nintendo DS, pure and wholesome rhythmic fun with just the right level of difficulty, it's truly a unique and engaging experience. It's puzzling as to why this wasn't picked up and translated for the west, it's such a brilliant little game. Apparently the sequel Rhythm Heaven is being localised so maybe western audiences will finally get to experience this great game.

Well worth your time and money tracking this down and importing it, if you like music, rhythm and fun your guaranteed to love Rhythm Tengoku.

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