Back in June when Famitsu introduced Rhythm Tengoku to the world, who knew that giraffes, karatekas and pulling hair growths out of vegetables would blend so well together and perhaps end up becoming the new must-have summer flavor fresh out of Japan?

From the Made in Wario team and J.P.Room (providing the music), Rhythm Tengoku offers a variety of mini-games similar to what is found in the WarioWare series, but adding some more challenge by asking you to have a good sense of rhythm. Those of you that have a hard time keeping up with games like Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! and Dance Dance Revolution might find some of Rhythm Tengoku’s stages hard to overcome as well. But overall, the game shares the same difficulty level found in the WarioWare series - replay a stage 3~5 times and you’ll eventually get the hang of it. That is, if your timing is right. ;)

First off, let’s take a look at the facts. As you’ve already guessed, Rhythm Tengoku is a japanese game, but knowledge of the tongue isn’t required to play. As in WarioWare, pressing A and occasionally moving around with the D-Pad is the key to victory. Keep that in mind and you’ll easily figure out what to do. The game features 48 stages in all - 40 short stages and 8 long remixes spread over 8 different sections, or categories if you will. Stages last about 45 sec. to 3 min. each depending on the actual challenge they offer. It may vary from pressing A to follow the beat of a song, to responding to vocal orders à -la Simon Says or to synchronize both the A button and the D-Pad to certain events.

After booting up the game for the first time, you start off with some sort of rhythm box that evaluates your sense of rhythm on a scale of 1 to 100. If I remember right, I got a big 4 on my first try. Yeah… great sense of rhythm. I blamed it on the fact that I had no clue what I was actually asked to do, and later performed a whopping 76.5. :D

Be aware though — playing in public might raise some eyebrows. I was constantly nodding my head to the beat, tapping my foot, or humming the song out loud while playing. Have a watch at some of the TV commercials linked below, you’ll see what I mean.

Unlockable bonus mini-games are also an integral part of Rhythm Tengoku. Some of the coolest ones are the drum kit challenges. They somehow managed to map a full drum kit to the GBA’s button layout, and it worked out great. The game might be easy to complete in a few days, but those drum challenges are the real deal. Ever tried playing drums in Daigasso Band Brothers on the Pro difficulty level? If not, prepare for some complex hand/ear coordination.

Again, if you’ve played any of the WarioWare titles in the past, you know this game will be like crack. I was addicted the moment I started playing the first level with the karate guy. The music, which I included a few samples of at the very end of this post, is very catchy, and there’s even a few Jpop tracks. Will Rhythm Tengoku make it to North American shores? Perhaps, but a lot of content will have to be changed as the game features a great amount of japanese cultural references. Seeing how the GBA market is nearing its death in North America, there’s also a good chance that Rhythm Tengoku and the recently released Bit Generations titles won’t venture out of Japan. All in all, my verdict:

Import Now!! Tell your friends!! Tell the world!!

Buy via Play-Asia ($39.90) - YesAsia ($33.99)

Music Samples: Track 01 - Track 02 - Track 03

Official Site - TV Commercials