I believe there has never been a better time to be a fan of rhythm games. This is thanks to a resurgence of gameplay styles inspired by earlier waves of rhythm-based classics, weaving tried-and-true designs into contemporary systems.
If the first wave includes titles such as PaRappa the Rapper, Dance Dance Revolution, and Guitar Hero, and if the second consists of games like Hatsune Miku Project: DIVA and Rhythm Heaven, then we’re seeing a callback in this third, current era with Scratchin’ Melodii, Bits and Bops, and Melatonin.
I was a late adopter to ‘Heaven-likes,’ as my first experience with Rhythm Heaven Fever was in 2022. But I fell head-over-heels for this silly little game that nearly drove my roommate at the time to kick me out over the sound effects — if you know, you know. I rapidly consumed everything this 2011 Nintendo Wii-era rhythm game had to offer, and, while I knew it unlikely, I hoped for a new game to come soon.
Little did I know at the time, but that sentiment was hardly unpopular. In fact, two separate indie studios were working on bringing their own Rhythm Heaven-inspired games to life in the form of Melatonin, a dream-based rhythm game focused on one character’s existential angst, and Bits and Bops, which takes the wacky and playful aesthetic of its inspiration and turns it up to 11.
Feeling Sleepy
Half Asleep Games released Melatonin in December of 2022 for PC and Nintendo Switch. It is one of — if not the only — rhythm games I have played to lean heavily into using lo-fi hip-hop beats to study/relax to as its main draw. And, while it definitely works with the vision the game presents, the soundtrack has the potentially unintended, but wholly ironic, side effect of making some people fall asleep. It’s relaxing!
The main gameplay loop manifests as a set of hub worlds with four ‘dreams’ about various millennial concerns, such as food, followers, and technology. Each ‘dream’ tasks you with pressing a button or set of buttons to the beat of the song, and scoring you based on how well you kept up. Then, in true Rhythm Heaven fashion, the fifth level of each hub world is a difficult mashup of the four preceding dreams.
It took little convincing for me to buy Melatonin. I mean that literally — I don’t know if I even finished the trailer before I was looking it up in the eShop, ready to pay whatever amount I needed to add it to my growing cavalcade. Thankfully, it’ll only set you back $14.99 on either platform, so … yeah. Get it.
Bitting Those Bops
And now for something completely different. As I said, Bits and Bops carries the torch of Rhythm Heaven brilliantly, especially when it comes to the wacky, cartoonish aesthetic. It even follows in its inspiration’s footsteps of adding a title card and short jingle to every level, which makes me irrationally happy.
Unlike Melatonin, which utilizes a light story to carry its music-based minigames along, Bits and Bops has no such thing. It takes the bold — but genius — move of expecting players to know what they’re getting themselves into when they launch the game, which makes a definitive impact, especially to those with a background in Rhythm Heaven.
In fact, it’s so similar (in the best ways) that it boggles the mind that — as far as I can tell at the time of writing — it has no formal connections to the team at Nintendo.
Bits and Bops is still in development, but a demo has been made available via Steam.
A fan can dream
I would love it if Nintendo were to open the next Nintendo Direct with an announcement that Rhythm Heaven is making a comeback. Even if it’s just a remaster or compilation of the previous games released on the Switch, at least it’s something. I can’t see it happening anytime soon, however.
But hey — I could be wrong. I never in a million, quadrillion years ever expected the return of Samba de Amigo, and with Party Central receiving a score of 6/10 from Destructoid’s Chris Penwell, the jury’s still out on whether there’s a place for AAA-developed rhythm games. In the meantime, I’ll just be over here with indie darlings like Bits and Bops, Melatonin, and Scratchin’ Melodii.
