Practice

You can play through the tutorial as a warm-up before attempting the full rhythm game. Plus, if you’re struggling with a particular song, you can always revisit the tutorial for extra practice. The Practice (練習), informally known as the tutorial, is a section that plays before starting a Rhythm Game or Endless Game.

Typically, the practice explains to the player all the actions they are going to do in the game itself. For most of the games in the Rhythm Heaven Series, practice appears before the "real thing" in each Rhythm Game that introduces new mechanics, with a few exceptions in Rhythm Tengoku. Practice never appears before remixes, and rarely appears before arrange versions.

Rhythm Tengoku
In Rhythm Tengoku, each practice uses one of three variations of a single song (called "Tutorial Song 1", "Tutorial Song 2" and "Tutorial Song 3" in Rhythm Tengoku Zen Kyoku-shu) as well as a few game-specific practice themes. The practice itself presents the player with each cue in the game, and the player only needs to do one set successfully (sometimes more) in order to advance. It can be skipped by pressing the Select button. The games Air Batter, Iai Giri, Baikin Hakase, Usagi Tobi, Night Walk, Polyrhythm and Ninja don't have a practice. Those without a practice are not distinguished in the game's description. Most games smoothly transition from the practice into the real thing, while some games (such as Tram to Poline) have a difference appearance for the practice, and so a fade transition is used.

Air Batter has a different form of practice, in which the game loops the start indefinitely until the player hits enough balls successfully. In Shiroi Obake, missing the ghost during the practice session has the player advance into the real thing anyway. Certain games without a practice, such as Polyrhythm, have instructions present on the screen for the duration of the game. Quiz's practice uniquely ends the game and gives the player a Try Again Rank straight away if they fail. Additionally, Ninja has a cutscene at the start which can be skipped with the Select button, however it doesn't allow the player to practice the gameplay. Notably, Mannequin Kojo's practice never advances no matter how many sets are completed, requiring the player to skip it in order to play the "real thing".

The Endless Games Ura Otoko and Mannequin Kojo use the practice theme itself as their music.

In the arcade version, every practice returns unaltered in the 1 Player mode. It can be skipped by pressing the Start button instead, which in turn can no longer pause the game. The games Air Batter, Iai Giri, Baikin Hakase, Usagi Tobi, Night Walk and Polyrhythm now have Asobi Kata (あそびかた) animations which briefly explain the controls, and can also be skipped with the Start button. Hopping Road also has one in addition to its practice. All 2P games aside from the ones in the EXTRA Stage have these animations as well, without a practice. As these are merely animations, and not gameplay, minor differences from the games themselves can be found. Getting the answer wrong during Quiz's practice simply moves on to the next question instead of ending the game. The podium's counter is also capped at 99 during practice, making the game's easter egg unobtainable.

Rhythm Heaven
In Rhythm Heaven, each practice uses a new arrangement of the original practice theme (now called "Let's Practice!"), or a variation of it, and ocassional game-specific themes. The player needs to complete each set successfully 3 times. It can be skipped by touching the "Skip" button on the touch screen.

Like before, most games smoothly transition from practice to the real thing, with some games having a different appearance for practice, and as such a cut to black is used as a transition.

Games without a practice are distinguished with the line "(And no practice for you!)" in the game's description. This game marks the first time arrange versions come with a practice, as Fan Club 2, Rhythm Rally 2 and Rockers 2 use it to present new cues to the player.

Rhythm Heaven Fever
In Rhythm Heaven Fever, every Rhythm Game has its own practice theme, being a chiptune version of the game's song. The player needs to complete a varying amount of sets to advance the practice, which are shown with a counter. The games also include a Demonstration (お手本中・・・) if the player spends too long on a set, in which case they can press the ① button to have the game automatically play the section to demonstrate the timing. The Demonstration is not available for the Endless Games or Extra Games, which also return to requiring only one successful set without a counter, and using a new arrangement of the old music (called "Practice Theme") or the ocassional game-specific themes. It can be skipped by pressing the ⊝ button. Mr. Upbeat uses the updated version of the Practice Theme as its music in this game. Lady Cupid's music is also a chiptune theme in the same style as the practice themes.

Games without a practice are distinguished with the line "(No Practice.)" (or "(And no practice for you!)" in Beat the Beat: Rhythm Paradise) in the game's description. In the Two Player games, the practice is played the same as with the One Player version, with one practice for each player. Many games again transition smoothly between the practice and the real thing, and some games have a different appearance for the practice, utilizing a fade transition, or in some cases, game-specific transitions. For example, the practice for Double Date sees A Boy sitting on the bench alone in the middle of the day, with the Weasel giving him instructions. After practice is complete, the screen fades out, a chime is heard, and the real thing begins at sunset with His Crush and the female Weasel having arrived.

This game also has the only Rhythm Toy with a practice, that being Rhythm Fighter, which uses it to explain the rules of the game without allowing the players to try it out beforehand.

Rhythm Heaven Megamix
In Rhythm Heaven Megamix, every single game, regardless of origin, uses a chiptune version of their song during their practice and also need a specified amount of completed sets with a counter to advance, much like in Rhythm Heaven Fever. The original practice theme is nowhere to be found in this game. Similar to the Demonstrations, this game shows a Rhythm Help Display (お助けリズム表示) of the current set if the player spends too long during the practice, showing the rhythm in a handy visual format, though this is only available for games in Earth World.

Practice can be skipped by pausing the game and choosing "Skip". Games without a practice are distinguished with beneath their description. After the Rhythm Game has been completed once, the player can press Ⓐ to skip the prologue directly into the practice (if any) or Ⓧ to skip directly to the real game.

Unlike previous games, going through the practice always fades out at the end, and then fades in for the real thing, regardless if the practice session has a unique appearance or not. Each returning game otherwise has their practice play out more or less how it did in the original games. Spaceball, Sick Beats, Bunny Hop, and Night Walk now have a proper practice, and others from Rhythm Tengoku such as Bouncy Road are modified to have a more detailed explanation. Spaceball's original loop is now a fixed amount of baseballs, Sneaky Spirits now requires the player to hit a ghost once to advance, and Ninja Bodyguard receives a practice session in addition to the original's cutscene, which now only plays if the player goes through the practice.

Quiz Show is the exception to everything, in that the practice uses the original theme, ends the game and gives the player a Try Again Rank straight away if they fail, smoothly transitions to the real thing upon reaching the 4th question, and has the "Go for Perfect!" notice appear during the Perfect Campaign, matching how it appears in Rhythm Tengoku. An oversight allows the player to get a Perfect by failing during the practice.

When the player reaches a Gate, they are required to go through the practice of the respective Endless Game before attempting the trials.