Rat Race

"You are a rat. She is a cat. You love cheese. We have all the ingredients of a tense encounter."

- Rat Race Description (Rhythm Heaven Megamix)

Rat Race (こっそりラット) is the 9th game in Rhythm Tengoku and the 48th game in Rhythm Heaven Megamix. It's about three rats trying to find cheese while running and hiding from Ms. Whiskers.

Gameplay
The three rats will be running across a very, very long kitchen table. In practice, they will give you signals when you stop behind a stack of plates, but in the real game, there are no signals (in the Megamix version, there are signals in the real game, but the brown rat at the front will throw the stoplight away in the middle of the game). It's appearances in remixes have signals in them. There is a cat trying to catch you, and when the cat pops up, you hold A to stop behind a plate. The music will go quiet for a few seconds, and you will hear the music building up, and the rats are in a position that they're about to run. You let go of A at the right time to get a clean getaway.

Button Mode

 * Hold A: Stop
 * Release A: Go

Simple Tap Mode

 * Tap and Hold: Stop
 * Release Stylus: Go

Timing Notes

 * Hit: Nothing goes wrong and you get away from the cat.
 * Barely: You jump a little when you hide, and when you run, there is a "boing" sound. A barely counts as a hit in Tengoku, but counts a miss in Megamix!
 * Miss: You bump into one of the other two rats. When hiding, the rat you hit moves out of position, and when running, the rat you hit does not run momentarily, but catches up fast. If you bump into the rat behind you too just before the cat looks around, the rat will try to hide by curling up while sweating.

Header

 * "なかまから　ひとこと" (A word from your friends)

Try Again

 * "キレが　ないよ. " (There is no sharpness.)
 * "でだしが　ぐだぐだ・・・" (The start is off...)
 * "もう！　ジャマしないでよ！" (Geez! Don't mess things up!)

OK

 * "う~ん．．．" (Yeah...)
 * "まぁまぁ、　かな. " (OK, I guess?)
 * "とりあえず．．．" (Anyway...)
 * "よしと　します. " (You did your best.)

Superb

 * "きっちり　とまってる！" (You stopped at the right time!)
 * "でだしが　バッチリ！" (Your starts were right on!)

Header

 * "Hushed Whispers"

Try Again

 * "Work on those stops!"
 * "You need to practice your starts."

OK

 * "Eh. Passable."

Superb

 * "Your stops were perfect!"
 * "Great starts!"

Skill Star
When the brown rat throws away the traffic lights near the end, while telling the other two that they will go onwords without using them, stop at the second stack of plates perfectly to collect the star.

Rat Race 2P
"あなたはネズミ. 大スキなチーズをめざして ストップ＆ゴー！！" "(You are a mouse. Aim for your beloved cheese. Stop & Go!!)"

- Rat Race 2P Description

Rat Race also appears in the 2P mode of Rhythm Tengoku (Arcade) where it is referred to as Rat Race 2P (こっそりラット 2P). It plays the same as the 1P version, but there are twice as many rats, with both players controlling the white rats.

Trivia

 * The Sneaky Rats make a cameo in Freeze Frame, where they sometimes appear in the pictures the player takes.
 * Ms. Whiskers makes a cameo in Wake-Up Caller, sometimes appearing at the window.