Rhythm Heaven

Rhythm Heaven (リズム天国ゴールド) known as Rhythm Paradise in Europe/Australia, is a game in the Rhythm Heaven franchise released for the Nintendo DS. It was released on July 31, 2008 in Japan, April 5, 2009 in North America, May 1, 2009 for Europe and September 24, 2009 for Korea.

It was developed by Nintendo SPD 1 and most of the music was composed by Japanese producer/singer TSUNKU. It was the first game in the series to be released outside of Japan.

Gameplay
The game is meant to be played by holding the Nintendo DS sideways. Left-handers have an option to change the position of the visual gameplay in much benefit for them. This also takes advantage of the Nintendo DS's touch screen more than anything.

Development
Rhythm Heaven's development "wasn't easy" for the staff. Osawa didn't like the idea of using buttons, so he considered a control mechanic that involved the Touch Screen. The ability to touch the edge of the Touch Screen was considered, but it would've been considered too difficult.

The Flick action took them a "little getting used to" as they had to make it feel "fair" to the player until they realised that if flicking was combined with the music it would give the players a "good sense of timing". The Flick action took them about "two to three months" to research and "six months" to eventually adapt the control into Rhythm Heaven. Tsunku really liked the idea of the Flick action even if it took a long time to adapt. At that time, he thought of the idea for Frog Hop, which became one of the very first games to be made for Rhythm Heaven.

Controls
The controls for Rhythm Heaven, just like every other game in the series, are very basic. There are four main mechanics used, both for all of the mini games available to play and just getting around the game itself. These controls are tapping, holding, sliding and flicking, in addition to the L/R buttons that are used in one specific rhythm game alone which is Rockers 2. The D-pad is also usable for accessing areas and the start button is used to pause during a mini game.

About Rhythm
For the musically impaired, rhythm is a variation of any length and any accentuation of sounds, pitches, and other things. If you are a musician, many things in this game will come naturally to you, and you just may complete this game in a day or so once you get the controls down. If you aren't, that's fine, you can still enjoy this game just the same.

Listening to the background music's meter, tempo, and sometimes melody is the key to getting through the game. Try not to rely on the game's visuals too much, as they can confuse the player into doing the wrong thing. Also, this game forgives you a bit more if you're late in your rhythm than if you're early. Try to use this to your advantage.

Reception
This game received some fairy positive reviews. Official Nintendo Magazine gave this game 82% for it's "hilarious games" and "superb soundtack" but it was marred of it's length. Jeremy Parish of 1UP.com gave this game a B+ as a "must-play experience" but felt forced to make use of the Touch Screen. Craig Harris of IGN gave the game an "Amazing" rating of 9.0 for being "off-the-wall" and "incredibly fun and addictive" but criticized the "awful lyrics" in songs. This game is known to be favorable on MetaCritic with an avarage score of 84.

Trivia

 * This is the only Rhythm Heaven game to not have the following:
 * A Rhythm Test. Instead, a flick practice is used.
 * A Remix with lyrics
 * Two-Player Games
 * This is the first Rhythm Heaven game to use Rhythm Games with 3D models.
 * For promotional purposes, singer Beyonce appeared in the commercials for North America.