Widget

Widget (組み立てキット) is a recurring "character" in the Rhythm Heaven series. Their purpose is unknown.

Rhythm Tengoku
A precursor to the Widgets first appears in Rhythm Tengoku in the Rhythm Game Polyrhythm, referred to as Akai Mono (赤いモノ). They are industry products, whose details are kept a trade secret. They are considered hazardous because they explode when colliding with walls. Their purpose is unknown. In the game, the rods roll along two raised paths, and the player must press the corresponding button to raise the blocks when they reach a gap.

Rhythm Heaven
Widgets first appear in Rhythm Heaven, in the first Rhythm Game, Built to Scale, where they are portrayed as a rod and nuts with a white color. The player must wait for the nuts to roll into place, then launch the rod into them to form the Widget. They later appear in Built to Scale 2, this time colored red. Workers are instructed to follow the rhythm while producing the widgets, but they get the paid the same regardless.

Rhythm Heaven Fever and Rhythm Heaven Megamix
The square mass-production objects appear again in Rhythm Heaven Fever and Rhythm Heaven Megamix, first appearing in Built to Scale, where the player must toss around widget parts (red rods) while waiting for two nuts to come into place, after which the player must launch the rod into them to form the complete Widget. The company sometimes makes defective products, and a worker in product testing accidentally sold the bad parts to collectors for a lot of money.

Trivia

 * Although Akai Mono and Widgets are considered to be the "characters" of these Rhythm Games, there are actual human characters depicted in the epilogues of each game. In Rhythm Tengoku, the factory is depicted, with what may be the owner standing outside. In Rhythm Heaven, a man is depicted inspecting the completed Widgets. In Rhythm Heaven Fever and Rhythm Heaven Megamix, the worker behind the building process is depicted standing outside the Widgets Factory.
 * Akai Mono and Widgets have appeared in 15 different games total throughout the series, while Karate Joe appears in 23 and The Wandering Samurai in 16.

Akai Mono

 * Built to Scale_icon.png Polyrhythm
 * 4th_Remix_icon.png Remix 4
 * 6th Remix_icon.png Remix 6
 * Built to Scale 2_icon.png Polyrhythm 2

Widgets

 * Built to Scale DS_icon.png Built to Scale
 * Remix 1 DS_icon.png Remix 1
 * Built to Scale 2 DS_icon.png Built to Scale 2
 * Remix 9 DS_icon.png Remix 9
 * Remix 10 DS_icon.png Remix 10
 * Built to Scale Wii_icon.png Built to Scale
 * Remix 3 Wii_icon.png Remix 3
 * Built to Scale 2 Wii_icon.png Built to Scale 2
 * Remix 8 Wii_icon.png Remix 8
 * Remix 10 wii_icon.png Remix 10