Packing Pests

Packing Pests (しわけ) is the 17h minigame in Rhythm Heaven Fever and the 106th minigame in Rhythm Heaven Megamix. This game is about an employee who works at a candy sorting company. There, he must slap away Treat Spiders before they get into a cardboard box. A sequel is unlocked later on called Packing Pests 2.

Gameplay
The player must control a worker in a candy factory by sorting out the products. The player must catch a candy and then drop it into the cardboard box by pressing A + B buttons when a candy is thrown to him. There are the treat spiders that want to jump into the cardboard box, press A button to smack it before it gets into you. Also, there is a signal that notes the player during the game. When a cue "Double up!" (Japanese: いくぜ!!! Ikuze!) is heard, the player must smack two treat spiders at the same time after catching a candy.

Rhythm Heaven Fever

 * A + B: Catch
 * A: Slap

Button Mode

 * B: Catch
 * A: Slap

Simple Tap Mode

 * Tap: Catch or slap

Timing Notes

 * Hit: The candy will be grabbed and dropped in a box. Spiders are slapped forward to the ground, and walk back offscreen.
 * Barely: The candy is fumbled and does not make it into the box. Spiders will be only grazed, making them fall straight down. A barely counts as a miss.
 * Miss: Candy and spiders will fly past you and into the employee's workspace, making him shudder (with a more visible shudder for spiders). Slapping candy instead of grabbing it cause it to be knocked down. Grabbing spiders instead of slapping them causes the employee to grab them, then drop them and shudder.

Header

 * "Performance Review"

Try Again

 * "You lost a lot of product there."
 * "You seemed scared of the spiders."

OK

 * "Eh. Good enough."

Superb

 * "Great candy catching!"
 * "You're a master spider swatter!"

Header

 * "Supervisor's Comments"

Try Again

 * "You dropped too many sweets."
 * "You seem scared of insects."

OK

 * "Good try."

Superb

 * "You're good at catching sweets."
 * "You mastered insect swatting."

Header

 * "Performance Review"

Try Again

 * "You lost a lot of product there."
 * "You seemed confused by the double-ups."

OK

 * "Eh. Passable."

Superb

 * "Great candy catching!"
 * "The double-ups were no problem for you!"

Skill Star
At the very end of the rhythm game, you have to catch the money at the right moment to collect the star.

Trivia

 * The money thrown at the end of the game counts as one of the requirements for a Superb rank. This means that if you get all the other things right, but miss the money, you only get an "OK" rank.
 * The employee played in this rhythm game bears a striking resemblance to Munchy Monk. He also slaps the spiders in a very similar manner as to when the Munchy Monk slaps his arm, and the aside glance he gives when his face is shown, is almost identical to the one at the end of Munchy Monk 2. He is however not confirmed to actually be the Munchy Monk.
 * When the employee is on screen and the "Double Up!" sound effect is cued, he makes a confident expression, suggesting that the voice is his.
 * The employee is only given an ID number exclusive to the North American release.
 * The employee' ID number, #333-4-591032, is a symbolic code for "EEE, a spider!"
 * In the European Version, the sign says "Quality Control" instead of "Spider-Free Candy"
 * The sign keeps American's "Spider-Free Candy" text in European version of Megamix.
 * According to debug notes found in the files of Rhythm Heaven Megamix this game, Fork Lifter, Cheer Readers, Flock Step, Double Date and Board Meeting would have its story mode variant added in that game but got cut for unknown reasons.
 * This game has a similar rhythm to Monkey Watch.
 * In the American and European release, the paycheck has a dollar symbol on it. This change is reflected on the rhythm item.