Lockstep

"This one's all about hitting the beat, flipping it, and then nailing the backbeat. Experience both sides of the rhythm!"

- Lockstep Description

Lockstep (ウラオモテ) is the 27th minigame in Rhythm Heaven and the 72nd minigame in Rhythm Heaven Megamix. In this game, you must tap to keep the beat and then make transitions to the offbeats. Its sequel, Lockstep 2, is unlocked later on in Rhythm Heaven.

Gameplay
In this game, the player plays the Stepswitcher in the center of the screen. The Stepswitchers will first begin stepping in beat after the clock signal in the background reaches its fourth tick. The player must step consistently in this same beat until one of the step-switchers signals to step in offbeat to the rhythm. The rhythm will keep switching on and offbeat during the game when signaled.

Button Mode

 * A button: March

Simple Tap Mode

 * Tap: March

Timing Notes

 * Hit: The marching continues.
 * Barely: A small 'tick' sound is heard. The player should also notice that they are out of step with the others. A barely counts as a hit in Rhythm Heaven, but it counts as a miss in Rhythm Heaven Megamix.
 * Miss: The Stepswitchers on either side of the player will slap his head while doing their routine.

Header

 * "Your Partners Say"

Try Again

 * "On the beat? You're a little off."
 * "Offbeat? More like just plain "off.""
 * "Sloppy work on the transitions."

OK

 * "Hm..." (Rhythm Heaven only)
 * "I don't know..." (Rhythm Heaven only)
 * "Good enough..." (Rhythm Heaven only)
 * "I guess that was all right." (Rhythm Heaven only)
 * "Eh. Passable." (Rhythm Heaven Megamix only)

Superb

 * "You were all right on the beat."
 * "You hit the offbeats pretty well."
 * "Nice transitions between beats."

Challenge Train

 * Group Activity 2
 * Lockstep Lockdown (Super Hard!)

Skill Star
The Skill Star can be collected if you switch back to the beat near the end of the game.

Trivia

 * The colors of the background changes for onbeat and offbeat routines and Stepswitchers's half bodies in this game were changed from the Japanese version for unknown reasons. The original colors were restored in Rhythm Heaven Megamix.


 * The person the Stepswitchers form when fully zoomed out appears to be Johann Sebastian Bach, a famous German composer of the 1700's. He had a very distinct hairstyle, although he lacks the curly mustache seen in the game.
 * As a reference to how the stepswitchers flip (or maybe just a coincidence), the game number in Rhythm Heaven Megamix is the same as in Rhythm Heaven, but flipped.
 * When going for a perfect in Rhythm Heaven, the game doesn't care about whether or not you got a barely, considering this game is very hard. This also applies to Shoot-'Em-Up, and Shoot-'Em-Up 2, Frog Hop, Frog Hop 2 and Lockstep 2. Unfortunately, this was changed in Rhythm Heaven Megamix where even a barely will cause you to completely fail a Perfect challenge.
 * The Stepswitchers made a cameo during the minigame Cheer Readers, during one of the "OK, it's on!" cues.
 * This is one of a few games to keep the same controls for tapping from Rhythm Heaven to Rhythm Heaven Megamix when playing in Simple Tap Mode. The others being Fillbots, Shoot-'em-up, Freeze Frame and Munchy Monk.

In Other Languages
A Contratiempo