Ringside

Ringside (レスラー会見) is the 16th minigame in Rhythm Heaven Fever and the 60th minigame in Rhythm Heaven Megamix. The game is about a wrestler who is having a post-game interview with a reporter after a match in Rhythm Arena.

Gameplay
The game has you, playing as a wrestler, getting interviewed after a match. The reporter, the young girl, will give you several cues you need to respond to:


 * "Wubbadubbadubba, is that true?" (Japanese: ペケペケペケですか？ pekepekepeke desuka?, Korean: 그게 정말 사실인가요? geuge jeongmal sasil-ingayo?): The player has to respond after the phrase is done in three beats. To respond, press the A button.
 * "Woah, you go, big guy!" (Japanese: へえ～すごいですネ！ Hee sugoi desu ne!, Korean: 와!대단하네요! wa!daedanhaneyo! ) : The player needs to show off after the phrase is finished. To show off your muscles, press A twice at the same time.
 * "Pose for the fans!" (Japanese: こっち見て！ Kotchi mite!, Korean: 여기보세요! yeogiboseyo!) This phrase is accompanied by the screen zooming out. After it is finished, the player needs to strike a pose. To pose for the fans, press both A and B together. In Megamix, just press the B button.

The commands will come in many different patterns, with varying distances between them.

Timing Display

 * Perfect!/Ace!: With the "Wubbadubbadubba, is that true?" or "Woah, you go, big guy!" command, a camera flash will happen afterward. With the "Pose for the fans!", multiple camera flashes will appear, as well as a radial background. On occasion, a newspaper will appear with the picture on it.
 * Early!/Late!: Messing up on a "Wubbadubbadubba, is that true?" will cause the wrestler to cough when answering. Messing up on a "Woah, you go, big guy!" will cause only one part of the showing off to be done. Messing up on the "Pose for the fans!" will make only one person take a photo, which will be grayed and scratchy.
 * Miss...: Missing any command will cause the reporter to frown and give you a look. Using a command when not told to will make the wrestler look sideways while using the respond command, and either make the reporter nervous (respond command) or make her flinch back in shock (pose command).

Skill Star
After you do "Pose to the fans!" the newspaper will show up, but you'll have to repeat the second one, then do "Woah, you go, big guy!" before doing double "Pose to the fans!", perfect the second one to pose at the right time to collect the star.

Two-Player Mode
A version of the game can be unlocked in the two-player mode. It requires you to beat the original game and the previous two-player game, Tambourine.

The game has the first player playing a wrestler with blue clothing, and the second playing a wrestler with orange clothing, each marker with the number of their player. The reporter will give the commands, and the player will respond. The reporter will always ask the same thing to them, so the players just need to do the same thing.



Trivia

 * Parodies of Ringside has appeared all over the Internet, particularly YouTube, showcasing a character and an odd phrase or personality trait of said character. This is documented on its page on Know Your Meme.
 * The newspaper that can pop up after a successful "Pose for the fans!" command says "Nintendo Times" on it, referencing the Rhythm Heaven series' developer and publisher company, Nintendo.
 * The "Wubbadubbadubba" commands that are stated as "questions" appear to suggest that the wrestler is not actually listening to the reporter, and is just responding with the same thing each time. This is supported by the game's reading material, which has the wrestler saying "Eh" to all the questions, despite them being actual questions.
 * In the Japanese version, while reading the practice, the reporter will say 「〜〜〜ですか？」 ("〜〜〜desuka?"). The 〜 probably means the words that he isn't listening to
 * In the Japanese version, the blue squares with stars say "YONE"; a reference to one of game's developers, Masami Yone, whose notebook sketches resulted in the concept of Ringside. In the American, European and Korean versions of the game, his name is omitted.
 * In Nintendo's Iwata Asks, Masami Yone stated that the basis of the idea stemmed from the cutting of a wedding cake. He mentions that while one would be trying to concentrate on the cutting of the cake, wedding guests would take pictures and request the person's attention. He thought that the idea of a cake-cutting rhythm game didn't seem too promising and came up with the interview scenario instead.
 * Ringside is included in the Rhythm Heaven Megamix Demo, but only its practice session is playable. Once practice is completed, the demo ends. This makes Ringside the only rhythm game included in the demo unavailable for play.
 * In Rhythm Heaven Fever, the background in the OK rate has blue and orange stripes in it, but in Megamix, it was fixed to have orange and yellow stripes instead, just like in the game when the Wrestler is doing poses. This happens in the Korean version of Fever, as well.
 * This game appears in the "Wario...Where? 2: The Sequel" Challenge Train. In this version, you play as Wrestler, dressed like Wario-Man. who is getting interviewed by Reporter, dressed like Mona. Mona herself can be seen outside the Rhythm Arena at the very beginning and at the end of the game.
 * In the Japanese version of this game, there are 2 variants for "Wubbadubbadubba, is that true?" and 2 variants for "Woah, you go big guy!". However, in the US version of this game, there are 3 variants for the 2 commands listed earlier.