Barista
The Barista is a character that works at the Café. The Barista will always be in the Café to talk with the player if they choose to do so. He offers advice, hints at upcoming Perfect challenges, and, perhaps most importantly, the ability to skip stages which the player cannot clear.
Identity
It is unclear if the Barista is the same character that appears in the Café in every game.
In Rhythm Tengoku, a human woman is seen working behind the counter.
In Rhythm Heaven, when the Barista wants to talk, a dog that appears many times in the games will appear on the Cafe icon in the cup. However, in the Cast list, this white dog is just referred to as "Dog." In addition, the Barista (identified specifically) is always offscreen: The speech bubble points to a location past the bottom screen.
In the Rhythm Heaven Fever cast list, the white dog is identified as the Barista. His face appears in the game's "good luck" stamp (see above). However, like in Rhythm Heaven, he is never specifically seen at the Café.
Purpose
As mentioned above, the player can talk to the Barista at any time while in the Café. Talking to him will cause him to mention:
- Advice at a game
- The next upcoming Perfect challenge
- Congratulations after recieving a perfect.
- Generic discussions (about coffee, for example)
If the player recieves three "Try Again" ratings on one uncleared game, the Barista will offer to let them continue to the next game without needing to complete the current one.