Rhythm Heaven Fever/Development
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| Title | Minna no Rhythm Tengoku | Rhythm Heaven Fever | Beat the Beat: Rhythm Paradise | Rhythm World Wii |
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| Region/Languages | Japan (Japanese) | United States of America (English) | Europe (UK English, French, German, Italian, Spanish) |
South Korea (Korean) |
| Release Date | July 21, 2011 | February 13, 2012 | July 6, 2012 | September 12, 2013 |
Development History
For the new entry on the Wii, the team made use of its special features, such as being a home console allowing them to sneak in various details for on-lookers to find, which also led to the Two-Player Mode. The development team wondered what to do with the Wii Remote controller. They considered wether to stick with button controls or have motion controls, so they made a prototype trying out the latter. As this game would require a lot more swinging than other games, this would tire the player out, so they decided that just buttons would be perfectly fine. They also experimented with 3D models, but decided that 2D graphics lended themselves perfectly to the kind snappy gameplay they were going for[1].
Everyone on the development team pitched ideas for the game. The developers at Nintendo could also design games however they wanted based on the music created by Tsunku♂, which would often lead to him and his team being surprised at the visuals being completely different from what they had imagined. Despite the seeming mismatch of ideas, everything still came together. Everyone on the team got to name the Rhythm Games as well[2]. The development team was three times as large as the previous game, with some team members who joined towards the end being fans of that game. There was a worry however that they would need to raise the difficulty for the benefit of players of the previous title, but they also wondered if it should be beginner-friendly. They asked various staff members of all age groups to try it out, and found that they had too much trouble, and adjusted the difficulty accoringly[3].
The earliest mention of Minna no Rhythm Tengoku to the public came in a post on Tsunku♂'s official blog on July 7, 2011, where he talks about receiving a family picture drawn by the game's staff to celebrate the birth of his third child[4]. Around this time, a demo of the game was shown off at E3 2011, with the tentative titles of "Rhythm Heaven" in North America and "Rhythm Paradise" in Europe. The game was finally released in Japan on July 21, 2011, with the title Minna no Rhythm Tengoku. The meaning behind the title ("Everyone's Rhythm Heaven") is that everyone, be it those playing and those who stand by and watch, can enjoy it[5]. On August 12, 2011, Tsunku♂ would post on his blog again announcing Minna no Rhythm Tengoku Zen Kyoku-shu (a soundtrack release for the game), which would release about two weeks later. On November 14, 2011, he posted about it again, as well as announcing Minna no Rhythm Tengoku Zen Vocal-shu (a soundtrack release focusing on the vocal songs and their instrumentals), which released two and a half weeks later.
In the localized versions of the game, the Endless Game Manzai was removed due to the Japanese-dialogue focused nature of the game and replaced with Mr. Upbeat (a remake of one from Rhythm Tengoku)[6]. The game was released in North America, titled Rhythm Heaven Fever, on February 13, 2012, and later on July 6, it was released in Europe with the name Beat the Beat: Rhythm Paradise. This version features a completely new translation of the in-game text in English, and also exclusively allows players to switch between English and Japanese voices, at the cost of not having any dubs in other languages[7]. In September 2012, a small selection of the soundtrack was released overseas as Beat the Beat: Rhythm Paradise The Soundtrack. The game was later released in South Korea on September 12, 2013, titled Rhythm World Wii. The game would see a re-release in 2016 on the Wii U Virtual Console, on July 27 in Japan, November 10 in North America and November 24 in Europe.
References
- ↑ Iwata Asks - Rhythm Heaven Fever - Page 1
- ↑ Iwata Asks - Rhythm Heaven Fever - Page 2
- ↑ Iwata Asks - Rhythm Heaven Fever - Page 4
- ↑ "The production staff of "Minna no Rhythm Tengoku" gave us a picture of the family as a baby was born!" ~ ファミリーの絵 | つんく♂オフィシャルブログ 「つんブロ♂芸能コース」Powered by Ameba (Family Pictures | Tsunku♂ Official Blog "Tsunbro♂ Entertainment Course" Powered by Ameba)
- ↑ Iwata Asks - Rhythm Heaven Fever - Page 6
- ↑ "Editor's note: The game Manzai is not available on versions outside of Japan due to the Japanese-dialogue focused nature of the game. It has been replaced with the game Mr. Upbeat for versions outside of Japan." ~ Iwata Asks - Rhythm Heaven Fever - Page 4
- ↑ Beat the Beat: Rhythm Paradise | Wii | Games | Nintendo
| Rhythm Heaven Fever | ||
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| Medal Corner |  •  •  •  •  | |
| Rhythm Games |  •  •  •  •  | |
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| Two-Player Menu |  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  | |
| Endless Games One Player |
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| Endless Games Two Player |
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| Rhythm Toys |  •  •  •  | |
| Extra Games |  •  •  •  | |
| Miscellaneous | Music Corner • Reading Material • Rhythm Test • Perfect Campaign • Characters • The Rhythm League • Rhythm Heaven • Live House OGU • Development History • Seika Relay •  •  | |