Widget

Widgets (組み立てキット^?, Kumitate Kitto) are recurring objects in the Rhythm Heaven series. Their purpose is mentioned to be unknown. A widget is composed of a rod and one or two square nuts.

Rhythm Tengoku

Fun is the universal language.

While the title of this section is official, it comes from a non-English source.
If an official name from an English source is found, the section should be changed to its appropriate title.

While Widgets did not appear in Rhythm Tengoku, the rods used to fabricate them did in the Rhythm Game Polyrhythm, where they were referred to as Akai Mono (赤いモノ^?, Red Things). They are industry products whose details are kept a trade secret. They are considered hazardous because they explode when colliding with walls.^[1] In the game, the rods roll along two raised paths, and the player must press the corresponding button to raise the blocks when they reach a gap.

Rhythm Heaven

File:Widget DS.png

Widgets first appear in Rhythm Heaven, in the first Rhythm Game, Built to Scale, where they are portrayed as a white rod and nuts. The player must wait for the nuts to roll into place, then launch the rod into them to form the Widget. They later appear in Built to Scale 2, this time colored red. Workers are instructed to follow the rhythm while producing the Widgets, but they get paid the same regardless^[2].

Rhythm Heaven Fever and Rhythm Heaven Megamix

The square mass‐produced objects appear again in Rhythm Heaven Fever and Rhythm Heaven Megamix, first appearing in Built to Scale, where the player must balance a rod while waiting for two nuts to come into place, after which the player must launch the rod into them to form the complete Widget. The company sometimes makes defective products, and a worker in product testing accidentally sold the bad parts to collectors for a lot of money^[3].

Trivia

Although rods and Widgets are considered to be the face of the Rhythm Games they appear in, there are actual human characters depicted in the epilogues of each game. In Rhythm Tengoku, the factory is depicted, with what may be the owner standing outside. In Rhythm Heaven, a man is depicted inspecting the completed Widgets. In Rhythm Heaven Fever and Rhythm Heaven Megamix, the worker behind the building process is depicted standing outside the Widget Factory.
Rods and Widgets have appeared in 15 different games total throughout the series, while Karate Joe has appeared in 23 and The Wandering Samurai in 16.

Appearances

Gallery

Rod.png

Sprite from Rhythm Tengoku (Arcade)
Sprite from Rhythm Heaven
White thing.png

A square from an unfinished Widget
Sprite from Rhythm Heaven Fever
Defective Widget.png

Defective Widget

In Other Languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	組み立てキット	Assembly Kit
English^NOA	Widget
English^NOE	Widget
French	Le bidule	The contraption
Spanish	Cachirulo
Italian	Mr. Congegno	Mr. Device
Korean	조립 키트	Assembly Kit

References

↑ https://www.nintendo.co.jp/n08/brij/chara/stage04.html
↑ "Slogan for March: Turns out you get paid the same whether you're on the beat or not." ~ Assembly Line Slogans, Rhythm Heaven
↑ "I work in product testing. My company doesn't make a lot of defective products, but when we do, I'm NOT supposed to sell the bad parts to collectors for a lot of money. Oops." ~ Rhythm Item description for Built to Scale, Rhythm Heaven Megamix

[1] ttps://www.nintendo.co.jp/n08/brij/chara/stage04.html

[2] "Slogan for March: Turns out you get paid the same whether you're on the beat or not." ~ Assembly Line Slogans, Rhythm Heaven

[3] "I work in product testing. My company doesn't make a lot of defective products, but when we do, I'm NOT supposed to sell the bad parts to collectors for a lot of money. Oops." ~ Rhythm Item description for Built to Scale, Rhythm Heaven Megamix

[1]

[2]

[3]