TheRhythm Game genre is aVideo Game Genre that challenges the player's sense of rhythm. Boiled down to a fundamental mechanical level, a rhythm game is in many ways just a fancy chain ofSimon Says andQuick Time Event prompts: the game will display timed commands in a sequence that the player must input accordingly and on time.note If you turn off the music while playing a rhythm game, that's basically what the game degenerates into Here's where theRhythm comes in: the commands needs to be synced with the background music in order for the game to be a true rhythm game.
The core mechanics of a rhythm game can be dissected further to show the ways rhythm games innovate and differ from each other.
- Interface: Traditionally, the commands on the screen are represented with markers, such as arrows or gems, which move towards a target zone, typically by scrolling over a clearly displayed set route. The moment when the marker hits the target zone is when the player has to perform the correct input.
- If the correct input is hit with good timing as the marker passes by the target zone, the marker disappears orblows up indicating success. Missing is usually represented by the marker drifting past the target zone unharmed.
- Dancing games typically have no markers at all, instead providing flashcards and animations to cue the player on what to do.
- Singing games usually use lines that go up and down with pitch, with the goal of singing with the same pitch as the line passes through the target zone.
- Input: The actions that the player must input varies greatly depending on the medium of the game.
- Arcade Rhythm Games following in the footsteps of the famousbeatmania typically features a series of buttons that the player uses for input. Aside from a few odd cases of analogue inputs (likeSOUND VOLTEX's knobs) or the arcade machines that employ motion sensors, most of the input methods are just alternate forms of buttons;DanceDanceRevolution's famous Dance Pad are just buttons for the feet, whilebeatmania's turntable is a button that you press by spinning it.
- Console Rhythm Games typically just use the buttons on their controllers, or employ special instrument-shaped controllers (like on the famousGuitar Hero) for the same button inputs.
- Mobile Rhythm Games uses their touch screen for inputs. Some arcade rhythm games also use touch screens to supplement their buttons.
- Dancing games likeJust Dance uses full-motion cameras, with making dance moves being the equivalent of a "button pressing" action.
- Singing games rather obviously use a microphone for their inputs.
- Scoring/Health: Almost all rhythm games employ scoring and/orLife Meters to provide feedback to the players and encourage higher-level performance. Typically, the commands have a certain timing window around the moment of their input. If the player's input is made outside of the timing window, the player misses and does not receive the action's score and/or loses parts of their life meter. This means thathitting all the buttons as fast as you can is a surefire way to fail as fastor faster than doing nothing.
- Many games employ grading within the "hit/miss" timing window to further differentiate the scoring. The player will receive a different score depending on their action's timing accuracy. The closer the action is to the perfect timing, the higher score is.
- Some rhythm games also feature a bonus for maintaining a streak of notes without missing any. This is commonly called a "combo" (although it is different fromCombos in the way thatFighting Games popularized them) or a "chain". Usually this comes in the form of aScore Multiplier, or a bonus that is awarded on the highest combo that the player built up during the song.
Having the player perform precise rhythm-matched controls is the core of the rhythm game experience. Games that generate content according to musical rhythm, but do not force the player to perform rhythm-matching, are not rhythm games.
The genre originated in Japan and was popularized there in the 1990s, and later went on to find a core audience in Japan and other East Asian countries. In the west, rhythm games saw a particular boom in the lateOughties, which subsequently faded early intoThe New '10s, especially in regards to rock-band-in-a-box gamesGuitar Hero andRock Band. Earlier, around the year 2000,DanceDanceRevolution and its ilk became well-known throughPop-Cultural Osmosis and it still appears in the occasional movie withvarying degrees of accuracy.
Rhythm games may feature licensed soundtracks, commissioned tracks from third-party artists, or, most rarely, original soundtrack from in-house artists (primarily for major rhythm game companies like Konami or Taito).
As an East Asian subculture, rhythm games and the music artists associated with them had an immense influence on the creation of theJapanese hardcore techno (J-core) scene.
There are typically three ways to source songs for rhythm games:
- In-house: Songs are produced by the development team themselves. This means the developers have full rights control over these songs; the developers may either produce the songs themselves (which requires them to be proficient in both game dev and music productin), or hire musicians to exclusively produce songs for their games.
- This is a staple of Konami'sBEMANI series, as they pride themselves on their in-house BEMANI Sound Team to produce a wide variety of original songs.
- Commission: Songs are produced by outside artists but for use exclusively for the game (and collaboration events with other games, if they happen). This allows for songs to be tailor-made for the game without needing the devs to be proficient in music production or have musicians on a tight contract with them. This typically requires the rights to the songs to be split between the developers and artists.
- Licensed: Pre-existing songs from external sources are licensed for use within the game. This means the developers don't have to learn how to produce music nor do they need to collaborate with third-party artists to produce songs that fit their vision. However, this is also typically the most expensive way to get songs for rhythm games, and licenses are often temporary, meaning that if the rights holder chooses not to renew the contract, the songs they own the rights to have to go.
- Many mainstream rhythm games by big-budget studios rely on licensing big-name songs for their success, to the point where it is rare for them to have original songs.
- Rhythm games by developers from the Asia Pacific, particularly starting in the late 2010s, often source their songs from BMS contests (BMS standing for "Be-Music Source", a file format forbeatmania simulators, and there are frequent contests to make original songs for these simulators), due to having cheaper costs for licensing and sounding closer to the sort of music expected of rhythm games. Many of these BMS musicians may also make commissioned songs for rhythm games as well.
InThe New '10s, a new subgenre of rhythm game opened up, known as the "idol rhythm game" or "gacha rhythm game", withLove Live! School idol festival andTHE iDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage being some of the earlier and more popular examples. These games typically revolve around idol groups and the player can earn cards of the charcters of varying rarity and power through thegacha mechanic. By equipping these cards, the player can gain passive abilities (such as health recovery or a boost in point gain when hitting notes), and each card has stats that dictate how many points the player will get for each note (in additon to any possible combo bonuses). As such, simply doing well enough in these games will not earn the player a good score; it's common for an experienced rhythm game player to start one of these games, nail a perfect run, and not even fill the scoring meter halfway due to having low-power starter cards. Idol-based rhythm games are typically on mobile platforms and are freeto start, which makes them popular for budget-conscious players, although there are a few available on PC such asTap Sonic Top and for arcades such as an arcade port ofLLSIF andO.N.G.E.K.I..
CompareExergaming. For other interactions between music and gameplay, seeMusical Gameplay and the video game section ofMickey Mousing. To gush about your favorite rhythm game music, seeAwesomeMusic.Video Games.
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Traditional Rhythm Games
These games are the traditional "pure" rhythm games where the core gameplay exclusively focuses on making specific inputs that are timed with the music, and the player's performance is judged solely by their accuracy of inputs and input timing. They're also known as rhythm action games or rhythm-matching games.
Non-Traditional Rhythm Games
Action Games with Rhythm-Matching Controls
These games are hybrids of traditionalAction Games and rhythm games. Their fundamental gameplay involves a player-controlled character performing actions within a 2D/3D game space, but one or more parts of the player character's controls must be performed in sync with the music's rhythm for maximum effectiveness.
Action Games with Rhythm-Matched Environments
These games are primarily 2D/3D action games (usually platforming games) where the player characters have free (but usually autoscrolling), non-rhythm-locked controls, but the environments are structured in such a way as to force the player to perform precise rhythm-matched actions.
Because the rhythm matching in these games stems not from how the player character is controlled, but from how the environment is constructednote One could theoretically create an environment in these games with no rhythm-matching, they are usually considered to bemusic games rather than "proper" rhythm games.
Games with Rhythm Game Mini Games
In these games, the core gameplay mechanic is not related to rhythm games, but these games featureMini Games that play like traditional rhythm games.
To aid with documentation, please also at least identify the name of the rhythm game minigame when adding examples to this section. Please also make sure that musical rhythm plays a part in the minigame, and that the minigame isn't just a series ofQTEs unrelated to the music.
- 3 out of 10: EpisodeWelcome to the Club has Joan challenge someone to a game of Cow Catcher. While that is going on, the player instead plays a rhythm game pressing keys in line with Joan's singing.
- Anti-Idle: The Game:Mute Mute Revolution, which is a rhythm game but—as the title suggests—withno music.
- Bishi Bashi: Several of the minigames involve rhythm mechanics, including parodies ofKonami's own music games, likeDanceDanceRevolution andGuitarFreaks.
- Brooktown High
- Brütal Legend: Using the game's Guitar Solo skills involves a brief rhythm minigame.
- Bully: Music class minigame
- Charlie Murder: The game's flashbacks to the band playing their songs, alongside Paul'sStart of Darkness.
- Club Penguin: Dance Contest, a traditionalDance Dance Revolution-style rhythm game.
- Deltarune: Chapter 3 introduces Rock Video as the physical challenge for the second board. Notably, while there are three rhythm lanes, only Kris's lane matters for the final result. This minigame can be replayed after beating the challenge within the chapter,is a potential minigame Tenna will bring up during his boss fight and is subsequently available to play in the following chapter in Castle Town if enough recruits were obtained, this time with not just "Raise Up Your Bat", but with "Knock You Down!!" and "It's TV Time!".
- Donkey Kong Country: Candy's Dance Studio (exclusive to the GBA remake)
- Drakengard: TheTrue Final Boss is a Rhythm Battle.
- Drakengard 3: TheTrue Final Boss is again a rhythm minigame.
- Dream C Club: Karaoke minigame.
- Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc: Bullet Time Battle
- Dustborn: Since the party has to act as a punk rock band for their cover story, there's a rhythm minigame involving four input buttons and one Rock Power button to temporarily grant a score multiplier. The button prompts are displayed on two axes where they will converge on the center, which is supposed to correspond with the face buttons on a controller.
- Final Fantasy VII Remake: The Honey Bee Inn dance performance that Cloud is required to do in order towin Andrea's approval and become his selection for Corneo's girls is designed as a rhythm minigame. Doing well nets you Andrea's earrings and a trophy.
- Genshin Impact: Version 5.3 introduced a permanent game mode calledRepertoire of Myriad Melodies, it's an extension of all previous rhythm minigames previously introduced in past Events and World Quests, and the players can compose their own charts for the available songs and share those with other players.
- Giraffe and Annika: The game alternates between 3D adventure-platforming sections and rhythm game boss fights.
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: Dancing dates and lowrider competition
- I'm Not a Robot: The penultimate level, "Din Don Dan", follows the rhythm action format.
- In Season 1.9 ofInfinity Nikki as part of the Music Festival, a piano in Florawish and the Kitty Dance Machines in the Sea of Stars are available which are a four-button rhythm game and use many of the same songs. The Kitty Dance Machines are permanent.
- Dodo Re Mi, part ofThe Jackbox Party Pack 10.
- Kingdom Hearts II: Atlantica Song Missions.
- Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep: Ice Cream Beat.
- Kirby: Triple Deluxe: Dedede's Drum Dash. It evolved into its own standalone game:Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe.
- The LEGO Movie Videogame: "Bricksburg Construction" and "Put the Thing on the Thing".
- Like a Dragon: Karaoke minigame (part of the series sinceYakuza 3)
- InMario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, one of the arm minigames requires you to hit balls of energy with Mario and Luigi to the same beat that they were fired.
- Mario Party:
- Mario Party: Star Rush: Rhythm Recital is a side mode where up to four players select a song from various classicMario games, select one of four instruments, and then play the song. Notes fly towards each player at different times depending on their instrument of choice, and they must either press A or tap the touch screen with the right timing to hit as many notes as possible. At the end of the song, they will receive a grade based on their performance.
- Super Mario Party: Sound Stage features a variety of Rhythm minigames that all utilize the Joy-Con motion controls. Each of the minigames require players to move the Joy-Con in certain ways with the correct timing to hit different targets, with players scoring better based on the accuracy of their timing.
- Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (some of the synchronized events)
- Moshi Monsters: The Underground Disco.
- Mother 3: When attacking an enemy, the player can perform combo attacks by striking to the beat of the background music.
- My Little Pony: A Maretime Bay Adventure
- The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge: Boss battles have optional (except for the final boss) rhythm sequences for massive damage.
- Geki-On Live Coaster in TokyoJoypolis features a rhythm game minigame in aroller coaster. After the train takes off, riders must hit buttons on their restraining bars in time to the on-screen notes on projection screens throughout the tunnel, to shortened versions of several songs from Sega video games; then riders go through the actual roller coaster part. The riders' scores are displayed at the end, just before they disembark.
- Persona 5: The Phantom X: After unlocking it, you can come by Band Club any time you want to play a traditional rhythm game with songs fromPersona 5 and its spinoffs.
- Princess Debut
- Rayman: Raving Rabbids
- Roots of Pacha: Taming animals is accomplished through a very simple one-button rhythm mini-game with a flute. There is also the "Battle of the Bands" at the Carnival Festival and Solo's theatre at the Yakuan Islands, which use four buttons and more complicated rhythms, but have no stakes besides a winning message, some food, and in the latter's case, more unlockable tracks.
- Skylanders: Trap Team: The Skaletone Showdowns accessible from the Academy and progressively unlocked through playing the campaign.
- Sly Cooper:
- SongBird Symphony: The game alternates between platforming sections and rhythm game boss fights.
- Sonic Pinball Party: TheSamba de Amigo pinball table's "Song Play" and "Fever mode" both involve performing actions timed to the music's rhythm.
- Splatoon 1: Squid Beatz.
- Splatoon 2: Squid Beatz 2.
- ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron: Jam Out minigame.
- Tokimeki Memorial 2 Substories: Dancing Summer Vacation, aVisual Novel containing theDanceDanceRevolution Tokimeki Mix, which is aGame Within a Game serving as the center ofDSV's main storyline and asDSV's mini-game.
- Undertale The Green Soul which is used during the battle with Undyne functions like onenote She uses upgraded attacks in the Genocide Run with the same mechanics
- The Urbz: Soul Music minigame
- WarioWare
- Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure: Bonelich's minigame
In-Universe Examples
- The Pet Girl of Sakurasou:Nyaboron, the video game that the residents of Sakura Hall develop for theSchool Festival, is aCo-Op Multiplayer game where the audience plays by all raising one or both hands, or shouting, as instructed by the screen and Nanami's voiceover. It's less focused on music, though.
- Scott Pilgrim vs. The World hasNinja Ninja Revolution, a ninja-themedAffectionate Parody ofDance Dance Revolution played by Scott and Knives twice in the movie where the players must make "ninja poses" in time with the music instead of stepping on arrows.
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