Rhythm Heaven Groove

Rhythm Heaven Groove was provided by Nintendo for review. Thank you!

As someone who never owned a Nintendo console before the 3DS, I had a lot to catch up on when I finally bought my 3DS XL. I discovered tons of games and franchises, including some that I consider favorites to this day, like Shin Megami Tensei and Etrian Odyssey. I also ended up playing a lot of smaller games like Picross, Pushmo, and finally Rhythm Heaven Megamix. When I first bought Megamix, I didn't know it was a hybrid of a compilation and a new game, but I adored it.

Ever since I tried out one of the Project Diva games on Vita, I've been regularly playing rhythm games on basically every platform through Taiko no Tatsujin, the Persona dancing games, DJ Max, and going back to play the Rhythm Heaven games I missed through the DS release and replaying the 3DS game. The striking and colorful aesthetic, lovely animation work, and catchy music with easy-to-pick-up controls made me wish we'd see a new Rhythm Heaven game on Switch, but it felt like that would never happen until last year's Nintendo Direct. 

Rhythm Heaven Groove is notable for many reasons, as I'll cover in this review, but we need a bit of context here. Rhythm Heaven Groove is the first worldwide simultaneous release for the series, the first game to feature so many additional languages, and also one to get a physical release on Switch worldwide. I usually don't really comment on the price in a review, but Nintendo opted to specifically release this at a budget price and released a demo for the game. 

It feels like everything is lining up for what should be a glorious return for Rhythm Heaven, but was the long wait worth it? I wasn't sure what to expect until trying the demo, and while I was grinning after just a few minutes with it, I still had some skepticism about the full release. Thankfully, that was unnecessary. Rhythm Heaven Groove joins Forza Horizon 6 as a tie for my favorite games of 2026 so far. I've had to stop myself from spending all Sunday on it after already playing it for about 15 hours. I'm addicted to it, and I haven't even seen everything it has to offer since there are so many local multiplayer games I've only just started sampling after taking a break from the single-player offering. 

If you've never played a Rhythm Heaven game before, it is a collection of rhythm mini-games that increase in complexity or difficulty. When you complete a stage, you get a rating and can also earn a medal if you play well enough. These medals serve as a way to unlock more modes and side content. It's designed so you can progress through the main stages while making some mistakes, but you will need to improve if you want to experience the breadth of what Rhythm Heaven Groove has to offer through its optional modes, and also just by aiming to get medals and more on each stage. 

The mini-games themselves are very creative. In fact, I haven't smiled and laughed as much as I did playing Rhythm Heaven Groove in any other game recently. It oozes charm and creativity, but everything is accompanied by catchy music and sound effects. These mini-games include being a backup dancer, talking to an alien, filming a car commercial, hiding from the moon's gaze while it sneezes, crushing cans, bouncing fruits on your muscles, slicing spirits, catching pudding as a robot, and more. These involve pressing a face button and a specific d-pad button. 

Rhythm Heaven Groove changes things up so you aren't just trying to keep up with the beat the same way in every single mini-game. It also builds up to a remix after you complete a set of four mini-games. The remix stages are like a test of your skills so far, bringing in remixed patterns and mixing things up with bits from each mini-game alongside a new song. After completing all the stages and remixes on the initial level or mini-game select screen, you get access to a whole other side with added mini-games and side content. 

I want to stress that as much as I love the songs, including the vocal tracks, the real star of the audio here is the sound effects. They are just perfect and elevate the game beyond just a collection of mini-games. You can tell a lot of love and talent have gone into making everything fit together when it comes to remixed stages pulling from prior mini-games and brand-new ones Rhythm Heaven Groove keeps sprinkling into the fray.

Beatspell is the side mode I was most impressed with. It is basically an RPG-like mode where you cast spells and attack based on specific button combinations with the beat. I thought Beatspell would just be a few stages, but it is quite meaty for a side mode. Speaking of being meaty, even the credits (you see them more than once) are interactive. Nintendo and TNX exceeded almost all my expectations.

Visually, Rhythm Heaven Groove is exactly what I hoped for in a potential HD Rhythm Heaven game when I played the 3DS release. It is colorful, charming, beautifully animated, and only really falters in some of the font choices, being a bit too basic for my liking. Now I'm not implying this has a boring UI like the Mario sports games, but the font just sometimes feels at odds with the playful aesthetic everywhere else. My favorite aspect of the visuals is how the other characters react when you make a mistake by giving you a look of disapproval or anger. The moon's reaction when it sees you is by far the best.

Rhythm Heaven Groove has a mix of vocal tracks and instrumental tunes, and the highlight here is definitely Ado's song "Love me Forever!" Ado continues to impress with her vocal range, and this collaboration with Tsunku (the composer and basically the face of the series). If you've watched Ado's live performances, there's a nice little easter egg in the remix that I recommend you look up. I already expected to love the vocal tracks, but the game surprised me with its instrumental offerings, punching above their weight with memorable guitar riffs and much more I don't want to spoil. I really hope this soundtrack gets a full release in the future.

Switch 1 vs Switch 2

Rhythm Heaven Groove is a Switch 1 game that has some enhancements when played on Switch 2. Normally, I'd recommend playing a Switch 1 game via handheld boost mode on Switch 2, but it already runs at 1080p handheld on Switch 2 based on my counts. It can detect the hardware and run at 1080p, but capturing screenshots is limited to 720p since it is a Switch 1 game. As for docked, it is the same as Switch 1 (1080p), as far as I can tell, in the few images I counted when comparing captured images through my 4K capture card. I will say that when I played on my 1440p monitor, Rhythm Heaven Groove looked great aside from some edges where you can tell it is running at a subnative resolution for my monitor.

Since a lot of folks are going to play this on Switch 2 via backward compatibility, I also wanted to showcase load time differences. When installed on the internal storage of my Switch OLED and Switch 2, I measured the time taken to load the title screen from the console dashboard and also the time taken to load Remix 8 (my favorite one as a random example). The Switch 2 took just over 5 seconds to load in both tests. The Switch 1 took the same time for the initial load, but loading that specific remix only took a second more. Rhythm Heaven Groove is perfect for pick-up and play on both Switch consoles. 

アクセシビリティ

I previously said that Rhythm Heaven Groove exceeded almost all my expectations, but I wasn't being truthful there. You see, Nintendo games previously used to have poor accessibility settings when it comes to remapping, text sizes, motion sickness settings, and screen readers. The game actually does a lot right for its accessibility, including the screen reader, but some stages have forced screen shake that gave me motion sickness.  Thankfully, this isn't a huge issue across the board, but I hope a future update can add an option to disable the screen shake and allow full button remapping without relying on the system settings. The screen reader setting is available under the Read-Aloud Settings in-game and when you boot it up for the first time.

結論

Rhythm Heaven Groove is Nintendo at its handheld best, and that also happens to be my favorite kind of Nintendo. It is essential for rhythm game fans, and I'm going to go back to replaying older stages literally after sending this review in. The wait for a new Rhythm Heaven was long, but Tsunku and Nintendo have delivered what I consider a tie for my favorite game of 2026 with Forza Horizon 6, and I'm not just saying that because both feature Ado.

このレビューはNintendo Switch 2版に基づいています。

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