Rhythm Heaven boasts some impressive presentation. It's a unique-looking game that evokes 1970s animation, classic Nintendo stylings, and Flash cartoons, in some cases all within seconds of each other. The music fuses J-Pop with both classic songs and contemporary flourishes. In the mini-game "Fan Club" a songstress leads a fanbase of monkeys into a frenzy with her love songs. That comes not long after the first mini-game, "Built to Scale," which uses the "do re mi" scale to train your responses. Even if you come to hate some of the mini-games, you definitely won't forget them. Rhythm Heaven's unique presentation provides a memorable experience.


The mini-games evoke the same sort of wacky, random fare seen in the WarioWare games, albeit less scatological. In "Glee Club," you hold down the stylus on the touch screen to keep a loudmouthed kid in tune with his fellow choir members. It's 30 seconds of bliss. That's followed up by "Fillbots," a mini-game that eluded me, but didn't give anyone else any trouble. In it, a series of robots come down a production line, and you tap the touch screen to drop a fuel dispenser into their heads. In another, you play as a DJ's apprentice and hold down the stylus to stop a spinning record, then flick the stylus to emulate scratching. These are just a few examples of the numerous mini-games that Rhythm Heaven offers. For every teeth-grittingly tough game, there are at least two or three fun ones that make up for it.

Rhythm Heaven evokes segments of the WarioWare series, from its quirky art style to the quick-paced nature of many of its mini-games. In many regards, though, it's a departure. Wario's juvenile microgames encouraged quick reflexes and fast reaction. This game demands exact timing and precise inputs. In that sense, it's a much more challenging affair than the prior games. Some parts suffer from poor instructions or some imprecise touch-screen functions, but Rhythm Heaven is overall a solid package of great mini-games. Many long-time Nintendo fans complain that the publisher doesn't make games for them anymore. I'd offer up this title as evidence to the contrary.