Open the latest issue of Nintendo Power and you'll find yourself looking at four pages of heaven. Rhythm Heaven, specifically. The magazine drops the news we've been waiting for: an official release window for the Wii iteration of Nintendo and Tsunku's musical minigame series, titled Rhythm Heaven Fever. It's set for February 2012.
The article introduces several of the vibrantly cartoonish, inexplicable activities in which you'll engage, including seesaw inspection, tambourine practice with a monkey instructor, and protecting your date from an onslaught of soccer balls.
While the rest of the world has to wait indefinitely for the Wii Rhythm Heaven (it has a TBA release date in the West), it's out in Japan as of last month. And now that Japanese version is being joined by an enormous soundtrack collection ... that will almost certainly never be released outside of Japan.
The ¥4,800 ($62) soundtrack comprises an impressive four discs and 177 tracks, including all the music from Minna no Rhythm Tengoku ("Everybody's Rhythm Heaven," the Japanese title for the game) and the two previous games. It'll be out -- in Japan -- on August 24.
#culturesmash
This week, the biggest game in Japan is Rhythm Heaven. It was created by a man who was at one time the biggest record producer in the country: Tsunku. More »
#watchthis
We checked out the upcoming Wii version of music-infused Rhythm Heaven at E3, but we weren't able to let you listen to it because it's was so loud. More »
The Wii Rhythm Heaven game was, without a doubt, one of the most delightful experiences I've had in the last week, in exactly the ways I knew it would be as soon as I saw the first screenshots. It turns out there is a formula for Rhythm Heaven games, and as long as the Rhythm Heaven team makes a Rhythm Heaven game using that Rhythm Heaven formula, the result will be something wonderful.
#watchthis
Brilliant DS music game Rhythm Heaven is coming to the Wii, and you can see how toe-tappingly distracting it's going to be in this E3 trailer for the title. Looks so simple, but man, it's going to get its hooks in you. More »
#utensim
Follow up to the cult portable series Rhythm Heaven, Rhythm Paradise is coming to Wii this summer. We don't know much beyond that it designed to be played "only with buttons". But it's clear from the slide a whole world of spaghetti stabbing awaits. More »
#wii
Nintendo makes great rhythm video games in the form of Rhythm Heaven—simple, but smartly designed arcade-style games that are incredibly addictive and rich. The company is bringing one of those to the Wii and it too looks fantastic. More »
#clips
It may not be the most efficient way, but this demonstration of how to play the Game Boy Advance version of Rhythm Heaven with a laser and a Japanese sword is definitely the most impressive. More »