Rhythm Heaven, however, took a very different approach. Games like PaRappa the Rapper from Sony and Dance Dance Revolution from Konami pioneered this method of rhythm gameplay.
Rhythm Heaven plays very differently from other rhythm-based games, which would consist of having players press a series of buttons, prompts for which scroll along to the speed of the song. The person credited for the creation of this series is Kazuyoshi Osawa, who also worked on the WarioWare and Metroid games. The series is known as Rhythm Tengoku (or Rhythm Paradise) in Japan and was produced by Nintendo's internal studio Nintendo SP&D1, who also did work on the WarioWare and Metroid games.
The Rhythm Heaven series has recently become familiar to North American shores, but Japanese players have been experiencing the musical legacy for years now. As you read this feature, Rhythm Heaven Fever for Wii is grooving its way onto consoles around North America.
