Usually, the Remixes set expectations by letting you know which minigames will appear before starting (like karate-chopping flower pots, or pulling chin hair off of onions), but the final songs throw curveballs at you with unexpected games, and it’s exciting and challenging. The final few especially stand out as surprise and challenge-filled odes to what makes Rhythm Heaven such a crazy and fun series. Remixes combine many minigames into one infectious music compilation they don’t show up until about halfway through the game, but are worth the wait. I only played one or two minigames I was happy to leave behind after completing. The collection has been well-curated and only the best made the cut. The new minigames are all excellent additions, and revisiting the old ones doesn’t feel like a retread thanks to small twists and their inherent replayability. Sometimes cats dancing like snakes in the woods want you to chop fire wood.

Sometimes you’re a wrestler responding to interview questions. Sometimes you are a sad bear eating donuts and cake. The minigames are short and fun to replay, tasking you with a huge assortment of strange premises all set to infectious beats. The package includes more than 70 rhythm minigames, some new, some old, and some pulled from the first Rhythm Heaven that only released in Japan. The games are still challenging, but this time around I had a much better handle on exactly what I was doing right and wrong, which led to fewer retries. In Megamix you get a numerical score at the end, but an indicator on the lower screen lets you know if you’ve hit the beat perfectly, too early, too late, or missed entirely during the minigames. In past entries, you only received a rating at the end of a song. Megamix gives feedback on your progress both during and after each minigame.

You can play most of the minigames without even looking at the screen thanks to well-implemented sound cues, which makes you feel genuinely involved in the music. Rhythm Heaven gives you a fantastic handle on the music you’re playing, and it’s easy to listen, play, and appreciate the tunes. They typically use a single input and ask players to tap along with the beat or press a button when prompted. Rhythm Heaven’s minigames are simpler and more diverse than the pattern-replicating gameplay of titles like Guitar Hero and Rock Band. The core gameplay moves forward from the previous entries, but Megamix is the best in the series so far thanks to substantial improvements and a greatest-hits attitude toward its collection of minigames. Megamix is undeniably a music/rhythm game, but with its simple mechanics, challenge, and absurd sense of humor, it stands apart from others in the genre by embracing interactive music in a different way. Rhythm Heaven is a series that marches to the beat of its own drum.

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