Rhythm Heaven is a rhythm game published and developed by Nintendo and released for the DS. Called Rhythm Tengoku Gold in Japan, it is a sequel to the 2006 Japan-only Game Boy Advance title, Rhythm Tengoku. The game is divided into 50 stages, including 24 original levels, 16 harder levels, and a remix level every five levels, which is a compilation of the previous four levels you just played. Each level requires you to do some sort of task by tapping, sliding, or flicking the stylus. One stage you'll be playing table tennis, the next you'll be taking pictures of a race, and the next you'll be a ninja dog slicing vegetables in half.

The best way I can describe the feel of the game is the rhythm and music elements of Elite Beat Agents mixed with the simple, frantic way in which a WarioWare game is played. The top screen of the DS shows the action of the level, such as the tennis game or photographer's lens, and the bottom is blank. This means that touching anywhere on the bottom screen performs an action on the top, so you don't need to worry about precise location or anything.

Now, let me stop being technical and just talk about the game itself for a bit. Being a rhythm game, music is incredibly important. The songs in this game are actually incredibly catchy. I find myself with the table tennis song stuck in my head as I write this. One thing I found incredibly surprising by the music is that the songs with lyrics that have been translated from Japanese to English have not become horrendously annoying. This is a refreshing change from when I think back on the English versions of certain themes in WarioWare, and worse, their remixes in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, where the idea seemed to be to give the vocal roles to some of the most irritating singers they could find. Now, don't get me wrong, the vocal portions in Rhythm Heaven aren't great, but they're the same amount of annoying in Japanese as they are in English.

The great part about Rhythm Heaven is how simplistic it is. In all but two cases, only the stylus is used. No control pad, no A, B, X, or Y buttons. There start button is used to pause, and one mini-game uses either the L or R button (depending on if you have the game set as left-handed or right-handed). Not only that, but the game is relatively forgiving. Upon completing a level, you are ranked either as Superb, OK, Just OK, or told to Try Again. Anything above a Try Again moves you to the next level, and if you fail three times in a row, you can move on anyhow for a price of some points. Of course, you don't want to skip, or fail. You want to get Superbs so you can get medals and unlock extras, and try to then gain Perfects on levels to gain even more.

Now, the game does have a few flaws. Tapping is easy. Sliding is easy. Holding is easy. Releasing is easy. Flicking? Not so much. It needs to be quick, and it needs to be a certain short length in order to count as a flick. This has led to many a failed level because my flicks aren't registering as flicks, but drags. Also, the use of the shoulder button makes this game suddenly unfriendly for anyone who can only game with one hand. This means that you can't get 100% completion in the game.

It is friendly in other ways though, in terms of disability. Being colorblind is not a problem at all for this game. In fact, save for menu navigation, once you get the audio cues down in a level, you technically can play without even looking at your DS. On the flip side though, this game involves performing actions to a song, and is heavily reliant on audio. Therefore, I don't see how someone deaf could play this game save for a handful of levels where the visual cues are obvious and forgiving enough in their timing to allow for completion.

The game is also not forgiving with anyone who has a problem with completing precise, rapid movements, especially in the harder versions of the levels. You need to be able to pull of fast taps, quick flicks, and alternate between them.

All in all, this game is incredible fun, if not a bit unfriendly. It makes up for most of its flaws and difficulty with its forgiving nature, simplicity, and the fact that the hard parts are genuine challenges and not purposely impossible tasks. If you like WarioWare, or like Elite Beat Agents, or just want something fun to kill time, I'd definitely have to recommend Rhythm Heaven.