Last week, Nintendo invited us out to their Redwood City office to take the American version of Rhythm Heaven Fever for a spin. During my hour there, I was able to try out several of the 50+ games available--more than any game in the series before.

For those who’ve never played a game in the series before, Rhythm Heaven Fever may take you by surprise with its unorthodox gameplay and crazy--but charming--visuals. At its core, the game is built almost entirely around rhythm and uses only 1 or 2 buttons, depending on the game. Now each “game” isn’t really a game--they’re more like musical scenarios. Each one has a unique theme, in which you control a single element, such as high-fiving monkey riding the second-hand of a clock or a young adult kicking balls while on a double date with a pair of gophers (I told you this game was weird!). 

The trick is to time your action so that it happens in beat with the music. Now the visuals do serve as a timing aid for the less rhythmically gifted (such as yours truly); however, sometimes the game purposefully obscures the action, forcing you to rely on rhythm alone...which strangely always seems to correspond with my sharp decline in performance.

Fortunately, the game starts first-timers off with a rhythm test to get them up to speed. And beyond that, every “game” features an in-depth tutorial to ensure the player understands the timing and mechanics involved. Even though the game only uses two buttons, it finds numerous ways in which to use them. Take the tambourine game, for example. A single press of the “A” button shakes the on-screen tambourine, but you’ll have to smack it as well occasionally by tapping both “A” and “B” in unison. Now the game does provide clear audio cues that provides a heads-up for when special actions, such as when smacking the tambourine needs to happen, but even those can be lost on the rhythmically challenged.

In addition to the scenarios I noted above, several others I played stuck out. In See Saw, two stick-figures jump back and forth on--you guessed it--a see saw, and it’s up to you press “A” as one of them slams onto it, launching the other into the air.. Another, Packing Pests, has you grabbing packages as they’re thrown at you, while swatting away the occasional spider that accidentally gets thrown instead (yeah, they don’t have very good quality control...). Finally, my favorite is also the one that spawned a mini-meme a few weeks back, where you play as a wrestler who loves posing nonchalantly for his fans being interviewed by a reporter. And these are probably the among the more easily described of the games present on the disc, as there’s some wacky stuff here.

I really can’t stress enough how charming Rhythm Heaven Fever is. The visuals are bright and look gorgeous (despite the Wii’s low resolution), the music’s catchy, and the gameplay’s easy to learn, but difficult to master. And it might very well be one of the last first-party titles we see from Nintendo on the Wii. Keep an eye on GameXplain for more on Rhythm Heaven Fever as we approach its February 13th release date.