I think something Nintendo doesn’t get enough credit for is their quirkier side.

It’s not always just Mario or Yoshi and Zelda. This year, we’ve already had the phenomenally successful Tomodachi Life – which is about as out of there of a life sim as you could ever hope to play. And we’ve got Wario Ware which continues to be a really enjoyable and successful addition to their library.

Even games like Nintendogs just dared to be a little bit different. And this is sort of where Rhythm Paradise Groove falls, it’s a simple game to play but extremely difficult to master. In fact, it’s a game almost anyone could play, but whether they’re any good at it – myself included – remains to be seen.

You essentially take part in a series of random mini games that boil down to a couple of button presses. Launching frogs off a lilipad, catching and chopping vegetables, squeezing inflated bubbles between your thumb and forefinger. Even getting out of sight of a sneezing moon!

Usually your actions are dictated by just pressing A or a combination from the D-Pad. But everything relies on timing, braking, jumping, ducking, eating at the right moment, whatever the game might be. You are introduced to the mini game, given the base instructions, shown what to do and when to do it and after a few tests, thrown right into the action, this comes with mixes and mashes up you’ll need to adapt to in the moment but all within the same rules and conditions.

For instance, with the sneezing moon, you’re shown his sneezing pattern and have to press a button for the little creatures to sneak by from behind a fence, but when you get into the game proper, you’ll have bats and houses flying past the moon to block your view, so have to rely on sound and timing to make the right call!

The game is split into several sections, and if you’ve been doing extremely well, you’ll get to play through them all one by one in a Remix mode, which is a load of fun and really tests your reflexes. The little montages are great as you are randomly dropped into one of the five games and sometimes with seconds to spare to get your bearings, so it really does a great job of teaching you along the way.

I actually found it harder with the earlier levels than the later ones, whether that was me getting more familiar with the game or not, but I just couldn’t get the timings right enough as the dog catching the frisbee or jumping over some of the obstacles. And going back to it, I still found that I was struggling, so some games, even at the early stages are trickier than others.

That also probably explains why my medal count is all over the place, getting awesomes and excellents later on in the game and barely scraping by on the first set of stages. But yes, depending on how well you perform in any one mini game, you’ll get a little gold medal as well as a Rhythm Flow meter to show whether you’re on beat or getting beat up…

All the games have these endearing little animations at the end as well, as like a conclusion and farewell from the game and easing you across to the next. It just puts a nice bow on everything and makes the games feel individual, even though they largely play out the same way.

I had a good time with this one. I often wasn’t great at it, I sometimes got a bit frustrated at the timing and just not being able to grasp it even though I was sure I was hitting the button at the right time, but largely, for most parts, I was having fun. And really that’s what this is all about!

Interestingly, in addition to the base game, you can get some other unique side games like Beatspell where you cast magic to defeat and battle monsters in this kind of Darkest Dungeon RPG-lite style. There’s also a Rhythm Toy Box where you can play a series of set games to try and get medals, like using the Switch vibration to figure out which rabbit is clapping from a group of them on screen

The game even has the Sound Studio and Rhythm Game Video examples so you can listen to the tunes and see how to play each Rhythm Game with ease from the menu.

And, of course, there’s the option to play with friends across some unique games, whether it’s team based or competitive, which I also really love. Nintendo actually went out of their way to make distinct games for multiplayer rather than trying to shoehorn them into one of the single player modes you already played. Though of course if you don’t have immediate friends to play with, it does gatekeep you from that content.

Overall, though, this is a fun party time. It’s both easy and difficult all at once, it’ll make you laugh, you’ll dance and bounce to the beat and you’ll guffaw in frustration when you least expect it, but if you love the series or you’re just looking for a good old rhythm time, this is perfect!

Verdict

Rhythm Paradise Groove is both a fab party game and an audacious solo ride with a healthy set of options and a good entertainingly good time that you’ll keep coming back to, whether it’s to better your score or just grab it for a night in with friends, whether they’re big gamers or quite casual with their playtime.