The Rhythm Game genre is a Video Game Genre that challenges the player's sense of rhythm. Boiled down to a fundamental mechanical level, a rhythm game is in many ways just a fancy chain of Simon Says and Quick Time Event prompts: the game will display timed commands in a sequence that the player must input accordingly and on time.note Here's where the Rhythm comes in: the commands needs to be synced with the background music in order for the game to be a true rhythm game.
The core mechanics of a rhythm game can be dissected further to show the ways rhythm games innovate and differ from each other.
- Interface: Traditionally, the commands on the screen are represented with markers, such as arrows or gems, which move towards a target zone, typically by scrolling over a clearly displayed set route. The moment when the marker hits the target zone is when the player has to perform the correct input.
- If the correct input is hit with good timing as the marker passes by the target zone, the marker disappears or blows up indicating success. Missing is usually represented by the marker drifting past the target zone unharmed.
- Dancing games typically have no markers at all, instead providing flashcards and animations to cue the player on what to do.
- Singing games usually use lines that go up and down with pitch, with the goal of singing with the same pitch as the line passes through the target zone.
- Input: The actions that the player must input varies greatly depending on the medium of the game.
- Arcade Rhythm Games following in the footsteps of the famous beatmania typically features a series of buttons that the player uses for input. Aside from a few odd cases of analogue inputs (like SOUND VOLTEX's knobs) or the arcade machines that employ motion sensors, most of the input methods are just alternate forms of buttons; DanceDance Revolution's famous Dance Pad are just buttons for the feet, while beatmania's turntable is a button that you press by spinning it.
- Console Rhythm Games typically just use the buttons on their controllers, or employ special instrument-shaped controllers (like on the famous Guitar Hero) for the same button inputs.
- Mobile Rhythm Games uses their touch screen for inputs. Some arcade rhythm games also use touch screens to supplement their buttons.
- Dancing games like Just Dance uses full-motion cameras, with making dance moves being the equivalent of a "button pressing" action.
- Singing games rather obviously use a microphone for their inputs.
- Scoring/Health: Almost all rhythm games employ scoring and/or Life Meters to provide feedback to the players and encourage higher-level performance. Typically, the commands have a certain timing window around the moment of their input. If the player's input is made outside of the timing window, the player misses and does not receive the action's score and/or loses parts of their life meter. This means that hitting all the buttons as fast as you can is a surefire way to fail as fast or faster than doing nothing.
- Many games employ grading within the "hit/miss" timing window to further differentiate the scoring. The player will receive a different score depending on their action's timing accuracy. The closer the action is to the perfect timing, the higher score is.
- Some rhythm games also feature a bonus for maintaining a streak of notes without missing any. This is commonly called a "combo" (although it is different from Combos in the way that Fighting Games popularized them) or a "chain". Usually this comes in the form of a Score Multiplier, or a bonus that is awarded on the highest combo that the player built up during the song.
Having the player perform precise rhythm-matched controls is the core of the rhythm game experience. Games that generate content according to musical rhythm, but do not force the player to perform rhythm-matching, are not rhythm games.
The genre originated in Japan and was popularized there in the 1990s, and later went on to find a core audience in Japan and other East Asian countries. In the west, rhythm games saw a particular boom in the late Oughties, which subsequently faded early into The New '10s, especially in regards to rock-band-in-a-box games Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Earlier, around the year 2000, DanceDance Revolution and its ilk became well-known through Pop-Cultural Osmosis and it still appears in the occasional movie with varying degrees of accuracy.
Rhythm games may feature licensed soundtracks, commissioned tracks from third-party artists, or, most rarely, original soundtrack from in-house artists (primarily for major rhythm game companies like Konami or Taito).
As an East Asian subculture, rhythm games and the music artists associated with them had an immense influence on the creation of the Japanese hardcore techno (J-core) scene.
There are typically three ways to source songs for rhythm games:
- In-house: Songs are produced by the development team themselves. This means the developers have full rights control over these songs; the developers may either produce the songs themselves (which requires them to be proficient in both game dev and music productin), or hire musicians to exclusively produce songs for their games.
- This is a staple of Konami's BEMANI series, as they pride themselves on their in-house BEMANI Sound Team to produce a wide variety of original songs.
- Commission: Songs are produced by outside artists but for use exclusively for the game (and collaboration events with other games, if they happen). This allows for songs to be tailor-made for the game without needing the devs to be proficient in music production or have musicians on a tight contract with them. This typically requires the rights to the songs to be split between the developers and artists.
- Licensed: Pre-existing songs from external sources are licensed for use within the game. This means the developers don't have to learn how to produce music nor do they need to collaborate with third-party artists to produce songs that fit their vision. However, this is also typically the most expensive way to get songs for rhythm games, and licenses are often temporary, meaning that if the rights holder chooses not to renew the contract, the songs they own the rights to have to go.
- Many mainstream rhythm games by big-budget studios rely on licensing big-name songs for their success, to the point where it is rare for them to have original songs.
- Rhythm games by developers from the Asia Pacific, particularly starting in the late 2010s, often source their songs from BMS contests (BMS standing for "Be-Music Source", a file format for beatmania simulators, and there are frequent contests to make original songs for these simulators), due to having cheaper costs for licensing and sounding closer to the sort of music expected of rhythm games. Many of these BMS musicians may also make commissioned songs for rhythm games as well.
In The New '10s, a new subgenre of rhythm game opened up, known as the "idol rhythm game" or "gacha rhythm game", with Love Live! School idol festival and THE iDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage being some of the earlier and more popular examples. These games typically revolve around idol groups and the player can earn cards of the charcters of varying rarity and power through the gacha mechanic. By equipping these cards, the player can gain passive abilities (such as health recovery or a boost in point gain when hitting notes), and each card has stats that dictate how many points the player will get for each note (in additon to any possible combo bonuses). As such, simply doing well enough in these games will not earn the player a good score; it's common for an experienced rhythm game player to start one of these games, nail a perfect run, and not even fill the scoring meter halfway due to having low-power starter cards. Idol-based rhythm games are typically on mobile platforms and are free to start, which makes them popular for budget-conscious players, although there are a few available on PC such as Tap Sonic Top and for arcades such as an arcade port of LLSIF and O.N.G.E.K.I..
Compare Exergaming. For other interactions between music and gameplay, see Musical Gameplay and the video game section of Mickey Mousing. To gush about your favorite rhythm game music, see AwesomeMusic.Video Games.
These games are the traditional "pure" rhythm games where the core gameplay exclusively focuses on making specific inputs that are timed with the music, and the player's performance is judged solely by their accuracy of inputs and input timing. They're also known as rhythm action games or rhythm-matching games.
- 8 Beat Story
- Five Street
- A Band
- A Dance of Fire and Ice
- Aero Guitar
- Aikatsu!
- Aikatsu! Photo on Stage!!
- Aikatsu Stars!
- Aikatsu Friends!
- Aikatsu on Parade!
- Aikatsu Planet!
- Adventure Time Rockstars Of Ooo
- AKB 48 Plus Me
- Alvin And The Chipmunks
- Angelic Concert
- Arcaea
- Audio Beats
- Audition Online
- Band Yarouze!
- BanG Dream! Girls Band Party!
- Battle of the Bands
- Beat Saber
- Beatstar
- BEMANI
- beatmania
- beatmania IIDX
- beatmania III
- DanceDance Revolution
- Gitadora
- Guitar Freaks
- DrumMania
- jubeat
- pop'n music
- SOUND VOLTEX
- Nostalgia
- Dance Rush
- ParaParaParadise
- Dance Masters
- BeatStream
- REFLEC BEAT
- MÚSECA
- Keyboardmania
- beatmania
- Britneys Dance Beat
- Chiptune Champion
- Cool Cool Toon
- CROSS×BEATS
- crossbeats REV. (the arcade counterpart)
- Cytus
- D4DJ Groovy Mix
- Dance Central
- Dancing With The Stars
- Dankira!!! -Boys, be DANCING!-
- Danz Base
- Dear Pianissimo
- Deemo
- Digital Dance Mix Vol 1 Namie Amuro
- DJMAX
- DJ Wars
- Donkey Konga
- Dream Festival!
- Ensemble Stars!! Music
- EZ2DJ (later rebranded as EZ2AC)
- EZ2ON
- Frederic: Resurrection of Music
- Friday Night Funkin'
- Gitaroo Man
- Goo Goo Soundy
- Groove Coaster
- Guitar Hero
- DJ Hero
- Frets on Fire (open-source derivative)
- Guitar Praise
- Hackers Beat
- Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage!
- Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA
- Headbangers: Rhythm Royale
- High School Musical 3 Senior Year Dance
- I-Chu
- Idolish 7
- The Idolmaster
- The Idolmaster
- The iDOLM@STER 2
- The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage
- THE iDOLM@STER: Million Live! Theater Days
- THE iDOLM@STER: SideM Live on St@ge!
- THE iDOLM@STER: SideM GROWING STARS
- THE iDOLM@STER: Shiny Colors
- iNiS DS Rhythm Games:
- Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan
- Elite Beat Agents
- osu! (a fan game)
- Jam with the Band
- Jung Rhythm
- Just Dance
- KALPA
- Karaoke Revolution series
- Performous, an open-source version (with bits of StepMania and Frets On Fire thrown in for good measure)
- KickBeat
- Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory
- Lanota
- Looney Tunes: Cartoon Conductor
- Love Live!
- Love Live! School idol festival
- Love Live! School idol festival ~after school ACTIVITY~
- Love Live! School idol paradise
- Love Live! School Idol Festival ALL STARS
- Lyrica
- Melatonin
- Miku Flick
- Millionaire Dancer
- Miracle Girls Festival
- Muse Dash
- Music Gun Gun
- Music Times
- Musynx
- The Naked Brothers Band
- Nekomew's Nightmares
- Neon Drive
- Neon FM
- Old School Musical
- One Finger Death Punch
- OnTaMaRaMa
- O2Jam (a Massive Multiplayer Online Rhythm Game)
- PaRappa the Rapper
- Paradigm: Reboot
- Performai trilogy
- Persona Dancing series:
- Phase Shift
- Phigros
- Piano Tiles
- Popira
- Pop Stage (a Massive Multiplayer Online Rhythm Game which was one of the O2Jam series games)
- Power Gig: Rise of the SixString
- Pretty Series
- Pretty Rhythm Mini Skirt (The only entry in the franchise to not have an anime adaptation)
- Pretty Rhythm Aurora Dream
- Pretty Rhythm: Dear My Future
- Pretty Rhythm: Rainbow Live
- King of Prism : Prism Rush! (unlike the rest of the franchise, this started as a trilogy of movies before getting its own game)
- PriPara
- Kiratto Pri☆Chan
- Waccha PriMagi!
- Secret AiPri
- Princess Debut
- Project Rap Rabbit
- Pump It Up
- Quaver
- RAVON
- ReRave
- Retro/Grade
- Rhythm Doctor
- Rhythm Heaven
- Rhythm Star
- Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's Treasure
- Rhythm Zone
- Rift of the NecroDancer
- RoBeats
- Rock Band (Spiritual Successor and rival series to Guitar Hero)
- Rock Band Blitz
- Rock Band World (worth mentioning because it's the companion app, but otherwise doesn't count)
- Rock Revolution (Konami's attempt to cash in on the Guitar Hero and Rock Band phenomenon)
- Rocksmith
- R2Beat (a Massive Multiplayer Online Rhythm Game with elements from Mario Kart such as items)
- Samba de Amigo
- Santa Rockstar
- Scatter
- Scratchin' Melodii
- Sevens Code
- Show by Rock!!
- Smile Shooter First Ticket
- Solfege
- Sound Slide
- Soundtrack Attack
- Space Channel 5
- Spin Rhythm XD
- Star Melody Yumemi Dreamer
- StepMania
- In the Groove
- StepManiaX
- UKSRT, the ITG competition
- Mungyodance
- Stereo Aereo
- Stitch Jam
- Stumper
- Super Beat Sports
- Super Crazy Guitar Maniac Deluxe
- Superstar Dance Club
- Super Star SM Town
- Symphonic Rain
- Synthesia (a rhythm game/piano learning tool)
- Tadpole Treble
- Taiko no Tatsujin
- Theatrhythm Final Fantasy
- Tone Sphere
- Tokyo 7th Sisters
- Trombone Champ
- Tsukino Paradise
- Twisted Wonderland
- Unison Rebels Of Rhythm And Dance
- Uta No Prince-sama Shining Live
- Vib-Ribbon
- vivid/stasis
- VOEZ
- Vuvu Hero
- WACCA
- We Cheer
- W Gi Beat
- World Dai Star Yume No Stellarium
- One Hundred Fourty
- Akihabara Feel The Rhythm
- Before the Echo (formerly Sequence)
- Bollywood Wannabe
- Break Blocks
- Bust a Groove
- Chime
- Fitness Boxing Switch
- Floor Kids (the player's inputs are rhythm-timed, but the inputs themselves are not specified, and any input is valid as long as they're on time)
- Frequency
- Gal Metal
- Geometry Dash
- Goodbye Volcano High
- HarmoKnight
- A Highland Song
- Jungle Rumble
- Lost in Harmony
- Melody's Escape
- Micron
- Patapon (the game is fundamentally a tactical game with rhythm-based inputs)
- Ratatan
- Rhythm 'n' Face (the player's inputs are rhythm-timed, but the inputs do not have to follow what the game specifies; any input is valid as long as the endpoint is the same)
- Sayonara Wild Hearts
- Soundboxing
- Thumper
- Wandersong
These games are hybrids of traditional Action Games and rhythm games. Their fundamental gameplay involves a player-controlled character performing actions within a 2D/3D game space, but one or more parts of the player character's controls must be performed in sync with the music's rhythm for maximum effectiveness.
- Sixty Four Point Zero
- Against
- Agent Klutz
- Airtone
- Audioshield
- Beats Fever
- BPM: Bullets Per Minute (hybrid with first-person shooter)
- BIT.TRIP
- Bullet Audyssey
- Crypt of the NecroDancer (hybrid with top-down action game)
- A Frog's Tale
- Giraffe and Annika
- Hamsterdam
- Hextech Mayhem
- Hi-Fi RUSH (hybrid with stylish action)
- Mad Rat Dead (hybrid with side-scrolling platformer)
- Maestro! Jump in Music
- Metal: Hellsinger
- Minubeat
- Music Escape
- NOISZ (hybrid with vertical-scrolling shooter)
- NOISZ STΔRLIVHT (spinoff of the above with more focus on the rhythm elements, featuring four lanes of notes rather than just tapping to the rhythm)
- Pistol Whip
- Rhythm Destruction
- SongBird Symphony
- Temp Zero
- Urbano - Legends' Debut (hybrid with Western RPG)
- Wave Circles
These games are primarily 2D/3D action games (usually platforming games) where the player characters have free (but usually autoscrolling), non-rhythm-locked controls, but the environments are structured in such a way as to force the player to perform precise rhythm-matched actions.
Because the rhythm matching in these games stems not from how the player character is controlled, but from how the environment is constructednote , they are usually considered to be music games rather than "proper" rhythm games.
In these games, the core gameplay mechanic is not related to rhythm games, but these games feature Mini Games that play like traditional rhythm games.
To aid with documentation, please also at least identify the name of the rhythm game minigame when adding examples to this section. Please also make sure that musical rhythm plays a part in the minigame, and that the minigame isn't just a series of QTEs unrelated to the music.
- 3 out of 10: Episode Welcome to the Club has Joan challenge someone to a game of Cow Catcher. While that is going on, the player instead plays a rhythm game pressing keys in line with Joan's singing.
- Anti-Idle: The Game: Mute Mute Revolution, which is a rhythm game but—as the title suggests—with no music.
- Bishi Bashi: Several of the minigames involve rhythm mechanics, including parodies of Konami's own music games, like DanceDanceRevolution and GuitarFreaks.
- Brooktown High
- Brütal Legend: Using the game's Guitar Solo skills involves a brief rhythm minigame.
- Bully: Music class minigame
- Charlie Murder: The game's flashbacks to the band playing their songs, alongside Paul's Start of Darkness.
- Donkey Kong Country: Candy's Dance Studio (exclusive to the GBA remake)
- Drakengard: The True Final Boss is a Rhythm Battle.
- Drakengard 3: The True Final Boss is again a rhythm minigame.
- Dream C Club: Karaoke minigame.
- Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc: Bullet Time Battle
- Final Fantasy VII Remake: The Honey Bee Inn dance performance that Cloud is required to do in order to win Andrea's approval and become his selection for Corneo's girls is designed as a rhythm minigame. Doing well nets you Andrea's earrings and a trophy.
- Giraffe and Annika: The game alternates between 3D adventure-platforming sections and rhythm game boss fights.
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: Dancing dates and lowrider competition
- Dodo Re Mi, part of The Jackbox Party Pack 10.
- Kingdom Hearts II: Atlantica Song Missions.
- Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep: Ice Cream Beat.
- Kirby: Triple Deluxe: Dedede's Drum Dash. It evolved into its own standalone game: Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe.
- The LEGO Movie Videogame: "Bricksburg Construction" and "Put the Thing on the Thing".
- In Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, one of the arm minigames requires you to hit balls of energy with Mario and Luigi to the same beat that they were fired.
- Mario Party:
- Mario Party: Star Rush: Rhythm Recital is a side mode where up to four players select a song from various classic Mario games, select one of four instruments, and then play the song. Notes fly towards each player at different times depending on their instrument of choice, and they must either press A or tap the touch screen with the right timing to hit as many notes as possible. At the end of the song, they will receive a grade based on their performance.
- Super Mario Party: Sound Stage features a variety of Rhythm minigames that all utilize the Joy-Con motion controls. Each of the minigames require players to move the Joy-Con in certain ways with the correct timing to hit different targets, with players scoring better based on the accuracy of their timing.
- Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (some of the synchronized events)
- Mother 3: When attacking an enemy, the player can perform combo attacks by striking to the beat of the background music.
- Oddity has the same mechanic as Mother 3.
- My Little Pony: A Maretime Bay Adventure
- The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge: Boss battles have optional (except for the final boss) rhythm sequences for massive damage.
- Princess Debut
- Rayman: Raving Rabbids
- Skylanders: Trap Team: The Skaletone Showdowns accessible from the Academy and progressively unlocked through playing the campaign.
- Sly Cooper:
- Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus: Mz Ruby boss battle.
- Sly 2: Band of Thieves: Tango dances with Neyla and Carmelita in "A Starry Eyed Encounter".
- Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves: Bentley's duet with Octavio in "Opera of Fear".
- Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time: Murray's Geisha Dance and Carmelita's Belly Dance.
- Songbird Symphony: The game alternates between platforming sections and rhythm game boss fights.
- Sonic Pinball Party: The Samba de Amigo pinball table's "Song Play" and "Fever mode" both involve performing actions timed to the music's rhythm.
- Splatoon: Squid Beatz.
- Splatoon 2: Squid Beatz 2.
- ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron: Jam Out minigame.
- Tokimeki Memorial 2 Substories: Dancing Summer Vacation, a Visual Novel containing the DanceDance Revolution Tokimeki Mix, which is a Game Within a Game serving as the center of DSV's main storyline and as DSV's mini-game.
- Undertale The Green Soul which is used during the battle with Undyne functions like one note
- The Urbz: Soul Music minigame
- WarioWare
- Yakuza: Karaoke minigame (part of the series since Yakuza 3)
- Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure: Bonelich's minigame
- The Pet Girl of Sakurasou: Nyaboron, the video game that the residents of Sakura Hall develop for the School Festival, is a Co-Op Multiplayer game where the audience plays by all raising one or both hands, or shouting, as instructed by the screen and Nanami's voiceover. It's less focused on music, though.
- Scott Pilgrim vs. The World has Ninja Ninja Revolution, a ninja-themed Affectionate Parody of Dance Dance Revolution played by Scott and Knives twice in the movie where the players must make "ninja poses" in time with the music instead of stepping on arrows.