{"id":13436,"date":"2022-06-20T13:33:23","date_gmt":"2022-06-20T04:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=13436"},"modified":"2022-06-20T13:33:24","modified_gmt":"2022-06-20T04:33:24","slug":"20220620-13436","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20220620-13436\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhythm Heaven creator Tsunku still hopes to make a new title"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Written by. Nick Mosier based on the <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/articles\/newsjp\/20220617-207253\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">original Japanese article<\/a> (original article&#8217;s publication date: 2022-06-17 17:18<\/em> <em>JST)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><br>Artist and music producer <strong>Tsunku<\/strong> recently retweeted a fan request to release a <em><strong>Rhythm Heaven<\/strong><\/em> game on the Nintendo Switch, adding, \u201cThis!\u201d Tsunku periodically expresses his love for the series and has once again shown that his passion hasn\u2019t waned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u307b\u3093\u307e\u305d\u308c\uff01 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ij8n7tMvo2\">https:\/\/t.co\/ij8n7tMvo2<\/a><\/p>&mdash; \u3064\u3093\u304f\u2642 (@tsunkuboy) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tsunkuboy\/status\/1537445315678466055?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 16, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Rhythm Heaven<\/em> is a rhythm game series made by Nintendo that began with a project plan brought to the company by Tsunku (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendo.co.jp\/ds\/interview\/ylzj\/vol2\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Iwata Asks<\/a>). Developed in cooperation with the team behind <em>WarioWare<\/em>, the first title <em>Rhythm Tengoku<\/em> released in Japan for the Game Boy Advance in 2006. Following that was <em>Rhythm Tengoku Gold<\/em> for the DS, known simply as <em>Rhythm Heaven<\/em> outside of Japan, <em>Rhythm Heaven Fever<\/em>, and <em>Rhythm Heaven Megamix<\/em>. But since the release of <em>Rhythm Heaven Megamix<\/em> in 2015, there\u2019s been no news on the series despite its creator Tsunku continuing to express his desire to make a sequel on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tsunku also showed his interest in making a new <em>Rhythm Heaven<\/em> title when <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tsunkuboy\/status\/1125909520771948545\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">retweeting<\/a> an article about the game in 2019. In April of 2020, he <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tsunkuboy\/status\/1248327915223175169\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">asked<\/a> fans what features they would like to see in a new game and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tsunkuboy\/status\/1289175158075174918\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">commented<\/a> in July of the same year that he wants to put out another game continuing the trend of making appeals for the series. In addition to planning and producing, Tsunku is also a composer for the series, and we can see his love and passion for it is still going strong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s unknown why the <em>Rhythm Heaven<\/em> series has seemingly been put on hold. <em>Rhythm Heaven Megamix<\/em> sold 700,000 copies in Japan alone which wasn\u2019t bad at all for the time. The series\u2019 foundation is there and Tsunku seems to be onboard with the idea of a new game, so it looks like there wouldn\u2019t be a problem. But when such a prominent member of the team is making appeals for the series online, it supports the theory that nothing is currently going on with it. Furthermore, we can see other key members of the original staff have gone on to work on separate projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First is <em>Rhythm Tengoku<\/em> and <em>Rhythm Heaven<\/em> chief director Kazuyoshi Osawa who doesn\u2019t seem to have been credited on any games for some time now. Osawa was called the series\u2019 \u201cchief mastermind\u201d in an Iwata Asks interview and was involved in a number of aspects to bring the series to life (<a href=\"https:\/\/iwataasks.nintendo.com\/interviews\/ds\/rhythm-heaven\/0\/0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Iwata Asks<\/a>). As far as we can tell, Osawa\u2019s most recent development credit on a Nintendo game is <em>Wii Play: Motion<\/em>.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1368px) 100vw, 1368px\" src=\"http:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/20220617-207253-001.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13438\" width=\"1019\" height=\"573\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/20220617-207253-001.jpg 1368w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/20220617-207253-001-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/20220617-207253-001-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/20220617-207253-001-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/20220617-207253-001-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/20220617-207253-001-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/20220617-207253-001-696x392.jpg 696w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/20220617-207253-001-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/20220617-207253-001-746x420.jpg 746w\" \/><figcaption>Osawa received a special thanks credit on <em>Dr. Kawashima\u2019s Brain Training for Nintendo Switch<\/em> (<a href=\"https:\/\/nintendo.fandom.com\/wiki\/Kazuyoshi_Osawa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nintendo Wiki<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Next is sound director Masami Yone who was also involved in <em>Rhythm Heaven Fever<\/em> and took over for Osawa as director for <em>Rhythm Heaven Megamix<\/em>. However, since <em>Megamix<\/em>, Yone seems to be working with a different team besides the <em>WarioWare<\/em> team on games like <em>Dr. Kawashima\u2019s Brain Training for Nintendo Switch<\/em> and <em>Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kou Takeuchi, who\u2019s importance to the <em>Rhythm Heaven<\/em> team was touted by Osawa in the Iwata Asks interview, is still going strong with games like <em>WarioWare: Get It Together!<\/em>. But other key members of the small team like Kyohei Seki and Takafumi Masaoka appear to be active at separate areas within Nintendo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Rhythm Heaven Megamix - Official Game Trailer - Nintendo E3 2016\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/B-4YoppQ6NM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, they could use younger staff members, a new team, or even subcontract another company. But with the absence of a key figure like Osawa and the other early team members working in other areas, it doesn\u2019t look like there\u2019s much movement in way of a new title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite not getting any new titles lately, the series has shown itself to be popular in recent years, with numerous YouTube and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/%E3%83%AA%E3%82%BA%E3%83%A0%E5%A4%A9%E5%9B%BD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">TikTok<\/a> videos being made by young content creators. <em>Rhythm Heaven<\/em> seems poised to see even greater popularity if it were released on the Nintendo Switch. While many wish for the series to return, perhaps there\u2019s a reason it hasn\u2019t. With <em>Rhythm Heaven <\/em>being beloved by both Tsunku and the fans, we hope to see a revival somewhere down the line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Artist and music producer Tsunku recently retweeted a fan request to release a Rhythm Heaven game on the Nintendo Switch, adding, \u201cThis!\u201d Tsunku periodically expresses his love for the series and has once again shown that his passion hasn\u2019t waned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13439,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17,33],"class_list":["post-13436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news","tag-nintendo"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rhythm Heaven creator Tsunku still hopes to make a new title - 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