1. There’s a playlist in the description with a ton of the songs from the games. Go check it out! 2. Captions will be up in the next few days. Thank you all for watching. This one took a while, and I hope it was worth the wait.
Ok, so I know that you covered FUSER and mentioned Harmonix being bought out, but it seems like you may be unaware that since it's "death" FUSER is now technically Abandonware on PC and has an extremely in depth mod community that is importing more and more new stems for songs that were never in the original. You actually used a clip of Acai during the Clone Hero portion and thats the other game he's been getting big views from, the FUSER mashup videos he makes are great and he does exactly what you suggested by taking tips to show off fan mixes with a weird numbering system he and his stream have come up with. FUSER died and became amazing as a zombie game, and though you can no longer buy it... its simple to aquire and no one can sue you for doing so as it's Abandinware. I only bring this up because you %100,000 nailed what its become seemingly unaware of that being the case for it now.
@@pet-purple-panda1634 oh I am 300% checking this out Unrelated, I'm sad that In The Groove got only such a brief mention, especially with regards to its long-running mod community, including the Mungyodance project which was a huge part of my rhythm game experience.
As someone who grew up in Japan with rhythm games as a player for decades, and someone who somehow got involved in the industry as a composer for quite a time, it is really fascinating and interesting to watch the history back from your, western perspective. Especially since my young era was almost completely locked domestically, due to the language barrier and our geographic isolation. Keep it up! (Also big thanks for including UmJammer Lammy that's my nostalgia)
The western market of Rock Band and Guitar Hero probably feels really weird from the perspective of the Japanese/Asian market. It's somewhere around in the comments, but I lamented (but also kind of understood why) the lack of focus on that market in the video. For someone from that market, this video is probably a lot more interesting due to the isolation language- and geographic-wise than to someone looking for "rhythm game video essay" already knowing about the existence of things like SOUND VOLTEX and other "modern" games out of Japan. Oh, and also this "someone who somehow got involved in the industry as a composer" named Camellia. :P (PS since I already shouted you out earlier in the comments, your music is great and also inescapable when it comes to SDVX/etc. Run from it, dread it, Camellia boss songs arrive all the same.)
As a fellow rhythm heaven fan, I’m surprised you didn’t mention its first entry, rhythm tengoku, which released on the GBA in 2006. Finishing that last sentence is why that game never received a localization outside Japan, but a small handful of its micro games were featured in Fever and Megamix.
I’m playing it, but as a fan translation! Look up Rhythm Heaven Silver, it’s really cool! The translation and localization is great and there’s even english graphics.
Yes! Agreed! I've been playing it on my GB micro with the English patch and it's incredibly fun (and hard). I'm trying to wrestle through the final stages currently.
It's unfortunate that you didn't mention that for Vib Ribbon you can swap out the PS1 disc with any music CD and play a stage that is generated from the tracks on said CD. Honestly a revolutionary feature for a PS1 game!
found this comment as soon as i made my own talking about it. its a genuine shame Vib Ribbon is so obscure and only had a brief uptick on tiktok for how ""creepy"" it was.
The rhythm game scene in Japanese arcades is still going off the charts too, with titles like Sega's performai trilogy, modern versions of Bemani's games like DDR A3 and beatmania IIDX 30, and other more unique ones like Groove Coaster and Chrono Circle. Mobile is also a treasure trove of rhythm games: Arcaea, Phigros, Lanota, Dynamix, NOISZ STARLIVHT, Rotaeno, etc. etc. Rhythm games didn't really die. They just evolved past the need for mainstream attention
There's a TV show in Japan where people compete to play that taiko drum game without being able to see the screen. Obviously they have to get a perfect score, and they have to do two songs, and both songs are incredibly hard (although they can choose to do them in whichever order). The reward is actually quite high, around 7500 USD, but I've never seen anyone win. I've also seen all sorts of people from young to old playing rhythm games in various small arcade areas in department stores or malls--I try to avoid actual arcades because I don't want tinnitus.
I'm surprised that in one hour video this guy didn't mention Osu!, also DDR was pretty important in the scene for just a little commentary about it. Seems like this guy just care about Guitar hero and Rock Band.... LOL
I made his joked literally the day the video came out before it came out saying how he is just like the music version of Scott the woz(who is my favourite UA-cam so not a bad thing.) Now it is true.
@@Cobalt985 o2jam used to be EXTREMELY popular it was the go to 7 key online rhythm game back in the day before it was imported to steam and turned into the garbage it is now.
The entire history of vocaloid music in one sentence - "Hatsune Miku has had a few games over the years." When virtually all modern rhythm games have a vocaloid category, that cuts deep.
@@htsunmiku I agree with previous commenter - he should've discussed at least *some* of the modern rhythm games in arcade. The genre is still well and alive there. Also, to discuss the rhythm game genre and just brush off vocaloid and Project Diva's impact is pretty disingenuous. We all know this was really just a video about the history of guitar hero.....😉
@@moejuggler6033 oh I mean not talking about the entirety of that side of the genre is werid but I also feel like he focused on series he personally has experience withn(and also heavily skewed to the western music game side and/or games that got big in the west)
Although not specifically called out in the video, I think the Patapon games (along with Lumines to an extent) on PSP deserve a mention as part of the evolution of rhythm games in the early-to-mid 2000s.
Patapon was one of the coolest and most unique games of my childhood. Super surprised it wasn't in this video as it is one of the only games I know of (besides the now Crypt of the Necrodancer) to introduce a rhythm game with an RPG. I think it is still the only game to introduce it in that way
Looking through the comments, I think I agree with the ones that feels like this is more of a "(Blank) Hero/Rock Band Retrospective" with anecdotes about other rhythm games. Like, imagine the same amount of effort given to at least show the different releases of the Project Diva series, or the prevalence of other challenges in fan content for Osu/Clone Hero/Beat Saber. I get it if it's not an area that you're very comfortable in, but it would be a great opportunity to talk with other people with a different focus of rhythm games and let their experiences through. I enjoyed the video, don't get me wrong, but this isn't the "Wild World" of rhythm games.
Note about Vib-Ribbon: There’s a side mode in the game that lets you swap out the game disc for any audio CD, and it’ll auto-generate a brand new Vib-Ribbon level based on the chosen track ala Audiosurf, which for a side mode in a quirky niche PlayStation 1 title is pretty advanced and cool Edit: I hate the fact that I never put it together until now that Donkey Konga was an attempt at rebranding Taiko Drum Master for the west
Another side note about vib-ribbon; it has two sequels that are completely different from the original. Vib-Ripple isn't a rhythm game but Mojib-Ribbon is a rhythm game about Japanese calligraphy and rap music. Interesting thing to look into even if it's very reliant on the Japanese language so it might be a bit difficult for English speakers
@@petergotbored9306 The problem would be that the gameplay would be heavily altered to accommodate non logographic languages and a new TTS engine would have to be licensed to account for the different languages.
I'm surprised you didn't bring up the many mobile rhythm games throughout the years like Deemo, Cytus, Lanota, Arcea, Muse dash, phigros, and Dynamix. Also newer rhythm games like thyrhm doctor, a dance of fire and ice, or spin rhythm.
It's unfortunate did you didn't mention how rhythm games at the arcade still very much exist (with every bemani game you mentioned and many more still getting songs to this day, and even one of the Japanese arcade chains officially porting games like Beatmania IIDX, Sound Voltex, DDR, and more to english), or the surprisingly expansive world of mobile rhythm games (from Deemo, to Arcaea, to even Music Tiles), but it's clear your focus was on what you were more familiar with, and for your focus (primarily on the life and death of the "hero" games and rock band/harmonix's stuff), it was a great informative video! However as someone who's interest is in a niche within a niche, it really shows how expansive the rhythm game landscape is, especially now!
@@Cuix For me, the three rhythm games that I would recommend are definitely Arcaea, Phigros, and Lanota, with the three having their own sets of pros and cons. First is Arcaea, which is a four-lane 3D rhythm game with the main gimmick being that it has "arcs" (that are commonly for the left hand and the right hand, which are generally color-coded as blue and light red respectively) that you need to press and hold alongside the standard normal notes, hold notes, which is basically a long note, and "sky notes", which are basically notes but are above the lanes. Unlike the other two, Arcaea has no "flick notes", which are notes that not only needed to be pressed, but you also needed to be flicked in a certain direction. The game, however, has song charts (or song beatmaps if that's the term you're familiar with) that requires certain technical skills, like crosshands (which from my understanding basically means that you need to strategically place your fingers on certain positions in order to hit the notes) and/or using more than two fingers (There are also song charts which has six lanes instead of four, but that's later on in the game). That's why it advertises itself as a rhythm game with a "high skill ceiling". Most songs can either be played without being purchased, can be obtained through progressing on time-limited event maps, or can be obtained by purchasing them through "song packs", or by themselves. The game has Main Story Packs and Side Story Packs, all which has different stories in them about the different characters in them, and all can be progressed by meeting certain requirements while playing their featured songs. Moreover, in most of the Main Story Packs, they all sport an "Anomaly Song" as the pack's last song, which has certain requirements needed in order for you to unlock them. Two exceptions on this are "Adverse Prelude", which is more like a side story pack acting as a main story one; and the game's final pack, with most of its song charts are called "Terminal Songs", which requires even more technical requirements in order to unlock. I wouldn't spoil anything about the Story Mode, aside from what I already spoiled, but I would say that it is great, and hard. There are also other things that I want to talk about, but this is already getting so long, so I wanted to move on to the next game. Overall, Arcaea is a game with great visuals and a great set of different strories to tell. Next is Phigros, which is a free lane 2D rhythm game. The good thing about this game is that unlike the other two, this is a completely free game, with the songs and their charts only needing to be "purchased" using the in-game currency, which can be obtained by completing song charts and having a score of A or above, in order to be unlocked, which is honestly surprising, considering that the other rhythm games are either required to be purchased first with real money, or are free to play games but has in-app purchases like Arcaea. There are four notes that you need to remember in this game: normal notes, catch notes, which are yellow notes that, for me, behave similarly to Arcaea's arcs but are much easier to deal with, hold notes, which are much more sensitive compared to Arcaea's, and flick notes, which in this game, can be flicked in any direction. For the gameplay, it's honestly similar to other rhythm games, aside from the fact that it has a judgement line, which is where you need to tap the notes. The judgement line, depending on the song chart, can either move on top, right, or left of your device (with the bottom being the default placement of the judgement line); can multiply or even vanish. One of the great things about this game, is that the charters can get creative in utilising its features, making each song charts, even in their respective difficulties, unique. The only caveat for me about this game, and the next one that I will talk about, is that in the higher difficulties, especially on INSANE and ANOTHER difficulties, the song charts usually require three to six fingers in order to play (I say this because I'm not really that good at using more than two fingers, and I'm more of an Arcaea player than a Phigros player, so take this with a grain of salt). Another disappointing thing about this game is that you can't connect it to google play, and are rather required to log-in by typing either a phone number registered in China, or by typing your email from a Google Play-like app called TapTap. You also need to have downloaded the game from TapTap, so there's that. So if you don't have an email from TapTap and have downloaded the game through it, or you don't have a phone number from China, then you basically have no normal way to save your game data. The game also has a story, but are presented more like an anecdote in a database and not story-like. Overall, still a very great game, especially for a free one. Finally, is Lanota, which is a rhythm game in which you would play on basically is in a circle(?). This is the game that I'm least familiar with, since I only played it because of the UA-camrs that I follow played it. I was also deterred from further playing it (only playing a handful of since the game itself is a free trial version, and you need to purchase it so that you wouldn't get any ads (You can still play it, but you would need an internet connection to play, and you also need to let an ad play on very chart that you would like to play). Aside from that and the fact that there are certain song packs that you need to purchase, the whole story mode from what I know is basically free (Of course, you still need to complete the chapters in order to progress to the next one). One of the reasons I also played it is because of the visuals, and because it is story-driven. The main story is divided into different chapters, and for every chapter, they all have "Boss Songs", and the way they introduce these boss songs are seriously epic and cool, not to mention that the story that it has so far is very interesting and compelling for me. For the game's difficulty, I would say that my knack for it is similar to Phigros, and that its high difficultly charts requires more than 4 fingers to play. Once again, this is just a me issue, so if that's something you won't mind, then go ahead and disregard my petty argument. Of course, this is just three of my favorite ones, but these are the first ones that would usually come to my mind when recommending someone what rhythm game to play. Thank you so much for coming to my very, very long TED talk!
Another Mobile Rhythm game that I love would be Noisz Starlivht. It's both a Rhythm Game and a Avoidance at the same time! It has many cool things, like different characters with different styles, with each of them having different stats, effects, and a level-up system, it has a practice mode that allows you to start on any verse (every song has 2-4 verses usually) and not worry about death, and it even has a Rouge-like mode that has you fight songs that are not only randomly chosen, but get harder each wave in order to build a custom style. Because of the fact that you both play a rhythm game and dodge bullets at the same time, it can lead to some really insane charts! If you get an S on a song on hard by getting all verse stars (you must beat a verse without taking damage from anything. They are saved even if you are done with a song), you unlock Overload mode for that song. It requires multiple fingers to survive, and has charts that are crazy hard. One song especially is so hard that it puts the final boss of Arcaea to shame! And the crazy part is, the game's only halfway finished.
Absolutely loved the video. Great history lesson, brought back a huge amount of memories from said old times. Now for the meme: Mentions rhythm heaven and Melatonin, doesn't mention Bits and Bops, or Rhythm Doctor, A Dance of Fire and Ice. Mentions In The Groove, doesn't mention the NotITG community. Mentions Bemani, doesn't mention BOF as a community, or any of the gazillion arcade/mobile games. (arcaea, WACCA, jubeat, maimai, Rayark games) Mentions Rez, doesn't mention Pistol Whip. Mentions Metal Hellsinger, doesn't mention BPM Bullets Per Minute. list keeps going.
Something I really appreciate about Guitar Hero and Rock Band is all the multitrack stems they brought. Listening to individual tracks, instrumentals, acapellas, etc with these is a treat. (Edit: and as one commenter pointed out, mashups too!)
Neil Cicierega even mentioned those games as a big source of the mashups on his albums, so without these games we might not have had his classic, intricate mashup albums.
And then Green Day Rock Band happened- (if you don’t know, a lot of the early Green Day stuff had to have the stems kinda fudged with AI to get them separated)
I find it weird as a rhythm game player clicking on this and going "I can't wait to see someone talk about all the rhythm games out there im so excited" just to hear someone go off about 2 franchises for 40 minutes and talk about only a teensy tiny fraction of them. Man. I was so excited to, even if the video quality was really good and its well informed, I was really excited for things to go off the beaten path and not just be about GH and RB
Yeah gotta admit i just skipped until the last segment once i saw on the progress bar the rest was just now GH and RB. Like i was a kid back then, i know they were a huge deal but a video titled "history of rhythm games" had me thinking "great an in depth run down of one of the most fun genres with many series i wanna see discussed more online". Only to be met with 40 minutes of an hour long video being a Guitar Hero documentary. Definitely took me out of it.
Yeah, I enjoyed the video but as a fan of Japanese rhythm games, when I watch a video called "the history of rhythm games" I'm expecting a mix of both the Japanese and western side, not spending 50 mins on guitar hero and rock band and only saying "oh yeah there's the washing machine game, and DDR and that's all"
I know that this is a music channel primarily, but I like that in your videos you do often reference games and it’s obvious (I think!) that you enjoy them, so I’m glad you’re exploring an intersection of music and games in a video!!
I think I was recommended this video because I recently was relistening to the OST, and I was a little bummed it wasn't even mentioned because 1 & 2 were my top fave childhood games and the music is still strong.
while fuser is legally dead, it has been archived online and has a pretty active community for mods of custom songs with a spreadsheet and everything. it’s really cool and impressive and has also basically taken over my life
@@sihamhamda47 Acai's clip mashing up Astronaut in the Ocean with Chop Suey was how I discovered FUSER modding was a thing and it was such a perfect way to find out
All I wanted when Fuser was alive was mod support. It really saved this game in the nick of time, arguably made it better than ever, even if it couldn't save the servers.
Its egregious that Osu! only received about a minutes worth of a mention despite it being one of the biggest rhythm games to have ever existed, having an active monthly player count of 19 million+. I'm not an Osu player, but I can at least recognize how influential the game is when it comes to modern rhythm games as a whole; namely speaking as I play Beat Saber, how much influence Osu! has had on the current state of the modded community within Beat Saber when it comes to the music, terminology, and even the competitive ranked leaderboards. I understand that this video may be more directed towards the western retrospective of rhythm games, mostly focusing on Console Rhythm Games, primarily Rock Band/Guitar Hero, but not even mentioning the more modern scene in Rhythm Games within the other spaces with such titles like Muse Dash, A Dance of Fire and Ice, Rhythm Doctor, Arcaea, and Geometry Dash, along with other VR titles like Pistol Whip, Synth Riders and Audica I feel lacks the complete retrospective. It would have also been good to mention that the arcade scene of Rhythm Games is still very much alive in Japan. Otherwise, its a great video and a good look at the history of Rhythm Games, though lacking in the more modern space.
I LOVE rhythm/music games. I'm 44, I've played every music games available to me. I've even build a metal dance mat for my PS2, what a blast back then. The only music games I still play on a regular basic is : OSU! Welcome to Osu!.
as "popular" as Osu is, it also wouldn't have been a thing if it wasn't for Stepmania, one of the original simulator rhythm games that started the whole thing (alongside Lunatic Rave 2) and I remember a lot of the first charts of Osu came from the early remnants of the Stepmania community. And it's even more mind-boggling there was no mention of Stepmania here at all, considering how influential it was in the early western "simulator" rhythm games genre. He even mentions ITG once in passing but never brings it up again as it was a very important part of DDR's history with the lawsuit and everything.
Geometry Dash is different in that we don't use the music or rhythm in order to play the game and beat levels, especially in harder and faster levels where we don't even react anymore, it's all muscle memory, memorizing click patterns. Geometry Dash is more of a "music platformer" than a rhythm game, so I 100% understand why it wasn't mentioned at all.
Hey! guitarist here that plays rocksmith. I've been playing for years and even had been when I first picked it up. The game is *very* good at teaching you how to play songs, scales (using mini games), and other things. It's very good, but it doesn't replace having a teacher. I'd say it's a very good supplement that will push a guitarist further a bit easier.
Yeah Bust a Move/ Bust a Groove ( 1, 2, and Dance Summit) had amazing soundtracks, fun gameplay, memorable characters, and dance moves! Series started in 1998 so it was just after Parappa
When that game came out I was still at school as a young teenager. Me and a mate would tie our school ties around our heads, unbutton the top few buttons of our white shirts and bust out Hiro moves in my bedroom whilst listening to (for some reason) White Lines and Rappers Delight. Man, we were cool kids, lol. Great games though.
Hell yeah, Bust a Groove 1 and 2 are still some of favorite video games to this day, the soundtrack is legendary (specially the original japanese songs)
The music levels in Rayman Legends where some of the best musical rewards. They're like a great victory lap after beating a world. The Black Betty one is absolutely magnificent. Also there's an Avicii game. Nothing much to say about it, it's perfectly functional, but it exists.
Omg the music levels in Rayman Legends were easily the best levels. So much fun. Bit trip runner is in a similar vein but the moving backgrounds on top of the fast character movement made me ill
Something I really love about the Hatsune Miku Project Diva series definitely has to be how absolutely all over the place the sound track is and how nutty the levels are. Seriously, give Mega Mix+ on PC a try or Project Project Dxxx, which is the community made free clone of Project Diva and features many features the official series does not, like multiplayer.
Great video, but it should have been called "The story of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, and some other games" Love your humor and work, but it's a story that's been beaten to death
One game I'm a bit surprised he didn't mention is actually Unplugged: Air Guitar. I haven't actually fact-checked this, but I heard one or more of its developers are actually related to Guitar Hero or Rock Band (one of the two), and when I played it I thought it was actually pretty neat. I never got much into it though, which I feel is mainly because I am more used to and interested in the Japanese and EDM side of rhythm games than the punk and rock side that everyone else in west is familiar with
This video is 2/3 about Guitar Hero. DDR (and Bemani), which has somewhere north of 100 different releases, was a minor footnote early in the video. Not to mention more recent arcade entries like WACCA, or mobile titles like Cytus and Arcaea didn't even get a mention. I think this video would be bettered titled, "The History of Guitar Hero".
A spiritual successor was announced. It's called Project Jabberwocky by the TVT (Tokyo Virtual Theory) studio. Two of the three main directors of Patapon will direct the project.
I'm surprised no one mentioned Patapon. It's a cute playstation portable game that mixes real time strategy with its rhythm where the player inputs a 4 button command on the beat to control your eyeball characters. It's great.
Patapon is CRIMINALLY underrated. It's such a unique game that I'm surprised hasn't spawned any spiritual successor games yet (outside of Project Jabberwocky and Patapon 4). And the music has stuck with me for years, and it will never escape PATA PATA PATA PON
this!! i played this game with my brother a lot when I was younger (tho never progressed much because I wasn't any good) but I was surprised it wasn't mentioned in the video 😁
Another certified Mic classic. You know you're getting some quality when Mic uploads an hour long video. As for "games you didn't mention", basically everything BEMANI did after the DDR wave in early 2000s and the competition that came up in the Japanese arcades in response to them: SEGA's CHUNITHM and Maimai series, and BEMANI's Sound Voltex series. Those, in addition to Taito's Groove Coaster and Neowiz MUCA's DJMAX series, I felt could be worth talking about more as those games never died like the Rock Band/Guitar Hero-s in North America. I'll admit since the direction Japan went is wildly different than what North America did (ie, not to to the home or internationally) making it difficult to thematically relate to the history of RB/GH, I can understand why one might not include them in an already 1 hour long Mic video. Though, if you do want to go back to those series for a later video, I would personally recommend making it in the context of the BMS (Be-Music Source) scene, an entire cottage industry started around the original song file format for Beatmania. Some artists from the BMS competitions held (such as the BMS of Fighters) would have tracks officially added to the games mentioned above. Do check out artists like Camellia or Frums if you do. Some of my personal favorite EDM artists and ideas can be traced to both the BMS scene, and artists inspired by the works from it. Though, again, while rhythm-game related, not in the RB/RH sense, and I can get why you'd leave it out of the video. Now I am sad that I didn't get to experience the greatest rhythm game to ever rhythm game, Donkey Konga. 0/10 did not personally relate to personal hand injury by bongo controllers /s EDIT: I forgot about things like A Dance of Fire and Ice, Muse Dash, Arcaea, NotITG, etc, but just going to things like the BMS scene and related artists felt like a big comment as it is. They're also very cool in their own ways, but they're a little outside the scope of the comment.
The home games and BMS I'd love to see discussed but arcade games like Voltex really rely on either having the peripheral or having an arcade with the supplemental hardware. Korean games as well have their own discussions that aren't too easy to cover unless you were playing at the time or you take the same route as Tokaku for the O2Jam video, having a way to learn about it directly from people who were there. Modern BEMANI is hard to find in arcades outside of Dave & Busters and Round1, and if you want an online cab in the US you gotta be ready to possibly travel multiple states over to a Round1 or a Dave & Busters if you only want to play DDR. There's the argument that you can get the hardware to play yourself with the home versions of various BEMANI games and simulators, but that's not exactly an entry point. You'd essentially be dropping $200 *minimum* for a GAMO2 controller on any of the games and the price hikes up from there depending on if you want to play the official home releases or better/arcade accurate buttons. If you know the other option, it's not a super approachable experience either unless you're very tech literate to begin with. Again, BMS and various mobile and standalone indie rhythm games I'd love to see touched on, and even just a basic summary from RemyWiki on BEMANI and passing mention of Korean games would be cool. But for the last two, if you want some substantial content about them, that's a really big ask and it may take over a year to get beyond just a basic history video with no real experience or your typical "Newcomer Thoughts".
I have an arcade nearby that only opens on weekends and you pay an entry free but every game is put on free play and the collection of Rythmn Games is pretty good and that's where I discovered Chunithm which is probably my favorite Rythmn Arcade alongside WACCA which is from Marvelous.
@@Cane-Aubright Yeah, valid. From a music perspective the divide between RB/GH is equally cavernous (imagine trying to link Dragonforce's TTFAF with something like Camellia's Blastix Riotz - ow my neck), so if anything the music side of BMS would be more interesting than the game side in a sense, which often feed into these games anyway.
you forget Phigros which recently got big banger chapter 8 update and another SEGA rhythm game Ongeki AKA Bullet Hellish rhythm game but yeah most of the list is solid
You know after the commercial cash cow that Guitar Hero became it's kinda hard to remember how much of a genuine passion project the original game was. I'm glad they got to make it big even if ended up like that.
I was really hoping there to be mentions of other Japanese rhythm games like Sound Voltex or *said washing machine looking rhythm game* (Mai Mai.) You're not wrong about the wacky ride that is the rhythm games, but most of those titles are pretty western. How about the Japanese side of the story? The video's amazing ^^ Not saying it's bad, didn't know how all these games come to be and how absolutely wacky it is. Just some food for thought if you wanna go into the Japanese side of the Rhythm game spectrum.
One game that I feel doesn't get talked abt enough is Just Shapes And Beats, it's basically a bullet hell rhythm game where the stuff you have to avoid appears on the beat. The music is so good and I'm pretty sure they even commission some edm artists to create tracks for the game. I love it sm
just shapes and beats was the first game i bought when i got a switch! i love how clean and original it is, it really is a masterclass in visual design and visual storytelling. and their latest free expansion had undertale's spider dance for the final boss!
Another game I'd reccomend for JSaB fans is Project Arrhythmia! It's a game that by complete coincidence has the exact same mechanics as JSaB, but this one actually has a level editor and the community has released some excellent levels!
I’m glad you called ‘Thumper’ a rhythm-horror game. In my 33 years, there’s never been another gaming experience that skyrockets my heart rate and puts me into ‘gamer lean’ posture so quickly. I design and build synthesizers for a living, and the sound design from the e-shop preview sold me immediately- but holy shit, that game just dumps all the adrenaline.
I'm only half way through, but this is an insanely well-researched and well made video and I'm loving every second of it. Thank you for using some of my gameplays for the Guitar Hero segments!
@@adeptdamage3669 Yeah I think they could, but I also don't think they would ever reach the levels of popularity they reached in the late 2000's. The gaming industry as a whole has changed dramatically since then, and even since 2015 when they did their first reboot, but I think they could still carve out a niche in today's market.
@@aWiseMoose Maybe not as popular in the late 2000's is a good thing considering how oversaturated it became. My idea for bringing Guitar Hero back is a much ore story focused experience (with actual cutscenes.) Where you play as a custom character who joins a band a guitar player where the GH characters Axel Steel, Judy Nails, Lars, etc. are bosses you have to defeat to progress. Though the biggest hurdle would be getting people to buy the controllers.
I've been an avid rhythm game player for 20 years. In the early 2000s I would drive hours to play certain DDR cabinets. Right now, and for the past several years, 2 of the most popular VR games out there are Beat Saber and Synth Riders, 2 of the best rhythm games ever made. Huge oversight.
i got SO excited when i saw Mic mentioned pop’n music that he might mention other notable arcade rhythm games, especially since a lot of the “rhythm game fans” that still are REALLY into the genre still play those games. but alas, its an hour long video and that absolutely would have made it longer. it would have been cool though!! múseca, sound voltex, groove coaster, dancerush, jubeat, chunithim, nostalgia, pump it up? the list goes on
Some great rhythm games that weren't mentioned: A dance of fire and Ice - One button rhythm game with a really unique way of representing rhythm, has a robust level editor and a huge community of level creators. Rhythm Doctor - A one button rhythm game by the same guys as adofai where you treat patients by pressing the spacebar on the correct beats, highly reccomended for people who like rhythm heaven. I also reccomend going in mostly blind. has a ridiculously powerful level editor. Muse Dash - Simple two button rhythm game with so many songs, like oh my god there's so many. Some upcoming rhythm games that have fun demos out: Rhythm Quest - Fantastic 2 button rhythm game where you run along a path attacking enemies and jumping, with all original music made by one guy. (I love this game a lot) Bits and Bops - a Rhythm Heaven inspired game in every sense of the words. UNBEATABLE - Two button rhythm game similar to muse dash but with funky camera movements and unique note types, the full game will also be part story-based RPG.
Not one mention of the following games: IIDX Pump It Up Jubeat Sound Voltex EZ2DJ Mai Mai Cytus DJ MAX DJ MAX TECHNIKA CHUNITHM Ongeki Arcea DDRs revival with DDR A (specifically in the states) and Round 1s expansion into the US. Only a passing mention of ITG. No mention of it's impact on the dance game scene in America, the Konami lawsuit, and not talking about the crazy storied at home modded ITG scene. A PLETHORA of mobile rhythm games that I am unaware of but know have huge scenes. While the build up and downfall of guitar hero and rockbad was big in the state, Japan and Korea were still going strong with new arcade games getting release by Sega and Konami, while also releasing updates to their oldest games (DDR, IIDX, Pop'n Music, and Gitadora). And the mobile game scene has straight up exploded over the last 10 years. I think it would've been better to make the guitar hero and rockbad portion it's own video as it dominates almost half of the video which I think should've been a more general over view of the entire genre.
I'm surprised Mad Rat Dead didn't get a mention in the video. I know it's not super well known, but it came out just a few years ago on the Switch and has a fairly active fan base, so it's not like it's lost to time.
This video feels more like its talking about the history of Guitar Hero and RockBand. Would had been better if he talked about Mobile and other arcade rhythm games. (Arcaea, Cytus, Lanota, SDVX, Maimai, WACCA, CHUNITHM just to name a few) You can't call this video "The Wild World of Rhythm Games" if most of it is about those 2 games.
I've been playing guitar for the past 8 years, and I learned from Rocksmith initially and still play it fairly often to this day! The custom songs scene is absolutely ridiculous and the mechanics of 2014 are basically flawless at this point.
I had already been playing guitar for a little over 10 years when I found RS, and it really helped me develop my skills beyond the plateau I felt I had hit years before. I've even used it to shift over and discover just how insanely fun Bass can be to play. And yeah, the CDLC scene just adds absolutely immeasurable value.
My only _slight nit-pick_ is that I mostly play a 5-string bass. IF you can find a CDLC with a 5 or 6 string arrangement, it appears as "Rhythm Guitar"... which means you have to skip the tuner... which is fine as my bass is in tune, but, just irks me not being able to see it.
I still play rocksmith 2014. I started as a seriously mediocre bassist, and am now a fairly good bassist. Really helped with my development on the instrument
There's a series of games in the k-pop community that are still pretty big. The name of the series is SuperStar, and they have some that are based on just a single artist or on a company's catalog. You have to collect cards of the members that are ranked and the higher the rank, the more points you can get with each note. Bonus if you have a certain number from each collection and all the photos are matching. BTS used to be a part of this but they made their own game, RhythmHive (which also now has more artists from the company in the game). It's mobile and you can see people streaming live on tiktok playing on their ipads a bit. I always played on my phone though!
super fun game especially for kpop fans, especially if you just enjoy playing and listening to the music, recommend it 100%. But if you focus on collecting cards and the leaderboards, the whaling is crazy, it's a dangerous money drain.
Oh wow cool, well as long as your wallet stays closed lol. Only Korean rhythm game I ever played was DJ Max on the PSP in 2008 and that was only because they did a collab with the only K-Pop group I listen to, Clazziquai. I still listen to the songs from the game time to time and wish I could replay it on 4-button mode at least without destroying my thumb lol.
@The Dynast Queen DjMax is still going too. The newest one is DjMax Respect V for ps4 and pc. It's super fun plus all the old songs are on there as well 😊
The lack of focus to DDR (and pretty much the catalogue of BEMANI) and other Japanese Arcade games pretty much saddens me, but it is a good rundown to Guitar Hero and Rock Band's history.
agreed on the lack of bemani, but i am relatively biased. the advent of certain games in bemani in the niche they filled are worthy of several documentaries in and of themselves. incredibly strange and insane lore spanning multiple decades. not to mention the entirety of the KR scenes advent. good video overall though.
I thought that this video was really well made, but I think it would have been a bit better to have done a separate video on Guitar Hero and Rockband since the two of them took up a bulk of the video. I also think that Just Dance was a pretty significant cultural thing in the rhythm game space even if it didn't get received well by critics. I didn't have it, but so many people I met have memories of following along the videos in gym class or playing with older family members. And ofc I played with friends at parties in later years, too.
I get that this is at least partially western lived experience, but there's some early context missing here: Konami was actually very litigious and tried their hardest to kill off competing dance games. Pump It Up was nearly strangled in the crib and In the Groove (itself based on StepMania, a community-made clone game) was actually sued out of existence. This all was happening in parallel with Guitar Hero and RedOctane actually got involved with the ITG lawsuit for having published the PS2 version. If Konami was just a *bit* more litigious, we might not have even *got* Guitar Hero at all. (Also, not mentioning BIT.TRIP in the 2009 section seems like a sin to me.) Furthermore, the rhythm game resurgence wasn't limited to Guitar Hero's dead cat bounce and Rock Band 4. The brains behind In The Groove, Kyle Ward, went off and made a new company that's now making StepManiaX. Which you'll see in a lot of independently-run arcades since Konami doesn't sell cabinets to them anymore and second-hand cabinets won't work without *very* illegal modifications to remove the always-online DRM. Speaking of, Konami also released MORE rhythm games. Is DDR too technical for you? Well, now you can play Dancerush Stardom instead. Are you still embarassing you and everyone around you by pretending you can play Beatmania IIDX? Now you can embarass you and everyone around you by pretending Sound Voltex's character designs aren't weirdly exploitative. Also, Taiko no Tatsujin actually gets US releases now. They're even location-testing Taiko arcade cabinets. There's also a shitton of mobile rhythm games that have cropped up since: Cytus, Arcaea, Lanota, and, uh... Groove Coaster existed, too.
And some of them are japanese games, I mean most of them are at the core rhythm games, no matter the mix of content (I say this because I play Idolmaster Million Live, and also a new arcade machine has been announced, off just for Japan)
@@elrinconcuriosodesally3528 Rayark dominated my rhythm game consumption in the 2010s. Cytus (1 and 2), Deemo and Voez were mindblowing when i first started playing them.
@@krbraveofficial True, but despite showing maimai in the intro, he never went into the more modern arcade scene, and BeatMania is -extinct- now Beatmania IIDX (forgot about that series)
As someone who plays a lot of japanese games it's kind of crazy seeing the genres progression from the perspective from a north american point of view, i thought the amount of time spent on GH and RB in this video would be Rhythm heaven and OSU haha, great video like always but i do feel like i've developed a hole in my chest i have to fill with someone talking about japanese rhythm games more Edit: In middleschool my buddy would practice Bass using rocksmith+, they loved it and they still make music to this day
bro DID NOT just glance over all of the arcade rhythm games that popped the fuck off during this time with games like jubeat, sound voltex, dancerush stardom, and project diva. Not to mention mobile games, specifically arcaea, kinda revolutionized the genre for mobile devices.
You were gonna get it anyway, but that Donkey Konga part showing the year over year development with the FREEZE secured my like. This is great work. One "notable" omission is Mad Maestro, a game about being an orchestra conductor, on the PS2.
Just wanted to say Rocksmith 2014 is legitimately great and helped me improve my guitar, and its also capable of being modded so that you can add any user-charted songs. Once you get used to it, it's honestly easier to read and play than guitar tab
I can't comment too much personally, but both my brothers and my father SWEAR by RockSmith for practicing and learning new songs. I never could get the hang of the interface, but three out of four is still a pretty good recommendation and I'd 100% recommend at least trying it out if you have the chance.
Oh yeah I loved playing rocksmith tbh the main reason I stopped playing it is cus it's really buggy with bass. Unless I'm playing Primus or Spoonman the game just goes all wonkey and thinks I'm at the 12th fret when I'm fingering 4. Maybe it's the game, maybe it's my bass, maybe it's me, who knows? And since I stopped playing rocksmith, it's gotten difficult to read lmao At least I learned Everlong :D
When I was in high school (early 2010s), I played a lot of Tap Tap Revenge games on my iPod Touch, back when the games had millions of users. I was #1 in the world on a few songs, including "Club Can't Handle Me" by Flo Rida and "Shake" by Jesse McCartney. I was so proud of myself - still am, honestly 😅
there are so many other Rhythm games that where not mentioned and still strive today, still a great video. But I would of love to seen and hear about the Arcade cabinets still out there.
i'm briefly skimming the top comments and seeing that people have already touched on this much more politely than i will. i just want to say that i was hesitant but a little hopeful when this video popped up in my recommended. as a long time rhythm game enjoyer i know that a 1 hour video might be long but is honestly barely enough to really scratch the full surface of the "wild world of rhythm games" over the past 3 decades. seeing the thumbnail not feature any arcade (or mobile) rhythm game giants was already a red flag for me, but the acknowledgement of bemani in the intro got my hopes up. these hopes were subsequently dashed lower and lower as i sat through 40 minutes of discussion about guitar hero and rock band for home consoles. were they a major part of the rhythm game craze in north america? sure, but uh, what about, you know, the entire rest of the globe? and DDR was also a huge HUGE part of north american rhythm game culture in the early to late 2000s, EVEN if we stayed very americentric for the video! i was really disappointed because the framing of this video from the intro, the title, and the thumbnail suggested this was going to be a comprehensive video essay covering the WORLD of rhythm games. but all it really touches on is a decent 15 minute history lesson on how they began, then GH/RB in the west and a speedrun of honorable mentions of games you like at the end. i don't think i would be so mad if this wasn't labeled so generally about the world of rhythm games and not just about uh, guitar hero and rockband or even just rhythm games specifically in a western context for home consoles only. but to present this so broadly like it's representative of the entire world of rhythm games as a genre and scene, and, my personal pet peeve, to use GH/RB as a backdrop of evidence to your suggestion that rhythm games died (when GH/RB died in popularity) when it's still thriving just gets my goat so much. it's misleading and ignorant. i know it's just video game, why i heff to be mad? it just bugs me so much that i came into this already wary that this wouldn't touch on the arcade scene at all, became a little hopeful after the intro showcases that super early promo footage of maimai and discussion of bemani history, and then not only for it to deliver on that worry but to somehow disappoint even further. i don't think you acknowledged any arcade games beyond the early history lesson. how could you do hatsune miku dirty like this. hell, i dislike osu, but even i can admit it deserves more coverage than it got based on sheer impact alone. tap tap revenge being the only mobile rhythm game mentioned as a throwaway line despite the entire scene (lovelive and other idol games, rayark games, arcaea, lanota etc)? AGAIN, ARCADES (maimai, jubeat, taiko was touched upon briefly, chunithm, groove coaster, the list goes on and on)? the DDR/ITG/PIU scene, even in the west, was insane in the time period you covered about GH alone!!! i'm sorry for being such a hater and writing a huge essay in the comments. no idea if you will even read this. i'm just really passionate about rhythm games and guitar hero/rockband literally make up a fraction of the "world of rhythm games", so for that to be the only real focus in a video that jebaited me into thinking it'd cover everything is deeply disappointing and feels poorly researched. no hate to your coverage of GH/rockband, again if this vid was presented as a deep dive into those games specifically and their impact on the scene i'd have no problem, it's very well researched for that particular topic. but you can't make sweeping generalizing statements about rhythm games as a genre, as an entire scene, while completely failing to acknowledge like, the whole other half of the world's involvement for the past 30 years beyond beatmania and popn 1. i hope that maybe you can reconsider changing the title to be more reflective of what this video is about so it feels less like you're painting rhythm games purely as just GH/RB and not an entire world you missed out on and don't know about.
It should've been much better if this video was a HERO SERIES video instead of a rhythm games video. Nothing about Project Diva and modern arcades? Really? Just a mention? The bias is really disappointing.
I know it wasn't the focus of this huge video but Hatsune Miku getting barely one sentence while having like 20 games and no mention of the vocaloid nonesense feels so weird...
Always wanted a sequel... would still play one now, despite being 40 lol. I genuinely still hum and whistle the Sanbone Trio song... and Flying O... and Mojo-Mojo-Mojo King Bee... and... Come to think of it, the majority of them.
Guitar Hero is amazing but if Activision didn't release that much GH games within the span of a year, I'd argue the game would still be alive lol Personally I like the Square Notes™ more than the Circle Notes™, but both are still great (also RB did the drummer animations better)
Bro, Geometry Dash is the sole reason I fell in love with (electronic) music. The way that the songs' energy was represented by both gameplay and design of some of my favourite creators was SO AWESOME! The community is awesome too.
I actually picked up guitar during the pandemic, and since I couldn’t do lessons during it I bought Rocksmith and it taught me quite a bit that I’ve been able to build upon
I’m glad you mentioned Thumper in here even if it’s just for a moment! For anyone who’s a fan, Thumper was composed and worked on by one of the members of the band Lightning Bolt!
This was a great watch. Rhythm Heaven is one of my favourite series so I’m glad it got a spotlight. Also glad you mentioned things like Rhythm Thief and the Hatsune Miku rhythm games. As for one’s you missed I’d say the big ones are things like Rhythm Coaster which has a pretty big following and then rhythm games released mainly on mobile, like Muse dash, Deemo, and the Cytus series, those are definitely worth your time.
the original cytus is an instant classic and when it comes to rhythm games combining narratives, the original deemo is one of the best executions of it. the sequels for them id avoid really getting into for a multitude of reasons unless they show up on the switch one day ig.
For a video this long i was hoping to see more about DDR/PIU which has a very active fandom, like videos have Tik Tok virality these days and international championships still happens till this day, also i noticed videos of playthroughs on youtube from the last 3 years have hundreds of thousands if not millions of views.
A game that wasn't mentioned but that I think got a lot of people into rhythm games was love live (RIP). It certainly did for me, and you can definitely see its influence in games like the persona rhythm games
love live sif 2 is coming out globally later this year, I'm already playing the Japanese release though id say the gameplay feels a lot less clunky, and it's so much fun to play all the maps I remember as well as the songs from newer groups stuff like gacha and actually levelling the cards is probably even more grindy tho
Fun fact about Vib Ribbon not mentioned in the video: If you ever got sick of the same short list of songs used in the game, there was a feature where you could swap CDs and the game would actually generate songs based off of whatever CD you put in. They were uniquely generated but if you used 2 separate copies of the same CD, or replayed a CD, the levels won't change. The feature also works with emulators like Xebra and Duckstation, allowing for you to either use real CDs or make your own CD ISO files and use those to generate a seemingly infinite amount of levels for the game. I don't know if that feature works on PS2, but on the original playstation it would install the tiny program needed to generate songs directly onto your system.
I am a HUGE Rhythm Heaven and DJ Hero fan and the fact that we’re probably never getting any more sequels in either series pains me to this day. Stellar video.
I think you’re legitimately my favorite music youtuber - every special topic video you do like this covers things that I really liked as a kid but didn’t yet have unbridled access to the internet to fully learn about
AudioSurf was a pretty fun time. One of my old bandmates used to try breaking the game by setting it to the highest difficulty... and using a super slow song for the track, like Harvest Moon by Neil Young. It came up with some weird results lol. Played Rocksmith a few times at my friend's house, he has it on his Xbox 360. It's actually a really good teaching tool for guitar and bass
As someone who started playing Guitar Hero on the Wii, it’s always very shocking for me to see the characters’ hair actually move. 😂 Also, the talk of DLC always sounds like an alternate universe that I never knew existed back then. 😭
Great video. Some of my favourites that you didn't mention are: 1. Muse Dash. You have 2 columns that enemies appear on and you have to hit them. I'ts basically what you'd expect from a basic rhythm game, but it's execution is really well done. 2. Phigros. Its a game for mobile. The concept is that the hitline moves. It creates really cool and creative levels (think Osu's Aleph-0). Also it has lore and a lot of secrets. 3. Cytoid. It's osu, but with a hitline that scrolls across the screen. 4. Geometry dash. a rhythmic game (like the last cathegory). A platformer but everything is timed to the music. Also it has a custom level editor and you can play other peoples stages. 5. Piano tiles. Not actually a favourite but I was surprised it wasn't even mentioned.
As someone who's been a huge rhythm game fan all the back to PaRappa the Rapper, to Amplitude, Guitar Hero/Rock Band, all the way to today, this was an incredibly well done video. I applaud you sir.
I'm just here to express my deep love and appreciation to another Elite Beat Agents fan. Also, I highly recommend the rhythm platformer Mad Rat Dead and its incredible soundtrack!
1. There’s a playlist in the description with a ton of the songs from the games. Go check it out!
2. Captions will be up in the next few days.
Thank you all for watching. This one took a while, and I hope it was worth the wait.
very good retrospective, always love your videos and this is yet another banger
i think you should take a long lap now
I think Geometry Dash would’ve been a great addition to this video
Ok, so I know that you covered FUSER and mentioned Harmonix being bought out, but it seems like you may be unaware that since it's "death" FUSER is now technically Abandonware on PC and has an extremely in depth mod community that is importing more and more new stems for songs that were never in the original. You actually used a clip of Acai during the Clone Hero portion and thats the other game he's been getting big views from, the FUSER mashup videos he makes are great and he does exactly what you suggested by taking tips to show off fan mixes with a weird numbering system he and his stream have come up with.
FUSER died and became amazing as a zombie game, and though you can no longer buy it... its simple to aquire and no one can sue you for doing so as it's Abandinware. I only bring this up because you %100,000 nailed what its become seemingly unaware of that being the case for it now.
@@pet-purple-panda1634 oh I am 300% checking this out
Unrelated, I'm sad that In The Groove got only such a brief mention, especially with regards to its long-running mod community, including the Mungyodance project which was a huge part of my rhythm game experience.
@@pet-purple-panda1634 Yeah Acai's fuser streams are an absolute treat.
As someone who grew up in Japan with rhythm games as a player for decades, and someone who somehow got involved in the industry as a composer for quite a time, it is really fascinating and interesting to watch the history back from your, western perspective. Especially since my young era was almost completely locked domestically, due to the language barrier and our geographic isolation. Keep it up! (Also big thanks for including UmJammer Lammy that's my nostalgia)
You sup camellia!!!
Thank you Camellia very cool songs in Dancerush🔥
omg it's the guy
The western market of Rock Band and Guitar Hero probably feels really weird from the perspective of the Japanese/Asian market. It's somewhere around in the comments, but I lamented (but also kind of understood why) the lack of focus on that market in the video. For someone from that market, this video is probably a lot more interesting due to the isolation language- and geographic-wise than to someone looking for "rhythm game video essay" already knowing about the existence of things like SOUND VOLTEX and other "modern" games out of Japan. Oh, and also this "someone who somehow got involved in the industry as a composer" named Camellia. :P
(PS since I already shouted you out earlier in the comments, your music is great and also inescapable when it comes to SDVX/etc. Run from it, dread it, Camellia boss songs arrive all the same.)
I didn't expect camellia commenting on this video :0
Man this guy is really the Mic the Snare of video games.
this guy is really the scott the woz of music
scott the woz except he doesn't think donkey kong jungle beat is virgin
Mic the rhythm pad
As a fellow rhythm heaven fan, I’m surprised you didn’t mention its first entry, rhythm tengoku, which released on the GBA in 2006. Finishing that last sentence is why that game never received a localization outside Japan, but a small handful of its micro games were featured in Fever and Megamix.
I’m playing it, but as a fan translation! Look up Rhythm Heaven Silver, it’s really cool!
The translation and localization is great and there’s even english graphics.
Yes! Agreed! I've been playing it on my GB micro with the English patch and it's incredibly fun (and hard). I'm trying to wrestle through the final stages currently.
i believe it was also the last game to be officially released for the gba. may have something to do with why we never got an english localization.
a single line said about project diva yet mentioned every damn guitar hero game😭
FRRRRRR
😭
that's what happens when a grand majority of rhythm games weren't advertised or accessible to a western audience
Guitar hero was very popular during the mid-late 2000s, i got nostolgic on this video too
i literally came here to hear him talk about project diva
The one sentence for project diva vs the almost 40 minutes dedicated to guitar hero and rock band killed me inside
SAME LMAO
It's unfortunate that you didn't mention that for Vib Ribbon you can swap out the PS1 disc with any music CD and play a stage that is generated from the tracks on said CD. Honestly a revolutionary feature for a PS1 game!
The amount of data and resources that feature used is actually the reason why the game has the simple line and vector art style!
Scrolled down to find this comment
whaaat thats awesome!!!
found this comment as soon as i made my own talking about it. its a genuine shame Vib Ribbon is so obscure and only had a brief uptick on tiktok for how ""creepy"" it was.
That's like, the entire appeal of the game, for most people. Crazy for it to be glossed over.
The rhythm game scene in Japanese arcades is still going off the charts too, with titles like Sega's performai trilogy, modern versions of Bemani's games like DDR A3 and beatmania IIDX 30, and other more unique ones like Groove Coaster and Chrono Circle.
Mobile is also a treasure trove of rhythm games: Arcaea, Phigros, Lanota, Dynamix, NOISZ STARLIVHT, Rotaeno, etc. etc.
Rhythm games didn't really die. They just evolved past the need for mainstream attention
Right?! Deemo? Cytus? Anything from Rayark tbh. Fantastic rhythm games that weave in story in a beautiful and heartfelt way.
There's a TV show in Japan where people compete to play that taiko drum game without being able to see the screen. Obviously they have to get a perfect score, and they have to do two songs, and both songs are incredibly hard (although they can choose to do them in whichever order). The reward is actually quite high, around 7500 USD, but I've never seen anyone win. I've also seen all sorts of people from young to old playing rhythm games in various small arcade areas in department stores or malls--I try to avoid actual arcades because I don't want tinnitus.
I'm surprised that in one hour video this guy didn't mention Osu!, also DDR was pretty important in the scene for just a little commentary about it. Seems like this guy just care about Guitar hero and Rock Band.... LOL
@@nine1kidhe did talk about osu in the end
That just sounds like a round about way of saying they've died out.
Hey all, Mic here
Hey snares, Mic here
Hahaha yes some got it some one new about scott
I miss him so much
Mic the Woz
I made his joked literally the day the video came out before it came out saying how he is just like the music version of Scott the woz(who is my favourite UA-cam so not a bad thing.) Now it is true.
I had no idea parappa was a trend setter 🤩
Also the skip over of project diva was too real, so underrated 😭
Something you forgot to mention!! Rhythm Heaven actually started on the GBA and has an arcade release in Japan!
This video seemed more like a history of guitar hero and rock band than rhythm games
yeah, was expecting o2jam to be in this video but only got western console game history.
fr, there was nothing on arcade rhythm games really, like going more into ddr, pump it up, and then chunithm, ongeki, maimai, groove coaster, etc
@@kurogane2x was o2jam really that prolific though? there are like 20 games I'd think of before it including stepmania
@@Cobalt985 o2jam used to be EXTREMELY popular it was the go to 7 key online rhythm game back in the day before it was imported to steam and turned into the garbage it is now.
The entire history of vocaloid music in one sentence - "Hatsune Miku has had a few games over the years."
When virtually all modern rhythm games have a vocaloid category, that cuts deep.
Yeah, this was a punch to the gut. Too disrespectful
Yeah, and no talk of newer arcade games!
True but tbh he probably doesn't know much about the vocaloid scene?
So it's probably better he kept it brief then say info that's incorrect
@@htsunmiku I agree with previous commenter - he should've discussed at least *some* of the modern rhythm games in arcade. The genre is still well and alive there. Also, to discuss the rhythm game genre and just brush off vocaloid and Project Diva's impact is pretty disingenuous. We all know this was really just a video about the history of guitar hero.....😉
@@moejuggler6033 oh I mean not talking about the entirety of that side of the genre is werid but I also feel like he focused on series he personally has experience withn(and also heavily skewed to the western music game side and/or games that got big in the west)
>hour long mic the snare vid
yep, this is a certified the snare classic
Although not specifically called out in the video, I think the Patapon games (along with Lumines to an extent) on PSP deserve a mention as part of the evolution of rhythm games in the early-to-mid 2000s.
boooooo, even Rockband for PSP was better than those underdeveloped turds
Yes this!!
This! I was waiting to see if he was gonna mention them lol
Patapon was one of the coolest and most unique games of my childhood. Super surprised it wasn't in this video as it is one of the only games I know of (besides the now Crypt of the Necrodancer) to introduce a rhythm game with an RPG. I think it is still the only game to introduce it in that way
Looking through the comments, I think I agree with the ones that feels like this is more of a "(Blank) Hero/Rock Band Retrospective" with anecdotes about other rhythm games. Like, imagine the same amount of effort given to at least show the different releases of the Project Diva series, or the prevalence of other challenges in fan content for Osu/Clone Hero/Beat Saber. I get it if it's not an area that you're very comfortable in, but it would be a great opportunity to talk with other people with a different focus of rhythm games and let their experiences through.
I enjoyed the video, don't get me wrong, but this isn't the "Wild World" of rhythm games.
I don't think people realise how much of Mic's regular audience (including me) would click off if this video had a 20 minute Hatsune Miku section
Note about Vib-Ribbon: There’s a side mode in the game that lets you swap out the game disc for any audio CD, and it’ll auto-generate a brand new Vib-Ribbon level based on the chosen track ala Audiosurf, which for a side mode in a quirky niche PlayStation 1 title is pretty advanced and cool
Edit: I hate the fact that I never put it together until now that Donkey Konga was an attempt at rebranding Taiko Drum Master for the west
Another side note about vib-ribbon; it has two sequels that are completely different from the original. Vib-Ripple isn't a rhythm game but Mojib-Ribbon is a rhythm game about Japanese calligraphy and rap music. Interesting thing to look into even if it's very reliant on the Japanese language so it might be a bit difficult for English speakers
@@petergotbored9306 It also used a tts engine.
@@petergotbored9306 The problem would be that the gameplay would be heavily altered to accommodate non logographic languages and a new TTS engine would have to be licensed to account for the different languages.
Let’s thank Japan again for basically all our digital media entertainment.
How tf is the thing it's literally designed for (the entire game fits into the RAM for a reason) a *side mode*???
I'm surprised you didn't bring up the many mobile rhythm games throughout the years like Deemo, Cytus, Lanota, Arcea, Muse dash, phigros, and Dynamix. Also newer rhythm games like thyrhm doctor, a dance of fire and ice, or spin rhythm.
Don't forget Rotaeno, it's like the spin rhythm but instead you play it with rotating your phone
I was expecting them too, especially after talking about osu
I'm surprised he didn't bring up geometry dash
can't forget stepmania either
@@_mikkimoose_ because it isn't a rythmn game
it's a "rythmn-based action platformer" game
It's unfortunate did you didn't mention how rhythm games at the arcade still very much exist (with every bemani game you mentioned and many more still getting songs to this day, and even one of the Japanese arcade chains officially porting games like Beatmania IIDX, Sound Voltex, DDR, and more to english), or the surprisingly expansive world of mobile rhythm games (from Deemo, to Arcaea, to even Music Tiles), but it's clear your focus was on what you were more familiar with, and for your focus (primarily on the life and death of the "hero" games and rock band/harmonix's stuff), it was a great informative video! However as someone who's interest is in a niche within a niche, it really shows how expansive the rhythm game landscape is, especially now!
What are your top 3 mobile rhythm game recs?
@@Cuix For me, the three rhythm games that I would recommend are definitely Arcaea, Phigros, and Lanota, with the three having their own sets of pros and cons.
First is Arcaea, which is a four-lane 3D rhythm game with the main gimmick being that it has "arcs" (that are commonly for the left hand and the right hand, which are generally color-coded as blue and light red respectively) that you need to press and hold alongside the standard normal notes, hold notes, which is basically a long note, and "sky notes", which are basically notes but are above the lanes. Unlike the other two, Arcaea has no "flick notes", which are notes that not only needed to be pressed, but you also needed to be flicked in a certain direction. The game, however, has song charts (or song beatmaps if that's the term you're familiar with) that requires certain technical skills, like crosshands (which from my understanding basically means that you need to strategically place your fingers on certain positions in order to hit the notes) and/or using more than two fingers (There are also song charts which has six lanes instead of four, but that's later on in the game). That's why it advertises itself as a rhythm game with a "high skill ceiling". Most songs can either be played without being purchased, can be obtained through progressing on time-limited event maps, or can be obtained by purchasing them through "song packs", or by themselves. The game has Main Story Packs and Side Story Packs, all which has different stories in them about the different characters in them, and all can be progressed by meeting certain requirements while playing their featured songs. Moreover, in most of the Main Story Packs, they all sport an "Anomaly Song" as the pack's last song, which has certain requirements needed in order for you to unlock them. Two exceptions on this are "Adverse Prelude", which is more like a side story pack acting as a main story one; and the game's final pack, with most of its song charts are called "Terminal Songs", which requires even more technical requirements in order to unlock. I wouldn't spoil anything about the Story Mode, aside from what I already spoiled, but I would say that it is great, and hard. There are also other things that I want to talk about, but this is already getting so long, so I wanted to move on to the next game. Overall, Arcaea is a game with great visuals and a great set of different strories to tell.
Next is Phigros, which is a free lane 2D rhythm game. The good thing about this game is that unlike the other two, this is a completely free game, with the songs and their charts only needing to be "purchased" using the in-game currency, which can be obtained by completing song charts and having a score of A or above, in order to be unlocked, which is honestly surprising, considering that the other rhythm games are either required to be purchased first with real money, or are free to play games but has in-app purchases like Arcaea. There are four notes that you need to remember in this game: normal notes, catch notes, which are yellow notes that, for me, behave similarly to Arcaea's arcs but are much easier to deal with, hold notes, which are much more sensitive compared to Arcaea's, and flick notes, which in this game, can be flicked in any direction. For the gameplay, it's honestly similar to other rhythm games, aside from the fact that it has a judgement line, which is where you need to tap the notes. The judgement line, depending on the song chart, can either move on top, right, or left of your device (with the bottom being the default placement of the judgement line); can multiply or even vanish. One of the great things about this game, is that the charters can get creative in utilising its features, making each song charts, even in their respective difficulties, unique. The only caveat for me about this game, and the next one that I will talk about, is that in the higher difficulties, especially on INSANE and ANOTHER difficulties, the song charts usually require three to six fingers in order to play (I say this because I'm not really that good at using more than two fingers, and I'm more of an Arcaea player than a Phigros player, so take this with a grain of salt). Another disappointing thing about this game is that you can't connect it to google play, and are rather required to log-in by typing either a phone number registered in China, or by typing your email from a Google Play-like app called TapTap. You also need to have downloaded the game from TapTap, so there's that. So if you don't have an email from TapTap and have downloaded the game through it, or you don't have a phone number from China, then you basically have no normal way to save your game data. The game also has a story, but are presented more like an anecdote in a database and not story-like. Overall, still a very great game, especially for a free one.
Finally, is Lanota, which is a rhythm game in which you would play on basically is in a circle(?). This is the game that I'm least familiar with, since I only played it because of the UA-camrs that I follow played it. I was also deterred from further playing it (only playing a handful of since the game itself is a free trial version, and you need to purchase it so that you wouldn't get any ads (You can still play it, but you would need an internet connection to play, and you also need to let an ad play on very chart that you would like to play). Aside from that and the fact that there are certain song packs that you need to purchase, the whole story mode from what I know is basically free (Of course, you still need to complete the chapters in order to progress to the next one). One of the reasons I also played it is because of the visuals, and because it is story-driven. The main story is divided into different chapters, and for every chapter, they all have "Boss Songs", and the way they introduce these boss songs are seriously epic and cool, not to mention that the story that it has so far is very interesting and compelling for me. For the game's difficulty, I would say that my knack for it is similar to Phigros, and that its high difficultly charts requires more than 4 fingers to play. Once again, this is just a me issue, so if that's something you won't mind, then go ahead and disregard my petty argument.
Of course, this is just three of my favorite ones, but these are the first ones that would usually come to my mind when recommending someone what rhythm game to play. Thank you so much for coming to my very, very long TED talk!
Another Mobile Rhythm game that I love would be Noisz Starlivht. It's both a Rhythm Game and a Avoidance at the same time! It has many cool things, like different characters with different styles, with each of them having different stats, effects, and a level-up system, it has a practice mode that allows you to start on any verse (every song has 2-4 verses usually) and not worry about death, and it even has a Rouge-like mode that has you fight songs that are not only randomly chosen, but get harder each wave in order to build a custom style. Because of the fact that you both play a rhythm game and dodge bullets at the same time, it can lead to some really insane charts! If you get an S on a song on hard by getting all verse stars (you must beat a verse without taking damage from anything. They are saved even if you are done with a song), you unlock Overload mode for that song. It requires multiple fingers to survive, and has charts that are crazy hard. One song especially is so hard that it puts the final boss of Arcaea to shame! And the crazy part is, the game's only halfway finished.
@vee3732 oh shit, the detail! tysm!
There's also the PC based rhythm games as well.
The thumbnail : the wild world of rhythm games
The actual video : the wild world of GH & RB
Absolutely loved the video. Great history lesson, brought back a huge amount of memories from said old times. Now for the meme:
Mentions rhythm heaven and Melatonin, doesn't mention Bits and Bops, or Rhythm Doctor, A Dance of Fire and Ice.
Mentions In The Groove, doesn't mention the NotITG community.
Mentions Bemani, doesn't mention BOF as a community, or any of the gazillion arcade/mobile games. (arcaea, WACCA, jubeat, maimai, Rayark games)
Mentions Rez, doesn't mention Pistol Whip.
Mentions Metal Hellsinger, doesn't mention BPM Bullets Per Minute.
list keeps going.
Something I really appreciate about Guitar Hero and Rock Band is all the multitrack stems they brought. Listening to individual tracks, instrumentals, acapellas, etc with these is a treat. (Edit: and as one commenter pointed out, mashups too!)
FUSER and Dropmix are also real neat for that.
They straight up fueled a lot of the early mashup genre
Yeah I’ve made a handful of mashups casually and Rock Band stems are a godsend. They’re possibly the single biggest source of stems out there.
Neil Cicierega even mentioned those games as a big source of the mashups on his albums, so without these games we might not have had his classic, intricate mashup albums.
And then Green Day Rock Band happened-
(if you don’t know, a lot of the early Green Day stuff had to have the stems kinda fudged with AI to get them separated)
I find it weird as a rhythm game player clicking on this and going "I can't wait to see someone talk about all the rhythm games out there im so excited" just to hear someone go off about 2 franchises for 40 minutes and talk about only a teensy tiny fraction of them.
Man. I was so excited to, even if the video quality was really good and its well informed, I was really excited for things to go off the beaten path and not just be about GH and RB
Yeah gotta admit i just skipped until the last segment once i saw on the progress bar the rest was just now GH and RB. Like i was a kid back then, i know they were a huge deal but a video titled "history of rhythm games" had me thinking "great an in depth run down of one of the most fun genres with many series i wanna see discussed more online". Only to be met with 40 minutes of an hour long video being a Guitar Hero documentary. Definitely took me out of it.
after this video I'll never want to hear about guitar hero again 😭
I know they're not popular games, but geometry dash and ADOFAI could be mentioned as they have very unique gameplay
Yeah, I enjoyed the video but as a fan of Japanese rhythm games, when I watch a video called "the history of rhythm games" I'm expecting a mix of both the Japanese and western side, not spending 50 mins on guitar hero and rock band and only saying "oh yeah there's the washing machine game, and DDR and that's all"
@@TheKing-cb3kl same
I know that this is a music channel primarily, but I like that in your videos you do often reference games and it’s obvious (I think!) that you enjoy them, so I’m glad you’re exploring an intersection of music and games in a video!!
he did give awards to video game soundtracks in his best of 2022 video so it checks out. makes me happy to see him expanding content like this
My favorite rhythm game is still Bust A Groove! The soundtrack was SO good that even now, more than 20 years later I listen to it regularly.
I think I was recommended this video because I recently was relistening to the OST, and I was a little bummed it wasn't even mentioned because 1 & 2 were my top fave childhood games and the music is still strong.
An underrated gem!
I am VERY happy that Crypt of the Necrodancer was mentioned
while fuser is legally dead, it has been archived online and has a pretty active community for mods of custom songs with a spreadsheet and everything. it’s really cool and impressive and has also basically taken over my life
And shout out to Acai and some other channels for keeping the FUSER contents alive and popular
@@sihamhamda47 hell yeah dude Acai was literally how i got back into the game after dropping it back when it was active
@@sihamhamda47 Acai's clip mashing up Astronaut in the Ocean with Chop Suey was how I discovered FUSER modding was a thing and it was such a perfect way to find out
All I wanted when Fuser was alive was mod support. It really saved this game in the nick of time, arguably made it better than ever, even if it couldn't save the servers.
Its egregious that Osu! only received about a minutes worth of a mention despite it being one of the biggest rhythm games to have ever existed, having an active monthly player count of 19 million+. I'm not an Osu player, but I can at least recognize how influential the game is when it comes to modern rhythm games as a whole; namely speaking as I play Beat Saber, how much influence Osu! has had on the current state of the modded community within Beat Saber when it comes to the music, terminology, and even the competitive ranked leaderboards. I understand that this video may be more directed towards the western retrospective of rhythm games, mostly focusing on Console Rhythm Games, primarily Rock Band/Guitar Hero, but not even mentioning the more modern scene in Rhythm Games within the other spaces with such titles like Muse Dash, A Dance of Fire and Ice, Rhythm Doctor, Arcaea, and Geometry Dash, along with other VR titles like Pistol Whip, Synth Riders and Audica I feel lacks the complete retrospective. It would have also been good to mention that the arcade scene of Rhythm Games is still very much alive in Japan. Otherwise, its a great video and a good look at the history of Rhythm Games, though lacking in the more modern space.
I LOVE rhythm/music games. I'm 44, I've played every music games available to me. I've even build a metal dance mat for my PS2, what a blast back then.
The only music games I still play on a regular basic is : OSU!
Welcome to Osu!.
Nick's done a couple Part 2s, so maybe in the future he can cover some missed examples.
Dance Dance Revolution
as "popular" as Osu is, it also wouldn't have been a thing if it wasn't for Stepmania, one of the original simulator rhythm games that started the whole thing (alongside Lunatic Rave 2) and I remember a lot of the first charts of Osu came from the early remnants of the Stepmania community.
And it's even more mind-boggling there was no mention of Stepmania here at all, considering how influential it was in the early western "simulator" rhythm games genre. He even mentions ITG once in passing but never brings it up again as it was a very important part of DDR's history with the lawsuit and everything.
Geometry Dash is different in that we don't use the music or rhythm in order to play the game and beat levels, especially in harder and faster levels where we don't even react anymore, it's all muscle memory, memorizing click patterns. Geometry Dash is more of a "music platformer" than a rhythm game, so I 100% understand why it wasn't mentioned at all.
one of your best vids ever. congrats bro
Love to see this brand synergy
Hey! guitarist here that plays rocksmith. I've been playing for years and even had been when I first picked it up. The game is *very* good at teaching you how to play songs, scales (using mini games), and other things. It's very good, but it doesn't replace having a teacher. I'd say it's a very good supplement that will push a guitarist further a bit easier.
bro baited us into a guitar hero's video
I wish you would’ve mentioned the Bust A Groove series-but you’ve introduced me to some new rhythm games in this video. Thanks!
Yeah Bust a Move/ Bust a Groove ( 1, 2, and Dance Summit) had amazing soundtracks, fun gameplay, memorable characters, and dance moves! Series started in 1998 so it was just after Parappa
When that game came out I was still at school as a young teenager. Me and a mate would tie our school ties around our heads, unbutton the top few buttons of our white shirts and bust out Hiro moves in my bedroom whilst listening to (for some reason) White Lines and Rappers Delight.
Man, we were cool kids, lol.
Great games though.
Played it last year, big time vibe
Hell yeah, Bust a Groove 1 and 2 are still some of favorite video games to this day, the soundtrack is legendary (specially the original japanese songs)
The music levels in Rayman Legends where some of the best musical rewards. They're like a great victory lap after beating a world. The Black Betty one is absolutely magnificent.
Also there's an Avicii game. Nothing much to say about it, it's perfectly functional, but it exists.
Omg the music levels in Rayman Legends were easily the best levels. So much fun.
Bit trip runner is in a similar vein but the moving backgrounds on top of the fast character movement made me ill
The Rayman ones were SO FUN
Something I really love about the Hatsune Miku Project Diva series definitely has to be how absolutely all over the place the sound track is and how nutty the levels are. Seriously, give Mega Mix+ on PC a try or Project Project Dxxx, which is the community made free clone of Project Diva and features many features the official series does not, like multiplayer.
My man did not give Hatsune Miku enough screen time. Love the difficultly and presentation. Looks crazy, plays super nice.
I've never heard of Project Project Dxxx and now I want to try it. Also, hello.
(ﾉﾟ▽ﾟ)ﾉ
@@ZaneChihuahua Hello, it's nice to see you here!
Great video, but it should have been called "The story of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, and some other games"
Love your humor and work, but it's a story that's been beaten to death
One game I'm a bit surprised he didn't mention is actually Unplugged: Air Guitar. I haven't actually fact-checked this, but I heard one or more of its developers are actually related to Guitar Hero or Rock Band (one of the two), and when I played it I thought it was actually pretty neat. I never got much into it though, which I feel is mainly because I am more used to and interested in the Japanese and EDM side of rhythm games than the punk and rock side that everyone else in west is familiar with
This video is 2/3 about Guitar Hero. DDR (and Bemani), which has somewhere north of 100 different releases, was a minor footnote early in the video. Not to mention more recent arcade entries like WACCA, or mobile titles like Cytus and Arcaea didn't even get a mention. I think this video would be bettered titled, "The History of Guitar Hero".
Every day my hope for a new Patapon game shrinks. That series helped me meet one of the best friends I've ever had
A spiritual successor was announced. It's called Project Jabberwocky by the TVT (Tokyo Virtual Theory) studio. Two of the three main directors of Patapon will direct the project.
@@franciscovelasco5422 it's something at least
I'm surprised no one mentioned Patapon. It's a cute playstation portable game that mixes real time strategy with its rhythm where the player inputs a 4 button command on the beat to control your eyeball characters. It's great.
Patapon is CRIMINALLY underrated. It's such a unique game that I'm surprised hasn't spawned any spiritual successor games yet (outside of Project Jabberwocky and Patapon 4). And the music has stuck with me for years, and it will never escape
PATA PATA PATA PON
Patapon was fantastic
this!! i played this game with my brother a lot when I was younger (tho never progressed much because I wasn't any good) but I was surprised it wasn't mentioned in the video 😁
I was waiting for him to bring it up! I was obsessed with this as a kid
I literally forgot that game "Patapon" was around speaking of that I never heard of it lol.
Another certified Mic classic. You know you're getting some quality when Mic uploads an hour long video.
As for "games you didn't mention", basically everything BEMANI did after the DDR wave in early 2000s and the competition that came up in the Japanese arcades in response to them: SEGA's CHUNITHM and Maimai series, and BEMANI's Sound Voltex series. Those, in addition to Taito's Groove Coaster and Neowiz MUCA's DJMAX series, I felt could be worth talking about more as those games never died like the Rock Band/Guitar Hero-s in North America. I'll admit since the direction Japan went is wildly different than what North America did (ie, not to to the home or internationally) making it difficult to thematically relate to the history of RB/GH, I can understand why one might not include them in an already 1 hour long Mic video.
Though, if you do want to go back to those series for a later video, I would personally recommend making it in the context of the BMS (Be-Music Source) scene, an entire cottage industry started around the original song file format for Beatmania. Some artists from the BMS competitions held (such as the BMS of Fighters) would have tracks officially added to the games mentioned above. Do check out artists like Camellia or Frums if you do. Some of my personal favorite EDM artists and ideas can be traced to both the BMS scene, and artists inspired by the works from it. Though, again, while rhythm-game related, not in the RB/RH sense, and I can get why you'd leave it out of the video.
Now I am sad that I didn't get to experience the greatest rhythm game to ever rhythm game, Donkey Konga. 0/10 did not personally relate to personal hand injury by bongo controllers /s
EDIT: I forgot about things like A Dance of Fire and Ice, Muse Dash, Arcaea, NotITG, etc, but just going to things like the BMS scene and related artists felt like a big comment as it is. They're also very cool in their own ways, but they're a little outside the scope of the comment.
CAMELLIA + FRUMS
The home games and BMS I'd love to see discussed but arcade games like Voltex really rely on either having the peripheral or having an arcade with the supplemental hardware. Korean games as well have their own discussions that aren't too easy to cover unless you were playing at the time or you take the same route as Tokaku for the O2Jam video, having a way to learn about it directly from people who were there.
Modern BEMANI is hard to find in arcades outside of Dave & Busters and Round1, and if you want an online cab in the US you gotta be ready to possibly travel multiple states over to a Round1 or a Dave & Busters if you only want to play DDR.
There's the argument that you can get the hardware to play yourself with the home versions of various BEMANI games and simulators, but that's not exactly an entry point. You'd essentially be dropping $200 *minimum* for a GAMO2 controller on any of the games and the price hikes up from there depending on if you want to play the official home releases or better/arcade accurate buttons. If you know the other option, it's not a super approachable experience either unless you're very tech literate to begin with.
Again, BMS and various mobile and standalone indie rhythm games I'd love to see touched on, and even just a basic summary from RemyWiki on BEMANI and passing mention of Korean games would be cool. But for the last two, if you want some substantial content about them, that's a really big ask and it may take over a year to get beyond just a basic history video with no real experience or your typical "Newcomer Thoughts".
I have an arcade nearby that only opens on weekends and you pay an entry free but every game is put on free play and the collection of Rythmn Games is pretty good and that's where I discovered Chunithm which is probably my favorite Rythmn Arcade alongside WACCA which is from Marvelous.
@@Cane-Aubright Yeah, valid. From a music perspective the divide between RB/GH is equally cavernous (imagine trying to link Dragonforce's TTFAF with something like Camellia's Blastix Riotz - ow my neck), so if anything the music side of BMS would be more interesting than the game side in a sense, which often feed into these games anyway.
you forget Phigros which recently got big banger chapter 8 update and another SEGA rhythm game Ongeki AKA Bullet Hellish rhythm game but yeah most of the list is solid
You know after the commercial cash cow that Guitar Hero became it's kinda hard to remember how much of a genuine passion project the original game was. I'm glad they got to make it big even if ended up like that.
I was really hoping there to be mentions of other Japanese rhythm games like Sound Voltex or *said washing machine looking rhythm game* (Mai Mai.) You're not wrong about the wacky ride that is the rhythm games, but most of those titles are pretty western. How about the Japanese side of the story? The video's amazing ^^ Not saying it's bad, didn't know how all these games come to be and how absolutely wacky it is. Just some food for thought if you wanna go into the Japanese side of the Rhythm game spectrum.
One game that I feel doesn't get talked abt enough is Just Shapes And Beats, it's basically a bullet hell rhythm game where the stuff you have to avoid appears on the beat. The music is so good and I'm pretty sure they even commission some edm artists to create tracks for the game. I love it sm
just shapes and beats was the first game i bought when i got a switch! i love how clean and original it is, it really is a masterclass in visual design and visual storytelling. and their latest free expansion had undertale's spider dance for the final boss!
Another game I'd reccomend for JSaB fans is Project Arrhythmia! It's a game that by complete coincidence has the exact same mechanics as JSaB, but this one actually has a level editor and the community has released some excellent levels!
aha! I knew i’d find some fellow JSAB/PA fans here! great games lol.
id highly reccomend noisz
Like geometry dash, i dont think jsab is a rhythm game because its just a bullet hell game really. Still a good music game tho
I’m glad you called ‘Thumper’ a rhythm-horror game. In my 33 years, there’s never been another gaming experience that skyrockets my heart rate and puts me into ‘gamer lean’ posture so quickly. I design and build synthesizers for a living, and the sound design from the e-shop preview sold me immediately- but holy shit, that game just dumps all the adrenaline.
Creator used to work for Harmonix! do u listen to Lightning Bolt lol
@@deadringer444Wait what's the association between what he's talking about and Lightning Bolt? 😮
@@justink8156 look up who the creator of Thumper is :)
I'm only half way through, but this is an insanely well-researched and well made video and I'm loving every second of it. Thank you for using some of my gameplays for the Guitar Hero segments!
Do you think Rock Band or Guitar Hero can make a comeback.
@@adeptdamage3669 Yeah I think they could, but I also don't think they would ever reach the levels of popularity they reached in the late 2000's. The gaming industry as a whole has changed dramatically since then, and even since 2015 when they did their first reboot, but I think they could still carve out a niche in today's market.
@@aWiseMoose Maybe not as popular in the late 2000's is a good thing considering how oversaturated it became.
My idea for bringing Guitar Hero back is a much ore story focused experience (with actual cutscenes.) Where you play as a custom character who joins a band a guitar player where the GH characters Axel Steel, Judy Nails, Lars, etc. are bosses you have to defeat to progress.
Though the biggest hurdle would be getting people to buy the controllers.
hey i know u
@BIIIIG BODDY hey it's you and moose
So that’s why fortnite festival exists 1:00:00
I've been an avid rhythm game player for 20 years. In the early 2000s I would drive hours to play certain DDR cabinets. Right now, and for the past several years, 2 of the most popular VR games out there are Beat Saber and Synth Riders, 2 of the best rhythm games ever made. Huge oversight.
i got SO excited when i saw Mic mentioned pop’n music that he might mention other notable arcade rhythm games, especially since a lot of the “rhythm game fans” that still are REALLY into the genre still play those games. but alas, its an hour long video and that absolutely would have made it longer. it would have been cool though!! múseca, sound voltex, groove coaster, dancerush, jubeat, chunithim, nostalgia, pump it up? the list goes on
Some great rhythm games that weren't mentioned:
A dance of fire and Ice - One button rhythm game with a really unique way of representing rhythm, has a robust level editor and a huge community of level creators.
Rhythm Doctor - A one button rhythm game by the same guys as adofai where you treat patients by pressing the spacebar on the correct beats, highly reccomended for people who like rhythm heaven. I also reccomend going in mostly blind. has a ridiculously powerful level editor.
Muse Dash - Simple two button rhythm game with so many songs, like oh my god there's so many.
Some upcoming rhythm games that have fun demos out:
Rhythm Quest - Fantastic 2 button rhythm game where you run along a path attacking enemies and jumping, with all original music made by one guy. (I love this game a lot)
Bits and Bops - a Rhythm Heaven inspired game in every sense of the words.
UNBEATABLE - Two button rhythm game similar to muse dash but with funky camera movements and unique note types, the full game will also be part story-based RPG.
Not one mention of the following games:
IIDX
Pump It Up
Jubeat
Sound Voltex
EZ2DJ
Mai Mai
Cytus
DJ MAX
DJ MAX TECHNIKA
CHUNITHM
Ongeki
Arcea
DDRs revival with DDR A (specifically in the states) and Round 1s expansion into the US.
Only a passing mention of ITG. No mention of it's impact on the dance game scene in America, the Konami lawsuit, and not talking about the crazy storied at home modded ITG scene.
A PLETHORA of mobile rhythm games that I am unaware of but know have huge scenes.
While the build up and downfall of guitar hero and rockbad was big in the state, Japan and Korea were still going strong with new arcade games getting release by Sega and Konami, while also releasing updates to their oldest games (DDR, IIDX, Pop'n Music, and Gitadora). And the mobile game scene has straight up exploded over the last 10 years.
I think it would've been better to make the guitar hero and rockbad portion it's own video as it dominates almost half of the video which I think should've been a more general over view of the entire genre.
I'm surprised Mad Rat Dead didn't get a mention in the video. I know it's not super well known, but it came out just a few years ago on the Switch and has a fairly active fan base, so it's not like it's lost to time.
Absolutely agree
out of curiosity, would you be able to recommend any mobile rhythm games? i'm not familiar with any
it's almost as though this is an english-speaking channel and not a japanese one
As a huge djmax fan I'm very disappointed. The franchise is so good it deserves more spotlight
This video feels more like its talking about the history of Guitar Hero and RockBand. Would had been better if he talked about Mobile and other arcade rhythm games. (Arcaea, Cytus, Lanota, SDVX, Maimai, WACCA, CHUNITHM just to name a few) You can't call this video "The Wild World of Rhythm Games" if most of it is about those 2 games.
The fact that beat saber was barley mentioned is a crime
I could hardly beer it.
Mid saber
I've been playing guitar for the past 8 years, and I learned from Rocksmith initially and still play it fairly often to this day! The custom songs scene is absolutely ridiculous and the mechanics of 2014 are basically flawless at this point.
I had already been playing guitar for a little over 10 years when I found RS, and it really helped me develop my skills beyond the plateau I felt I had hit years before. I've even used it to shift over and discover just how insanely fun Bass can be to play. And yeah, the CDLC scene just adds absolutely immeasurable value.
My only _slight nit-pick_ is that I mostly play a 5-string bass.
IF you can find a CDLC with a 5 or 6 string arrangement, it appears as "Rhythm Guitar"... which means you have to skip the tuner... which is fine as my bass is in tune, but, just irks me not being able to see it.
I still play rocksmith 2014. I started as a seriously mediocre bassist, and am now a fairly good bassist. Really helped with my development on the instrument
There's a series of games in the k-pop community that are still pretty big. The name of the series is SuperStar, and they have some that are based on just a single artist or on a company's catalog. You have to collect cards of the members that are ranked and the higher the rank, the more points you can get with each note. Bonus if you have a certain number from each collection and all the photos are matching. BTS used to be a part of this but they made their own game, RhythmHive (which also now has more artists from the company in the game). It's mobile and you can see people streaming live on tiktok playing on their ipads a bit. I always played on my phone though!
super fun game especially for kpop fans, especially if you just enjoy playing and listening to the music, recommend it 100%. But if you focus on collecting cards and the leaderboards, the whaling is crazy, it's a dangerous money drain.
Oh wow cool, well as long as your wallet stays closed lol. Only Korean rhythm game I ever played was DJ Max on the PSP in 2008 and that was only because they did a collab with the only K-Pop group I listen to, Clazziquai. I still listen to the songs from the game time to time and wish I could replay it on 4-button mode at least without destroying my thumb lol.
@The Dynast Queen DjMax is still going too. The newest one is DjMax Respect V for ps4 and pc. It's super fun plus all the old songs are on there as well 😊
The lack of focus to DDR (and pretty much the catalogue of BEMANI) and other Japanese Arcade games pretty much saddens me, but it is a good rundown to Guitar Hero and Rock Band's history.
kkclue has a couple good videos covering ddr and beat mania!
agreed on the lack of bemani, but i am relatively biased.
the advent of certain games in bemani in the niche they filled are worthy of several documentaries in and of themselves. incredibly strange and insane lore spanning multiple decades. not to mention the entirety of the KR scenes advent.
good video overall though.
I thought that this video was really well made, but I think it would have been a bit better to have done a separate video on Guitar Hero and Rockband since the two of them took up a bulk of the video. I also think that Just Dance was a pretty significant cultural thing in the rhythm game space even if it didn't get received well by critics. I didn't have it, but so many people I met have memories of following along the videos in gym class or playing with older family members. And ofc I played with friends at parties in later years, too.
I get that this is at least partially western lived experience, but there's some early context missing here: Konami was actually very litigious and tried their hardest to kill off competing dance games. Pump It Up was nearly strangled in the crib and In the Groove (itself based on StepMania, a community-made clone game) was actually sued out of existence. This all was happening in parallel with Guitar Hero and RedOctane actually got involved with the ITG lawsuit for having published the PS2 version.
If Konami was just a *bit* more litigious, we might not have even *got* Guitar Hero at all.
(Also, not mentioning BIT.TRIP in the 2009 section seems like a sin to me.)
Furthermore, the rhythm game resurgence wasn't limited to Guitar Hero's dead cat bounce and Rock Band 4. The brains behind In The Groove, Kyle Ward, went off and made a new company that's now making StepManiaX. Which you'll see in a lot of independently-run arcades since Konami doesn't sell cabinets to them anymore and second-hand cabinets won't work without *very* illegal modifications to remove the always-online DRM.
Speaking of, Konami also released MORE rhythm games. Is DDR too technical for you? Well, now you can play Dancerush Stardom instead. Are you still embarassing you and everyone around you by pretending you can play Beatmania IIDX? Now you can embarass you and everyone around you by pretending Sound Voltex's character designs aren't weirdly exploitative.
Also, Taiko no Tatsujin actually gets US releases now. They're even location-testing Taiko arcade cabinets. There's also a shitton of mobile rhythm games that have cropped up since: Cytus, Arcaea, Lanota, and, uh... Groove Coaster existed, too.
i would argue that dancerush is more technical than ddr, since to get really good at it, you basically have to learn how to properly shuffle dance
I can't believe you didn't mention any mobile or arcade games....both scenes are very much alive and flourishing
And some of them are japanese games, I mean most of them are at the core rhythm games, no matter the mix of content (I say this because I play Idolmaster Million Live, and also a new arcade machine has been announced, off just for Japan)
@@elrinconcuriosodesally3528 Rayark dominated my rhythm game consumption in the 2010s. Cytus (1 and 2), Deemo and Voez were mindblowing when i first started playing them.
he did mention some though
@@krbraveofficial True, but despite showing maimai in the intro, he never went into the more modern arcade scene, and BeatMania is -extinct- now Beatmania IIDX (forgot about that series)
As someone who plays a lot of japanese games it's kind of crazy seeing the genres progression from the perspective from a north american point of view, i thought the amount of time spent on GH and RB in this video would be Rhythm heaven and OSU haha, great video like always but i do feel like i've developed a hole in my chest i have to fill with someone talking about japanese rhythm games more
Edit: In middleschool my buddy would practice Bass using rocksmith+, they loved it and they still make music to this day
Rocksmith+ just came out last year. Rocksmith/Rocksmith 2014 are the older ones
Quick note that rhythm heaven started on the gba in 06. The DS iteration is just the first to come state side.
Ya this guy really half assed his hw
@@j_eezus_christ_bro_chill bro just wanted an excuse to do a guitar hero essay 😭
bro DID NOT just glance over all of the arcade rhythm games that popped the fuck off during this time with games like jubeat, sound voltex, dancerush stardom, and project diva. Not to mention mobile games, specifically arcaea, kinda revolutionized the genre for mobile devices.
You were gonna get it anyway, but that Donkey Konga part showing the year over year development with the FREEZE secured my like. This is great work. One "notable" omission is Mad Maestro, a game about being an orchestra conductor, on the PS2.
Just wanted to say Rocksmith 2014 is legitimately great and helped me improve my guitar, and its also capable of being modded so that you can add any user-charted songs. Once you get used to it, it's honestly easier to read and play than guitar tab
I can't comment too much personally, but both my brothers and my father SWEAR by RockSmith for practicing and learning new songs. I never could get the hang of the interface, but three out of four is still a pretty good recommendation and I'd 100% recommend at least trying it out if you have the chance.
Oh yeah I loved playing rocksmith
tbh the main reason I stopped playing it is cus it's really buggy with bass. Unless I'm playing Primus or Spoonman the game just goes all wonkey and thinks I'm at the 12th fret when I'm fingering 4. Maybe it's the game, maybe it's my bass, maybe it's me, who knows?
And since I stopped playing rocksmith, it's gotten difficult to read lmao
At least I learned Everlong :D
same here, i started learning with it and it is super nice but there comes a point where learning without it becomes more efficient and free
When I was in high school (early 2010s), I played a lot of Tap Tap Revenge games on my iPod Touch, back when the games had millions of users. I was #1 in the world on a few songs, including "Club Can't Handle Me" by Flo Rida and "Shake" by Jesse McCartney. I was so proud of myself - still am, honestly 😅
LOVED tap tap revenge
I came to the comments for this lol. Tap Tap Revenge was HUGE
there are so many other Rhythm games that where not mentioned and still strive today, still a great video. But I would of love to seen and hear about the Arcade cabinets still out there.
Guitar Hero III is one of the cornerstones of my music taste to this day, it made all my friends and me want to start bands
An Hour long video on Rhythm Games is a miracle!
i'm briefly skimming the top comments and seeing that people have already touched on this much more politely than i will. i just want to say that i was hesitant but a little hopeful when this video popped up in my recommended. as a long time rhythm game enjoyer i know that a 1 hour video might be long but is honestly barely enough to really scratch the full surface of the "wild world of rhythm games" over the past 3 decades. seeing the thumbnail not feature any arcade (or mobile) rhythm game giants was already a red flag for me, but the acknowledgement of bemani in the intro got my hopes up. these hopes were subsequently dashed lower and lower as i sat through 40 minutes of discussion about guitar hero and rock band for home consoles. were they a major part of the rhythm game craze in north america? sure, but uh, what about, you know, the entire rest of the globe? and DDR was also a huge HUGE part of north american rhythm game culture in the early to late 2000s, EVEN if we stayed very americentric for the video! i was really disappointed because the framing of this video from the intro, the title, and the thumbnail suggested this was going to be a comprehensive video essay covering the WORLD of rhythm games. but all it really touches on is a decent 15 minute history lesson on how they began, then GH/RB in the west and a speedrun of honorable mentions of games you like at the end.
i don't think i would be so mad if this wasn't labeled so generally about the world of rhythm games and not just about uh, guitar hero and rockband or even just rhythm games specifically in a western context for home consoles only. but to present this so broadly like it's representative of the entire world of rhythm games as a genre and scene, and, my personal pet peeve, to use GH/RB as a backdrop of evidence to your suggestion that rhythm games died (when GH/RB died in popularity) when it's still thriving just gets my goat so much. it's misleading and ignorant. i know it's just video game, why i heff to be mad? it just bugs me so much that i came into this already wary that this wouldn't touch on the arcade scene at all, became a little hopeful after the intro showcases that super early promo footage of maimai and discussion of bemani history, and then not only for it to deliver on that worry but to somehow disappoint even further. i don't think you acknowledged any arcade games beyond the early history lesson. how could you do hatsune miku dirty like this. hell, i dislike osu, but even i can admit it deserves more coverage than it got based on sheer impact alone. tap tap revenge being the only mobile rhythm game mentioned as a throwaway line despite the entire scene (lovelive and other idol games, rayark games, arcaea, lanota etc)? AGAIN, ARCADES (maimai, jubeat, taiko was touched upon briefly, chunithm, groove coaster, the list goes on and on)? the DDR/ITG/PIU scene, even in the west, was insane in the time period you covered about GH alone!!!
i'm sorry for being such a hater and writing a huge essay in the comments. no idea if you will even read this. i'm just really passionate about rhythm games and guitar hero/rockband literally make up a fraction of the "world of rhythm games", so for that to be the only real focus in a video that jebaited me into thinking it'd cover everything is deeply disappointing and feels poorly researched. no hate to your coverage of GH/rockband, again if this vid was presented as a deep dive into those games specifically and their impact on the scene i'd have no problem, it's very well researched for that particular topic. but you can't make sweeping generalizing statements about rhythm games as a genre, as an entire scene, while completely failing to acknowledge like, the whole other half of the world's involvement for the past 30 years beyond beatmania and popn 1. i hope that maybe you can reconsider changing the title to be more reflective of what this video is about so it feels less like you're painting rhythm games purely as just GH/RB and not an entire world you missed out on and don't know about.
Rythm games defined my 2000s, specifically DDR. It helped me lose so much weight. Now I'm all about Beat Saber.
atta boi
It should've been much better if this video was a HERO SERIES video instead of a rhythm games video. Nothing about Project Diva and modern arcades? Really? Just a mention? The bias is really disappointing.
I know it wasn't the focus of this huge video but Hatsune Miku getting barely one sentence while having like 20 games and no mention of the vocaloid nonesense feels so weird...
damn this really is The Wild World of Rhythm Games by american youtuber Mic The Snare published on May 4th 2023 at 4:09 PM Eastern Standard Time
After a certain point there just should have been a separate video for Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
i'm honestly shocked no one is talking about everhood! that game is so trippy and the music is absolutely incredible!
Thank you for including Gitaroo Man. I’m painfully nostalgic for that game
Always wanted a sequel... would still play one now, despite being 40 lol.
I genuinely still hum and whistle the Sanbone Trio song... and Flying O... and Mojo-Mojo-Mojo King Bee... and... Come to think of it, the majority of them.
I’m going to do a video of the whole game just editing it currently 😭
As someone with an insanely high score on The Con on Rockband 3, I am the coolest person ever and there is no debating this.
I’m so grateful for this video and the knowledge it contains. I will always be a big Guitar Hero fan, I’ll challenge anyone
Guitar Hero is amazing but if Activision didn't release that much GH games within the span of a year, I'd argue the game would still be alive lol
Personally I like the Square Notes™ more than the Circle Notes™, but both are still great (also RB did the drummer animations better)
Hey its the 10 second review guy
By the way, Parappa’s instrumentals can make for some absolutely killer mashups. My personal favourite i’ve made is Toasty Buns x Wu-Tang Clan.
Bro, Geometry Dash is the sole reason I fell in love with (electronic) music. The way that the songs' energy was represented by both gameplay and design of some of my favourite creators was SO AWESOME! The community is awesome too.
he needs to make a part 2, who makes a vid like this without geometry dash
@@j_eezus_christ_bro_chill hell, I could make an entire video about geometry dash and an hour wouldn't be enough
I actually picked up guitar during the pandemic, and since I couldn’t do lessons during it I bought Rocksmith and it taught me quite a bit that I’ve been able to build upon
I’m glad you mentioned Thumper in here even if it’s just for a moment! For anyone who’s a fan, Thumper was composed and worked on by one of the members of the band Lightning Bolt!
This was a great watch. Rhythm Heaven is one of my favourite series so I’m glad it got a spotlight. Also glad you mentioned things like Rhythm Thief and the Hatsune Miku rhythm games.
As for one’s you missed I’d say the big ones are things like Rhythm Coaster which has a pretty big following and then rhythm games released mainly on mobile, like Muse dash, Deemo, and the Cytus series, those are definitely worth your time.
The Cytus series in so good yes !
the original cytus is an instant classic and when it comes to rhythm games combining narratives, the original deemo is one of the best executions of it. the sequels for them id avoid really getting into for a multitude of reasons unless they show up on the switch one day ig.
Did you catch the background music @0:30? 😃
For a video this long i was hoping to see more about DDR/PIU which has a very active fandom, like videos have Tik Tok virality these days and international championships still happens till this day, also i noticed videos of playthroughs on youtube from the last 3 years have hundreds of thousands if not millions of views.
A game that wasn't mentioned but that I think got a lot of people into rhythm games was love live (RIP). It certainly did for me, and you can definitely see its influence in games like the persona rhythm games
completely!!!!! sif was my main intro to rhythm games and it quickly became one of my favorite genres. now i'm a project sekai player HAHAHAHA
Same lol. Started Project Sekai recently and it brings back so many memories SIF, including the hellish tiering 😂 Flick notes are my bane tho
@@tobitimesthree the love live to bandori to pjsk pipeline
love live sif 2 is coming out globally later this year, I'm already playing the Japanese release though
id say the gameplay feels a lot less clunky, and it's so much fun to play all the maps I remember as well as the songs from newer groups
stuff like gacha and actually levelling the cards is probably even more grindy tho
seriously tho!! started playing that last year and never got super into it, but it was super sad opening it and seeing it was dead!
Fun fact about Vib Ribbon not mentioned in the video:
If you ever got sick of the same short list of songs used in the game, there was a feature where you could swap CDs and the game would actually generate songs based off of whatever CD you put in.
They were uniquely generated but if you used 2 separate copies of the same CD, or replayed a CD, the levels won't change.
The feature also works with emulators like Xebra and Duckstation, allowing for you to either use real CDs or make your own CD ISO files and use those to generate a seemingly infinite amount of levels for the game.
I don't know if that feature works on PS2, but on the original playstation it would install the tiny program needed to generate songs directly onto your system.
I am a HUGE Rhythm Heaven and DJ Hero fan and the fact that we’re probably never getting any more sequels in either series pains me to this day. Stellar video.
i wish there was more content on more konami and sega games
Yeah like Konami has a huuuuge library of both successful games and unsuccessful games(Parapara paradise, DanceManiax/Dace freaks, etc.)
its all guitar heroes im gonna starve
I think you’re legitimately my favorite music youtuber - every special topic video you do like this covers things that I really liked as a kid but didn’t yet have unbridled access to the internet to fully learn about
I am someone who learned guitar through Rocksmith 2014. Great game, lots of fun, taught me a lot.
Also, Sayonara Wild Hearts is *such a banger*.
Guitar Hero made me the music fan I am today. I can't overstate just how much it informed my taste in music.
AudioSurf was a pretty fun time. One of my old bandmates used to try breaking the game by setting it to the highest difficulty... and using a super slow song for the track, like Harvest Moon by Neil Young. It came up with some weird results lol.
Played Rocksmith a few times at my friend's house, he has it on his Xbox 360. It's actually a really good teaching tool for guitar and bass
Mic had always given me "music Scott the Woz" vibes and this just cements it even more
As someone who started playing Guitar Hero on the Wii, it’s always very shocking for me to see the characters’ hair actually move. 😂 Also, the talk of DLC always sounds like an alternate universe that I never knew existed back then. 😭
Only 0.08% of this video was Hatsune Miku smh
I’m glad to see No Straight Roads got a mention here. Like you said, that game has a great soundtrack!
Great video. Some of my favourites that you didn't mention are:
1. Muse Dash. You have 2 columns that enemies appear on and you have to hit them. I'ts basically what you'd expect from a basic rhythm game, but it's execution is really well done.
2. Phigros. Its a game for mobile. The concept is that the hitline moves. It creates really cool and creative levels (think Osu's Aleph-0). Also it has lore and a lot of secrets.
3. Cytoid. It's osu, but with a hitline that scrolls across the screen.
4. Geometry dash. a rhythmic game (like the last cathegory). A platformer but everything is timed to the music. Also it has a custom level editor and you can play other peoples stages.
5. Piano tiles. Not actually a favourite but I was surprised it wasn't even mentioned.
As someone who's been a huge rhythm game fan all the back to PaRappa the Rapper, to Amplitude, Guitar Hero/Rock Band, all the way to today, this was an incredibly well done video. I applaud you sir.
I'm just here to express my deep love and appreciation to another Elite Beat Agents fan.
Also, I highly recommend the rhythm platformer Mad Rat Dead and its incredible soundtrack!
Parappa The Rapper is an undeniable part of my childhood. Those songs are hardwired into my dna
10% other rhythm games
90% guitar hero games