Rhythm game, or rhythm action, is a type of music-themed action video game. These games mostly focus either on dancing or simulating the playing of musical instruments. Players must press buttons in time with commands from the game, which are in time with the rhythm of a song. Doing so will cause the game's protagonist or avatar to dance or play their instrument correctly, thus achieving a greater score. The game can be played with a hand-held controller, though different control devices have been made to play rhythm games, such as guitar- and drum-shaped controllers for musical instrument games, and pressure-sensitive pads (called dance mats) that the player must step on for dancing games. The Kinect for the Xbox 360 allows the player to use their whole body to control the game by tracking their movements. Some games have a multi-player mode, where players can play as members of a band or dance crew, or compete against each other.
The 1996 title PaRappa the Rapper was the first influential rhythm game. The basic design of the game became a pattern that later rhythm games followed. In 1997, Konami's Beatmania started popularity for rhythm games in Japan. The company's music division, Bemani, released many music games over the next several years. The most successful of these was dance mat game Dance Dance Revolution, which was also the only one to achieve large-scale success outside of Japan. The game's style was imitated by many other games, until the release of Harmonix's Guitar Hero. The game was inspired by similar, earlier Japanese games, but Harmonix added rock music aimed at a Western audience. The success of the game revived the genre and two hugely successful franchises were born in Guitar Hero and the later Rock Band. The success of both expanded the console video game market and its demographics. By 2008, rhythm games were considered to be one of the most popular video game genres, behind other action games. However, because there were so many spin-offs from the core titles in 2009, there was a nearly 50% drop in sales for music games, causing them to scale-back plans for further expansion in 2010.
Definition and game design
Rhythm game, or rhythm action, is a subgenre of action game that challenges a player's sense of rhythm, and includes dance games such as Dance Dance Revolution and other music-based games such as Donkey Konga and Guitar Hero. These games challenge the player to press the right button at the right time: the screen shows which button the player should press next, and the game awards points for being on the beat. The genre also includes games that measure both rhythm and pitch, in order to test a player's singing ability. In addition to rhythm, some games may challenge the player to control their volume by measuring how hard they press each button. While songs can be sight read without having performed them before, players usually practice to master more difficult songs and settings. Other rhythm games offer a challenge similar to that of Simon says, where the player must watch, remember, and repeat complex sequences of button-presses.
In some rhythm games, the screen will display an avatar who performs in response to the player's button-presses. However, they are usually in the background, and the avatar is less important to the player than it is to spectators. In single-player mode, the player's avatar will compete against a computer-controlled opponent, while multiplayer mode will allow two player-controlled avatars to compete head-to-head. The popularity of rhythm games has created a market for different controllers. These include a variety of controllers which look like musical instruments, such as guitars, drums, or maracas. A dance mat, for use in dancing games, requires the player to step on pressure-sensitive pads. Traditional control pads may also be used.
History
Origins and popularity in Japan (1970's - 2000)