Rhythm Fighter [Switch]
As a big fan of rhythm games, I’m always on the look out for new ones to try out to see if they tick all the right boxes for me. Echo Games’ Rhythm Fighter is one I’ve been playing recently and I must admit, I love it. Beatara is under attack, and using the power of dark Beat Energy, Commander Chaos has animated all of the vegetables into a dangerous, dancing army to wreak havoc and wipe out the animals that live there. But Mr. Disco, revives our starting hero DJ Daxx, in order to help save the day and defeat Commander Chaos. Done in a side-scrolling layout, you move left or right with the aim of moving and attacking, along with the beat. There are two control setups available to choose from at the outset: Standard or Advanced. This allows you to tailor the gameplay to your own preferences and ability, with advanced having dual controls, tied to the buttons on either side of the screen to determine movement, attacks and rolls in either direction. Standard is a little more straightforward, with only one set of button controls, and the direction being controlled by either tapping the D-Pad or tilting the stick the way you want to face.
Within the main hub area, you can access the playable character roster - with starting character DJ Daxx and five others (including my favourite, Courier Pengu) with unique skills and abilities, that can be unlocked as you progress. There’s also Special Training, where you can choose to go up against specific enemies repeatedly to train (particularly useful if you’re struggling to get to grips with a boss and their attack patterns), or to brush up on your knowledge of the various Weapons, Tactical Items and Beat Cards you’ve unlocked. Achievements is another option accessible here, where you can see a whole bunch of tasks to complete to gain trophies. Gain enough trophies and you’ll gain new features (such as Revives), new Fighters and unlock new areas of the hub. One area you’ll need to unlock is the Laboratory, where you can ‘research advanced technology’, upgrading your characters and weapons. There’s an Automat, for you to purchase items to start your next run with. These items refresh daily, so once you’ve bought them to use in one run, they’ll be marked as Sold Out - but will remain Sold Out even if you die and want to go back for another run - so use them wisely! Daily Challenges are also accessible here, with twists on the random nature of the game. You’ll play as a specific ‘Daily Fighter’ and have ‘Daily Unique Effects’ applied that can change up what enemies are more likely to appear, as well as make it easier to come across weapons, or make things more expensive from the merchants you meet. Depending on your final score for these challenges, you’ll receive Beat Energy, which can be spent at the Automat and during your run.
Visually, Rhythm Fighter is stunning, with a really clean, cartoon style. Character designs, from the playable characters to the enemies and NPCs, are quirky and hilarious. Angry carrots, maniacal potatoes and creepy cat statues - we’ve got it all here. The wide variety of weapons available to you all change up how both your character looks, and how attacks appear, depending on different styles of weapon. Attacks are well animated, and with everything going along with the music - it gives everything a very satisfying look. The music of Rhythm Fighter is absolutely fantastic, with level themes perfectly fitting their settings. The beat is nice and strong, which is crucial for a good rhythm game. Managing to go along with the beat feels great, and successfully timing attacks and dodges to the beat increases their effectiveness, whilst mis-timing will massively impact your ability to defeat enemies, dealing a pitiful amount of damage instead.
There’s a wide variety of items available for you to unlock - which will remain unlocked across future runs, giving Rhythm Fighter its vaguely rogue-like status. From weapons that range from ‘traditional game weapons’ such as swords and frying pans, to boxing gloves that are actually just a pair of Pufferfish. Many of these will have pros and cons, as well as a wide range of damage that they can do, so there’s lots of benefit to trying out all of the weapons you can to get a feel for what works best for you. You can also find and purchase Tactical Items, as well as Beat Cards. Tactical Items can either be used repeatedly, with a cooldown, to deal extra damage or provide an alternate attack; or they may offer a stat bonus while you have them in your inventory. Beat Cards give you various stat boosts and bonuses, so these are always useful to pick up whenever you see them. All of these items can be found at random in the safes that spawn when you clear each stage, within Plasma Spheres that you pay to use, or at the other various ‘shops’ you’ll come across on your travels.
Being a rhythm game, the controls have to be perfect to ensure the game works as it should. And being a Nintendo Switch title, there’s a good chance you might suffer from Joycon drift if you’re still playing on a day-one console, but thankfully with movement being tied to the buttons, this didn’t affect me at all despite having severe drift with pretty much everything else. You can roll through enemies and their attacks, and getting into the rhythm of battles feels very satisfying. Due to the roguelike nature, you’re given a new layout each run, with stages culminating in a boss fight that can either leave you totally defenceless (if you come across that ‘room’ early on) or have you feeling a bit more prepared after gathering more items. This helps to keep the game from feeling too repetitive, especially as you’re bobbing along to the beat - it stops you from getting too comfortable with the layout. Complete a stage (and defeat the boss) within a certain amount of time, denoted by the timer counting down on the map, and heard ticking down as it gets closer to running out, will gain you access to the Speed Zone, a bonus area with extra goodies for you to pick up - and you can of course backtrack to scour any missed rooms afterwards.
There’s a huge amount of replayability here, with all of the unlockable characters, items and weapons available to be found in levels or within many of the ‘shops’. There are also secret areas hidden in some levels, and ‘Riddle Me This’ cards will give you a slight hint to the location of these areas - and how to activate their entrance, and this all helps to add a touch of mystery and excitement when you play, as you never know what goodies you’ll come across on your quest. Priced at £12.99 on the Nintendo eShop, there’s a great time to be had here. You can complete all of the levels within a couple of hours if you’re good enough, but collecting everything will definitely take you a good bit longer. If you’re a fan of rhythm games, this title will likely be perfect for you, but the sheer amount of things to do and the intriguing world and roguelike elements make this a great game even for those who wouldn’t normally go for a rhythm title.
In the end, we decided to give Rhythm Fighter the Collecting Asylum of 8.5/10.
Have you played Rhythm Fighter yet? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to Sandbox Strategies for the Rhythm Fighter Nintendo Switch review code!
