Rhythm Tengoku (Game Boy Advance)

This page details one or more prototype versions of Rhythm Tengoku (Game Boy Advance).

In 2016, a kiosk demo version of Rhythm Tengoku known as the Rhythm Tengoku Taikenban was dumped and released by Demoban. The player is able to play the Rhythm Test, as well as three rhythm games from the first set of the retail game: Karate Man, Rhythm Tweezers, and The Clappy Trio.

It supposedly was playable in stores about a month before the game's release, and development was close to being finished, so there's not much to see in terms of interesting differences between this and the final game. It's all pretty minor stuff.

Did you know that Rhythm Tengoku costs only ¥3800?

General#

Health & Safety Info#

Trial Version	Retail
n/a

For starters, the demo lacks the Health and Safety screen usually seen when booting up the game.

Title Screen#

Trial Version	Retail

The title screen in the demo adds a subtitle reading "体験版" (roughfully translating to Trial Version), as well as the first and certainly not last instance of "おねだん ¥３,８００", denoting the price of the game.

Attract Screen#

Trial Version	Retail

Once again, a mini-logo, and the aforementioned message was added to the top-right of the screen to inform players that Rhythm Tengoku costs ¥3800.

Main Menu#

Trial Version	Retail
n/a

When starting the game, the demo goes directly to the minigame select screen, while the full game first takes the player to a separate menu, containing other features that are normally inaccessible in the demo. One of these options is the Rhythm Test, which in the demo was moved to the minigame selection screen. The main menu can be accessed through the debug menu, but the audio quality is different than in the final game.

In the Options menu, the Stereo/Mono sound setting options are non-functional, so the demo is locked to Mono regardless of which option is chosen.

Game Select#

Trial Version	Retail

The demo version, once again, reminds the player of the game's price, and the text on the bottom-left reads "おためし: あそんでみてネ！" ("Trial: Take a look!") in the demo, as opposed to "ステージ １:ようこそ！" ("Stage 1: Welcome!"). In the demo, only three games can be selected, in addition to the Rhythm Test. Pressing B has no effect in the demo, whereas in the retail version it takes you back to the previous menu.

Rhythm Games#

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Generally speaking, all games accessible in the demo were modified in some way to include a message advertising the upcoming release of the game. Another difference that applies to all games is that the option to pause the game using Start has been disabled.

Rhythm Test#

When first starting the game in the retail version, the player must take the Rhythm Test before being able to enter the game select screen. Afterwards, the player can choose to take the test again from the main menu. In the demo, the Rhythm Test is treated as a rhythm game and is placed in the game select screen, right under Karate Man.

The sound effect for the note appearing on-screen is the same sound used for the balls bouncing in the Bouncy Road rhythm game in the full game. This seems to be a bug, as loading the Rhythm Test through other methods, such as the debug menu, uses the intended (?) sound.

Karate Man#

Karate Man	Trial Version	Retail
Karate Man 2	Trial Version (Unused)	Retail

The demo includes the text "リズム天国 おねだん ¥３,８００" (Rhythm Heaven - Price: ¥3,800") in the background when the Flow meter is at 50% or higher (three hearts or more).

This game's sequel also has this text, although it wasn't meant to be playable in this Trial Version.

Rhythm Tweezers#

Rhythm Tweezers	Trial Version	Retail
Rhythm Tweezers 2	Trial Version (Unused)	Retail

The demo has the text "リズム天国は、おねだん ３,８００円です。" scrolling along the bottom of the screen.

The Clappy Trio#

The Clappy Trio	Trial Version	Retail
The Snappy Trio	Trial Version (Fake)	Retail

In the demo, the text on the sign changes to "リズム天国 おねだん ¥３,８００" by the end of the game.

This game's sequel, The Snappy Trio, doesn't feature any changes as it does not share the same sign graphic as the game it was based on, and it was not intended to be playable in this Trial Version. However, there is a mock up of what it would look like.

Marching Orders (Unused)#

Marching Orders	Trial Version (Unused)	Retail
Marching Orders 2	Trial Version (Fake)	Retail

In this unused version of Marching Orders, the text "リズム天国 ８/３（木） ¥３,８００" ("Rhythm Heaven - 8/3 (Thursday) - ¥3,800") moves at the end, when the marchers are off camera.

Marching Orders 2's textures are corrupted because it wasn't meant to be included in the demo.

Spaceball (Unused)#

Spaceball	Trial Version (Unused)	Retail

This unused version of Spaceball has the text "リズム天国 ８/３（木） ¥３,８００" to pop out at the last zoom.

Its sequel, Spaceball 2, does not have this.

Unused Stuff#

Debug Menu#

Much like its released counterpart, the demo contains a Debug Mode. The items present are nearly the exact same, with the new addition of R-IQ (ありがとう) (R-IQ (Thank you)), a thanks for playing screen.

To access the debug menu, make the following changes to the ROM in a hex editor:

From there, it should load in place of the title screen.

"Thanks For Playing!" Screen#

The previously mentioned thanks for playing screen. It says when the full game released, so it was a reminder to buy the game on August 3rd for 3,800 yen.

Unused Sounds#

When opening the ROM as raw audio on Audacity, it's revealed that every sound effect from the retail version is still in there, but only some of the ones from the mentioned playable games above are used.