Thank you Konami for sending us this game to review!

Inside Rhythm Castle resides King Ferdinand who aims to defend his crown. It’s up to you (and ideally your friends) to dethrone him. However, he won’t go down easily. In fact, King Ferdinand will employ many distractions and obstacles to stop you in your tracks. Do you have what it takes to take him down, tricks and all?

Upon starting the Super Crazy Rhythm Castle, you’ll have the option to select your character and have up to three more join you. There are several multiplayer mini-games, but they are not immediately available.

Rhythm Castle is broken down into rooms and areas. In each room is a dancing puzzle where your character will have to complete a song while enduring obstacles like the room spinning, enemies attacking, or birds causing voids that require you to stop playing the song and giving them a color-specific gem to avoid being sucked into oblivion. Depending on the time taken and accuracy you’ll be awarded between one and three stars. Future areas of the castle are blocked by requiring a specified number of stars or by appeasing gatekeepers with objects they desire.

Initially, your character will be defenseless. In the first area of the castle you’ll have to concoct herbicide by making an offering to a circle surrounded by torches. Once you complete the dance/ritual you’ll be given bagpipes that spew the herbicide. During the level’s boss fight you’ll have to stop playing a song multiple times to tend to invasive vines. After you complete a level, its song will be available to play distraction-free in a designated area of the castle. By playing these songs again, you’ll unlock the ability to unlock more songs from Konami’s intellectual property. I enjoyed unlocking and playing Castlevannia’s Vampire Killer.

For the most part, playing by yourself is possible, but it’s extremely challenging. I couldn’t get past Act 4 in the meat world on my own. Some levels give you a CPU partner named Hand Dog to assist, but he’s needed more often during boss battles.

Super Crazy Rhythm Castle is meant to be played with friends and has four mini-games to enjoy together in Versus Mode. If a team is unevenly matched, the AI Hand Dog will fill in. Here’s a breakdown of each one:

Versus Chaos - Each team must play music to fill up the balloon. The first to fill their balloon wins the point (or the fullest balloon when the music stops). You can disrupt the opposing team by kicking a football at them to stun them, blow a whistle that shuffles their rhythm notes, or deploy minim (annoying creatures) eggs.

Versus Race - Both teams play music to increase the gear of their car. The higher the gear, the faster it goes. The first team to the finish line wins the point. Disruptions such as bridges, fog clouds, and reversed song tracks randomly appear for both teams.

Versus Duel - This mini-game is very similar to Chaos but only has one type of minim egg and no whistle.

Versus Dance – Teams are not needed for this mini-game. All players compete to be the last standing in a series of challenges that require being in the right place when the metronome counts down. All participants must dodge obstacles, shoot ice with their gun, and block other players to get them eliminated.

Graphically, this game is very colorful and is sure to draw in younger audiences. There’s a lot of variety in the levels and the challenges within them are bound to keep you on your toes.

I love the soundtrack. If it was available, I’d buy it. There’s a lot of variety and I enjoy dancing to them without the distractions. It’s a shame that one of the songs has the word *ss in the title.

In the end, Super Crazy Rhythm Castle is a well-polished and enjoyable game. It’s clearly meant to be enjoyed with friends. If you don’t have any to play with you, you’ll be at a severe disadvantage and may have difficulty completing the game. As long as you have people to play with, I recommend this title.