I think there will be increased potential for game music to cross over into the mainstream in the future, but avid fans usually don't respond to gimmicks they feel are too contrived. Still, this song has been used in TV commercials, and it's really gotten popular in Japan. Occasionally, a song or score from a game will become a hit, but there hasn't been a truly nationwide hit from a game yet. Things like this just happen naturally in Japan. Since the game's release, when these girls perform the song at one of their concerts in Japan, the audience starts cheering and really gets into it, just like in the game. _Tsunku?: _I've had one of the up-and-coming groups I'm producing perform the song live. How did this come to be? The fans seem to really know the music and enjoy it - do you see this sort of crossover, of videogame music becoming popular outside the game, as something that will become more common in the future? : There have been live performances of the 'Fan Club' song from Rhythm Heaven in Japan.

There would be no point in the game if we sacrificed the rhythmic gameplay just to make the meaning of the English and Japanese lyrics match, so we had the localizers take extra care with this. Our main concern, though, was maintaining the flow and emphasis in the songs that enable all of the game's tapping and button-pressing. Then the staff at Nintendo of America localized them for an American audience, and the lyrics as they are now were completed. This is why I thought a worldwide release of this title wasn't just a pipe dream.Īs for the changes to song lyrics in the American version, the staff in Japan translated the songs into English, staying as close as they could to the meaning of the Japanese.

This is true for children, adults, men and women. Rhythm is something that can be learned without complex theories it just takes practice and repetition. Rhythm games have always transcended nationality, though. And that's why the Grammys have never come calling. Tsunku?: I mainly work in producing and writing J-pop songs, but unfortunately, because the songs are in Japanese, even if an album sells 2 million copies in Japan, it would never make it to America. Were you involved in this process? What was the most challenging part of the game to localize? : Tell me about the process of localizing Rhythm Heaven for an English-speaking audience. Rhythm Tengoku for Game Boy Advance was completed as a result, and two years later we expanded the idea with Rhythm Heaven for Nintendo DS. Then, after numerous meetings and dance classes, I was able to convey my idea to the software engineers, and slowly, it became a reality. It was a bit risky, but my staff just took our proposal and approached them directly. It wasn't like I really knew anyone with Nintendo, either.

Rhythm heaven interview kukui