A BRIEF HISTORY OF RHYTHM

Why do we like UK games journo Simon ‘chewingpixels‘ Parkin? First, and most obviously, because he’s taken the time to prepare this exhaustive timeline charting the evolving course of rhythm games, and second, though it doesn’t appear in the timeline, he has correctly called out 1987 Famicom Disk System game Otocky (from Electroplankton /Tenori-On creator Toshio Iwai) as one of the true groundbreakers (as well as included some uber-obscurities like PlayStation 2 title Dog of Bay). He explains, though, on Otocky‘s absence, as well as notable others:

I’ve limited the list to rhythm-action games in the strictest sense, that is, games in which you time inputs to match prerecorded music. So there’s no Rez, ElectroPlankton or WiiMusic, titles in which a player’s inputs do create musical outputs, but not necessarily in a scored or timed framework.

We have to go back and check again to see if they break the rules, but we might have a few additions — Agetec’s recent DS title Rhythm ‘n Notes springs quickly to mind, as well as Wonderswan Color game Rhyme Rider Kerorican and the forthcoming Major Minor’s Majestic March (both from Parappa creator NanaOn-Sha) , as well as at least one other original PlayStation obscurity which is escaping us at the moment.

chewing pixels » The Rhythm-Action Timeline