SUPER CRAZY RHYTHM CASTLE

The game has some super cool mechanics and a great playlist of music to play along to. Unfortunate that it doesn't let you get steam achievements when another player is host despite both playing on separate accounts, doing the same stuff, and both owning the game. A little demoralizing.

Criminal what happened to this game really, Konami really blew it when it came to advertising this one. super crazy rhythm castle is an enormous variety of things. It's like a homage of as many rhythm games as possible, it's as though you were playing BeMani but instead of a scratch panel and piano combo you control a different segment of a vintage fotoplayer, which is to say, the developers' main objective is to have you do anything but actually play the music, I'm pleasantly surprised by the fact that despite this premise, reception for this game was rather warm and nowhere near as polarizing as I had imagined.
First and foremost this Is a rhythm gamer's game, okay this is the game you go out and buy long after you start 1ccing/fcing every arcade and console game the exact instant you boot a new one up and begin to miss when rhythm games seemed indomitable time commitments, this is the game you play after you beat through the fire and the flames on expert first try after years of not touching guitar hero and realize something has gone horribly wrong.
Preferably you would play on the highest difficulty upon booting the game, yet fortunately you're not pressured into doing so, at first this would appear to alleviate things but the experience of multitasking various interactive segments unique to each level is kept intact in either difficulty, as such the experience is largely identical in either extreme of the rhythm game difficulty bell curve, it's everything else about this game that's likely to filter you instead.
There's an endless cornucopia of vague descriptors I could throw around to describe isolated minute aspects among thousands of others that constitute what makes this game interesting. Mario 64 stars, wario ware missions, point and click puzzles, half the time you're gonna be running around like a headless chicken trying to make sense of what's going on, what's changed in the last 20 seconds, if playing the rhythm game portion is having a significant impact on something else happening elsewhere. This is an ADHDer nightmare if you try to play this alone like I did, there's levels that ontop of being complex also throw a timer on you.
You're thrown outlandish obstacles and abstracts that become increasingly complex with each level, it's a roundabout way to get someone who's too good for the rhythm section to actually replay the levels through clever obfuscation, and I can see it go either way, it could be the most frustrating game in the world or a breath of fresh air, I feel fortunate to have enjoyed my time with this game despite its proclivity to troll you, specially if you're playing alone.
As a musician It was also a very pleasant surprise to hear that the music is light years ahead of what was featured in second impact game's (that's the name of the studio) previous outings, and don't get me wrong I grew up playing super crazy guitar maniac, it's precious to me, but the composition here is really impressive, I was hoping to be able to play in your eyes by verax as featured in guitar maniac 3, they do make homages to that game, and noticeably smaller nods to konami's own cemetery of rhythm and retro games like DDR and BeMani, but it's very minimal, I felt this was a mistake, I would have liked seeing characters from pop 'n music show up, more retro cartridges being available and having them be more accessible from the start, these types of titles are a great opportunity for that, even if it's been overdone in the last decade.
I feel it prefers to vow indirectly to the games it was inspired by, there's always something it lifts from a different classic title, some identifiable ground is paved for laymanship to make its trek amid the stupefying noise, it does want to be seen to the very end, but it doesn't outright state its intent for such a thing, you'll feel a bit clever by the end of it.
For me the closest thing this reminds me of is adventures of cookie & cream, it's chaotic, much harder on your own, filled with charm and original ideas, very inspired and a wonderful addition to anyone's list of co op games, though sadly this was a bit of a flop across all platforms, it'll be difficult to find anyone to play with, more so given its rhythm game profile, it's not an ideal game for remote play together, i think most people deemed its asking price too high for a game soliciting multiple copies and high proficiency. It's a niche within a niche really.

Really fun co-op rhythm game.
Most of the levels are setup so that someone plays the notes while the other(s) do different tasks like fighting creatures or cooking or just whatever the level is. For that reason I don't think it'd be a good game solo but it fun with 2-4 people. It's also really easy to get off and on the notes since sometimes you need all 4 on the notes to generate enough power.
It did feel a little clunky sometimes but not that bad.
The story is pretty funny and I enjoyed it. Art is great. Music was phenomenal. I would say its about 50% original music from them and the other half from already existing songs.
Great game with friends, worth full price. Solo, maybe not so much.

Gotta say, I love the party theme of the game alongside rhythm game.
Music is a bit wacky, gameplay is great, but there is one thing that pisses me off.
Please do not make cutscenes / forced dialouge stop literally one after another.
moving 2 steps to end up being stopped again when you are trying to get to the next level is a bit annoying lol

Fun rhythm game! Definitely best played with another person or a group since the levels are mainly built around multiplayer, especially if you plan on getting 3 stars on all levels, but single player is an option. Also I get to play as a cute bird so +1.
I will say though, $39.99USD is way too high for roughly a 4-8 hour experience. Highly recommend waiting for a sale. Game usually drops down to $10 or lower.

I Love this game. I played as an adorable bird wearing a bell named Jingle. I couldn't stop playing I just wanted to see what was next. Besides being a great rhythm game it also has an interesting story that doesn't take itself to seriously and becomes silly at some points. I like the way it ended and there's plenty of opportunities to continue to progress as you become more skilled. You can unlock new playable characters. You can unlock more challenging game modes. And on top of all of that its MULTIPLAYER which I love and which me and my friends have had a ton of fun. Also the art style makes me super happy. 10/10 would recommend. I wanted to win. I cared about the characters. Two thumbs up to the developers!

PLEASE ADD A FRIEND PASS! It would really help this game get off the ground and its worth it because its really incredible, just a bit too pricey for me and my 3 friends to buy it- Steam remote play works but esp in rhythm games lag kills.