Hidden Gem: The Theatrhythm Series

Ever since I was young, I have always been a big fan of the Final Fantasy game series, whether it was on the regular NES, Super Nintendo, or even on the original Game Boy. There was something about the series that kept me coming back over and over again. The games all had interesting stories, but the game soundtracks kept playing inside of my head, the music kept calling for me to continually play the games. The soundtrack was epic and incredibly catchy, making the Final Fantasy series stand out from other role-playing games at the time. Nostalgia is a powerful influence on the games that I want to check out now as an adult, so when I saw a game that had the music from the RPGs I loved as a child, I had to play it!

Theatrhythm titles have appeared on the 3DS with two games and one on the Nintendo Switch. I have played all three and love them all, but my favourite is the latest, Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line. This entry took all the issues that you would have experienced in the earlier handheld games, perfecting them and creating an experience that could potentially keep you busy for hundreds of hours if you are a completist and collect everything that is offered in the game. However, the earlier entries are still worth playing if they are your only option.

There are multiple difficulties available for you to select from: Basic, Expert, Ultimate, and Supreme. Each song that you play will let you select how challenging it will be, and you can select a different difficulty for an individual song you play if you so wish. When I play these titles, I usually start on the easiest setting, and then after I complete all the different tracks, I bump up to make the next playthrough harder than the last.

When you start the game and complete the tutorial, you have one key that you can use to unlock which of the various Final Fantasy soundtracks you want to play through first. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so I started at the beginning with Final Fantasy from the NES and worked my way up, resisting the urge to play my favourite songs from Final Fantasy VI first…

Once you decide on a soundtrack, you get to build your team. Each of the games you select from has its own special characters from that title that you can use to build your party. Each has different strengths like elemental magic, healing, or weapons that they attack with. Some of the songs you play will give you a bonus if you have a certain character in your party, so it’s worth adding them to your group, even if they are starting at level one. The characters that you select will gain experience points and possibly level up as you challenge new tracks. When they become stronger, they learn new attacks that they can use in battle. Keep in mind you will need to equip these, so be sure to go to the screen where you edit your party and select from the available moves that will work best against the enemy you are facing. You are able to switch up the members for each song, so it is easy to customise your warriors as you need.

Once you have your party ready, you are ready to challenge a song. All you are doing is trying to hit the coloured dots moving across the screen in time with the music. Sounds easy, but you get points based on how good your timing is, so it may be harder than you expect. As you challenge the different songs, there will be areas where you are given a choice between multiple songs. I always check to see which has the best reward before deciding. I am a sucker for Mog outfits, so if one is offered as a reward, I will select that song, even if the other option is great battle music, which is the best! After you complete a song, you will see your score and ranking, showing how many notes you totally missed or didn’t time properly. Sometimes, if the score isn’t good enough, you will miss out on your reward. If you think you can do better, you can always try again, or if you are happy, move on to the next level.

Even though I have played through these same soundtracks multiple times over the three games, the gameplay is so fun and challenging — besides the great music. I keep coming back for more. The tracklist has 385 songs from 46 titles in the series, including other music from spin-off games like Final Fantasy Tactics and even Mystic Quest. There is also DLC available that adds music from other Square Enix series like Secret of Mana, LIVE A LIVE, NieR, Bravely Default, and one of my personal favourites, Chrono Trigger. If you get the digital premium version, you will have a whopping 505 songs to play!

This is a series I keep coming back to over and over again. I love that you are able to pick it up and play a couple of songs, then come back to it later; you aren’t required to play for a long period of time. Listening to all the great music is incredibly relaxing, and the gameplay is very addictive and satisfying when you hit the timing perfectly, and the rainbow-coloured CRITICAL word appears above the note. If you haven’t played any of these titles before, or if you love the music in the Final Fantasy series of games, you need to play this! With adorable chibi versions of your favourite characters and enemies, the visuals are as delightful as the music.