*This article/review is edited and repurposed from one I'd written on the RGT forum.
Back in August, I bought this Hello Kitty rhythm game on a whim, having noticed it was on sale at the time:
I've put about 20 hours total into it since then and I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised! It's the kind of game that's easy to pick up and play either in short bursts, or to get lost in for a few hours.
It's more of a rhythm-action game, as you have to press buttons in time with the beat, but everything is to the beat! Activating character abilities, moving left and right to dodge enemies and obstacles, while also trying to pick up coins and power-ups. You need to follow the beat and be thinking a several steps ahead.
So, that could all be considered pretty typical for a rhythm game. However, Happiness Parade is also a fairly deep and engaging Roguelite & party-based RPG!
You form your party of Sanrio characters and then begin the story mode
I say "story mode", but it's more akin to a towers or arcade mode from a fighting game, complete with multiple endings depending on the path you take. Each song you finish lets you advance 1 tile, allowing you to move upwards on the grid for more difficult stages, or downwards for easier ones
Your characters have health bars, can be KO'd and also act as your lives in the current run. You can finish a run as long as one character remains alive, but a total party-wipe results in a game over. You can also unlock the ability to have more party members on your team at once as you play.
Forming your party is also deeper than I expected, as each character has their own unique role & abilities, as well as a range of unlockable costumes and accessories for customization!
Party management involves managing ability cooldowns, figuring out which character abilities work best together and levelling them up through story mode runs. Characters can be levelled up by collecting coins & character cards during song stages, and new characters can be unlocked by progressing through story mode.
Another big surprise to me was the challenge of picking harder stages in story mode. The songs don't require any additional button inputs, or become faster-paced. Instead, they add more difficult enemies and obstacles to avoid, and increase the damage your party takes. It often takes only one mistake to lose a character on the harder stages!
My favourite Sanrio character, Kuromi, is only unlocked by advancing through the most difficult path three times, and I'd only managed it once in the first 8 hours or so of playtime! I'd played for nearly 12 hours by the time I actually unlocked her. They know how popular she is hehe
The last and perhaps most surprising thing to me about this licensed video game that was originally released on mobile phones: NO DLC OR MICROTRANSACTIONS! Every character, song, costume & accessory is included in the game and is unlockable through regular play!
This is a very fun game that surprised me in many ways. The licensed soundtrack is also pretty good and varied. I still listen to a handful of songs from the soundtrack. I would say if you like rhythm games then maybe keep an eye out for it on sale, even if you don't care much for Hello Kitty as a brand!
Back in August, I bought this Hello Kitty rhythm game on a whim, having noticed it was on sale at the time:
I've put about 20 hours total into it since then and I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised! It's the kind of game that's easy to pick up and play either in short bursts, or to get lost in for a few hours.
It's more of a rhythm-action game, as you have to press buttons in time with the beat, but everything is to the beat! Activating character abilities, moving left and right to dodge enemies and obstacles, while also trying to pick up coins and power-ups. You need to follow the beat and be thinking a several steps ahead.
So, that could all be considered pretty typical for a rhythm game. However, Happiness Parade is also a fairly deep and engaging Roguelite & party-based RPG!
You form your party of Sanrio characters and then begin the story mode
I say "story mode", but it's more akin to a towers or arcade mode from a fighting game, complete with multiple endings depending on the path you take. Each song you finish lets you advance 1 tile, allowing you to move upwards on the grid for more difficult stages, or downwards for easier ones
Your characters have health bars, can be KO'd and also act as your lives in the current run. You can finish a run as long as one character remains alive, but a total party-wipe results in a game over. You can also unlock the ability to have more party members on your team at once as you play.
Forming your party is also deeper than I expected, as each character has their own unique role & abilities, as well as a range of unlockable costumes and accessories for customization!
Party management involves managing ability cooldowns, figuring out which character abilities work best together and levelling them up through story mode runs. Characters can be levelled up by collecting coins & character cards during song stages, and new characters can be unlocked by progressing through story mode.
Another big surprise to me was the challenge of picking harder stages in story mode. The songs don't require any additional button inputs, or become faster-paced. Instead, they add more difficult enemies and obstacles to avoid, and increase the damage your party takes. It often takes only one mistake to lose a character on the harder stages!
My favourite Sanrio character, Kuromi, is only unlocked by advancing through the most difficult path three times, and I'd only managed it once in the first 8 hours or so of playtime! I'd played for nearly 12 hours by the time I actually unlocked her. They know how popular she is hehe
The last and perhaps most surprising thing to me about this licensed video game that was originally released on mobile phones: NO DLC OR MICROTRANSACTIONS! Every character, song, costume & accessory is included in the game and is unlockable through regular play!
This is a very fun game that surprised me in many ways. The licensed soundtrack is also pretty good and varied. I still listen to a handful of songs from the soundtrack. I would say if you like rhythm games then maybe keep an eye out for it on sale, even if you don't care much for Hello Kitty as a brand!
