Rhythm 'n' Face

Rhythm 'n' Face
Original name	リズムンフェイス
Release date	9 March 2000
Format	Game
Lost?	No

Rhythm 'n' Face (リズムンフェイス, Rizumunfeisu) is a rhythm video game developed by OutSide Directors Company and published by Asmik Ace Entertainment for the PlayStation. A companion book with demonstrations on how to design with basic shapes, as well as designs contributed by various artists and journalists, was released alongside it.

Gameplay

The goal of every stage in Rhythm 'n' Face is to manipulate shapes (squares, triangles and circles) to create "faces" in sync with the stage music's beat. Pressing the Circle, Square, and Triangle buttons will select the respective shape and place it in the center of the grid, pressing the L1 and R1 buttons will increase and decrease the size of the shape, pressing the D-Pad buttons will move the shape on the grid, and pressing the X button will do nothing and counts as a move.

Each stage is comprised of a series of three short phases: a computer player will select a shape and manipulate it into a specific size and position, and the player must then copy the computer player's actions while keeping on-beat. If the player doesn't get a shape near the correct position and size before the end of their phase, they lose one life and the characters on both sides of the screen shrink. the computer player will then repeat its phase again. If the player loses all four of their lives, they must restart the stage. In the state after the player loses a life, identified by the small characters, you will only need to place the shape closer to the intended position and below or equal to its size. If the player keeps correctly placing shapes, they will rack up a combo and gain a life back (assuming they have lost any). If you have a combo at the last 4 turns, the game will start the player's shapes in a random position on the grid to throw them off and further challenge them to keep their combo going. The third phase is an automatic phase where the computer adds many shapes to the grid for gameplay convenience.

At the end of a stage, the player is ranked in two categories: "Rhythm" and "Art", on a scale from 0 to 50. "Rhythm" measures how well the player did in keeping on-beat (as well as how many extra actions they did successfully), and "Art" is used to measure how accurate the player's face is to the intended face. Art is always in multiples of 10. Art only measures the shapes and not the dislocation of them.

The intended faces of each level are actually the not ones that the CPU uses. The intended faces are shown briefly on the loading screen when playing a level for the first time, and can also be found in the game's manual and website. Replicating the intended face gives you 50 Art points while following the CPU will give you 30 Art points. You can get below 30 Art points if your face is innacurate enough from the intended face.

• 

  This face will get 50 Art points.

• 

  This face will get 30 Art points.

• 

  This face will get 0 Art points.

Completing all four routes will unlock the ability to toggle three additional settings in the options menu:

• Texture: Overlays a texture onto every shape.
• Fukuwarai: Makes the active shape as well as all previously placed shapes invisible until the end of the stage.
• Duet: Enables a turn-based multiplayer mode. Whenever one player fails to move a shape correctly, it will become the other player's turn.

If you get 350 total points on any route, that route's bonus stage will be unlocked. The bonus stages act as free-paint modes, allowing you to make faces without having to worry about rhythmic timing or copying the computer player's actions.

Routes

Route	Stage	Title
A	1	Happy Peace Smile
	2	Swan Song 2000
	3A	Fat Tiger Blues
	4A	Something in Heaven
	5A	Wondering Bullfighter
	Bonus A	Water #036
B	1	Happy Peace Smile
	2	Swan Song 2000
	3A	Fat Tiger Blues
	4B	Dabster & Dubstar
	5B	Quiet Rose
	Bonus B	Steel #036
C	1	Happy Peace Smile
	2	Swan Song 2000
	3B	Dr. Boochang Lee
	4C	Rock the Rocket
	5C	Apollo Comic
	Bonus C	Universe #036
D	1	Happy Peace Smile
	2	Swan Song 2000
	3B	Dr. Boochang Lee
	4D	Green Castle
	5D	Durian Moon
	Bonus D	Voice #036

Trivia

• The name of Fukuwarai mode refers to a Japanese children's game similar to Pin the Tail on the Donkey, where blindfolded players attempt to pin body parts onto a blank face.
• A demo version appears on the coverdisc for the March 2000 issue of Famitsu Wave magazine, containing the first stage. The build appears to be from late 1999 and has some graphical differences, mostly in the menus.

External Links

• Rhythm 'n' Face Companion Book
• Rhythm 'n' Face section on OSD's website (archive)

See also

• ●▲■, a mobile app with a similar control scheme.