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. How Rhythm points are calculated is = (Level Score/(48*Moves In Level)).

50 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.

Trivia

• In Stage 2 and 4A, you can miss as much as you want at the end of the level. This is because there is no auto phase before the end in these levels.
  

  Negative score from pressing X.
• When inputting movement, it adds to your score. The amount of the addition depends on the timing.

1. Perfect timing (). This adds 3 Score points and registers the move.
2. Good timing (). This adds 2 Score points and registers the move.
3. Okay timing (). This adds 1 Score point and registers the move.
4. Bad timing (). This doesn't add any Score points and doesn't register the move.

• When pressing the X button, Sometimes it can subtract your score. With this you can get a negative score.
• The stages don't have a unified tempo. Here are the tempos for each stage.

1. In Stages 1, 2, and 4X, the tempo is in 180 BPM(?)
2. In Stages 3X, the tempo is in 120 BPM.
3. In Stages 5X, the tempo is 240 BPM.

Routes

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