🟠[3/5]︱HarmoKnight Review
Preamble
Back in my review for The Legend of Dark Witch, I've talked in the beginning about the Nintendo 3DS being one of the most influential systems I've ever used, and how it was my first foreway into having internet access. While I was only limited to E and E10+ games at the time (and absolutely no Miiverse access), the games I've listed on there made me not have to worry about that extra Nintendo goodness. However, there was one game I forgotten to mention on that list: HarmoKnight. It's a 2014 Action Rhythm game developed by GameFreak, the same developers of the Pokémon series. Sometimes when they're working on the next Pokémon installment, they work on an unrelated, original game that has some references to such, and in this case, it's about some boy with a giant magical treble with a small rad rabbit fending off against noise things. It's a charming game for the Nintendo 3DS, although most people nowadays don't think of it that much.
Looking at the reviews on Backloggd, it seems to be accurate with the general reception HarmoKnight usually gets: the one charming rhythm game on the 3ds that people played in their childhoods but forget since it didn't provide as much of a lasting experience as other games had on that system. In the case for me, little me was HOOKED onto HarmoKnight. I don't know what it was about the game that made me wish to get it immediately, but I was looking at it so much that I exausted the play count for this game (why was this a thing back then), and I had to wait until I had to get the full version to play it.
....and I didn't. That is, until the time that I modded my 3DS.
As always, when it comes to most of the games that I've played so far, playing games through other means has always been the way for when it comes to games that I don't have access to through normal means, HarmoKnight included. My sister did have a digital copy of the game, but there was no game sharing feature that the 3DS had like Virtual Game Cards for the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. With the software that the homebrew developers have offered for modded players, it was finally time to see if this small action rhythm game is actually worth my time.
Story (3/5)
Your average story, except, even for a rhythm game, it's cooking up something. Melodia, the world this game takes place in, is a world of "melody and music." It centers around Tempo and Tappy, who was doing his daily dose of traning. They then witness a noisy meteor coming onto their world, and it interupts their traning as they both fall down to a cave and Tappy gets eaten by some melody monster. Tempo chases after it and after defeating it, it spits out Tappy, and the legendary note staff. They meet Master Woodwin and he explains that Melodia is under attack by an overlord named Gargan and his Noizoids, and that Tempo is also unworthy of using the blade, however he's free to use it as a training weapon. Woodwin tells them to meet with Lyra (and eventually Tyko and his pet monkey) so that he staff can be used by someone else, and after going to Symphony City, the central place for melody and music, they figure out that the Princesss, Princesss Ariana (or Aralia) has been captured by the enemies with the intent for them to turn her into a noizoid to conquer the planet. Your standard taking over the world story.The story then goes to stopping the Noizoids and Gargan once and for all, and at Baroque Volcano (or Baroque Mountain), the final area in the game, Gargan transforms Ariana and paralyzes Tempo's friends, turning the final battle onto an incredible 1-1 duo. Of course, the good guys win, and the Volcano erupts, sending the enemies back into space. With the enemies now gone, Ariana turns back to normal, Melodia is restored, and Tempo becomes the true HarmoKnight.
Gameplay (3/5)
HarmoKnight is an action rhythm game where you go through stages to the beat of the song. You start off as soloing Tempo jumping and hitting enemies and obstacles that warrant more music notes, and after each of them, you can either do Great or Good, and get a special note that allows you to progress through more of the game. There's also more characters that you'll come across, but I've shelved this game around the point that you unlock Lyra.I'm not the best at critiquing Rhythm games since I've played very few of them (the Rhythm Heaven series, Project Diva Future Tone Arcade/Megamix/F2nd, and Beat City), but there's something about HarmoKnight that I find its gameplay to be stupidly annoying that I haven't encountered in any other of the following rhythm games I've played:
While this game is indeed another rhythm game, the game isn't really as rhythmic as what actually is. It feels like the precise timing of just hitting things is a lot more strict, and the small sound indicators of when an enemy is about to strike, it's a tiny bit off beat. I'm confidently saying that I'm a pretty decent Rhythm Heaven player since that's the series I've been having countless hours on each entry, but even I'm struggling to maintain consistently getting greats on the stages, and the extra things to hit for more points. The controls for this game are fine—it's just jumping, attacking, and moving left or right. Most rhythm games' way of presenting their difficulty is through visual distractions since after learning the melody that comes with the song, the matter is now getting that sense of rhythm and seperating the visuals from the music mentally. I haven't played this game much to know if HarmoKnight has this on top of others, but from what I've played, this game's way of expressing it's difficulty is the same but leaning more on the memory aspect since in the "miniboss" areas, it's essentially Rhtyhm Tweezers from Rhythm Heaven but much harder even after the first few from the first world. And I fucking love Rhtyhm Tweezers GBA. I still have yet to play the ones in Groove through...
Honestly, if this game was a bit more forgiving in the beginning and started to become what it was like in the beginning in the middle, I would've stuck to this game a lot more.
Replay Value (4/5)
I was going to rate this section lower, but after a simple search, it appears that the replay value for HarmoKnight is quite a bit, actually! It's been teased in the main campaign (even in the demo that I remember), but there's some extra stages that are all Pokémon themed (cause y'know GameFreak made this game LOL), and they serve nothing to the story other than netting more notes. There's also fast-paced versions of the main story stages after beating them with a high rank, which for some of the ones that were already fast paced to begin with extremely difficult. There's also a whole eighth unlockable world that is all about precision, performance, and memory. The last thing that comes to HarmoKnight's replay value is that you're able to unlock concept art, which is just cherry on top.Graphics (4/5)
Funny, Whimsical, Jolly, and Creative in it's finest. James Turner, the director for this game, really knew how this game was going to be from the very beginning, and the graphics are some great stuff. It's a cartoony art style similar to something you'd find on nickelodeon or cartoon network, and because I grew up with the former, it feels right at home, and both the 2D and 3D art styles managed to keep the same level of quality. He really nailed the overall design of the characters, as they're extravagant in cartoon standards. And this doesn't even stop with just HarmoKnight; all of the stuff he's been credited with show the same level of appreciation as this game.His notable mons were Shadow Lugia from Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness and Buzzwoole from [Ultra] Sun/Moon, but he also created Phantump, Guzzlord, Poipole (and its evolution), Gigantamax Pikachu/Gengar/Zizagoon, Vanillite (and its evolutions), and Golett (and its evolutions). More can be found here.
Soundtrack (3/5)
I didn't play much to the point where the music gets better, but from what I've played, the music is average.Verdict/Other Thoughts (3/5)
Even though my heart wanted to continue to see what the ending has been like, my mind and my fingers didn't feel like completing this game to it's full. As much as I appreciate HarmoKnight having a special place during my childhood, coming back to it as an adult makes me view the game with the experience of playing other rhythm games makes this game look more like a drag than nothing else. If there's one takeaway from this game through that I wished to see elsewhere is James Turner and his whimsical art style. I honestly miss the artwork that's been done for this game, and compared to Pokémon, Tempo is yet another character I want to list as a "forgotten one" because how many Nintendo fans actively remember him enough to draw fanart of him and any of his companions compared to the simple popularity that is Pokémon? I wouldn't know personally, but I'm sure that number won't be as big.Maybe sometimes I'll finish this game, but in the midst of the rhythm games I'm playing at the moment, I'm going through Rhythm Heaven Groove still, and I haven't even reached the 5th remix (since I'm taking my sweet time going through this masterpiece). If I ever get down to finishing this game, I'l likely cover this game again to give my full opinions regarding it.