Dom from DarkZero writes - "Before the popularity of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, which brought mainstream appeal to the music rhythm genre (and sadly, single-handedly killed it as well), music games were kind of a niche thing, due to their often peculiar designs. Some of my favourite rhythm games caught my love because of their unique visuals, addictive music and Japanese flavour. I’m speaking about games like the awesome Bust-A-Groove, the rocking Um Jammer Lammy, the tremendously quirky Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, and my favourite of the bunch, the legendary Gitaroo Man. Sega has been enjoying success with the genre in Japan, thanks to acquiring the rights to create Hatsune Miku video games based on the extremely popular vocaloid. Currently there are seven games in the series that span PSP, PS3, 3DS and Vita, but, unsurprisingly, this is the first time the franchise has left Japan to go international."
VGChartz's Adam Cartwright: "Despite its somewhat anaemic lineup of backwards-compatible titles (unusual in light of the genre’s strong pedigree on Sony consoles), Vita’s selection of rhythm games is highly impressive in the modern market with genre favourites like DJMax, Hatsune Miku and Taiko no Tatsujin all present and plenty of quirky oddities like Deemo, Love Live & Persona thrown in for good measure. You’re definitely going to need to try your hand at importing to get the most of the genre here, but that shouldn’t be an issue thanks to region-free hardware and easy-to-grasp gameplay."
VGChartz's Adam Cartwright: "the handheld was unable to attract certain types of software – western AAA development quickly evaporated, as did Sony’s own support, because there weren’t enough consoles out there for such titles to be profitable. But that doesn’t mean that every publisher failed to find success. Indeed, there are a number of franchises out there that have been able to appeal to the Vita’s niche and which have seen positive sales numbers and critical reception, leading to them becoming mainstays on the handheld.
It’s these series that I intend to examine in more depth this article – what they are, what entries we’ve seen, what success they’ve had, and what it’s meant for the console’s future. I’ll be using known sales figures where possible to back things up, hopefully demonstrating that the Vita has been a solid home for a number of great series despite its otherwise weak commercial performance on the market."
Hatsune Miku has become an international icon. What began as a singing synthesizer turned into a character recognized around the world that stars in multiple forms of media. In the realm of games, people recognize her as a rhythm game star. But what else do people need to know about her?
