In the Rhythm Heaven series, players are tasked with doing their best in its eclectic lineup of games, and are rated on their performance after every game. It may seem as though a “Superb” or “Amazing” is the highest rating one can achieve, but for those seeking a challenge, you can strive for nothing less than Perfect, and we’ll show you how in this Rhythm Heaven Groove Perfect guide.
How to Unlock Perfects
Like all other Rhythm Heaven games, you can’t get a perfect in Groove simply by playing a rhythm game flawlessly, you have to be prompted first.
This process of being prompted to achieve a Perfect is known as the Perfect Campaign, and we’ve determined that there are three conditions must be met for Perfect prompts to appear in Groove:
- You must have at least 1 medal/Amazing rank
- You’ve unlocked Stage 4 in the solo campaign
- 6 Rhythm Game plays have elapsed
In other words, you won’t start getting perfects until you reach the Fruit Flex game, already have at least 1 Amazing rank, and then play any 6 rhythm games after. Once you’ve met the criteria above, you’ll start seeing Perfect prompts cycling between your medal-ranked games.
Note: This also means that you cannot get a perfect in the demo version of the game, since the demo stops at Remix 1.
Now that you know how to get a perfect to appear, we’ll discuss what happens when you attempt a Perfect.
Taking The Perfect Challenge
When the Perfect Campaign is ready for a rhythm game, a notice will pop up before you can select a game, telling you what game you can get a perfect on, as well as what you’ll unlock for clearing it. This game is randomly chosen from your Medal-ranked games, so you can’t freely pick which game to get a perfect on.
The game icon will also be framed in a pink border, with three hearts on it. These hearts serve as life indicators, giving players a total of three attempts to play through a game flawlessly, while showing how many attempts they have left before the Perfect Campaign ends on a game.
To start your perfect attempt, simply select the highlighted game to play it. Everything else about the Perfect Campaign is largely the same as regular gameplay: you’ll be given the opportunity to practice the game (if applicable for a particular rhythm game), and the controls and music are all the same.
If you complete a rhythm game with a Perfect, you’ll be presented with a certificate showing your accomplishment, unlock new material for the Rhythm Reference in the main menu, and will have a Perfect Medal shown on the game’s icon.
Should you run out of attempts, you’ll simply have to play another 6 games for the Perfect Campaign to return on one of your other medal-ranked games.
Note: We feel it’s important to distinguish that you don’t need to have 100% beat-perfect timing to get a Perfect. A Perfect is only looking to see if you can complete a game without missing or near-missing any notes.
What Affects a Perfect?
While the process of getting a Perfect is fairly straightforward, there are some fairly innocent things that can cause you to fail a perfect attempt. We feel it’s helpful to list these out so you’re best prepared to take on the Perfect Campaign.
Things that affect a Perfect:
- Pressing buttons when not prompted
- Failing a Perfect attempt
- Launching a featured rhythm game and quitting it/hard reboots
- Selecting “Go For Perfect!” for an already Perfected game
Things that do not affect a Perfect:
- Normal play of other rhythm games (up to 4 times)
- Turning off the game (when not attempting a perfect)
- Playing bonus games and modes
- Slightly off (but not near-missed) notes
Next up, we’ll explore how to cycle the Perfect Campaign to other games, and how to bring the campaign back once you’ve gotten a perfect.
How to Cycle a Perfect
Since every game and remix is part of the perfect campaign, you may be wondering how to move or cycle the prompt away from a particularly tricky game, especially since your “lives” aren’t reduced by playing other games as they would in prior entries in the series.
There are three ways to cycle a perfect:
- Play (or quit) the featured game three times (depletes lives)
- Selecting “Go For Perfect!” on an already Perfected game (depletes lives of featured game)
- Playing other rhythm games a total of 5 times (silently ends the perfect campaign on a game)
Once the perfect campaign leaves a game, just like before, you’ll need to have at least another medal-ranked game you don’t have a perfect on, and then play another 6 rhythm games after.
When you get a medal on all games, however, once the perfect campaign resumes, it will cycle immediately to another game, whether you get a perfect or run out of lives. Furthermore, once you have perfects on all but one game, the campaign will immediately refresh on that game when its “lives” are lost, giving you infinite tries.
Lastly, we wanted to touch on a few things Groove adds to the series, beyond perfects…
Beyond Perfection: Perfect Streaks, Eighth Notes (♪) and Night Mode
After getting perfects on everything, you may be wondering what the game has left to offer. Fortunately, Groove adds in extra content to extend gameplay and more challenges to undergo beyond just a perfect.
The first of these are Perfect Streaks.
Perfect Streaks (sometimes referred to unofficially as triple perfects,) aren’t explained in-game, but these optional streaks appear once you choose to “Go For Perfect!” on an already completed game, and well, achieve another perfect!
Once you complete one perfect, you’ll see a colored dot appear in the game’s rating. Complete this streak with three total, consecutive perfects, and you’ll then unlock Night Mode for a rhythm game.
For more details about Night Mode, as well as Perfect Streaks, check out our guide on How to Unlock Night Mode.
Lastly, once you’ve completed all games with a Perfect, you’ll notice a music note symbol appear next to some of the games you’ve played. This symbol (♪) represents that you’ve played a game with entirely beat-perfect timing, and it adds to the challenge of mastering everything in Rhythm Heaven Groove.
We’ve noticed this eighth note symbol can be lost between plays, so do your best to keep it on all the games you earn it in!
Final Thoughts
That’s all we have regarding Perfects in Rhythm Heaven Groove! for more guides and resources, you can check out our Rhythm Heaven Groove game page. And if you found this guide helpful, you can always share it out to others, too!
