Rhythm

Rhythm game, or rhythm action, is a genre of music-themed action video games. Games in the genre primarily focus either on dancing or simulating the playing of musical instruments. Players must press buttons at a precise time corresponding to a sequence dictated by the game. Doing so will cause the game's protagonist or avatar to dance or play their instrument correctly, thus achieving a greater score. Many rhythm games include multiplayer modes in which players compete for the highest score or cooperate to simulate a band playing together. While conventional control pads may be used as input devices, rhythm games often feature novel devices which emulate musical instruments. Dancing games sometimes require the player to physically dance on a mat, with pressure-sensitive pads acting as the input device.