Rhythm Heaven Groove date

Nintendo finally put a day on one of its longest-running “coming later” promises: Rhythm Heaven Groove is set for July 2, 2026, after first being announced with only a 2026 window in the March 27, 2025 Nintendo Direct. (nintendo.com 1) (nintendo.com 2) (insider-gaming.com) Nintendo did not break the date in a big livestream or a press release first. Reports say it appeared through the Nintendo Today! smartphone app, the daily news app Nintendo introduced in that same March 2025 Direct. (insider-gaming.com) (nintendo.com 1) (nintendo.com 2) That small detail says a lot about how Nintendo now handles announcements. Nintendo Today! is built like a calendar feed for phones, and Nintendo has been using it to push game news directly to people with Nintendo Accounts instead of waiting for a full Nintendo Direct show. (nintendo.com 1) (nintendo.com 2) Rhythm Heaven is not a normal music game where you memorize long songs like a concert set list. It is a string of tiny rhythm challenges, each one built around simple timed inputs, so the joke, the animation, and the beat all land at the same second. (polygon.com) (gematsu.com) Nintendo’s own description for Groove sticks to that formula. The official store page says players will tackle a “colourful collection” of rhythm games, and Nintendo’s 2025 announcement said the new entry would include music produced by Japanese musician Tsunku. (nintendo.com) (nintendo.com) The wait has felt long because it has been long. The last release in the series was Rhythm Heaven Megamix for Nintendo 3DS in 2015 in Japan and 2016 in North America and Europe, which means Groove arrives about a decade after the franchise’s previous game. (tech.yahoo.com) (polygon.com) There is also a second gap inside that bigger gap. Several outlets note that Megamix was largely a compilation, so Groove is the first fully new Rhythm Heaven entry since Rhythm Heaven Fever in 2011. (videogameschronicle.com) (games.gg) The platform choice is a little odd in April 2026 because Groove is listed for the original Nintendo Switch, not as a Nintendo Switch 2 showcase game. Nintendo’s store page sells it as a Switch release, while some coverage says it should run on Switch 2 through compatibility even though that status has not been fully locked down on the store listing. (nintendo.com) (tech.yahoo.com) (gameranx.com) Outside the United States, the game keeps the series’ other regional name. Nintendo uses Rhythm Paradise Groove in the United Kingdom and Europe, but it is the same July 2, 2026 release on Nintendo Switch. (nintendo.com) (videogameschronicle.com) So the news is simple, but the payoff is not small: a series that started with Rhythm Tengoku on Game Boy Advance in 2006 now has its first brand-new console entry in roughly 15 years, and fans finally know the exact day it comes back. (polygon.com) (videogameschronicle.com)