Rhythm Heaven date set
Nintendo confirmed Rhythm Heaven Groove will arrive July 2, 2026 — it’s the series’ first wholly original entry since Rhythm Heaven Fever in 2011, so longtime fans have a real release to mark on their calendars. (games.gg). Nintendo announced the date via the Nintendo Today app, which suggests the company is keeping promotion tightly controlled ahead of a wider Direct. (games.gg)
Nintendo just slipped a July 2, 2026 date onto Rhythm Heaven Groove after first announcing the game only as a 2026 release in the March 27, 2025 Nintendo Direct. The updated date showed up in Nintendo’s own news flow this week, not in a big standalone showcase. (nintendo.com) Rhythm Heaven is Nintendo’s comedy rhythm series where the trick is listening for the beat instead of staring at meters and score bars. Nintendo’s store page says Groove is built around “eclectic rhythm games” and “catchy original music,” including tracks by Japanese producer Tsunku♂. (nintendo.com) This is the first brand-new Rhythm Heaven game in a long gap that stretches back to Rhythm Heaven Fever on Wii in 2011. Nintendo’s March 2025 announcement called Groove “a brand new entry,” which is why fans treated the reveal like a series revival instead of a remake or re-release. (nintendo.com) Nintendo first showed Groove during a Nintendo Direct on March 27, 2025, in the same presentation that also introduced the Nintendo Today mobile app. Nintendo’s official recap listed both the new game and the new app together, which matters because the release-date update later appeared through that same app ecosystem. (nintendo.com) Nintendo Today is a free iPhone and Android app tied to a Nintendo Account, and Nintendo says it delivers daily updates based on what a user likes. That makes it less like a one-time press conference and more like Nintendo building its own news feed on players’ phones. (nintendo.com) The new April 9, 2026 Nintendo post gives the clearest picture yet of what Groove actually looks like. Nintendo says players will chop flying vegetables, bounce fruit off biceps, flap with birds, and follow the beat across a broad collection of microgames. (nintendo.com) Nintendo’s official store listing also shows Groove as a Nintendo Switch release, not a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive. That keeps the audience wide, because it puts the game on the same hardware family that already sold for years before this date was locked in. (nintendo.com) The timing is neat in another way: Nintendo spent March 2025 saying only “2026,” then spent April 2026 narrowing that down to one summer day. After fifteen years without a wholly new entry, Rhythm Heaven fans finally have an exact date instead of a vague window. (nintendo.com)
