In a recent issue of Famitsu, Nintendo announced the second title in the Rhythm Tengoku franchise, Rhythm Tengoku Gold. The title is a sequel to the Japan only Rhythm Tengoku, which was released in 2003. That game consists of a series of rhythm based mini-games that borrow heavily from the WarioWare franchise. That's unsurprising, because WarioWare and Rhythm Tengoku had the same developer, Nintendo R&D1.

The fun gameplay and quirky style made for a cult hit and a popular import. However, the game never saw release outside of Japan as it came out at about the same time Nintendo stopped supporting the GBA.

According to the Famitsu article, it seems that the basic mechanics haven’t changed. Rhythm Tengoku Gold is still composed of the same quirky minigames, which require a good sense of rhythm to be successful. However, Rhythm Tengoku Gold relies heavily on stylus input for its games.

Rhythm Tengoku Gold is scheduled for Japanese release on July 31, 2008. There is currently no word on release outside of Japan.

James Charlton contributed to this story