History VideoGame / RhythmDoctor

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Several patients don't have given names, and are only known by their occupations or the conditions they suffer from. (Samurai, Insomniac, etc.)

* UncommonTime: The night-shift mode of [[spoiler:"Battleworn Insomniac", called "Super Battleworn Insomniac",]] features a virus breaking off part of the patient's heart half way through, shifting the beat from 8/8 to 7/8.

* AdjustableCensorship: In one tutorial, it is possible to hide a summoned spider to scare a patient by pressing the spacebar twice when prompted, in case the player is arachnophobic.

* BaseballEpisode: Act 5 has a baseball theme, with the player being tasked with helping out Lucky, a famous player who suffered a GameBreakingInjury. The chapter's climax has [[spoiler:Lucky become a coach to the hospital's patients and helping them win a match against the local university's team]].

* BookEnds: The first early access build ended at act 4, meaning [[spoiler:the Insomniac was both the first and final boss at that time]].

* EasterEgg: Before Act 5, if you turned on simulated window movement (allowing consoles and other devices that won’t display the screen movement well to still have it by creating a simulated desktop) and played a level with it, files on the simulated desktop with lyrics from 2-1N imply that it’s Cole’s. As of Act 5, however, likely because a new boss that uses it was added, these files are now gone, but the location (the folder Care Less) still imply it’s his, though not as explicitly.

* StandardSnippet: 5-1N, "One Slip Too Late", incorporates the famous baseball "Charge!" organ into the chorus' instrumentation.

* EasterEgg: Before Act 5, if you turned on simulated window movement (allowing consoles and other devices that won’t display the screen movement well by creating a simulated desktop) and played a level with it, files on the simulated desktop with lyrics from 2-1N imply that it’s Cole’s. As of Act 5, however, likely because a new boss that uses it was added, these files are now gone, but the location (the folder Care Less) still imply it’s his, though not es explicitly.

* GimmickLevel: The boss levels have the gimmick of a LifeMeter that instantly ends the level if you miss too many notes, but more importantly pile on loads of InterfaceScrew:
** The first boss, "Battleworn Insomniac", introduces a signal-jamming virus which causes {{Ominous Visual Glitch}}es, static, and skipping/looping audio.
** The second boss, "All The Times", [[spoiler:has the game window shrink itself, then move around your monitor]].
** The third boss, "One Shift More", averts this, as its gimmick is simply that it's a MusicalEpisode mainly from Dr. Paige's perspective.
** The fourth boss, "Super Battleworn Insomniac", is a DarkReprise of the first boss with the added twist of [[spoiler:falling into UncommonTime while ramping up the InterfaceScrew to extreme levels]].
** The fifth boss, "Dreams Don't Stop", combines the gimmicks of the first and second levels and adds in [[spoiler:the game window changing in shape and size throughout the song]].

** In Act 5, Dr. Edega is openly pushing for the Rhythm Doctor treatment to be used as a MagicalDefibrillator, insisting to Lucky that it's a miracle cure while foisting the actual details on Ian. Ian's insistence that Edega's promises are dangerous, irresponsible, and also physically impossible doesn't appear to faze him.

* NintendoHard: The one-button control scheme hides how brutal the game can get. Like its inspiration ''Rhythm Heaven'', ''Rhythm Doctor'' doesn't allow for close-enough inputs; you either hit or you miss, with little in-between. As the levels go on, increased numbers of patients with differing heartbeats and numerous visual and audio tricks makes getting the ranks to progress even harder.
* NonStandardGameOver: In most stages, you are given a rank at the end of the song, with B or greater being required to advance to the next stage, therefore anything less can be considered a failure. Boss stages, however, are not ranked. Your patient instead has a health meter, and you will instantly fail the song if this meter runs out.
* NotThatKindOfDoctor: Ada and Ian begin running into this problem with increasing frequency due to the hospital's staff being slashed to the bone. It especially becomes an issue in Act 5, where they have to service the Physiotherapy ward, despite neither of them being qualified PT's and the Rhythm Doctor machine having a negligible-at-best effect on such injuries. Sure enough, the treatment in this chapter is used mostly to regulate the patient's stress-induced arrhythmia as he struggles with the fact his busted shoulder won't heal in time to save his budding baseball career.

* CareerEndingInjury: Maximo "Lucky" Jonronero, a baseball player, has a {{downplayed|trope}} case in that he tore his rotator cuff. While it's possible for him to make a full recovery, this would take months of physical therapy, and spending this much time not playing would seriously set his career back. As such, he is desperate for a miracle cure, which Dr. Edega offers him. [[spoiler:However, in the end, he turns it down, realizing that while he'll likely never become the star player he nearly was, he can definitely become a great ''coach'' when he whips the Middlesea Hospital patients into a talented team of amateur baseball players.]]