Why Yum-Bot Simulator is Like That
Or It's All About Polymeter
Have you or a loved one struggled with Yum-Bot Simulator in Rhythm Heaven Groove? I personally spent several minutes suffering in the tutorial. Then I learned how to count to 4, and it saved my run. However, the more I read people's comments about it, the more I notice people are missing something fundamental about Yum-Bot Simulator: as far as I know, this is the only Rhythm Heaven minigame that uses polymeter.
Let's back it up a little bit. Meter, or time signature, tells us how many beats are in a measure of music. For example, the majority of Western music--and music in Rhythm Heaven--uses 4/4 meter, which has a steady, driving sound. Yum-Bot Simulator uses polymeter, or two different meters at once, and neither of them are 4/4.
The first meter it uses is 3/4, which is used in waltzes. The second is 12/8, which gives it that bouncy, march-like quality. When put together in MS Paint using a touchpad, that polymeter looks like this:
Obligatory note about polyrhythm: Polymeter is different from polyrhythm. If this were polyrhythm, the tempos of each meter would be altered so that one measure of 3/4 always lines us with one measure of 12/8, whether that means slowing down the 3/4 or speeding up the 12/8
Now that we've gone over what polymeter is and the kind of polymeter that Yum-Bot uses, how the heck are you supposed to time this?
The Good Pudding
This game uses two different cues for catching the good puddings, one following the 3/4 meter and one following the 12/8 meter. Here they are represented visually:
As you can see, the 12/8 cue is a little slower, so if the womp womp womp sounds slower, switch the metronome in your head (or your mouth if you're counting out loud) to 12/8 so that you know to catch the pudding on the fourth triple instead of the fourth beat. Then switch it back to 3/4 because that's probably what's coming next.
2. The Defective Pudding
Here's where things get a little wonky. The timing is the same as the 3/4 cue, but it's preceded by a little grr to let you know this next pudding is defective. This grr would be three beats on the 12/8 meter. Put visually, the defective pudding cue looks like this:
I've represented the 3/4 row as pairs of eighth notes instead of individual quarter notes to show that you are essentially counting on the downbeat of a 3/4 time signature. I know Rhythm Heaven likes its downbeats (cough cough Lockstep), but this is diabolical.
And that's how you play Yum-Bot Simulator. Maybe I've been considering this all wrong. Maybe this is a polyrhythm where one measure of 3/4 lines up with one measure of 6/8. Maybe the whole thing is in 6/4, and they just really like their triples. This is just what's helped me understand this minigame the best, and hopefully, it helps you get a hold of a very confusing minigame. Now, go forth and sort those puddings!
