Didn't play the first one, but this is such a cool concept. The art style is super fun, I love the low color palette minimalism, it adds to the minigame feel. I feel like the aspect thats lacking the most here is the sound design, I think some backing music could be interesting, and less crunchy sounds might do it good, but that's more up to preference.
The colors showing what you can hit is a really good idea, and it made the game much more sightread-able, which was a fantastic touch. Nice work!