beatmania US version
 

I've always wanted to actually try beatmania, as I do like quite a few of the songs from the games, but I've never taken the plunge. Now that there is a US version coming out, I was considering getting it. I'm sure it will have a lot of crappy songs on it, can anyone tell me what the playlist will be like on this one? And if I'll be albe to use the controller included here with any current and future import beatmania titles? Thanks. :)

I'd be grateful forever if someone gave me info on the packaged US controller... <3

Eep...I just read that with the controler its 49.99 and without its 39.99. I hope its a misprint...

I heard the whole package in total (game and controller) was going to be $65.

Thinking that the game itself is $30, and the controller is $35. It very welll could be the other way around. But I've been considering getting this. I was never very good in beatmania, but I've always wanted to get better without wasting money to do so. I just wanna know what songs are going to be on it to see if it's worth it or not.

It's worth it just to get the controller for such a good price. Beatmania US looks okay, but I know I'm going to get tired of playing it quickly since there won't be many 7-key songs. I'll probably use the controller more for the imports.

It's making me wish I could get imports without paying the hefty shipping fee and the high price they sell them at to being with. T_T

BeatmaniaUS is gonna be one hell of a mix. The Shining Polaris, Holic, The Cube, among other worthwhile songs all on one introductory mix? Cheap controllers for easy 14keys play on any style?

Yes please.

So nobody's got a full tracklist? I see a partial one on Konami USA's beatmania page...

Has anyone tried the controller via a PS2=>UBS converter? I'd love to be able to play the sims I've got on my computer.

I picked up a crappy Radio Shack one, it has some kinda minimum delay on the keys which gets annoying in the faster songs. I just ordered a better one from Play-Asia though, so I'll see if that one works better.

Yes, i've tried it out and it works just fine!

As for what brand it is~ I totally forget where i ordered it from
and there isn't a name on it ^_^''

I've read on VJarmy that the US IIDX controller is going to be
a little improved over its Japanese counterpart (something about
the keys not sinking in all the way to prevent stickage and
a better Turntable).

I'm with Taco on this one, 14key here we come ^_* b

Well I went ahead and preordered the bundle today, anyhoo. We'll see how it goes.

YES YOU HAVE TOTALLY MADE MY DAY.

I've been planning to get the bundle anyhow, but I just wanted to know that before I shelled out any cash. That's just really great news for me. T_T <= tears of joy

I'm very excited about this! I've been into the beatmania music for a good while after downloading it on a whim, and I've thought about getting the game but like some mentioned here, import costs have always stopped me.

I don't know about the playlist but I've heard that Shoichiro Hirata (Sho-1) is doing some remixes, so that has me excited as well.

http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/gen...topic=26732344

That should be most of what we're going to get, since that's 48 songs and Konami's been advertising it as having "over 50 songs."

Shoichiro Hirata! Really?! I hope he makes another filter house track!
With lots of scratching lol ^_*

Yes. More Hirata Filter House T___T It solves world hunger and violence, you know.

Great, thanks for the link.

The song list is also crippled in that it's been split in half between the 5-key songs and the 7-key songs. So if 20, November is available in 5-key mode, it won't be available in 7-Key and vice versa for any song.

"But alkaline" you say, "20, November does have a 7-Key version!"

Tell that to Konami.

Looking at the song list, i gotta say it isn't bad at all ^_^
I hope this CS really opens up a lot of eyes!

And it's too late to say this but ~ they should have put it Drunk Monkey!

Sarcasm?

Yeah that must be what it is... because I don't think the songlist stands up to games like DDR Extreme 2, Guitar Hero, or Pump it Up Exceed SE.... it's just not as good... I know it's a "first" release but still.... that songlist is ouch.

Are you kidding? The songlist is great, I can't wait to play it since it has so many of my favorite songs on it.

Summer Vacation, The Cube, Holic on a single mix. Very yes.

Are you? Those songs are ancient. Not to mention that if you want to play Anothers, you have to unlock it first. . . which you've never had to do in the history of any Beatmania title ever.

The only good thing about Beatmania USA is. . .

. . .

So Konami expects you to go from beating "Bad Boy Bass" Another, to "V", "Colors", "Nemesis" and "Holic" Another. Beatmania USA is the ultimate brick wall.

beatmania US is for the people completely new to beatmania. If you've been importing the Japanese versions of it, getting this would be like putting training wheels back on your bike after you've won the Tour de France.

This would be true, but games like Guitar Hero have set standards for the average American gamer who now enjoys music games.

The complete lack of balance to the difficulty and completely ghetto nature of Beatmania is going to turn the majority of them off.

Well, maybe i was a little rushed to type that last post after reading
the song list.

But i honestly i don't think it's terrible. I think those tracks (not all, but
a good amount) SOUND good. So it might not be up to date with a Japanese
mix, i still feel that these tracks hold some weight. Like guitar hero,
you can play it on easy and still enjoy the songs, right? I like Snow,
V, Holic, Summer Vacation~ light 7 - 7 key - Another ~ It doesn't matter,
i think they're enjoyable to hear.

To who? To US who have been playing IIDX for a long time???
Yea, they're old, but that doesn't mean they are bad.
Guitar Hero has some old rock songs, they must be bad
then right? I still go back and play older IIDX mixes because i love
the songs. Music is music.

Until now. What's your point? You act like you've never played a game
that requires unlocking ^_^'' New Comers don't need to worry about
Anothers yet. They'll have their hands full as is with 5key and 7key.

Exactly, I can't mention this enough- This mix isn't for us.
IIDX importers aren't Konami's target.

Yes, the game's interface is purple (why?!!? lol), but lack of balance in
difficulty? New comers can play 5 key until they are comfy and
start trying light 7 (or whatever it's going to be called here).
I feel the only standard Guitar Hero has set on a music game is it
must have popular liccensed songs to grab the Average American's attention.

Honestly though, Konami should not sell this game as some "Club"
DJing sim with this guy scratching on the cover. CLUB... lol Konami...
They shouldn't have targeted the Average gamer in the first place.
Beatmania's followers are definitely another breed.

The songs are old not because they were in Beatmania long ago but because a good portion of those popped up on American DDR mixes... making them ancient to the ears... when you purchase a new game you wouldn't want a good portion of it's contents to be old news right? Like for instance if Resident Evil 3 featured even more gameplay segments in locations where Resident Evil 2 took place.... I would feel ripped off.

True, you're right. I didn't think about DDR mixes here (i've never
playing a US mix besides the first Max US ^_^'''

It could also be a mix of familiarity. If you see a song you liked on DDR on the Beatmania songlist, you'd probably want to play it. I know that's how I originally got into IIDX.

So this hit stores today, did anyone pick it up? My store got 2 of the bundles so I'm probably going to pick one up next week. Anyone with one have any comments?

Not a single Gamestop or EB or any other game store around here had it, I called and checked. Looks like I'll be trying today to see if they have it.

Ohhhh forget it~

I'm seriously thinking about buying this + a controller, but being in Europe I'd have to import it from some store. However I've been having trouble finding it available online anywhere, even on eBay. Does anyone happen to know a store that will ship worldwide and sells the game?

Picked mine up today and the controller is... well, i still feel it needs some modding to the keys and TT. It's also a smaller than the JPKOC (Height).

Glad to be playing doubles though!! I've never tried and i'm kind of
stuck at the 6s ^_^'''

As for Beatmania US, the interface still annoys me~~ purple?!?! lol

Yeah, the game seems to be hard to find. My store got 2 copies, and I picked one up today.

I just picked up my copy and failing level 7 songs like never before. I'd love to get this working with all my BMIIDX simfiles, a lot of the original work I've dug up is on the level with any of the official songs, and I will bear the children of anyone who can tell me how to get it working. Seriously.

But you have to think of the game as on the same terms as say an adventure game sequel with areas you've already visited in the original (in this case songs) I feel ripped off if I'm paying for the same song over and over again...

That's an unfair comparison. While DDR and Beatmania are both in the genre of music games, the actual gameplay concepts behind the games are drastically different. It's like experiencing something in a whole new way as opposed to the old way.

Instead of dancing to The Cube, you're playing it.

i beat myself evry night.

it's pretty maniaous.

I'm gonna mod the keys today for the US controller. I just don't like
the keys at all ^_^'' They throw me off since they click not when
going down but when coming back up.

Feel free to avoid this game as much as possible. It has the worst tracklist in the world in comparison to other beatmania titles, and the only thing worth buying would be the slightly better controller.

And there's absolutely no reason to have a decent controller if all you're going to be playing is a garbage game.

Quote for truth.

Gosh, so much hate in this thread. I'm not a IIDX veteran (I've only gotten my hands on the PSX 5-Key mixes...), but I'm in love with this game! The controller feels much better than the official 5-key controller I've been using, and all of the songs sound and play well ('Toxic' garage mix?!?). Not to mention the great value in the bundle (even if the game sucked, I'm still paying only $65 for a controller that would have set me back $100 elsewhere).

In short, I'm happy with my purchase.

More like Toxic Garbage Mix.

Seriously, you haven't played 10th Style if you think the USA beatmania has a good tracklist. 10th Style has possibly the best, if not close to best, range of songs available from 3-10.

I haven't played all beatmania's however, and a friend from another forum is going to send me burned copies of the beatmania's which I'm missing, along with the Pop'n Music's that I'm missing. I cannot say for sure that 10th Style is the outright dominant beatmania title, but the american version is nothing in comparison.

Of course it isn't. Haven't we established long ago that this title is geared towards newer players? IIDX 10th Style is amazing. I don't even touch any previous style anymore except 8th on the rare occasion. However, if you dropped 10th style in front of a newer player they'd be overwhelmed. There's such a difficulty gap between songs that it'd scare off the newer players.

If this sells well, there will be more games, and they will begin to cater to the advancing players with more difficult songs and charts.

Even more reason for newer players to pick up 10th Style first.

This reminds me of going from 5 button to 9 button in Pop'n. You might as well skip to the good stuff and get to work. Not all 10th Style songs are hard, either. I've only played a few, though.

Gotta love Bemani elitists...not.

I'm enjoying this game quite a bit. Slight problem though...I went through the tutorial, and got the basics of 5-key gameplay. I got bored with that pretty quick though, so I tried out IIDX...and got totally served. My friend told me it'd be easier to use two hands for the keys and scratch with my pinky, but that just seems unnatural to me.

So what sort of position do you veterans use? Which fingers go on which keys? Any other miscelleneous tips/tricks to help get me started? I'm hoping that at some point I'll hit my groove and things will just "click" for me. Then I can stop worrying about how to play and just concentrate on having fun playing.

Hahaha bemani elitists? I'm sorry but my name isn't Arch0wl.

Most people I've seen tend to play beatmania with their left and right index and middle fingers, and their pinky/ring finger to scratch. I don't know if the american iidx controller is fit for modding, but if it's anything close to the japanese version, check out google for some controller mods. I've seen quite a few.

If that's the way to go about it, they made the gap from the keys to the scratch way too wide on the American controller.

Most of the songs blow. Or at least I'm not nearly versed enough yet to get to the good stuff. I'm mostly playing The Cube on beginner over and over. I like the gameplay and want to keep at it, but speaking as someone this game was geared toward, this feels like a slipshod effort. Again, the early level stuff is minimally interesting or just plain bad. To my knowledge, there is no way to hear a song as it's intended to be played. Like those short bursts of notes on (the laughably bad) I Want To Be With You. I just end up hammering the key, I have no reference towards what it should sound like.

I never have been or will be an importer, though, I am glad a version arrived for the west, but I have to agree it seems lacking of much effort at all.

I think you misunderstood the connotation of "overwhelmed." It CAN be a bad thing.

Although I don't have anything insightful or original to say that hasn't already been said in this discussion, I do feel I should voice my enjoyment of playing Beatmania for the first time after eagerly awaiting for its US debut, as well as my thoughts on (an already redundant subject) the song list.

Beatmania is just way too compelling for my own good. It's been a long while since a game has kept me up for hours on end. Something about hitting those falling blue and white notes to synchronize with the music is so addictive.

And you can say what you will about the song list, I think it's pretty damn good. Sure, I'm not oblivious to the fact that they're no where near as good as the Japanese ones. Believe me, I know. I follow their music (I even own the actual 5th and 6th Style OSTs) despite having never played a single game of Beatmania prior to yesterday. But at the very least, it's good enough to add replay value to the game. I especially like anything good-cool, the Virtual Insanity remix, and as well as those obscure (for lack of better phrase) stuff like La Bossanova de Fabienne or Mobo*Moga.

I'm glad I finally got the opportunity to experience Beatmania. I certainly hope that Konami has plans to release more installments of this franchise. It would be heartbreaking to hear otherwise.

The controller's are almost the same, however they have be made slightly different. Usually I have my index fingers over the bottom left and bottom right keys, hands respectively. It seems to work fine, apart from the fact that scratching is a gimmick.

Actually, researching a bit, the spacing and button placement is exactly the same as the japanese version.

From what i hear, some Best Buys have Beatmania setups for people
to try it out and stuff. That's pretty neat!

As for the track list, yea most 5 keys songs really don't quite cut it anymore
i'll admit, but most of the IIDX songs in there are very good. Still,
looking back, playing 2nd mix / 3rd mix / Complete mix was VERY
fun when i first started out and i wouldn't be suprised if people
new to the game actually enjoy it.

I actually don't regret buying this one bit. I just picked it up earlier, yet I was having some thoughts, since I did not know the tracklist, except I knew Fly Through The Night was on here.

IIDX 8th Style is fine, but it made me feel like I tried jumping into Beatmania wayyy too fast with hard songs, even though it has a buncha good ones. This mix right here, Normal Difficulty, perfect for me. So far the tracklist isn't bad, but I kinda wish I didn't have to unlock anything.

yeah IIDX is one of the least friendly music games.. but all they would have to do is use the same good old songs from Japanese mixes and create a mode with easier note charts to get players familar with the game first.

I'm sure part of the lack of reasoning behind leaving some better songs out had to do with licensing issues/testing the water with cheaper licenses. It makes sense for Konami to save some money by using a bunch of Konami originals and only licensing a few outside songs, instead of taking a larger risk and giving the experienced players their favorite songs all over again. Remember the songlist for DDR Konamix?

Beatmania US is a great deal for those of us who don't have 100s of dollars to spend on importing the Jap versions. I'd love to get my hands on the Jap IIDX mixes, but that's way out of my budget...

You could always download them if you're that desperate.

Actually, $70 US is quite alot for 10th Style, or any beatmania title for that matter. There's bound to be torrent sites that have them.

Download them and try them out!

Of course, if you like them, please buy it ^__________^

I've got a question. I was watching the videos on IGN for the US version of Beatmania, and the songs seem kind of screwed up. The volume seems to randomly change from being quiet, to loud. Does this kind of thing happen in the Japanese IIDX games too, or is it just the US version?

Hmm, not sure which song was playing in the video--
but i've never had that problem in either the US or the JP mixes ^_^

That's definitely not normal, nor do any beatmania titles do that.

It's probably IGN's professional video viewing.

Ah, man. I'm kinda stuck on 5-star songs in IIDX mode right now.

I'm completely aware that Beatmania is considered to be amongst the hardest of all Bemani-related games to date. And I'm also aware that this game requires a high level of commitment and practice to get good at it. But I'm curious as to how some of our veteran IIDX players went about going from a newbie to triple-A'ing V Another on their weak days. You know, like, was practicing for a few hours each day more than adequate? Did you use the training mode that's featured in the game? Or was it all innate?

So please, share with me your experiences of getting better at Beatmania.

I used to fail 1* songs on Light7 (Normal) when I was first getting into the game. I didn't get a chance to use a training mode or anything, because I learned on an 8th Style arcade machine that was sorta close to my house. I just kept practicing on that each time I went for a few months, and 3 months later I bought the PS2 version of 8th Style. I spent a couple of hours playing each time I did, but I didn't get a chance to play every day.

Now I can pass most 8*s on 10th Style, and judging by Happy Sky's difficulty system, I think I can pass two 11*s. I've been playing for a little over a year and a half.

I've been playing Beatmania since 3rd mix in the arcade before
IIDX came out, so i got good at playing 5 key before IIDX came out.
I'm not sure if you just started right off the bat playing IIDX, but
if you did, maybe getting pretty good at 5 key will help ^_^ b

As for IIDX~ I'm not a super expert, but i can pass most anothers.
whenever i get stuck, i usually try to go back and
play easier songs but get better at the timing and improving my
letter grade. Afterwards, i'd go back to tackle where i left off ^_*
But just playing everyday for an hour will really help you. Practice
Practice Practice!

If you don't have a VJarmy account (like in Taco's Sig), you should
sign up for one, just to track your progress!

Wow, that's awesome. I wish I had a IIDX machine within my convenience, or rather enough money to buy a car and drive down there myself. But now that I got the game at home, that won't be necessary, right?

Anyway, thanks for sharing. I'll keep practicing regularly.

I did, actually. Except I got stuck on one 6 star song (Attack the music) and all three 7 star songs. I was a bit frustrated and decided to just skip ahead onto IIDX mode without clearing all the songs on 5Key.

Although I'm not certain whether what you said holds merit, I did have a much easier time playing through some of the early level songs on IIDX mode than on 5Key. That could be because I was already familiar with the game play and not necessarily because of 5Key. I mean, had I just started off with IIDX mode, I would eventually pick up the same skills and techniques that I acquired on 5Key anyway. Or am I missing something here? I don't know...

You know, up until you pointed that out, I implicitly did just that: I'd get wrecked on Summer Vacation on Normal, then I'd go back to something I enjoy a lot like Mobo*Moga or The Cube and try to AA it, and after that I'd make another attempt at trying to clear Summer Vacation.

I'll look into that VJ Army thing. If not for it's cool tracking process, but because VJ Army by good-cool is an awesome song.

Thanks for replying.

Well, i know that i'm enjoying this game for the whole controller+beatmania experience of it. last year i had managed to get my hands on beatmania 6th and core for psx and played it only a little bit... the whole absence of the official controller kinda turned me off from the experience, which i totally didn't realize until i got said controller in this bundle. playing on the official controller is about 5x more fun than playing on a psx controller for sure.

i'm a little disappointed that the 5key songs don't have 7key charts... i'm pretty sure that it wouldn't have been too hard to fix, not to mention that it would've stretched gameplay a bit further. It really just feels sad that 5key was used as a crutch to get people into 7key and left all of those songs to wither never to be seen again (except maybe for 10key). surely the absence of alternate 5key difficulties truncated its life...

but i am glad that beatmania is as difficult a game as it is, otherwise there would be a significantly less amount of time put in to get to the end of 7key mode if they hadn't included all of the anothers. not to mention the mods that alter gameplay significantly like mirror and random. which led to an interesting hypothesis: if a person was raised on beatmania playing mirror, at what level of experience would they be able to play adequately without it?
i've noticed that most of the runs cater to a certain direction and lead me to wonder if its more "natural" for the hand to run in a certain direction. or if the consistent run direction is to create difficulty by running in the alternate direction.

i think this installment is only worth its dollar value as a bundle, because without the special controller, it would surely lose half of its fun. (that is if a 7key controller is not yet owned)

There are some 5key songs with Another charts! Take Genom Screams
and 3 2 1 Stars for a spin ^_^ They're a blast on [a].

As for your hypothesis, yea it can be wierd to play patterns that
you're not used to with the mods! Like playing the bass kicks
on key 7 instead of 1 hahah. After a while though, once you hit
a certain level of play, any finger should be able to hit any key
(unless you're one of those people who have a definite hand position).

Eh? There are? How do you access them? I can't figure it out at all:confused: