| Beatmania IIDX | |
|---|---|
A cabinet running beatmania IIDX 15: DJ Troopers |
|
| Genres | Music |
| Developers | Konami |
| First release | Beatmania IIDX |
| Latest release | Beatmania IIDX 19 Lincle (arcade)
|
| Official website | http://www.konami.jp/bemani/bm2dx/ |
Beatmania IIDX (ビートマニア ツーディーエックス Bītomania Tsūdiekkusu) (alternately Beatmania IIDX or just IIDX, pronounced "two dee-ecks" or "two deluxe") is a series of rhythm video games and the sequel to Beatmania that was first introduced by Konami in Japan on February 26, 1999.[1] IIDX has since spawned over 19 arcade releases and over 13 console releases on the Sony PlayStation 2.[2] It is the sequel to the beatmania game series,[3] and part of the Bemani line of music games.[4]
Contents |
In IIDX games, players recreate the musical score of songs available to them through the use of a DJ simulating controller.[5] The player must coordinate their hands in order to hit the correct keyboard buttons, spin the turntable, or a combination of both in correspondence to color coded notes that approach the judgement bar displayed on screen.[6] Notes are divided on screen by columns which separate them accordingly to match the seven buttons and the turntable on the DJ simulating controller. As a result of hitting notes, different sounds are then produced throughout a songs duration. Correctly hitting notes will produce an accurate musical score, while incorrectly hitting notes will produce inaccuracies and mistakes in the music.
Starting from Beatmania IIDX 17: Sirius, two new note types are added. Charge Notes is a note that must be pressed and released on the right time, while Backspin Scratch is a scratch note which require the player to spin the discscratch on a direction, then spinning it on the opposite direction on the end. Both are valued two combos; one for the beginning note and one for the ending note.
The difficulty ranges from 1 to 7 starting from Beatmania IIDX 1st Style to Beatmania IIDX 4th Style. Starting from Beatmania IIDX 5th Style, Flashing 7 is introduced as the highest difficulty. Beatmania IIDX 10th Style give the player up to Level 8 as the highest difficulty, and Level 8+ as the highest one in Beatmania IIDX 11 IIDXRED. The major change of difficulty range occurred on Beatmania IIDX 12: Happy Sky, which has been widen to 12 as the highest difficulty. All songs have been rescaled because of this change. This difficulty range is continue to be used on the next releases.
The beatmania IIDX cabinet has many standard features that are found in traditional arcade cabinets such as a widescreen display, powerful speakers, and start buttons. Also, unique to IIDX cabinets are the effector buttons and sliders, a bass platform transducer, marquee, and DJ simulating controller. The effector buttons and sliders allow the player to control the volume levels within the game and manipulate the music by adding additional sound effects. The bass platform vibrates beneath the player's feet to the beat of the music being played. The marquee is a series of sixteen-segment display LEDs, used to display game information and song titles during gameplay.
beatmania IIDX controls consist two sets of seven keys on each player's side, along with two turntables. The turntable for the left player's side is to the left of the keys, while the one on the right player's side is to the right.
Each set of keys is arranged in a pattern of four white keys beneath three black keys. The black keys are offset from the white keys so that each pair of adjacent white keys has a black key above and in between them. This arrangement mimics the F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B keys on a musical keyboard, though beatmania keys, being about twice as long as they are wide, do not resemble piano keys. The keys are commonly numbered 1 through 7, from left to right. The four white keys are numbered 1, 3, 5, and 7; the three black keys are numbered 2, 4, 6.
Since 9th Style, the game has featured integration with Konami's e-Amusement platform, which uses a card inserted at the beginning of the game to save stats, scores, allow customization, and track scores in comparison to previous plays and against others over the internet. From 9th Style to Happy Sky (12th), this was by way of a magnetic card and reader. From Distorted onwards the newer type Contactless smartcard Konami e-Amusement Pass system has been used. 9th Style did not require an internet connection to use a subset of the e-Amusement functionality, but 10th and on required an internet connection to function, which must be provided by a subscription from Konami. e-Amusement is not available outside of the primary markets for IIDX (Japan and Asia), which has left imported machines outside of Asia without full access to hidden songs and extra stages due to the increasing functionality and integration of e-Amusement in more recent styles. However, new songs from e-Amusement enabled styles can still be accessed on console versions (which can be imported from Japan).
Konami also releases home versions of IIDX for the PlayStation 2 console in Japan. The home versions are known as CS (consumer software or console) styles, while the arcade versions are known as AC (arcade cabinet or arcade) styles. The CS games can be played with a Dualshock controller or with a special controller from Konami that recreates the arcade experience. Konami manufactures two forms of home controllers, which are known as Konami Official Controllers (KOC) and Arcade Style Controllers (ASC). The KOC, pictured above, is much cheaper than the ASC, but is smaller than the ASC. In addition, KOCs look very different from ASCs and have a smaller space between the turntable and the keys. Konami purports the ASCs to be "arcade-accurate," in that they both resemble and feel like a controller on an arcade machine. For example, the controller itself is much larger and has the turntable further away from the keys. Both styles have a detachable key panel that can be placed to the left or the right of the turntable as the player desires. Aftermarket controllers are also readily available, often containing lit turntables and keys.
Each CS style corresponds to an AC style of the game and contains every song that debuted on its respective AC style, with the exception of certain licensed songs on 1st-3rd AC (released collectively as 3rd CS) that Konami was unable to secure the rights to again. In addition, CS styles may feature a selection of "revivals" - songs that appeared on previous AC or CS styles, "preview songs" - songs that appear on AC styles that do not yet have corresponding CS styles, and "CS exclusive" songs that appear only on CS styles. As of October 2009, CS versions of 3rd Style through Empress have been released (note that 3rd CS contains songs from 1st through 3rd AC; thus, there are no 1st style, 2nd style, or Substream CS titles).
Music is an integral part of the beatmania IIDX series. Featuring a wide selection of genres and artists, both licensed and in-house, the Beatmania IIDX series is well known for its original music. Konami produces an original soundtrack of each game, usually a few months after release, due to the appeal of the music. Konami also releases original albums by Beatmania IIDX artists through its online store, Konamistyle. It's also a tradition that Konami crossovers some songs from other Bemani games such as Pop'n Music, Dance Dance Revolution.
Each new AC release typically features around 60 new songs, with a selection of songs returning from previous versions. The current release, beatmania IIDX 19 Lincle, features a library of over 600 songs. CS releases feature all of the songs of their corresponding AC versions (with limited exceptions), 5-10 CS exclusive songs, around 25 "revival" (returning) songs, and 1-3 preview songs, for a total of around 90-100 songs. Arcade versions run from a hard drive, rather than a DVD, and thus have more space in which to store data.
Songs often include music videos when played, although only some songs contain dedicated videos. Some songs contain generic videos shared by multiple songs, and some of these have additional animated graphics overlaid atop them.
The beatmania IIDX series has been released in the home video game market in addition to its arcade releases. To date, the only video game system to have seen a IIDX game is the Sony PlayStation 2. All versions of beatmania IIDX have been released on the Japanese PlayStation 2 with one exception: the American beatmania.
Beatmania IIDX has a variety of characters that are drawn by multiple artists. The most notable artist is GOLI matsumoto, who draws most of the splash posters and score backgrounds. He also draws most of the characters in the series. These characters appear in result screens, as overlays in the music videos, splash posters, and more.
—GOLI Characters—
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||