Thinking about picking this up

**EdwardTeach666** · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 290 Location: Tankard

First of all I was one of those people who made fun of DDR... But now after guitar hero I'm actualy thinking about trying that out. I'm starting to get interested in all these rhythm games, however Beatmania looks REALLY interesting to me. I just have a few qustion to those familiar with it.

Looks like I can pick up the bundle for like $45 on ebay. is this a good price?

secondly, it seems from comments that US version is easier, is it the songs are easier or scoring of the songs that is more lenient. I hear this games learning curve is steep but I don't want something completely dumbed down either.

Lastly, the music. I've never been a huge techno fan. I definately don't like house music but I can get into some of the more intricate stuff (I have a few friends who make electronic music and a few friends who are DJ's.) Basicaly I hate the 'repetitive 10 min marathon of the same thing' songs. I like some aphex twin and things like that, however I doubt they will be in the game. Basicaly are the songs repetitve as hell like most techno music or is there a good deal of variation.

any help you can give me is appriciated.

**Matt** · Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 3780 Location: Bethel, Vermont

1: $45 is a good price, assuming shipping isn't high. I paid $59.99 for the bundle, which was $5 less then it was at EB Games.

2: While the learning curve is a little easier then the JP games, it will still offer a crapload of challenge to someone new to the game. Ask JC, who can play Guitar Hero and DDR very well (I'll get him to post a comment).

3: While the music is all relatively club related, there is more variation then in, say DDR (I don't know if you are familiar with the song lists in DDR). There are a few techno tracks, and a few house tracks, but on the plus side none of the songs are over 2 minutes long. There is also drum'n'bass, trance, piano ambient, reggae, ska, soft rock, dance, disco, etc. Granted, some of these genres only have 1 song in them on the game, but my point is there is pretty large variety for a music game. The only game with a larger variety that I can think of would be Popnmusic.

**JCirri** · Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 4576

OK. So I picked up the game about a week ago and have been playing quite a bit since then.

As far as the difficulty and learning curve go, each song has a rating from 1 to 10 similar to DDR. Although in this game, there is a huge amount of variation within each rating. I can now pass all 3's, most 4's, a few 5's and have come close to passing a 6. But there are still 4's that contain patterns that I can't even react to yet. This game has a very steep learning curve and while the US version may be easier than the JP versions, it is still extremely challenging.

I am generally good at quickly learning rhythm games such as DDR and GH, but most 6's are still beyond my comprension, and from what I hear the difficulty of each rating after that increases exponentially (according to Matt who I believe can pass a few 8's now?). I can't even imagine passing 9's or 10's..

This game might contain more lower rated songs than JP versions, but the most difficult songs are at a level I don't think I'll ever reach. So definately don't use the fact that "the US game is easier" as a reason not to pick it up.

EDIT: I just passed my first 6

_________________

**Matt** · Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 3780 Location: Bethel, Vermont

Yeah, I can pass 2 8's in the game. The game gets harder and harder ot progress in as you get better (unlike DDR which seems to have a stair like learning curve). The curve pretty much comes in 2 parts: first is learning the controller. Once you have that down, you should be able to pass some 5's. Then it's a constant uphill struggle from there. I have been playing for 8 months now (almost constantly in the past 3 months), and I cannot even comprehend some of the things on the harder 8's, let alone 9's or 10's. If you want to see a psychotic video, check out http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7677246880899248766&q=%22one+more+lovely%22&pl=true
This would be an example of the equivilant of a 10 on Beatmania US. Especially the ending. Keep in mind this is ony of the best players in the world (and he still gets 44 goods on the song). I can't even follow 80% of this song

**EdwardTeach666** · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 290 Location: Tankard

cool, I appriciate your input, and the $45 is shipping included, so I guess anyone who is interested and doesn't mind the wait should check out ebay for a bit of a deal.

yeah, I looked at a song list, I have no idea who any of those people are and think I've only heard one of the songs. But as long as its fun, thats the main issue.

Edit: I just checked out that vid... I thought expert GH was insane when I first saw it... oh my. Yeah that looks quite difficult. Now I have another question, is the controller soundly built to where it can withstand that much abuse

oh yeah, and are all of those double notes?

**Matt** · Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 3780 Location: Bethel, Vermont

As for abus: As long as you dont hit the thing with a hammer, the controllers are very solid. Better then the JP controllers.

The song is full of chords, yes. I will try to find the notechart to it.

EDIT: http://www1.ocn.ne.jp/~hibroad/score/10/onemore.html?2AC0

Note that that is for the left handed setup, which the guy videos plays.

EDIT2: Crazier video. This is the hardest song known to date. 2000 notes, including runs of 32nd notes at 200bpm. This is the first video I have ever seen of anyone passing it... http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5346061742680127879&q=mei&pl=true

**EdwardTeach666** · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 290 Location: Tankard

I didnt mean chords so much as each note was = instead of - but i think now I see how the game scores... is it the closer to the center of those 2 bars when you hit it the better your rating?

**Matt** · Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 3780 Location: Bethel, Vermont

Each solid bar is 1 note. You want to hit that as it aligns perfectly with the red bar at the bottom. The game has an extremely tight perfect window.
This is pretty much as easy as they get:
http://www1.ocn.ne.jp/~hibroad/score/1/511_hs.html?1N10
You can see whats going on much more easily there.

By the way, the red bar in the wide column is the scratch.

**EdwardTeach666** · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 290 Location: Tankard

so on that first vid that dude was hitting pretty much every note twice since each one that came down was = ?

Thats what I thought at first but it sounds like hes only hitting it once. (can only really tell during the easy part of the song)

Just wondering cause somtimes you see two bars for every note and somtimes one, so I guess those with the 2 you hit the same note twice in a row?

**Matt** · Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 3780 Location: Bethel, Vermont

Yes, he was hitting each one twice. Some songs are annoying like that :p

**thekovinc** · Joined: 05 May 2006 Posts: 905 Location: Minneapolis, MN

So Matt, you definitely think this game is fun?

I've been thinking of picking it up for awhile but haven't. But now I have a little extra time and was thinking of finally getting it.

**Dreyvas** · Joined: 19 Jul 2006 Posts: 2416 Location: Cleveland, OH

**thekovinc** · Joined: 05 May 2006 Posts: 905 Location: Minneapolis, MN

Psshh.... Learning curve. I'll show that game a learning curve.

But seriously, ok. That's all I needed to hear. I just ordered it.

And you know... As much fun as it may be, I really can't see it pulling me away from Guitar Hero. Or if it does, I'll be back come November 7th.

Dreyvas, how good are you at the game?

**SThorpe** · Joined: 09 Aug 2006 Posts: 2500

I was going to ask what the hell you play that game with, but I saw in one off those vids Matt posted its some sort of tapping thing (yes, that the best way I can describe it)

I bet your fingers would be crippled after playing that

**Matt** · Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 3780 Location: Bethel, Vermont