Aoi
Beatmania Compendium
http://www.frontiernet.net/~aknight
aknight@frontiernet.net
June 2, 1999
for Sony Playstation & Gameboy
DJ Simulation Game
BeatMania Guide for Club DJ'ing
___________________________________________________________________________
Disclaimer:
Beatmania is a trademark of Konami, copyright 1997,1998, 1999. This
faq is copyright Aoi. No part of this faq is to reproduced without the rest
of it, leave it complete as is if you want to use it, just give proper
credit. As for magazines, I'd hate to have to fly way over yonder with a
crew of army buddies to come kick your tails for not crediting people for
their faqs. So basically anyone can use and enjoy this faq just leave it
complete, status quo.
Print this document from your web browser it looks best printed from
there.
June 2, 1999 -- First release. Initially I started this faq on January 14th
but I never could get everything I wanted to put into the guide so since
then a new edition to Beatmania has surfaced it's called Beatmania Append
"Gotta Mix" a new append mix for the Beatmania collection. I have been
working on this faq for months now adding here and there and setting it
aside. The faq should help alot.
I'll have more info on Beatmania Gameboy when I can get my Gameboy when I
go on leave in July. I bought Beatmania GB in Seoul, but forgot I left my
GB at home, heh. I have listed the songlist because I tried out the
Gameboy version on my friends' Gameboy Color and I only played a little
and the game is pretty good at a glance.
=================
Table of Contents
=================
NOTE: You need Beat Mania 2nd Arcade Edition to play the 3rd Mix if not
when you put in the 3rd Mix CD you'll get a notice in Japanese
with little english letters asking for the 1st disc of the 2nd
edition because the 2nd edition is a double CD. So don't go and
buy the 3rd Mix without the 2nd edition or you'll be lookin'
funny. Beatmania Append Gotta Mix is a whole seperate game so
you can play it without disc 1. Also Beatmania is a Japanese game,
if you don't have a Japanese Playstation or MOD chip installed in
your American system, you won't be able to play the game. You'll
just get the blue screen for the CD Player. If the newer model
Playstations allow you to play both American and import without
any alerations to your system then you are all set. If not you
will have to get a chip or Japanese Playstation.
i. Introduction
ii. The World of Beatmania
1. Brief Description
2. Controls, how to play, and how to complete a song
3. Configuration
4. Modes
5. Expert Mode on Disc 1 (Beatmania 2nd Mix)
6. Timing, listening and getting rythmn going
7. Scratching
8. Dual Shock and Beatmania Controllers
9. Complete Song List -- including Pocket Beatmania and Beatmania GB
10. The rest of the songs and how to get them
11. Some recommended songs to practice with to get better
12. Beatmania Append 3rd Mix (Disc 3)
13. Beatmania Append Gotta Mix (Disc 4)
14. Tip and Tricks
15. Putting it altogether
16. Where to find this faq
17. Acknowledgements
18. Beatmania Merchandise
19. Pocket Beatmania & Beatmania Wonderswan
20. Credits
Thank you for viewing my Beatmania faq for the Sony Playstation,
Gameboy, Pocket Beatmania and Beatmania Wonderswan. First off print
this document from your web browser it was written in notepad and looks
perfect in your browser. This faq will introduce you to the game as well
as get used to the concept, controls and pretty much everything there is
to know about this game. If you can't read the Japanese instructions
which I can't either, this faq will help you play through the game with
all the things I learned myself from just playing. Use this faq as your
DJ bible I guarantee it will help you alot so you won't sit there confused
like I did when I first saw the game at the Electro Mart here in Seoul,
S.Korea. The game now has 4 discs total. The first is the 2nd Mix and the
other 3 are Append Mixes. By the way I don't live in Korea I am just
stationed here.
ii. THE WORLD OF BEATMANIA
In getting started in Beatmania you should first check out all the
features and options given to you and utilize them. They are all very
important in helping you play the game well even without knowing how to
read the japanese instructions. I haven't successfully finished all the
songs myself but that's what great about this game. The songs are all
cool and some prove very, very challenging and some songs are insanely
difficult. You would have to play for months in order to perfectly play
some of the harder songs well. The notes just drop altogether like 20
or more right after the other. Beatmania is a very fun game and can
increase your hand/eye coordination tremendously.
The dual shock feature of Beatmania is much better than Metal Gear
Solid in my opinion. The beat of the music sets it off really well and
is just great. You can also purchase a turntable controller. I have
seen 3 or 4 different models: DJ Man, DJ Station PRO, Beatmania
Controller and I think there is one other model too. Check out
Section 8 about the Dual Shock Controller and Beatmania Controllers,
it has a detailed explanation of the controllers.
Beatmania is a "DJ Simulation Game" that is truly awesome. You basically
DJ at Club Katta (says the name of the club on Disc 4, Nonstop Megamix
"Bemani Hit Tracks") and if you are good you get different rankings but
if not, you get booed off the stage like a chump. If you like music
games like I do like Bust-a-Groove, Dance,Dance Revolution and other
music/dancing games this game will be somewhat easy to get used to.
This game is actually easy, but you do need rythmn, quick fingers,
proper control configuration (if you don't have the turntable controll-
er), and basically a musical ear. You definitely need rythmn. I also have
Bust-a-Groove and it's the same concept. So I would recommend getting
that also. From what I hear Beat Mania is doing very, very well in Japan
so much that it beat out Konami's own Metal Gear Solid, which is a feat
in itself. The only problem is if you want this game it is one of the
many outstanding Japanese games that you'll have to import.
I am stationed in Korea right now so I am right near Japan. We get games
as fast as Japan makes them including the ones we'll never see back in
the states. I just hope many of you can enjoy this game if and when it
does hit U.S. shores. I go to the Electro Mart in Yongsan, Korea just
outside of Seoul. If you just so happen to ever come to Korea check out
the Electro Mart commonly called the "Electronic's Market".
It's a long strip that is just filled with electronic devices. If you
ever been to Toronto and been on Young Street the main street downtown;
you know how big it is imagine something sorta like that but everywhere
you look is electronics, a gamer's paradise. They have toys, Sony
Mini-Disc players, home appliances, tons of Playstation games (although
they are all CD-R) and N64 games, computers and alot more for very low
prices. Cheaper than the states and they are brand new electronics (by
usually barganing).
For some reason CD-R Playstation games are not illegal in Korea neither
is mod chips like it is back in the states. Plus Mod Chips are cheaper
here, $15 as opposed to $50 back in the states. Dunno why *shrug*
anyways enough talk, on with the game!!
2. CONTROLS, HOW TO PLAY AND HOW TO COMPLETE A SONG
Ok this game is pretty easy to get the hang of, except it's not that
easy of a game. The first 3 songs are usually pretty easy but as you
progress to harder songs notes come down very close to each other with
2,3 or more simultaneously. One good thing though is if you get to a
certain song that you cannot get down you'll get booed, but if you go
into practice mode that song will be in the BGM list and you can set
the practice options on "autoplay" and the computer will play it for
you. You can then watch how it plays the song and pick up tips on
stringing notes better. This helped me alot when I first had trouble
with Bossa Groove "French Version" near the end of the song you have to
alternate left and right with the piano keys. Once I got the hang of the
song from when the cpu did it I got it down. So once you complete songs
other songs will appear on your turntable. Later I'll explain how to get
the other songs.
The basic concept here is to key in the notes as they come down; if
you have multiple notes coming down, press the command for the lowest
note. The red bar on the bottom is where you input the key command for
the note. So once the note comes down to the bar, key in the note.
You get GREAT, GOOD, BAD or POOR. You'll get GREAT if you key in the
note just as the bottom of the note hits the red bar, GOOD if you
were a little soon or late (just a little), BAD if you were off key
or were too early or late and POOR if you didn't key anything at all
or were way early or late.
As for controls, you are in charge here you can configure the controls
in the options menu to any of the buttons on your controller. What
works best for me is:
--With auto turntable chosen--:
Left bar: left & square
Middle bar: up & triangle
Right bar: right & circle
Left blue notes: L1, L2
Right blue notes: R1, R2
--Without auto turntable chosen--:
Left bar: left & square
Middle bar: up & triangle
Right bar: right & circle
Left blue notes: L1, L2
Right blue notes: R1, R2
Turntable: X
I prefer auto turntable, but if you would rather be a all around DJ then
the second configuration is what I use. The reason I have it this way is
the upper buttons (L1,L2,R1,R2) I usually use for the blue notes (ebony
keys), left for the leftmost bar, up for the middle bar and right for
the rightmost bar. I also use square, triangle and circle for the
directional arrows because you sometimes get 2 or 3 notes simultaneously
and it gets hard hitting the directions on the D-pad fast enough or is
impossible to key in notes adjacent to each other coming down at the same
time, so I just chose square to go along with left for the leftmost bar
because square is to the left, triangle to go along with the middle bar
because triangle is in the middle, and circle to go along with the
rightmost bar.
One more thing is some notes are spaced out like one in the left bar and
one in the right, that is why you will need to have the action buttons
configured to some of the directionals. So like for a note that comes
down like this:
Normally you would think; "How would I get the 2 left and right ones at
the same time", well if you used the action buttons like I have you can
just press up to get that first note coming down in the middle then
press left & circle simultaneously which would register as left and
right.
Your objective is to play the beats precisely and correctly to get the
the music pumpin'. First off you may notice the 3 record scratches that
are coming down together then one spaced out above with the middle
regular note in the middle bar lined consecutively with the first
scratch. All you do is simply press the commands that you configured
prior in options, and try to get either "GREAT" or "GOOD" beats. It's
that simple just making sure that you get the button presses just as the
bottom of the note hits either the top of the red line or the record
player. If you are a novice player you might want to go into "options"
and set the turntable to "auto turntable" so you can get the hang of
playing the regular notes first then once you become familiar, turn
"auto turntable" back off and practice having to work the turntable
too.
That corny DJ, DJ Battle can really be of some help when he challenges
you to a "Scratch off". It's funny how Konami used the primitive flip
book type animation for DJ Battle and the voice over will have you
crying laughing too when he says: "So you think that you can scratch,
well...." That first part alone has me cracking up all day after
hearing that. Konami does do a keen job with voice over work and
dual shock vibration though. DJ Battle does make a return appearence in
the new Append "Gotta Mix" with a little better graphics for his hand
while he scratches.
If you play "Normal" mode (2nd Mix) and pass the first two songs, then
on the third stage DJ Battle will challenge you. It's a good idea not to
use auto turntable for normal mode so you get some good practice in. If
not the computer will play stage 3 for you getting all "GOOD" ratings for
the scratches that you play. It's a pretty easy challenge so don't get
mesmerized by the 5 and 6 scratches that come down at once.
Like I said before, configuring your controls is very important if not
you'll be confused and in a world of hurt when you do progress to the
harder songs. If you have the turntable controller it should be alot
easier to work with than the regular controller.
To configure your controller goto the "options" menu then highlight
"Configuration", you can set the controller to anything you like that
is comfortable to play the beats correctly. I have an example of how
I configured my controller in the prior paragraph above which is
section 2. Also remember to choose autosave from the option mode under
"memory card", so that when you turn on your game for later use the game
will auto load and load your settings depending on whether you have a
regular controller connected or a Beatmania Turntable controller plugged
in.
Basically everything is self-explanatory. The last option "Disc Change"
allows you to play disc 2 Yabisu "Append" Mix from the 2nd arcade mix,
the Append 3rd Mix CD and the Append Gotta Mix CD. You can interchange
any of the 4 CD's using the "Disc Change" option.
Once you go to "Game Start" you have 3 options: Practice, Normal and
Expert modes which is on Disc 1, the Append discs don't give you
these three options. Practice shows you the basic fundamentals of the
game with DJ Kunani. He'll explain how and when to key in the commands
you set for the piano keys and record player. Once you finish with him
you will then be sent to the club to play your first gig, if you
perform successfully you'll then move on. The third stage is DJ Battle
on Disc 1 you have a "Scratch Off" with him then finish the remaining
songs. The ending is pretty simple but could have been way better maybe
a CG of a DJ playing at a Club meeting the club dancers or something
like that, but oh well they didn't think of that.
Free mode lets you mix with a friend or the cpu making the songs sound
much cooler. In free mode you can also choose the option of having the
notes disappear just before they reach the red line. It helps you by
making you rely on rythmn and remembering what key commands where
displayed.
There is one song that can only be played in 2 player free mode which
is Ambient "Greed Eater" (Disc 1).
Under the options menu you will find "auto turntable"; basically all
that does is have the computer scratch for you. This can be a plus or
minus. The reason is, is because yes you don't have to worry about
scratching when you get to harder songs that have you scratching
while playing 2 or 3 other notes around the same time frame and may
throw you offbeat, but you don't get the full effect of the game
with auto turntable turned on. I'm not against auto turntable, but
this game will be way more exciting without always having the
feature turned on.
The minus is the cpu will always get a "GOOD" rating for all the
scratches. You won't be learning how to scratch and it may become
pretty boring plus you can work on getting "GREAT" ratings for your
scratches instead of just "GOOD".
Training mode has alot to offer. You can even record practice sessions
and save them to your memory card for later listening. Training also
gives you a chance to hone your skills with no assistance from the
cpu such as "auto turntable". You can replay saved songs over and over
and practice at will. There is also a "Judgement Review" feature that
tells you how you did during your recording session except it's in
Japanese. One thing in training mode that is great and you may not
realize at first is, no matter what your turntable settings are, you
have to manually scratch, meaning you can't depend on the cpu to assist
you.
Once you play a song, it will appear on the song list in practice mode
where before there were question marks. Practice also allows you to
listen and watch as the cpu performs the songs so that you can get
better. If you haven't played a song yet question marks fill in it's
spot.
Expert mode has some pretty cool songs once you play normal mode and get
most of the regular songs down first. The farthest I've gotten is stage
3. The first 3 songs are:
Classic "Break Beats"
Techno
Vocal
I also got Soul, but have to progress further to get the other expert
songs.
Techno is a pretty good track as well as the others I've played in
expert mode. The only song that I have added to my list is Soul "Love
so Groovy" a 2nd mix to the "Love so Groovy" in normal mode.
Expert mode is very deceiving. You'll play and get a few "BAD" and
"POOR" here and there twice too many and fail. The object is to get
"GREATS" you can pass with "GREATS" and "GOODS" but you have to get
nearly no "BAD" or "POOR". You shouldn't rely on "GOOD" either because
you gain little on your crowd meter that's why you need to shoot for
"GREAT" notes. Don't get me wrong you can have "GOOD" notes in there
but, your an expert DJ now, you gotta show them what you got and play
the beats.
Timing is very important if you want to successfully key in notes at
the correct time. The concept of the game is simple but you have to time
your keystrokes right or you might wind up inputting too early or late.
Your are going to need rythmn without a shadow of a doubt you NEED
rythmn. If you have some rythmn tapping the commands at the correct
time, you shouldn't have a problem. The beat changes constantly for
some songs so you have to be on the money with your timing of keystrokes
and scratches. You'll notice the little red club dancer on the bottom
left of the little Titan Tron T.V., if you are getting the club going
doing slammin' beats and rocking the club he'll start dancing faster,
but when your messing up and making a idiot of your self in front of
the crowd not producing beats like your supposed to the little red
club dancer will shrug his shoulders as if to say what's up with the
music.
Listening is also important in this game. I played percussion/drums
from the 4th to 9th grade and quit after 9th cause our band instructor
just was too demanding at the time and I wasn't used to that, heh. I
came from being a junior high lead drummer which I worked for then
ended up at the bottom again which was hard for me being young at the
time. Anyways I listened to certain beats and rudiments I had trouble
with and basically mimicked them by ear; you can do this here too. Just
let the CPU play the song in practice mode if you failed with the song,
and listen and look as to where notes fall so you can know what to
expect when it's your time to get on stage.
Scratching is just the same as the other keystrokes except it's on
the far right with the yellow notes coming down. The record player
plays the same role as the red line, you must wait till the yellow
note or free zone bar comes down with yellow notes inside and press
the scratch command the same as you would the other notes, in this
case just as the bottom of the note reaches the record player.
If you don't feel like scratching the records yourself or just have
problems scratching and hitting the other notes well, you can turn on
"auto turntable" in the options menu.
When using the turntable controller for scratching, it's best to
move the record back and forth instead of in one direction if you
have multiple scratches.
Beat Mania supports dual shock very well. Konami did a great job with
dual shock for Metal Gear Solid and did just the same for Beat Mania.
The best vibration option is "on every beat".
DJ Station Pro currently sells for 110,000 won here in South Korea which
is about $104. I own this controller and it is the best one that I have
seen on the market.
Here is a explaination of each of the controllers I have seen and
how I would rate them. 1 star for Poor - 5 stars for excellent.
DJ Man *****
DJ Man is probably the best Beatmania controller on the market. It's
about the same size as the Beatmania Controller, but way better. The
record player looks like an actual record like DJ Station PRO as
oppossed to the cheap looking Beatmania Controller interface. The
only thing I don't like about this controller is that there are one
too many accessories for me. Mainly just the wrist sets for the
rumble pak compatibility. The "shock" from the wrist sets is mediocre
not as good as the dual shock vibration on the regular dual shock
controller, but it is pretty good. I understand the reason why
Konami and Bemani didn't incorporate the dual shock effect into
the actual turntable, because the thing would be shaking all
over the place when you set it on a table and that would get
annoying. The wrist sets aren't that bad but it sorta got
on my nerves thinking about having to keep up with them. If you
so happen to lose them, then no more vibration with the controller.
That shouldn't happen to you though, hopefully not. There is an
accessory available called the PS Rumble Pak. I saw it for $5 in
a shop here in Korea. It plugs into a controller port on your
Playstation, then you can plug the turntable controller into the
device and feel the vibration through the wrist sets.
One other great feature is the keys light up like DJ Station PRO.
The keys on the DJ Station PRO completely light up and the keys
on DJ Man only light up in the center of the keys. Nothing to
really cry about though, the feature itself is a cool idea. Also
the ring around the record lights up and pulses to the beat of the
music if you choose "music" instead of "rumble". DJ Man Controller
deserves 5 stars because it is a superb controller, just edging out
DJ station PRO by a little because there is no "dual shock"
feature on DJ Station PRO like DJ Man has. DJ Man is about the same
size and shape as the Beatmania controller, but is a better controller.
DJ Man retails for $50-60.
DJ Station PRO ****1/2
DJ Station PRO is the best looking turntable controller that I have
used and seen on the market. The performance is also great. You have
to be a all around DJ in order to use the turntable controllers because
there is no auto turntable when you have the turntable controller
plugged in. It plays every note precisely and never misses when you hit
"double & triple notes", that's when you get the two notes coming down
simultaneously. Another cool feature is when you hit the piano keys on
the controller they light up. Also DJ Station PRO has heaphone jacks
with volume controls to the left of the keys and has audio video cables
in the rear of the controller. It does not support "dual shock" which
is why I didn't give this controller a full 5 stars. If it did, this
controller would be the most amazing controller for Beatmania. The DJ
Station PRO controller retails for $104. You could get the PS Rumble
Pak and plug the DJ Station PRO into it then play with the wrist sets
if you want to feel the vibrations, which would make playing more
exciting.
Beatmania Controller *
This is the first controller that I got. DJ Station Pro wasn't out yet
and DJ Man was the other option. I jumped the gun and bought this one.
Bad mistake. This controllers' main problem is it won't play "double &
triple notes" correctly. For some reason it will play one of the keys
and won't register the others. I have tested it over and over and it
simply won't do it. I play the same notes fine with the DJ Station Pro,
but the Beatmania Controller won't do it. One other problem is the
record player for scratching.....it is very, very unexceptable. It
sucks..period. The record sticks and doesn't allow any freedom at all
to move the record back and forth. When DJ Station PRO came out about
a week in a half later at the Electro Mart, I told the Korean vendor I
wanted to swap controllers for the DJ Station Pro and pay the difference
which was like $54 dollars, and it was worth it.
The Beatmania Controller was the first one on the market, but that's
not a excuse for the poor interface and control.
Although, the Beatmania Controller is very light weight and affordable.
$50 dollars to be exact I do not recommend it at all though. You'd be
better off using your dual shock controller and get the vibration effects
with it. Lesson learned here is try before you buy.
You'll notice you might see Reggae, Hip-Hop, Ambient or another song
listed twice they are just different versions of a easier song of that
genre just remixed and just a bit harder to play and are most of the
time slammin'!!
You might think some of the harder songs like the Rave song "E-motion"
which they have 4 stars for difficulty is hard, turn on the auto
turntable and it becomes just as easy as the first Reggae song "Jam Jam
Raggae Master 73". "E-motion" is actually easy if you have the auto
turntable on or off I think it should have gotten either 2 or 3 stars
cause it's not that hard of a song as opposed to some songs that got 2
stars for difficulty which are pretty tough sometimes like Ballade "Do
you love me" during the middle part with like 12 notes that drop all
together you just have to remember the correct commands and you should
be set. To become a "real" DJ though you should try not to use auto
turntable but it certainly does help for some of those faster Ska and
Techno songs.
There are 70 songs in all (when viewing the list in training mode) not
including Expert mode on Disc 1. I haven't really played that mode
much because I can only get to stage 3, so I don't know if there are
more songs in Expert mode.
Disc 1 of Beat Mania 2nd Arcade Mix
There are actually only 20 songs on the song list in "Training Mode",
but DJ Battle's Scratch Off makes 21.
1. Hip-Hop
2. Reggae
3. Ambient
4. Techno
5. Ballade
6. Break Beats
7. Hip-Hop Street Mix
8. Japanese Hip-Hop
9. Konamix
10. Rave
11. House
12. Soul
13. House Spiritual Mix
14. Minimal Techno Mix
15. Ska
16. Hard Techno
17. Drum n' Bass Mix
18. Rave (2nd Mix)
19. Ambient (2 player mode)
20. DJ Battle (Scratch Off)
21. Reggae (2nd Mix)
1. Funk
2. Style Garage
3. Bossa Groove
4. Speed Garage
5. Funky Jazz Groove
6. Asian Traditional
7. Hard House
8. Big Beat Mix ---- Metal Gear Solid Main Theme
9. Bossa Groove French Version "La Bossanova de Fabienne"
Disc 3 Beatmania Append 3rd Mix (add-on disc)
These are somewhat harder than the previous discs.
1. Ambient
2. Soul
3. Reggae
4. Soul (Classic)
5. J~Dance Pop
6. Ballad (classic)
7. Hip Hop
8. Bossa Groove French Version "La Bossanova de Fabienne"
9. 80's J~Dance Pop
10. Eurobeat
11. Hard Techno
12. Drum'n Bass
13. Digi Rock
14. House (classic)
15. D'n Bass (classic)
16. Digital Funk
17. World Groove
18. Big Beat Mix
19. Funky Jazz Groove
20. House
Disc 4 Beatmania Append Gotta Mix
1. Real Garage
2. Hip and Soul
3. Raga Rock
4. Big Beat
5. Hip Hop
6. Crossover
7. DJ Battle (Naha Naha & Gattchooon DJ Duel)
8. R&B
9. Rock'n Techno
10. Japanese Garage Pop
11. Free Soul
12. Break Beats
13. Collage Techno
14. Jazz Electro
15. Trance
16. Euro Beat
17. Gabbah
18. Nonstop Megamix
19. R&B (Hard Version)
20. Drum n' Bass
Beatmania GB
1. Break Beats
2. Country
3. Classic 1
4. Classic 2
5. Latin
6. Rakuga Kids
7. Jazz
8. Reggae
9. Minimal Techno
10. Konamix
11. Bossa Groove
12. J~Dance Pop
13. Techno
14. Funk
Pocket Beatmania Songlist (This is the list in the instructions, some songs are
different mixes if their names are repeated)
1. Reggae "Jam Jam Reggae"
2. DJ Battle
3. Rave "E-motion"
4. Reggae "Jam Jam Reggae"
5. Break Beats "2 gorgeous 4U"
6. DJ Battle
7. Rave "E-motion"
8. Funky Jazz Groove "Stop the violence"
9. Eurobeat "Luv to Me"
Disc 3 is a seperate disc from the double disc set of Beat Mania
Arcade Mix, but disc 3 is a add-on and is not meant to be a
seperate game, Disc 4 is a seperate game so you can play it as a
seperate game. You need disc 1 to use disc 2 & 3, although disc 2
comes with disc 1 as a set. Disc 3 is a seperate add-on of mixes. You
can just change back and forth between discs by using the "Disc Change"
option. Just leave the power on, open the lid and change discs then
press start. Don't completely turn the system off you have to leave it
on to change discs. If you turn the system off and try to put in disc
2 or 3 it will have some Japanese writing and say "disc 1 arcade"
"disc 2 append" or "disc 3 append". So when changing discs it's safe to
leave the power on.
Well these songs aren't really secret but you have to either simply
pass the previous songs or do exceptionally well in previous songs on
the list to get them.
*IMPORTANT*
There are two factors in getting all of the songs for all 4 discs.
Basically if you do very well in the normal difficulty songs harder
songs will appear. Since I can't read the instructions this is my
observation from playing Beatmania for a long time.
To get the other songs you must PLAY HARDER songs too, when you beat the
game. For example, start off by playing a "normal" difficulty song and
play progressively difficult songs. If you only play the easy songs and
a few normal here and there you will not get all of the songs. So if you
notice that you are still missing some songs when you go to training
mode to practice. Play all normal mode songs, then a harder one for the
final stage. You can also play all easy songs then a normal or hard one
for the finale to get different songs.
The second factor I've noticed is your PERFORMANCE on certain difficulty
songs. For example if you get almost all "GREATS" on a normal mode song
like Japanese Garage Pop you will then get Nonstop Megamix and so forth.
The songs you get from doing exceptionally well on normal difficulty
songs are usually hype.
Both factors go hand and hand. Don't get confused and think that you have
to get all "GREATS" in a normal mode song. Just get as many "GREATS" as
you can.
Here's how to get the other songs (and it works all the time):
Here are some examples of the factors I talked about....
Disc 1:
Konamix - Your performance is key here (not just simply passing the
stage, it's how well you did). Try not to get any "BAD" or
"POOR" notes. The worst I've had in a performance is 2 BAD
and 1 POOR when getting Konamix, so you are allowed some
leway but you have to try to get as less "BAD" and "POOR"
notes as possible.
Japanese Hip-Hop - You get Japanese Hip-Hop along with Konamix.
Disc 2:
NOTE FOR ALL DISCS: Once you play a song it will disappear from your DJ
Booth so you must play any of the remaining songs to progress.
ie. You start with Bossa Groove, Style Garage and Funk. Say you pass
Bossa Groove you will then have Style Garage, Funk, and Speed
Garage. Pass Funk for example and you'll then have Style and Speed
Garage, Asian Traditional and Funky Jazz Groove. Pass Asian
Traditional for example and you'll get both Hard House and Big Beat
Mix "Metal Gear Solid" Main Theme added. After that you beat Disc 2.
Speed Garage - Pass any of the first 3 songs
Asian Traditional - Pass any remaining songs on your DJ Booth of records
Funky Jazz Groove - Comes with Asian Traditional
Hard House - Pass any remaining songs on your DJ Booth of records
Big Beat Mix "Metal Gear Solid" - Comes with Hard House
NOTE:
If you perform just well enough you will only get Konamix without
Japanese Hip-Hop. The same goes for the remaining songs. If you perform
very well though you will get both songs at the same time.
Bossa Groove French Version "La Bossanova de Fabienne" has the same
stipulations as Nonstop Megamix on Disc 4. You have to perform well on
Normal difficulty songs then the others will become available to you.
Disc 3:
The songs aren't that hard to get and I haven't seen any difficult
"stipulations". There is a fair amount of songs on this disc.
Disc 4:
Beatmania Append Gotta Mix is a great addition to the series. The songs
are very good and they are more challenging than the previous CD'S.
Nonstop Megamix has the same stipulations as Bossa Groove French
Version "La Bossanova de Fabienne".
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
11. SOME RECOMMENDED SONGS TO PRACTICE WITH TO GET BETTER
Here are some songs that seem difficult at first but are actually
moderately easy and sound good too. These are from all 4 discs.
Rave (both mixes) "E-Motion"
Bossa Groove "Papaya Bossa"
Funk "Cat Song - theme of UPA"
Techno "Expert Mode"
Ballade "Do you love me"
Trance
Eurobeat (on disc 3 & 4)
Gabbah (disc 4)
Funky Jazz Groove
Nonstop Megamix
These songs have multiple notes that drop at once in the middle
and near the end of the song. Rave just sounds cool because of the
record scratches. The scratches in Rave will help you alot too when
you progress in the game to other harder songs. There are a few other
earlier songs in the game that are good practice. The key is to
practice. The songs don't change, you can pick up on your mistakes
and be able to practice and go over the parts you have problems with
in practice mode.
Here is a list of songs that sound very, very good in "Free" mode:
Rave - Emotion (both mixes)
Nonstop Megamix
Japanese Garage Pop
DJ Battle (Naha Naha & Gattchooon DJ Duel)
Big Beat Mix ---- Metal Gear Solid Main Theme
Bossa Groove French Version "La Bossanova de Fabienne"
R&B (Hard Version)
These are just a few of my favorites. They sound really cool when
playing in free mode.
The third disc has 20 songs on it with wide variety. All I have to say
is practice, practice, practice the first 2 CD's on the 2nd Arcade Mix
game before diving into this one because these are really tough songs.
As a reminder the 3rd Mix is just a add-on Append disc and isn't
meant to be a seperate game. If you get just the 3rd Mix without
the first game, 2nd Arcade Mix, you'll be in for a rude awakening and
big surprise when the Playstation asks for Disc 1 from the game. So
get the 2nd Arcade Mix first then get the Append 3rd Mix.
Disc 4 is actually a whole seperate game. The new songs are very cool.
The songs are very challenging this time and have some pretty nice
hooks. One thing I noticed is in some songs near the middle, the song
speeds up and the notes fall faster which is a new feature. One example
is DJ Battle. Where two of the game creators Naha Naha and Gattchooon
battle it out in a "DJ Battle". The original DJ Battle makes a cameo
appearence at the beginning of the song. There are other songs that
have the "speed up" feature in them too.
I don't know if there are two versions or what, but the one I have
doesn't need need disc 1 or the "disc change" option to play like
the other Append mixes. I have seen some that require disc 1 (2nd mix)
so just get all the mixes, they are all cool.
Studio/Room Effect: Normally in the options mode you can choose this
feature under "Effect". If you press the "select" button during play
you can toggle between the two effects. If you look to the middle of
the screen right underneath the screen with the pictures there is
a small spinning record. It will change colors when you activate the
toggle effect.
Taking all you have read and learned here, try it out and incorporate
it into your own play style. I basically explained the game in as
much detail as I possibly could. This game is a simulator so it is
somewhat of a challenge and is a pretty good representation of DJ'ing.
If there is something anyone wants to add, feel free to email me at
aknight@frontiernet.net. If your information is usefull I'll print it
into my faq and give proper credit.
The biggest thing about this game is you must practice harder songs
over and over, they will become seemlessly easy after a while. Konami
did a excellent job with the Beatmania series and have a wide range of
other cool music games as well like Dance, Dance Revolution which
has the same play style as Beatmania except you play 70's and mid
80's music (you don't DJ though there is a Disco Dancer in the middle
of a dance floor). Unlike Beatmania if you begin to slump and fail,
the game will make fun of your rythmn and the dance club doors will
close which is sort of a slap in the face, but it's funny. Konami
also has Guitar Freaks which you play a guitar and play music just
like in Beatmania, although I read this in a magazine and have seen
pictures of it from the Tokyo Game Expo I don't know much about it.
It sounds pretty cool. Konami also has Drum Mania and another I have,
Pop n' Music which is almost identical to Beatmania with some familiar
characters. Music/Dance games are very popular in Japan and they are
making them so fast. There are a few more music games like Stolen
Song and Dance, Dance, Dance but they aren't as good as the previous
ones listed. There are controllers abundant for the more popular music
games like Beatmania and Dance,Dance Revolution. The one for Dance,
Dance Revolution looks just like the old Power Pad for the Nintendo
Entertainment System, it just has different controls on it.
Beatmania is one of the best games I've played on the Playstation and
is very addicting. You've gotta practice and if you don't already have
some.....get yourself some rythmn. Heh. This game is all about rythmn,
timing and patience. Once you have put all of that together and you've
got the hang of the game you'll have more fun. Also if you don't
already have a turntable controller, get one. It will help you out
tremendously and retails for about $45-104. One of the controllers,
DJ Man includes "Rumble Compatibilty" which vibrates just like the
Dual Shock controller. You can have a video game import store import
it for you. Otherwise just use your Dual shock and have fun and play
the beats.
This faq is a compilation of all of my Beatmania knowledge. I really
enjoyed writting this faq which took some time because of all the
changes I had to make, to make the guide precise. There are many sites
on the internet about Beatmania but 99% of them are Japanese websites.
I wanted to make this guide as complete as possible so if you can't
understand what the sites are talking about you can look to this guide
for all the information you need. I haven't found any codes or anything
for this game and I don't know if there are any codes for Beatmania,
except for some Gameshark codes. Please feel free to email me any
questions about Beatmania. I am pretty busy nowadays so if I answer
your emails too slow I apologize. I will try to get back to you as
soon as I can.
There is so much Beatmania merchandise available in Japan I can't
remember them all but here is a short list of things I've seen and
I have or plan on getting soon.
I just got Pocket Beatmania and it's a trip. The sound quality for
a little LCD keychain game is phenomenal. You can pick out the songs
from the various mixes automatically. The songs come from the 2nd Mix
and the Append 3rd Mix. The funny thing is the record scratching is
alot better than the Beatmania Controller, heh. Plus the record
actually has grooves in it to make it look like a "real" record. The
features are about the same as the Playstation version. The little
Konami logo to the left of the game lights up when you get "GREAT"
ratings for the beats you play. It won't light up for "GOOD", "BAD"
or "POOR". The modes available are: Normal, Practice, Auto Play
and Free Play. If you get confused at how to play when you first see
the game. It's the same format as the Playstation version. The
little blue area is for the black keys while the others are for the
white keys and the far right is for record scratching. There is
a "Groove Gauge" to the bottom right and the "action" window to
the upper right.
Pocket Beatmania is also headphone compatible. The game retails for
40,000 won which is $38.
Beatmania Wonderswan retails for 60,000 won which is about $58.
I haven't tried it out yet nor do I have it, but I have seen it on
display at the Electonics Market in Yongsan. I plan on getting it
later after I come back from leave, maybe in August 1999. Until
then you'll have to wait for detailed info later.
Konami of Japan for making such a phenomenal game. You guys should
make more games of this genre. No other game company has utilized
Dual Shock so well as Konami has recently. Great Job......One thing
though, what's up with these crappy fighting games? I bought Deadly
Arts of the Nintendo 64 when I was on leave from the Army back in
November I traded it in for $15 when I paid $51 for it, every place I
went said the game was so bad that it doesn't sell often I got jipped
$36 bucks on the trade cause the game wasn't even 24 hours from being
opened; mint condition. Magazines rate most of your fighting games real
low come on guys. I remember my Contra days from way back when in the
late 80's let's get some exceptional fighting games produced like
Namco.
Electro Mart in Seoul, S.Korea for having American and Japanese games
for the N64 and Playstation as well as full supplies of Dreamcast
systems. This place is awesome, I never thought I'd be in Korea.
The service is pretty good, but knowing a little Hangul (Korean
language) doesn't hurt either. Taking a Korean Cab is cool, you
can learn Hangul from the drivers who are mostly friendly. I
learned a little Hangul from them which is a great experience.
I am almost finished up here, I leave in November. This place has
tons of things to do cause Seoul is the second largest city in the
world, New York City is the largest. New York baby!!! Home sweet home.
I'm from Northern New York though, heh.
I'll let you guys in on new Beatmania games as I see them.
_ ) | \ | _)
_ \ -_) _` | _| |\/ | _` | \ | _` | faq
___/\___|\__,_|\__| _| _|\__,_|_| _|_|\__,_| created by Aoi "DJ Solidus"
Konami of Japan The Showstoppa
Bemani
