List of Bemani series

Bemani video games

Beatmania

Modeled after nightclub DJs and mixing boards, Beatmania, known as Hip Hop Mania in North America and Beatstage in Korea, lets you "spin" the music with five activator keys and a turntable. The Beatmania series was the first Bemani game introduced and its successor is still the most popular Bemani game in Japan. With dozens of releases in arcades and on video game platforms Beatmania set itself as a role model for future Bemani titles. The music featured in this series of games is still in use today in Beatmania IIDX and other Bemani games.

Beatmania portal

Beatmania IIDX

Continuing the Beatmania series, Beatmania IIDX (Typically pronounced "Two Dee Ecks") was released in 1999. The rules of the game remain the same from beatmania with the addition of two more keys giving players seven keys to play with along with the turntable. "IIDX" stands for 2 Deluxe, "Beatmania 2 Deluxe", as Konami gave the series an entire internal and external makeover. The deluxe versions of the arcade machines were bulked up with larger displays, a platform for players to stand on and literally feel the bass of the music, and other amenities. As time went on Konami ceased production of the standard cabinet and went exclusively with the deluxe cabinet.

Beatmania IIDX has been released on the PlayStation 2 platform for home players and continues to this day with arcade and home releases worldwide, including a release in North America, simply titled Beatmania.

Beatmania IIDX portal

Beatmania III

Built off the Beatmania gameplay, Beatmania III added a foot pedal to the five keys and turntable used by players. The Beatmania III series was short lived with only a few releases and a series run of only two years, ending in 2002. Many songs from Beatmania III were ported to the IIDX series as well as other Bemani games.

Beatmania III portal

Dance Dance Revolution

Dance Dance Revolution, also known as Dancing Stage, was first produced in 1998. The game is played by stepping to music on a dance platform with pressure sensitive arrow pads. The game has changed little since its introduction but has come a long way in terms of musical selection and visual appearance. Dance Dance Revolution was originally an arcade title but games have been released on many different platforms including the Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo Wii, and Microsoft Xbox. Other versions have also appeared on portable handhelds, cellphones, and as standalone TV plug'n'play devices. The series is still very active with over one hundred releases to date.

Dance Dance Revolution portal

Dance Dance Revolution Solo

An offshoot of the Dance Dance Revolution series, Dance Dance Revolution Solo added two additional arrows to the dance stage. The series saw two major releases and two complimentary releases before being canceled in 2001. Most of the music exclusive to Dance Dance Revolution Solo was reused in the main DDR series of games.

Dance Dance Revolution Solo portal

Dance Maniax

Controlled by two pairs of motion sensors that detect movement above them and below them, Dance Maniax, known as Dance Freaks in Korea, plays like Dance Dance Revolution for your hands. First released in 2000, Dance Maniax featured a song list from Konami's in-house artists and Toshiba EMI's Dancemania music label. The series ended after three major releases.

DanceManiaX Official site DanceManiaX 2ndMIX Official site DanceManaiX 2ndMIX append J PARADISE Official site

Pop'n Music

Released in 1998, Pop'n Music is like a simplified Beatmania. With larger, colorful buttons, no turntable, and easier note patterns, Pop'n Music presents players with a more childlike appearance. However Pop'n Music is viewed as every bit as difficult as Beatmania IIDX and has modes that use up to nine hand buttons at once. Pop'n Music is stylized with cute cartoony characters and a musical selection to match. The series continues to this day as one of the most popular Bemani games.

Pop'n Music portal

Pop'n Stage

Combining game elements from Dance Dance Revolution and Pop'n Music, Pop'n Stage takes the colorful buttons and lets players play the game on a stage with their feet. There was only one version of the game released.

Official site

Guitar Freaks and Drum Mania

Also known as Gitado in Japan, the combined series of Guitar Freaks & Drum Mania are games that use simplified instruments after their namesake. Guitar Freaks uses a small, plastic guitar with three buttons known as "frets", a strum bar, and a motion sensor that players set off by pulling the neck of the guitar up and quickly down again. Despite the similarities, Guitar Freaks predates Guitar Hero by several years.

Drum Mania lets players play a set of drums. Modeled after modern digital drum kits, the player strikes the appropriate piece with the drumsticks on cue with the music and failure to do so causes the song to sound incorrect. Many American players will recognize the Drum Mania setup from more recent games like Rock Band, which is unrelated to the Konami game.

Despite being separately released games that can be played independent of each other, Konami markets the Guitar Freaks & Drum Mania series as a pair that can be linked for co-operative play in the arcades. The two series continue to be released to this day.

Guitar Freaks & Drum Mania portal

Rock Revolution

Rock Revolution was released in 2008 as Konami's answer to the spark in rhythm games caused by Guitar Hero and Rock Band. It effectively combines both GuitarFreaks and DrumMania into one game, but without the option to use a microphone for vocals as Rock Band and Konami's own Karaoke Revolution titles. Interestingly, it had its own customized drum kit, but no matching guitar; it instead utilized guitar controllers from its rivals.

Keyboardmania

A MIDI synthesizer game. Keyboardmania features a mini musical keyboard and players create the primarily piano based music by striking the keys to the note patterns on the screen. Keyboardmania saw only five major releases before being canceled but features exceptionally difficult and unique gameplay for the Bemani series of games. "Real Mode" actually requires players to know how to play the piano in order to easily pass the songs.

Keyboardmania can be linked with certain versions of the GuitarFreaks & DrumMania series.

Official site

Para Para Paradise

Built around the Para Para dance style made popular in Japan, Para Para Paradise recreates official dance moves within the game by setting off arrows on screen by using player's hand under a set of motion sensors. The music in the game centers around Eurobeat and features songs from Konami and Avex Trax. Only three version of the game were released as Para Para dancing fell out of mainstream popularity in Japan, and the series never saw light outside of the country beyond music game importers and localized Korean versions of the arcade machines.

Jubeat

Announced on December 22, 2007, Jubeat, (Spelt, and pronounced, UBeat and YouBeat in the American test releases), is the newest official Bemani game by Konami. It is similar to Whack-a-mole, where players must tap the square-shaped touch screens when they light up. It was released in Japan in July 2008. A localized version of the game for North America was announced the month after with tests held at an arcade in Southern California alongside Dance Dance Revolution X. After two separate testing phases Konami cancelled all plans to release the game outside of Japan.

Official site

Bemani Pocket

Similar in style to Tamagotchi hand helds, the Bemani Pocket series released finger play versions of Dance Dance Revolution, Beatmania, and ParaParaParadise.

Bemani artists

In addition to licensed music tracks, primarily from Toshiba EMI and Avex Trax, Konami employs a list of in-house artists to produce the music for its Bemani series. These artists often go by pseudonyms when credited with their songs. Some Bemani employees have broken off and become independent artists. The current list of artists under Konami's label are listed on the Bemani website.

Bemani Music Foundation

See also

Sources

References

External links

Bemani series