Beatmania IIDX - You are the DJ of the Gig!

(up) a beatmania IIDX arcade  from http://2dera.net/iidx_map/view_pict.php?shop_id=1894                        

(down) keyboard and disc for scratching
   
   Yeah~After the ambiguous explanation last week, let's see what beatmania IIDX is. To begin with, let me separate the phrase "beatmania IIDX" first.

beat, mania, II, DX

   beat: 節拍

   mania: craziness

   II: two

   DX: deluxe

   Now, you might be curious whether beatmania I exists. Yes, it existed long time before (1997~2002), and it was called "beatmania" then. Beatmania IIDX (IIDX for short) is the sequel to it released in 1999 in Japan. Both two games are developed by Konami.
   The amount of arcade in Taiwan is only 26. Compared to that of jubeat, it's only a little.

Distribution: http://2dera.net/iidx_map/index_map.php (4 in Taipei, 9 in Kaohsiung)

Basic Introduction

The latest version is 21th, SPADA

Lunatic Rave 2, LR2 is a simulator of IIDX. It's impossible for me to record this video on arcade, so I decided to record on LR2.

Accuracy

PGREAT (Shining GREAT): perfect

GREAT (Yellow GREAT)

GOOD

BAD: stop combo, gauge drains a little

POOR: stop combo, gauge drains a lot

1P&2P, Single play(SP)&Double play(DP)

   Disc on the left is 1P; on the right is 2P. I'm a 1P player. SP means playing either 1P or 2P; DP means playing both 1P and 2P together. Not to mention, DP is far more difficult than SP.

Special Feature of IIDX

1. Key Sound: A particular sound, often with regard to the melody of music. Let's why Konami states, "You are the DJ of the gig!"

2. The density of notes: IIDX is the rhythm game with the highest density I have ever seen. Some difficult beatmaps have 1000 notes per minute, which is about twice of jubeat. 

3. MV: You can enjoy MV while playing if you could. :-3

4. Scratch: This is what simulates DJ. It's not easy, particularly when scratch notes and key notes appear at the same time.

This movie is for introducing key sound.

A scratching song. I'm really a novice!

Thank you for visiting. Next week you will learn more about playing technique, but again, I'm a novice!!

Acknowledgement

NTU music game club: provided instrument and allowed to shoot videos

Preliminaries of Beatmania IIDX

  Before starting introducing the last rhythm game, beatmania IIDX, I would like to make some brief explanation about some music knowledge. I will introduce the terms which may be used in the following week. This might not help you play beatmania IIDX or other rhythm games more well or get higher score, but it may be more convenient for me to introduce beatmania IIDX.

  I suggest you review my first article, "Introduction".

  If you can't understand, don't want to understand, or even think my blog is suck, you can simply enjoy the music and skip the article.

1. Synthesizer (synth, 合成器) and Sampler (Rompler, 取樣器)[1]

  These two instruments are very important in electronic music. I don't know much about it, so only a very brief explanation is provided.

Synthesizer

• Bass: Bass is, namely, low frequency, which is the most important element. Example: PSY - GENTLEMAN (notice 0:00~0:07 except drum)

• Lead: a highlighted part, usually obvious sawtooth wave (鋸齒波), with middle and high frenquency. Example: David Guetta - Play Hard (0:25~0:33)

• Pad: background sound to make music more abundant, hard to recognize, with middle or high frenquency composed by sine wave (正弦波)
• Key: key sound, like keyboard, xylophone

Sampler

• Kick: similar to "bass drum (大鼓)"
• Clap: like the sound of clapping hands
• Snare: 小鼓, usually appear with clap together
• FX: sound effects, like shouting, exploding sound

2. Music Genre

• Pop: the songs popular to many people 
• Hip hop: "consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, beatboxing and DJ scratching[2]"
• House: "a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the American city of Chicago in the early 1980s, repetitive 4/4 beats, often 126~134 BPM, rhythms mainly provided by drum machines, off-beat hi-hat cymbals, and synthesized basslines, notably the prominent kick drum on every beat[3]" If you have been to a pub, you might be familiar with house music. Example:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ3DJ8It1JE
• Trance: "Classic trance employs a 4/4 time signature, a tempo of 125 to 150 BPM, and 32 beat phrases. A kick drum is usually placed on every downbeat and a regular open hi-hat is often placed on the upbeat or every 1/8th division of the bar.[4]" The melody is usually graceful, and trance is my favorite music type. Example:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcJPv6cglaI&list=PL78C1E51DE2B3DD85
• Hardcore: The rhythm is heavy and fast, above 170 BPM. Hardcore is very common in rhythm games. Example:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_P56mCeOvo(this song is from beatmania IIDX)
• Eurobeat: The lead is very bright and dense (many notes in a short time). Sometimes the tempo is strange. You can play a plenty of eurobeat songs in beatmania IIDX, jubeat and dance dance revolution. I like eurobeat too because it cheers me up when I feel depressed. Example:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eezECGji60(this song can be played in jubeat and beatmania IIDX)

Thank you for visiting!! If you find errors, please inform me.

Reference

1.powerpoint "電子舞曲概論" made by 李寸實

2.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_hop_music

3.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_music

4.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trance_music

Jubeat- Making Rhythm Games a Big Fad!

  Most of you must have heard of jubeat, from bemani series released by Konami. I bet that at least one person among your classmates have played jubeat, and maybe he or she is already an expert. It is jubeat that make rhythm games a hit in Taiwan. When classes are over, I often see many students queuing up in the arcade game store. They are waiting for playing jubeat!

Why does jubeat become so popular?

1. Its gameplay is innovative.

2. There are 16 buttons, 4 in length and 4 in width. "When a marker, an animated explosion or other animation, reach a 'hot point', the player must tap the corresponding screen according to the rhythm.[1]" Compared to conventional rhythm games in which buttons and screen display are separate, jubeat is the one "you press what you see". It is not too difficult for beginners.

3. "As with other Konami games, an e-Amusement card can be used to save statistics and a player ranking, and can also be used to access unlockable songs. Single player and linked multiplayer modes with multiple cabinets are also offered.[1]"

The  Version of Jubeat from Past to Now

There is a specific theme of every version.[1]

No.	Theme	Release Date in Japan
1	Jubeat	2008/07/24
2	Jubeat ripples	2009/08/05
2.5	Jubeat ripples APPEND	2010/03/18
3	Jubeat knit	2010/07/29
3.5	Jubeat knit APPEND	2011/03/23
4	Jubeat copious	2011/09/15
4.5	Jubeat copious APPEND	2012/03/14
5	Jubeat saucer	2012/09/25

 APPEND: An update kit set for the current version. The theme remains the same, but news songs are added and some special events are held.

  The theme hasn't been changed for more than one year. Konami decide to change the strategy. "The overall Song List is rotated each month, therefore the song list will be updated every week or month to include new songs, along with some songs being added, removed or revived.[1]"

  An significant change in jubeat saucer is "Edit beatmap". Since 2010/10/01, a player can edit their own beatmap with "jubeat Lab[2]" and upload. If many players like the beatmap, it may be available on arcade!

Accuracy[1]

Accuracy	Score
Perfect	a
Great	0.7a
Good	0.4a
Bad	0.1a
Miss	0

The accuracy symbols depend on the marker player choose.

Difficulty

Basic(BSC) -> Advanced(ADV) -> Extreme(EXT)

Videos

1.Thomas Howard Lichtenstein - In Scottish Highlands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC1zr2wwrXU

English lyrics: http://vjarmy.com/wiki/index.php/In_Scottish_Highlands#Lyrics

2.DJ Yoshitaka - Evans (EXT): a famous song, extremely difficult.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXAyi859Pxo

3.DJ Yoshitaka - Evans (EDIT): insane...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLXO0M3dFVE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

4.My playing: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=260288717394549&set=vb.100002402688506&type=3&theater

Reference

1.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubeat

2.http://www.konami.jp/products/touch_jubeatplus/

3.https://sites.google.com/site/jubeatinfozh/home

Touching Games: Reflect Beat, Cytus

   A touching game is played with a touch panel. Thus, touching games are available to some touching devices such as smartphones and pads, which means you can play them handily!

1. Reflect Beat (RB)

  "Reflect beat is a rhythm game from Bemani series, developed by Konami. It was released on November 4, 2010. In the game field, there will be 2 lines, where the line at the bottom is the player's. There are also 2 or 3 tops above the line. Round markers called "Objects" will come towards the player's line or top, and the aim of the player is to touch them exactly when they are on the line or top.[1]" Of course, you then "reflect" them to your opponent, who is a computer or a real person. This is one of the special feature of RB.

from the powerpoint edited by Tzu-Yuan Chiu

   As a novice, I sometimes touch the objects out of the line, and sometimes fail to recognize the rhythm. QQ

There are five types of objects: [1]

   

• Gold Object: Gold Object is an Object which will bounce to the opposite direction if it is touched on either the player's or the opponent's line.
• Black Object: Black Object is an Object which will disappear if it is touched on either the player's or the opponent's line.
• Long Object: The player must touch and hold it on the same position without moving the finger until the tail of it reaches the line.
• Chain Object: This type of Object appears as an Object with a line that links it to the other Object behind it. The player must double-tap the object on the same position.
• TOP Object: This kind of Object only appears on MEDIUM and HARD difficulty. There will be 2 or 3TOP receptors and the object is always go towards the receptors. Just like with the line, player must touch the Object when it overlaps the receptor to hit it successfully. Top objects are easy to ignore and sometimes tricky to touch.

   "There's also a unique feature called 'Touch&Slide'(You can call it 殺球). Players just have to hit a 'Gold Object' (not a Black Object) and slide it so the object will bounce back faster in an unpredictable direction. You only can slide only if the judgment of that gold object is 'just'. It costs one portion of the 'JUST REFLECT Gauge'.[1]" 

     Sometimes many objects reflecting in the screen really make beatmaps messy!

Let's see two videos. 

Played by me with an arcade. Notice "Touch&Slide" at 0:46 and 1:13. 

An English song with lyrics(hard to recognize), played by a member of NTU music game club with an iPad. He is an experienced player.

Remark: The sensitivity of an iPad is not worse than that of an arcade, and even better than that of an old one. If you have a pad, whether iOS or Android, just download now and enjoy!

2. Cytus

   "Cytus  is a rhythm game developed by Rayark Games, an independent game developing corporation in Taiwan. TAIWAN!! There is NO arcade games, only available to iOS, Android, PlayStation Vita(PlayStation Mobile.[2]"

   In my opinion, Cytus is the inverse game of RB. 

      RB: moving objects, fixed lines. 

      Cytus: fixed objects, moving lines.

   It is popular among my classmates. I think no more introduction is needed. Just download now and play! Then, discuss with your friends.

a beautiful song

By the way, Rayark company is invited to deliver a speech to NTU music game club in December this year! Maybe I can make a report about it. Thank you for visiting.

Judgment (Score) [3]

RB	Cytus
JUST(+3)	PERFECT(+a)
GREAT(+2)	GOOD(+0.7a)
GOOD(+1)	BAD(+0.3a)
MISS(-3 for a circle, -1~3 for a long object, -10 for a slide object from opponent)	MISS(0)

Reference

1.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflec_Beat

2.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytus

3.http://zh.cytus.wikia.com/wiki/%E5%9F%BA%E7%A1%80%E7%9F%A5%E8%AF%86?variant=zh-tw