Beatmania IIDX 12: Happy Sky

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Beatmania IIDX 12 Happy Sky
Beatmania IIDX 12 Happy Sky cover.jpg
Titlescreen of the CS version
Developer(s) Konami (Arcade), Konami Digital Entertainment (PlayStation 2)
Publisher(s) Konami (Arcade), Konami Digital Entertainment (PlayStation 2)
Series beatmania IIDX & Bemani
Platform(s) Arcade & Sony PlayStation 2
ReleaseArcade
  • JP: July 13, 2005
PlayStation 2
  • JP: December 14, 2006
Genre(s) Music
Mode(s) Single-player & Multiplayer
Arcade system Konami Bemani PC Type 1

Beatmania IIDX 12: Happy Sky (stylized as beatmania IIDX12: HAPPY SKY) is the 12th game in the beatmania IIDX series of music video games. It was released in arcades by Konami in 2005. The game features over 45 new songs, some of which are unlocked over Konami's e-Amusement platform. Happy Sky introduced several small but significant changes to the series, such as a new difficulty scale, and a new boss song.

Contents

Gameplay

Beatmania IIDX tasks the player with performing songs through a controller consisting of seven key buttons and a scratchable turntable. [1] Hitting the notes with strong timing increases the score and groove gauge bar, allowing the player to finish the stage. Failing to do so depletes the gauge until it is empty, abruptly ending the song. [2]

The core gameplay remains the same in Happy Sky. Songs are now ranked on a 12-point rating scale, with the difficulties being renamed in the process as well. "LIGHT7/14" is now Normal and "7/14KEYS" is now Hyper. All songs have been readjusted to fit the new ranking scales. A new folder called "HARD CLEAR" has also been added to the song selection screen for songs cleared using the Hard mode modifier.

Two new modifiers have been added, Hidden+ and Sudden+, which allow the user to adjust a lane cover over a specific portion of the screen. This had been popularly done with towels beforehand, acknowledged by Konami in the PS2 version of Gold, which offers a picture of a towel as one of the lane cover options.

e-Amusement

Happy Sky was the last version of IIDX to support the old styled e-Amusement cards, as Distorted would switch to the new "e-Amusement Pass" system. A cell phone application called "IIDX WAVE" could customize the interface of Happy Sky, with different menu music options, different frames for the gameplay interface, and being able to create custom courses.

Extra Stage

If the player gets AA's on all stages (with all 3 stages being played on Hard Mode and on Another difficulty, and the final stage being a 10), the player is awarded a chance to play the extra stage, where Scream Squad by Calf is offered. If a AAA is scored and the stage is played on Hard Mode, the player gets to play One More Extra Stage, (Mei) by Amuro vs Killer, a song rated 12 on Another.

Music

GenreSongArtistTier
Synthetic Progressive Rock "100% minimoo-G"Sōta Fujimori
Gothic Metal "Agnus Dei" あさき from GuitarFreaks 10th Mix and Drummania 9th Mix
Trance Core "Aurora" Ryu☆
Natural Sound"alla turca con passione" Twin AmadeuS
Nostalish Requiem"CaptivAte~浄化~" A/I
K-Groove "キャッシュレスは愛情消すティッシュ " (Cashless wa Aijoukesu Tissue)GINGERappeared on BEMANI EXPO (ASIA)
Acid Jazz "Catch Me" DJ Yoshitaka feat. ERi
J-Pop Remix"Don't let it go"ウッチーズ
BATTLE2005"double thrash"414appeared on BEMANI EXPO (BATTLE)
Hyper J-Pop Six"EDEN" TËЯRA
E-Rock"EMPTY OF THE SKY" AKIRA YAMAOKA
Techno Rave"First Resolution"good-cool
Cyber Jazz"FUNKTION"ULTRAdoof
Swing Waltz "garden"青野りえ
J-Eurobeat "月光" (Gekkou)Tatsh feat. 星野奏子
Rave"Get'em up to R.A.V.E" Disconation
Broken Tek"GREEN EYES"SLAKE
Happy Hardcore "HAPPY☆ANGEL"jun with TAHIRIH
J-Happy Hardcore "ヒマワリ" (Himawari) 小坂りゆ from GuitarFreaks 10th Mix and Drummania 9th Mix
Cyber J-Rock"I am"有沢みはる from BeForU
Click House "in motion" Ryu☆
Trance "INAZUMA"dj TAKA
Happy Extreme"LESSON 5"Risk Junk feat. Erika Mochizuki
Click House "Listen up"Mitsuto Suzuki
Punk Opera"Little Little Princess"SHRINE 418appeared on BEMANI EXPO (RPG)
Drum'N'Bass "Love Magic"D.J.SWAN
UK Progressive"mind the gap"Osamu Kubota
Future House "MOON RACE"ELEKTEL
Drum'N'Bass "PATRIOTISM"kobo
Heart"Pink Rose"Kiyommy+Seiyafrom Keyboardmania 3rd Mix
Synthesized Techno"PLASMA"Sōta Fujimori
Hard Dance "Pollinosis"dj REMO-CON
Eurobeat "POODLE"Y&Co.
Digi-Rock"rage against usual"dj TAKA feat. Gt. Shintaro
Techno "Scripted Connection⇒" *DJ MURASAME
Big beat "SEXYSEXYCHEVY"MATALLY
Makina "SigSig" kors k
Dance Pop "SPARK!"SILVER FOX PRODUCTIONS feat. 星野奏子
Techno "Tant pis pour toi" AKIRA YAMAOKA
MPB (Musica Popular Brasileira)"Tizona d'El Cid" TOMOSUKE
Country Techno "TOE JAM"BIG IDEAfrom Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 2
Happy Euro Paradise"Twelfth Style"Tatsh&DAYBREAKERS NEXT
J-Eurotrance "Under the sky"南さやか (BeForU) with platoniX
Electroshock"vault of heaven"Mr. T
Anthem Trance "Votum stellarum"iconoclasmfrom Pop'n Music 10
Disco "We are Disっ娘よっつ打ち命" (We are Disco Girls of the Four-Beat Life)DANCE☆MAN feat.Disっ娘
Medieval Choir"Xepher"Tatsh
Funk "俺はビートマニア!お前は何マニア?" (I am Beatmania, You are Whatmania?)DANCE☆MAN
Hard Dance "合体せよ!ストロングイェーガー!! (Ryu☆ remix)" (The Strong Jaeger (Ryu☆ remix))L.E.D. remixed by Ryu☆
Reggae "ラクエン" (Rakuen) Chonan Chiharu
Breakcore "SCREAM SQUAD"CALFExtra (ES)
Human Sequencer"冥" (Mei)Amuro vs KillerExtra (OMES)
Regular SongUnlockExtra Stage

Noted songs

Mei, the OMES of Happy Sky, is known for its Another chart, which is rated 12 on Another and contains exactly 2000 notes. It was once considered one of the most difficult songs in IIDX history, and is still notoriously difficult to clear in HARD mode due to the slowdown and speed up in the middle portion. Xepher gained more exposure outside of IIDX when it was one of several new IIDX crossovers featured in Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA , and later as part of a set of Bemani crossover unlocks in Toy's March 2 (which also included Mei). Scripted Connection sounds slightly different on each difficulty level, thus having 3 different "versions". DJ Murasame stated in a "bio" page for the song on Konami's Happy Sky microsite, that the 3 different versions could be played together one after the other at once, and suggested a situation where all 3 versions could be played sequentially using 3 IIDX cabinets next to each other. [3] The console version of Happy Sky would later include all 3 variations playable separately, and a long mix of all 3.

Home version

A home version of Happy Sky was released in Japan for the PlayStation 2 on December 14, 2006. The game includes 9 new songs, plus an unlockable "long mix" of Scripted Connection. The home version also features unlockable customization features and artwork.

CS exclusive songs

GenreSongArtistTier
Nu Style Gabba "BLUE MIRAGE"DJ CHUCKYAlso Featured on AC PENDUAL
Drum & Bass "DAWN -THE NEXT ENDEAVOUR-"L.E.D. fw. 堀澤麻衣子Also featured in AC SIRIUS as Extra Stage in the HAPPY SKY Parallel Rotation folder.
Japanese Reggae "Endless Summer Story" DJ Yoshitaka feat. 星野奏子
Club Jazz"IceCube Pf.(RX-Ver.S.P.L.)" 高田雅史
Happy Hardcore "in the Sky" Ryu☆
Nu School Breaks"Just a Little Smile"Sōta Fujimori
Pops"Recollection"Noria (with dj TAKA)Also featured on AC SPADA.
Bossa Electronica"Reflection into the EDEN"猫又MasterAlso Featured on AC Tricoro.
Techno "Scripted Connection⇒ N mix" cDJ MURASAME
Techno "Scripted Connection⇒ H mix" cDJ MURASAME
Techno "Scripted Connection⇒ A mix" cDJ MURASAME
Techno "Scripted Connection⇒ long mix" aDJ MURASAME
Trance "風の谷のDREAM" (Kaze no Tani no DREAM)PINK PONG
World/Electronica"サヨナラ*ヘヴン" (Sayonara Heaven)猫又MasterFrom Pop'n Music 11 (CS). Also featured in AC SIRIUS as Extra Stage in the HAPPY SKY Parallel Rotation folder.
Happy Hardcore "LOVELY STORM -LOVE IS DREAMINESS RE-INTERPRETATION-" bL.E.D.-G

aScripted Connection Long Mix can only be played by launching the "7-kyu" course in Class mode in a specific manner.
bLOVELY STORM replaces LOVE IS DREAMINESS if played on the Another difficulty. The song gained a full set of charts in DJ Troopers.
cIn the arcade version of Happy Sky, each "version" of Scripted Connection can be unlocked separately.

Soundtrack

The original soundtrack for Happy Sky was released on October 19, 2005. The soundtrack spans 2 discs, and includes the console-exclusive songs from 9th Style, plus 6 long versions.

Related Research Articles

<i>Beatmania IIDX</i> Video game series

Beatmania IIDX is a series of rhythm video games, that was first introduced by Konami in Japan on February 26, 1999. IIDX has since spawned 29 arcade releases and 14 console releases on the Sony PlayStation 2. It is the sequel to the beatmania game series, and part of the Bemani line of music games. A PC release titled beatmania IIDX INFINITAS has been released, beginning alpha testing in September 2015, and was heavily updated to a new version in 2020.

Bemani is Konami's music video game division. Originally named the Games & Music Division (G.M.D.), it changed its name in honor of its first and most successful game, Beatmania, and expanded into other music-based games, most notably rhythm games such as Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Freaks, and Drum Mania.

e-Amusement

e-Amusement, stylized as e-amusement, is an online service operated by Konami, used primarily for online functionality on its arcade video games. The system is used primarily to save progress and unlockable content between games, participate in internet high score lists, access other exclusive features depending on the game, and access the Paseli digital currency service.

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<i>Beatmania IIDX 10th Style</i>

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beatmania IIDX 5th Style is the fifth game in the beatmania IIDX series of music video games. It was released in arcades by Konami in 2001. The game features 35 new songs, five of which are hidden. New features introduced in this version are auto-scratch, as well as two more Hi-Speed settings 5th Style's songlist featured the first songs that would later become "flashing 7s", here differentiated from regular 7s with a kanji meaning "forbidden".

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<i>Beatmania IIDX 13: Distorted</i>

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<i>Beatmania IIDX 11 IIDXRED</i>

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<i>Beatmania IIDX 15: DJ Troopers</i> Video game

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<i>Beatmania IIDX 16: Empress</i>

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<i>Beatmania IIDX 17: Sirius</i> Video game

Beatmania IIDX 17: Sirius is the 17th installment in Konami's Beatmania IIDX series of music video games. The main motif of Sirius's UI is astronomy, as the game is named after Sirius, known to be the brightest star in the night sky. Public location tests began on May 27, 2009, and the game itself was released on October 21, 2009.

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<i>Beatmania IIDX 18 Resort Anthem</i> Video game

Beatmania IIDX 18 Resort Anthem is a music video game in the Beatmania IIDX series of games by Konami. On April 19, 2010, Bemani fansite Zenius -I- Vanisher reported that Konami had announced the first location test for the newest game in the IIDX series. The location test ran from April 22 to April 26 at the Cat's Eye Machida (キャッツアイ町田) in Machida, Tokyo. Follow-up location tests ran in Chōfu, Tokyo and Kyoto from April 30 to May 6, in Nagoya and Sapporo from May 14 to May 20 and in Chiyoda, Tokyo from June 11 to June 12. The game was released on September 15, 2010 This Beatmania iteration's theme focuses heavily on a futuresque modern relaxation and tropical beach resort concert-like setting, with the interface making use of sleek mechanical components with simple whites and bright colors that are easy on the eyes.

<i>Beatmania IIDX 19: Lincle</i>

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<i>Beatmania IIDX 22: Pendual</i>

Beatmania IIDX 22: Pendual is a music video game and the 22nd installment of Beatmania IIDX series of video game, a part of the long-running Bemani series. The theme of the game revolves around the concept of time with the theme split between the present and the future; Pendual itself is a portmanteau of "pendulum" and "dual". The UI mainly features white to symbolize the present and purple to symbolize the future. It was first announced during the BEMANI Namahōsō event on June 4, 2014, with location testing held from June 13 to 15, 2014. It was released on September 17, 2014.

<i>Beatmania IIDX 23: Copula</i>

Beatmania IIDX 23: Copula is the 23rd installment of the Beatmania IIDX series. The first location test was held at the Tokyo Lesiure Land #2 location in Akihabara, Japan from July 10 through 12th 2015. It was released on November 11, 2015. This is Last Beatmania Series made by Konami Digital Entertainment before Konami Amusement.

References

  1. Foster, Neil (April 1, 2013). "Beatmania (page 8)". Hardcore Gaming 101. Kontek. Archived from the original on July 23, 2019. Retrieved March 5, 2020.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  2. "overall on beatmania IIDX". Konami. Konami. 1999. Archived from the original on February 6, 2007. Retrieved March 5, 2020.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  3. "Scripted Connection song bio" (in Japanese). Konami. Retrieved 2008-12-15.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)