| beatmania III | |
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| Developer(s) | Konami |
| Publisher(s) | Konami (Japan) |
| Platform(s) | Arcade(Konami Firebeat) |
| Release |
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| Genre(s) | D.J. |
| Mode(s) | Up to 2 players simultaneously |
beatmania III is a rhythm video game created by Konami. Gameplay is essentially the same as in the beatmania series, with a few enhancements to the hardware.
The beatmania III series was relatively short-lived, spanning only 2 years. It had five releases, the last one being Beatmania III The Final in 2002.
beatmania III cabinets feature a total of 10 speakers. There are four mid-range speakers stacked vertically on either side of the screen, and two subwoofers located on the front of the machine. The cabinet also features a pair of headphone jacks, so that both players may use their own headphones to enjoy the game's audio. Using headphones does not disable the external speakers.
Whereas the original Beatmania features simply an "Effector" button, beatmania III has an extensive panel for using a number of different effectors. Available effectors vary widely, including Echo, Low Pass, High Pass, Flanger, Phaser, Volume Bass, Lo-Fi, and several others. The chosen effector can be applied to just the background track, just the sounds created by the player, or both, and the intensity of the effect can be adjusted with two parameter knobs. Enabling the effector is achieved by simply pressing the foot pedal.
While the original 5-keys-and-turntable layout remains unchanged, beatmania III adds a foot pedal for each player. In normal play, this enables or disables different sound-altering effectors. Some songs have a "foot" version that adds a seventh column with green note bars that is played by using the foot pedal. The game also allows players to set the foot pedal so that it functions as any one of the game's 5 keys.
beatmania III has a feature unique to the Bemani series: a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive. By inserting any blank Windows-formatted disk before starting, the player can have the game create files on the disk used to record personal best scores. After playing, the disk is then removed from the drive for later repeated use in beatmania III, or for looking at scores using one's personal computer. The floppy disk was also required to unlock secret songs or game modes on some versions of the game.
The beatmania III series was only released as an arcade game. No console releases were ever produced even though both Japanese and North American IIDX controllers have input ports for a bass pedal. Each release added songs from the Beatmania games their titles refer to, including most previous arcade releases.
Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, Dance Dance Revolution is the pioneering series of the rhythm and dance genre in video games. Players stand on a "dance platform" or stage and hit colored arrows laid out in a cross with their feet to musical and visual cues. Players are judged by how well they time their dance to the patterns presented to them and are allowed to choose more music to play to if they receive a passing score.
Beatmania (ビートマニア) is a rhythm video game developed and distributed by Japanese game developer Konami and first released in December 1997. It contributed largely to the boom of music games in 1998, and the series expanded not only with arcade sequels, but also moved to home consoles and other portable devices, achieving a million unit sales. The Bemani line of music games from Konami is named after the series, was first adopted in the arcade release of Beatmania 3rdMix and kept ever since. The series came to an end with the last game being Beatmania The Final, released in 2002.
Beatmania IIDX (IIDX) is a series of rhythm video games, that was first released by Konami in Japan on the 26th of February 1999. Beatmania IIDX has since spawned 31 arcade releases and 14 console releases on the Sony PlayStation 2. It is the sequel to the beatmania game series, and is part of the Bemani line of music games.
Bemani, stylized as 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.
Gitadora is a music video game series produced by Konami. The series consists of two games, GuitarFreaks and DrumMania, where players use game controllers modeled after musical instruments to perform the lead guitar, bass guitar and drums of numerous songs across a wide range of genres by matching scrolling musical notes patterns shown on screen. Players are scored for successfully-hit notes, but may fail a song if they miss too many notes. The series has featured numerous game modes, and supports both single-player and multiplayer modes where up to three players can perform together. Some earlier versions of the game could also be linked with Keyboardmania.
Keyboardmania is a rhythm video game created by the Bemani division of Konami. In this game up to two players use 24-key keyboards to play the piano or keyboard part of a selected song. Notes are represented on-screen by small bars that scroll downward above an image of the keyboard itself. The goal is to play the matching key when a note bar descends to the red play point line. The arcade cabinet has two screens - one for each player.
EZ2DJ is a series of music video games created by the South Korean company AmuseWorld. Basic gameplay is similar to Konami's beatmania series. The first edition of EZ2DJ was introduced in 1999 and the last version, EZ2DJ Azure Expression ~Integral Composition~, was released in June 2012. Afterwards, following the lawsuit by Konami, the rights for franchise were given to Square Pixels company, and development continued under the title of EZ2AC, with latest version being EZ2AC Final EX, which was released in August 2020.
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.
In the Groove is a series of music video games that uses a four-panel dance pad. The series was first developed by Roxor Games during a time when four-panel dance games in the arcade market were on the decline. As of October 18, 2006, Konami has acquired the intellectual property rights to the series.
Dance Dance Revolution Extreme is a music video game by Konami and is the eighth release in the main Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) series. It was released on December 25, 2002 for Japanese arcades, on October 9, 2003 for the Japanese PlayStation 2, and on September 21, 2004 for the North American PlayStation 2. This game is the ninth release in North America, but despite having the same name as its Japanese counterpart, its gameplay and soundtrack is significantly different and won the Video Music Awards in 2005 on MTV for Best Video Game Soundtrack.
Beatmania IIDX 9th Style is the ninth game in the beatmania IIDX series of music video games. It was released in arcades by Konami in 2003. The game features over 50 new songs, some of which can be unlocked using Konami's e-Amusement platform – which made its official debut on 9th Style.
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".
beatmania IIDX 3rd Style is a music video game developed by Bemani and published by Konami, initially released as an arcade game in Japan on February 25, 2000, and subsequently ported to the PlayStation 2 on November 2. 3rd Style removed the 4-keys mode from previous installments and replaced it with the Light7 difficulty, giving most songs a fully separate, easier notechart. The game also introduced Free Mode and Extra Stage, and featured a new aesthetic.
Beatmania IIDX is an arcade music video game developed by Bemani and published by Konami. It was released in Japan on February 26, 1999. The objective is to perform songs using a controller with seven keys and a turntable. After the surprise success of Beatmania, Benami conceived IIDX to simulate an actual disc jockey (DJ) live performance. Its arcade cabinet contains a widescreen monitor, speakers, and eight spotlights. Bemani later developed several updated versions of IIDX to increased success. The game retrospectively received a positive reception from video game publications for its gameplay and increased difficulty. A sequel, Beatmania III, was released in 2000.
Dance Dance Revolution X is a music video game developed by Konami. A part of the Dance Dance Revolution series, it was announced in 2008 for Japan and on May 15, 2008, for the North American PlayStation 2. The arcade version was announced on July 7, 2008, July 9, 2008 in Europe, and July 10, 2008, for North America. Released to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Dance Dance Revolution, DDR X sports an improved interface, new music, and new modes of play. The arcade release featured an overhauled cabinet design with a widescreen display, e-Amusement and USB access, and an improved sound system. Despite such new design of its arcade cabinet, upgrade kit to change the edition of DDR on its first generation arcade cabinet from SuperNOVA2 to X is also available. The PlayStation 2 release has link ability with the arcade machine, multi-player support over LAN, and other improved and returning features such as EyeToy support. DDR X was called a "truly global version", with a multi-regional release by all three major Konami houses.
Beatmania IIDX 16: Empress is the 16th game in the Beatmania IIDX series of music video games. It was released in arcades by Konami on November 19, 2008. The game features over 50 new songs, some of which are unlocked over Konami's e-Amusement platform. The design of Empress's interface is based on a pink color scheme, dominated by sparkles, butterfly wings, and motifs of royalty and jewellery. A PlayStation 2 port for the game was released on October 15, 2009, in Japan.
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.
Reflec Beat is a series of music video games by Konami which debuted in 2010. Reflec Beat uses a touch screen as its main method of control - the first in the Bemani series to do so - and has gameplay based on 2-player competition, which has been compared to air hockey.
Beatmania IIDX 21: Spada is a music video game and the 21st installment of Beatmania IIDX series of video games. The main motif of the game revolves around swords, as the title of the game, Spada is Italian for sword. The UI has a medieval fantasy theme and mainly features black, brown, and red colors. It was first announced on June 12, 2013. Location tests began in Akihabara on June 14, 2013 and ended on June 16, 2013. It was released on November 13, 2013.
Dance Dance Revolution A20 is a music video game, the 17th installment of the Dance Dance Revolution arcade series in Japan, and the sequel to Dance Dance Revolution A. The game was released on new, golden cabinets on March 20, 2019 in Japan. A software upgrade for older cabinets for Japan and Asia was released on July 24, 2019, with South Korea receiving a localized release on August 1, 2019, and North America on September 24, 2019. A location test in Europe began on October 7, 2019, and ended on March 16, 2020.
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