In July 2019, Sega released Maimai DX, a reworked version of the game which featured new, second-generation cabinets.[6] After the pre-DX 'classic' cabinets were taken offline in September 2019, many made their way to Europe and North America running the Finale version as imports.[7] In the US, several of these cabinets were installed at Round 1 locations in 2021,[citation needed] while in Europe, arcades such as Arcade Club began to install them starting around 2020.[8]
The international version of Maimai DX BUDDiES has undergone location tests in the United States, with appearances at Round 1 in Puente Hills, California (from 24 May to 14 July 2024),[9] Dave & Buster's in Dallas, Texas (From 6th August to 24 November 2024),[10] and Velocity Esports in Schaumburg, Illinois (from 20 December 2024 until the store's closure on 5 March 2025).[11]
Following these tests, Sega showcased Maimai DX at Amusement Expo International 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada on March 19 and 20,[12] acting as the game's official Western debut with a North American release window for the latter half of 2025.[13]
With MURASAKi PLUS, it is possible to play online against other players.
Gameplay
Overview
The defining feature of Maimai's arcade cabinet is its striking resemblance to a front-loading washing machine.[14] Early advertisements and promotional materials contained different joke catchphrases, such as 'It's not a washing machine!' and 'No water.' At its first deployment test, Maimai had 'No washing' written on its cabinet. Early in development, the original concept was actually a music player instead of a rhythm game. Up to 2 players can play per cabinet, and up to 4 players can play together with more cabinets. The motherboard can be accessed using the back door on the right side. The original design was revealed to have been made in collaboration with Sharp in Sega's Maimai LIVE 2014 Washing Festival event.[15][16][17]
To save their personal play data, players can use an 'Aime' IC card with the machine to log into their account.[a] From 25 October 2018 onward, other IC cards from other developers such as 'Project DIVA' and 'BanaPassport' cards will also work with Maimai.
Using a computer or smartphone, a player can use MaimaiNET (now Maimai DX NET) to access detailed information on their account like scores and earned achievements as well as change their account name. It was possible to link a niconico account to upload a recording of the play from the camera built into the arcade machine. In July 2019, this integration was removed with the release of Maimai DX, and video recording was replaced with a static camera to save commemorative photos at the end of a game.
Since the cabinet uses only one computer for both players, if a player is already playing on a machine, the second player's input will not work at all until the end of the game. The background image during this time states 'Please wait until the play is finished' alongside the music video of the currently playing song if there is any.
Various kinds of notes will appear at the centre and approach the outer rim of the circular touchscreen. The player must tap, hold or slide on the touchscreen or surrounding buttons in time with the music, depending on the type of note.
There are 5 types of input-timing judgements (ranging from least to most accurate to timing): 'Miss', 'Good', 'Great', 'Perfect' and 'Critical Perfect', as well as showing if they are 'Late' or 'Early'. In-game settings[b] can be toggled to enable different displays to show the different types of judgements based on the player's preference.
Tap: A pink circular ring, requiring a single tap when it reaches the edge of the screen.
Hold: A pink hexagonal bar, requiring holding for the entire length. Releasing early, or releasing midway and pressing down again will result in lower score/accuracy and a 'Fast/Late Perfect', 'Great' or 'Good' rating. Worth two Taps.
Slide: A star followed by a path. The star counts as a Tap and is always followed by a slide path worth three Taps often starting one beat after the star is tapped. The player must trace along the path and finish it when the star reaches its end.
Paired:[c] A combination of two (or more) Tap, Hold, or Slide notes, which are colored yellow in order to signify them being needed to be activated at the same time.
Touch:[d] A blue note (yellow when two or more notes) that sits on the screen and requires a single tap when the outside arrows close in. Worth one Tap.
Touch Hold:[d] A multicolored note on the middle sensor of the screen that requires holding for the entire length. Worth one Hold.
Break: A red-yellow ring/star that requires a single tap and is worth five times as much as a Tap, requiring a 'Critical Perfect' for the full score of the note. Breaks can be paired with a normal Pair note or another Break note. As of Maimai DX FESTiVAL, charts can also include Hold notes and Slide paths that have the Break attribute, and they too count as a Break note.
EX:[d] Non-Touch/Slide path notes (including break notes since Festival) that glow brighter than other notes. Any non-'miss' judgment is a 'Critical Perfect', unless it is an EX Hold note that has been released early, which results in lower accuracy as per usual.
Like other touch-based rhythm games, such as Chunithm and Wacca, many players wear gloves during gameplay in order to dampen the impact of hitting buttons and allow for easier sliding on the screen's surface, as well as to minimize injuries caused by friction, especially at higher playing intensities.[18][19]
Songs
The game's song library is regularly updated. Each song has a unique background image or music video. Currently, songs in Maimai are sorted into categories based on where they originated from, with the main categories being:
POPS&ANIME: J-pop songs and anime soundtracks released under mainstream labels.
Niconico&VOCALOID: Songs originally uploaded to the site Niconico, or using a voice synthesizer such as Vocaloid, CeVIO AI, or Synthesizer V.
東方Project (Touhou Project): Arrangements of Touhou Project soundtracks.
GAME&VARIETY: Songs originating from other games, as well as independently released music.
Maimai: Songs exclusively commissioned for Maimai.
ONGEKI&CHUNITHM: Songs originating from Ongeki and Chunithm, rhythm games also developed by Sega.
All songs may also be sorted into another category at a time, such as release version, numerical difficulty level, and alphabetical order.
Each song in Maimai DX has four or five playable difficulty levels for its charts. The four regular difficulty levels are Basic, Advanced, Expert, and Master (a fifth 'Easy' difficulty was removed entirely in version DX).[20] Some songs have an additional Re:MASTER chart which may be added either on release or in a later version. A song's Master (and Re:MASTER if applicable) difficulty chart is only unlocked upon achieving an S rank (97% and above) on its Expert chart or harder (in multiplayer, if one player has unlocked the Master charts, the other may choose to play it even if they have not reached its unlock conditions). An exception to this is songs added before Maimai DX, which have their Master and Re:MASTER charts unlocked by default.
Every chart is also assigned a numerical level from 1 to 15. With the exception of level 1-6 and 15, there is also a harder '+' equivalent for each level (e.g. 7+, 9+, 11+,...). The + mechanism is for charts where the internal level difficulty has a decimal of .6 or higher (7.6 to 7.9 are 7+) since Buddies Plus. Prior to Buddies Plus, the + appears at .9 prior to DX+, and .7 from DX+ to Buddies.
Scoring
Maimai's scoring system includes alphabetical ranks and a percentage score up to 100.00 in addition to around 0.015 added per Break note in the chart pre-DX and 101.0000% from DX calculated based on the player's cumulative note judgements.
In order to clear a song, players must score at least 80% on a song. In Maimai PiNK, the ranking system changed from D-SS to F-SSS. In Maimai MiLK PLUS, 3 new ranks, namely S+, SS+ and SSS+, were added to the ranking system, thus changing the system to F-SSS+. In Maimai DX, ranks F and E were removed, and the B rank was split into B, BB and BBB, making the system D-SSS+. The maximum possible score obtainable, achieved when a player hits all notes as Perfect or higher while hitting all 'Break' notes with 2600 points (Critical Perfect in DX) is officially referred as an 'All Perfect+' since Milk Plus, which was considered as SSS+ in the pre-DX scoring system.
Ranking
Every chart is assigned a rating value based on the difficulty with a hidden decimal constant and score ranking, with songs split into old and new for total rating calculation. Songs released within the current version of the game are considered new songs, while songs released in past versions are considered old songs (including Re:MASTER charts added in the current version for old songs).
As of Splash Plus, the player's total rating is calculated as the sum of the ratings of the top 15 new songs and top 35 old songs. Rating numbers are by default displayed along with the player's username (though this option can be turned off), with unique badges for certain rating ranges, ranging from the default white and blue for 999 and under to rainbow for 15000 and up.[21]
Maimai NET
Maimai NET (now Maimai DX NET) is Maimai's website for players to access their account. To enable these services, a Sega ID or other IC card with play data has to be linked.[22]
In earlier versions, if the game cabinet had a camera installed, players could record one of their played songs and access them on the website MaimaiNET, which could then be downloaded and posted to sites like niconico and YouTube.
Series
First generation Maimai cabinetsA man playing Maimai PiNK PLUS in Japan, July 2016Maimai DX Splash in Sydney, Australia, April 2021Maimai DX BUDDiES (known as 舞萌 in Chinese) in Changzhou, China, November 2024
Maimai – the first version of the first generation Maimai cabinet, released 11 July 2012
Maimai FiNALE – the last version of the first-generation cabinet, released 13 December 2018.[33] Online service has ended since 3 September 2019 in Japan.[34]
Maimai DX – the first version of the second-generation arcade cabinet, released 11 July 2019[6]
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