Gameplay
Phase is played in a forced single-point perspective view of a three line track. Down each line come colored circles, and the player must click the corresponding button on the click wheel when the circle reaches the bottom of the screen. The circles are arranged on the track in relation to the beat of the music track being played.
Additionally, there are occasional series of smaller, more closely spaced dots that will sweep across the track. These require the player to swipe their finger across the click wheel at the correct pace, instead of clicking the wheel buttons.
The game comes with Easy, Medium, and Hard settings available for immediate play. After completing a marathon with the Hard difficulty setting, Expert mode is made available. In the same way, completing a marathon on Expert unlocks Insane mode. The difficulty settings control the speed of the track and the number of the dots, as well as their value.
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.
Amplitude is a music video game developed by Harmonix for the PlayStation 2. It is the sequel to Frequency. The game was released in 2003 for North America on March 24 and for Europe on September 26.
In the Groove 2 is the sequel to Roxor Games' 2004 arcade game In the Groove. It was released to arcades officially on June 18, 2005. It was available as an upgrade kit and as a dedicated cabinet developed by Andamiro. The price for a dedicated cabinet was $9,999 USD and the upgrade kit was US$2,999.
Elite Beat Agents is a music video game developed by iNiS and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console. It was released in North America, Europe and South Korea. As the second of three rhythm games developed by iNiS specifically for the DS, it is the spiritual sequel and international counterpart to Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, a Japanese rhythm game released in 2005, sharing many common elements with it.
Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii: Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 is a rhythm video game developed by iNiS and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console. It is the third of three rhythm games developed by iNiS for the DS, and is the sequel to Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan while incorporating many of the improvements in gameplay made in its international counterpart, Elite Beat Agents. The game has 4-player wireless play, supports the Nintendo DS Rumble Pak accessory, and was released in Japan on May 17, 2007.
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix, published by MTV Games and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions were released in North America on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was released on December 18, 2007 and the Wii version on June 22, 2008. Harmonix previously developed the first two games in the Guitar Hero series, which popularized gameplay of rock music with guitar-shaped controllers. After development of the series was shifted to Neversoft, Harmonix conceived Rock Band as a new title that would offer multi-instrument gameplay.
The iPod Classic is a discontinued portable media player created and formerly marketed by Apple Inc.
Rock Band 2 is a 2008 music video game developed by Harmonix, published by MTV Games and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to Rock Band and is the second title in the series. The game allows up to four players to simulate the performance of popular songs by playing with controllers modeled after musical instruments. Players can play the lead guitar, bass guitar, and drums parts to songs with "instrument controllers", as well as sing through a USB microphone. Players are scored on their ability to match scrolling musical "notes" while playing instruments, or by their ability to match the singer's pitch on vocals.
Rock Band is a series of rhythm games developed by Harmonix, principally for home video game consoles. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero series, the main Rock Band games has players use game controllers modeled after musical instruments and microphones to perform the lead guitar, bass guitar, keyboard, drums and vocal parts of numerous licensed songs across a wide range of genres though mostly focusing on rock music by matching scrolling musical notes patterns shown on screen. Certain games support the use of "Pro" instruments that require special controllers that more closely mimic the playing of real instruments, providing a higher challenge to players. Players are scored for successfully-hit notes, while may fail a song if they miss too many notes. The series has featured numerous game modes, and supports both local and online multiplayer modes where up to four players in most modes can perform together.
The Beatles: Rock Band is a 2009 music video game developed by Harmonix, published by MTV Games, and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the third major console release in the Rock Band music video game series, in which players can simulate the playing of rock music by using controllers shaped like musical instruments. The Beatles: Rock Band is the first band-centric game in the series, and it is centered on the popular English rock group the Beatles. The game features virtual portrayals of the four band members performing the songs throughout the band's history, including depictions of some of their famous live performances, as well as a number of "dreamscape" sequences for songs from the Abbey Road Studios recording sessions during the group's studio years. The game's soundtrack consists of 45 Beatles songs; additional songs and albums by the Beatles were made available for the game as downloadable content.
The Rock Band Network was a downloadable content service designed by Harmonix with the help of Microsoft to allow musical artists and record labels to make their music available as playable tracks for the Rock Band series of rhythm video games, starting with Rock Band 2. It was designed to allow more music to be incorporated into Rock Band than Harmonix themselves could produce for the games, and it was seen as a way to further expand the games' music catalog into a wide variety of genres. The Network started closed beta testing in July 2009. The Rock Band Network Store was publicly available on March 4, 2010 for all Xbox 360 players in selected countries. Rock Band Network songs were exclusive to the Xbox 360 for 30 days on each song's release, after which a selection of songs would be made available on the PlayStation 3.
Rock Band 3 is a 2010 music video game developed by Harmonix. The game was initially published and distributed by MTV Games and Electronic Arts, respectively, in late October 2010. Mad Catz took over both roles and re-released the title on November 23, 2011. It is the third main game and the 6th major console installment in the Rock Band series. As with the previous titles, Rock Band 3 allows players to simulate the playing of rock music and many other subgenres using special instrument controllers mimicking lead and bass guitar, keyboard, drums, and vocals. Rock Band 3 expands upon previous games by including three-part vocal harmonies — previously used in The Beatles: Rock Band and Green Day: Rock Band — plus support for MIDI-compatible keyboards, electronic drumkits, and even use of a real guitar in "Pro" mode.
Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) is a music video game, the 14th installment of the Dance Dance Revolution series, and the sequel to Dance Dance Revolution X3 vs. 2ndMix. The game was revealed by Konami on October 24, 2012. Public beta testing commenced on October 26, 2012. It was released in Japan on March 14 and 21, 2013 for dedicated cabinets and upgrade kits, respectively, and in Asia on March 21, 2013. A limited test release occurred at select locations in the United States, beginning on August 4, 2015.
Fantasia: Music Evolved is a 2014 motion-controlled music rhythm game developed by Harmonix for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One with Kinect. The game is the interactive successor to Walt Disney's 1940 animated film Fantasia and its 1999 sequel Fantasia 2000, both of which it is based upon.
Dance Central Spotlight is a music rhythm game developed by Harmonix and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox One Kinect.
Rock Band 4 is a 2015 music video game developed and published by Harmonix. Rock Band 4 allows players to simulate the playing of music across many different decades and genres using instrument controllers that mimic playing lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals. As the fourth main installment and the 7th major console installment in the Rock Band franchise, it was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on October 6, 2015. Mad Catz, who also developed new instrument controllers for the game, marketed and distributed the title worldwide at launch; Performance Designed Products (PDP) took over manufacturing and distribution by the end of 2016. The game shipped with more than sixty licensed songs; additional songs are available as downloadable content, which includes a library of over 2000 existing songs from prior installments.
DropMix is a music mixing game developed by Harmonix and published by Hasbro. The game uses a mix of physical cards with chips embedded with near field communication, a specialized electronic game board with NFC and Bluetooth capabilities, and a companion application for mobile devices that communicates with the board via Bluetooth. By playing a card, representing a specific song, atop a proper board space, the board will detect its NFC code and relay that to the app, which will play a sample from that song, such as a drum loop or a vocal section. With multiple cards on the board, the app will manage how all the current songs are mixed as played through the app, creating a mashup. The game has several game modes for single and multi-player play, and additional cards, featuring more song samples, can be purchased as booster packs.
