Beatmania FaQ ~3rd Style~

by DarkTetsuya

General

• What beatmania versions are out there?

  Arcade Versions:

  beatmania

  • beatmania
  • beatmania 2ndMIX
  • beatmania CORE REMIX
  • beatmania Club MIX
  • beatmania complete MIX
  • beatmania 3rdMIX
  • beatmania 4thMIX
  • beatmania complete MIX2
  • beatmania 5thMIX
  • beatmania 6thMIX -THE UK UNDERGROUND MUSIC-
  • beatmania 7thMIX - Keepin' Evolution
  • beatmania f/ Dreams Come True
  • beatmania Mini
  • beatmania: THE FINAL (Coming Soon!)
  beatmania IIDX:

  • beatmania IIDX
  • beatmania IIDX substream
  • beatmania IIDX club version
  • beatmania IIDX 2ndstyle
  • beatmania IIDX 3rdstyle
  • beatmania IIDX 4thstyle
  • beatmania IIDX 5thstyle
  • beatmania IIDX 6thstyle
  • beatmania IIDX 7thstyle
  beatmania III:

  • beatmania III
  • beatmania III APPEND CORE REMIX
  • beatmania III APPEND 6thMIX
  • beatmania III Append 7th Mix
  HipHopMania:

  • HipHopMania
  • HipHopMania Complete Mix
  • HipHopMania Complete Mix 2

  Home Versions:

• PS2:
  • beatmania IIDX 3rd Style
  • beatmania IIDX 4th Style -New Songs Collection-
  • beatmania IIDX 5th Style -New Songs Collection-
  • beatmania IIDX 6th Style -New Songs Collection-
  • beatmania DA! (beatmania on a PC-style keyboard)
• PSOne:
  • beatmania
  • beatmania Yebisu Mix (included with Beatmania as a 2nd disc)
  • beatmania APPEND GOTTAMIX*
  • beatmania APPEND 4thMIX*
  • beatmania APPEND 5thMIX*
  • beatmania BEST HITS
  • beatmania featuring DREAMS COME TRUE
  • beatmania APPEND GOTTAMIX2*
  • beatmania APPEND ClubMIX*
  • beatmania: THE SOUND OF TOKYO!
  • beatmania 6thMIX + CORE REMIX
  • beatmania Append 3rd Mix
  • beatmania Append 3rd MIX mini (comes with one of the beatmania OST's)
• Gameboy/Handheld:
  • beatmania GB
  • beatmania Gottamix GB

* requires a 'key disc' to run (Best Hits, SoT, 6th+Core, etc.) (Multiple key discs can be used to unlock hidden 'bonus edits', when used in the proper order. See below for more details on what hidden bonus edits, (if any) are available in each game.)

• Which controller is best for beatmania on home consoles?

Your best bet is the official beatmania IIDX controller. It's durable, backward compatible, and an official Konami product, so you know you're getting the best. Online stores, such as Yesasia.com, NCSX or other online sites that sell import games should carry the controller. it's also reversible:

OR, if you're really looking for the true arcade-to-home experience, then Konamistyle.com has your number:

It too, is reversible:

And, you can order light-up keys if you request them. However, they won't ship outside Japan, so you'll have to wait and see if any of the online importers will be picking up this heavenly-looking controller...Fortunately Konamistyle.com received around 4500 orders for the controller, so they're apparently going to go through with production of what is easily the king of beatmania controllers...

As for the others, like the 5 key ASCII model, and the 3rd party knockoffs, well I don't know... I've tried playing 6th+Core with the ASCII controller... instead of a turntable, imagine trying to play with a really large doorknob ;P (since the turntable's just a large circle of plastic :( ) Just stick with the Konami IIDX controller if you can, and you'll be fine, even on 5 key.

beatmania IIDX:

• Does the IIDX controller function with the original 5 key beatmanias for PSOne?

Yes! since it doesn't require the use of the USB ports like the PPP or DM controllers do, it's fully backward compatible with all 5-key versions (look at beatmania 6th+Core Remix for example, which has special configurations for the IIDX controller)

• On the IIDX controller, what's the extension for?

Originally, that connector was designed for a home conversion of beatmania III, for plugging in a drummania-style effector footpedal. But unfortunately, there hasn't been a release of beatmania III yet, so there really isn't much use for it. (but if you do plug the drummania footpedal into it, it'll switch effectors during the game with each press.Much more convienent than moving your hand from the keys to fumble with the effector during the game.)

• What's the correct pronunciation of 'IIDX'?

"2-D-X" since the "II" is roman numeral 2... and it's displayed as "2DX" in the LED below the screen, as well. ("2 deluxe" is also acceptable too, since the subtitle in the main game is "The next generation beatmania deluxe version" Some of the other games in the series have subtitles too 'Trip the Deep', 'Jewel Shower', etc. )

• Why do some generic videos only say "beatmania II"?

See above for part of the answer. Because of the game's 'deluxe' cabinet, they decided to add the DX part to the title. But why it doesn't appear in the game aside from the logo appearances, I don't know. My guess is they originally designed a 'normal' beatmania II cabinet and a 'deluxe' model cabinet...

Brief explanation of the game:

'beatmania' is a music game series that was released in Japan by Konami in the late 90's. The basic controls are a piano-esque keyboard with black and white keys, and a record-player style turntable. There are three versions:

• beatmania
• beatmania IIDX
• beatmania III

beatmania is the game that started the entire bemani craze in Japan and leaked over to here in the US, across the pond in the UK, (where rave and euro-style music are pretty big there) and even in Korea (where the series is known as beatstage, strangely enough.) The bad news is Konami recently announced the last game in the series, beatmania: THE FINAL, being the 8th game in the main series (not counting the other bm's, like GOTTA, DCT, SoT, or others)

beatmania IIDX is probably the most popular out of the three main games. This may be due in part to the large flashy cabinet the game comes in (which features both a HDTV (with a wide screen) and a stand-on subwoofer to drive the audio-visual experience even further.) IIDX also features a DVD player built-in for videos that play during the game. Ranging from the good, to the bad, and the "interesting" (it's Japanese, what do you expect? ;) videos, each player is sure to find at least one favorite video. As far as gameplay goes, it features two sets of 7 keys (4 white 3 black) and a turntable on the outer edges...(In other words 2P's side is opposite of 1P's side.)

beatmania III, on the other hand, is possibly the least known of the three games. heck, even I have never played it... but it sounds really neat. it features 5 keys, a turntable, and a effector footpedal. There is also a mode that incorporates the footpedal as an additional key during the game, which sounds like an interesting experience.Other additions include a headphone jack for each player, and a 3.5" disk drive to save your high scores and effector settings to disk.

HipHopMania is KofA's attempt to bring the beatmania series stateside. However the HHM machines seem to be more scarce over here. The game itself is in English, but the cabinets still retain some of the Japanese instructions/warnings (though they do have english too)! Unfortunately since the 5-key original series is coming to a close in Japan with the release of beatmania: THE FINAL, it doesn't look like beatmania will ever get the chance to hit big in the US... not with any new machines, anyway.

Explanation of all of the different modes:

• Free - Allows you to play two songs for free, without penalty.
• High Speed - Causes the notes to descend faster (the tradeoff is that they're easier to read)
• Light 7 - (IIDX Only) An easier version of regular 7-key mode.
• Double Play - Play using both sets of keys and turntables.
• Auto-Scratch - Just as the name implies, the computer takes over the turntable, allowing the player to focus their attention on the keys
• Hidden - Hides the notes 1/3 of the way down.
• Sudden - Reveals the notes 1/3 of the way down.
• Stealth - Hides the notes completely.
• Internet Ranking - play a specific set of songs (known as 'courses') and then submit your score via password to Konami AM's Japanese site.This feature was also recently introduced to Konami's own Dance Dance Revolution series in DDRMAX 2: 7th mix, with its own courses..

Songlists and Anti-mod Codes:

(These are for the PSOne/PS2 home versions. Anti-mod codes require the use of a Gameshark or similar device to overrude the anti-mod protection. Some titles I was unable to find english translations for, so I either tried babel-fishing them or just left them with [Japanese] )

Anti-mod codes:
D01BD672 1040
801BD672 1000

Bonus Edit:

To obtain these songs, perform the following steps:

1. Start with the original 'beatmania' disc (Arcade)
2. Use the Disc change option and put in 3rd Mix.
3. Disc change again, to either 4th Mix, or Gottamix then 4th Mix.

Anti-mod codes:
D01BFFBC FF52
801BFFBE 2403
D01BFFBC FF52
801BFFBC 0045

Bonus Edit:

To get the bonus edits in 5th Mix:

1. Start with beatmania (Arcade Disc)
2. Disc change to 3rd Mix
3. Disc change again to Gottamix then 5th Mix or directly to 5th Mix.

Anti-mod codes:

Master Code:
D0180EB0 03BE
80180EB0 0000
D0180EB2 0C07
80180EB2 0000

Alternate:
D01C0838 2021
801C0834 FFF6
D01C0838 2021
801C0836 1000

No edits.

* Title appears in Japanese. (So don't blame me if it's wrong :P)

(TAKAWO= dj TAKA?) I dont know...

Bonus Edit:

To get the bonus edits in GOTTAMIX2: Going Global:

1. Start with beatmania (Arcade disc)
2. Disc change to GOTTAMIX(1) or 3rd Mix
3. then Disc change again to GOTTAMIX2

Anti-Mod codes:

C1000000 0000
D0113886 1040
80113886 1000
or
C1000000 0000
D0150186 1040
80150186 1000

(The lines in bold are codes which may be needed on GameShark models 2.4 and above. Older GS models may not require the use of the C codes.)

For additional info, see here: beatmania_best_hits.txt (credit to djS for that one!)

(Artist Column omitted, they're all by DCT remember...)

Bonus Edit:

1. Start with beatmania Arcade disc
2. Disc change to 3rd mix then to GOTTAMIX or to GOTTAMIX
3. Then Disc Change again to Club Mix.

Anti-Mod codes:
D0133986 1040
80133986 1000

beatmania 6th Mix:

CORE REMIX:

Original:

Special Thanks:

Go out to:

• Xhad and ClayOK (for keeping this around on the boards)
• cristyne (for putting it on the main page)
• djSyndrome (for introducing me to IIDX in the first place, thanks again!!!)
• DarkSakura for her tip on beating Love Will... Light 7,
• and lastly dj Paranoia for the SoT Anti-mod code.

Legal stuff: This FaQ Copyright 2002, 2573 DarkTetsuya. All Rights Reserved. "Bemani", "beatmania", "beatmania IIDX", "beatmania III", "Dance Dance Revolution," "drummania", and all related games and trademarks are Copyright 2002 Konami.