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| Source // Gaming History |
What's hip? What's hop? What is hip-hop? I don't know, and I don't even know if hip-hop is present in Beatmania, the arcade rhythm game that makes disc jockeys of us all.
Armed with five keyboard keys and a turntable for those all-important scratches, players will keep track of notes falling from the top of the screen before jabbing the right buttons at the right time for the best scores, and the greatest sounding tunes.
You know what a rhythm game is, you've already seen PaRappa the Rapper on this list. Let's wait for the drop to get this one going.
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| Source // Hardcore Gaming 101 |
Frustrations
Beatmania is the drop that never comes for me right now, as I'm having little luck getting it going at all. There are bucketloads of versions, releases and ports, but I'm trying to stay true to the original, getting as close as I can.
The arcade versions are out because I've not got an arcade on hand. The PlayStation versions would be my next bet, but most of the versions are append discs, which require an original key disc in order to work. It sounds like an early form of DLC when I think about it.
Anyway, there was a 'Best of' release which combined a bunch of songs from those append discs into a release, as well as a dedicate European release, which came bundled with this monstrosity of a controller for a more authentic experience.
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| Source // Wikipedia |
But, whatever version I wanted to try I just couldn't get going, so I'm currently stuck with YouTube, or going through a long list of releases across the years and systems, looking for anything that works, rather than whatever works closest to the original title. Frankly, at this time of year, after the day I've had, I'm not going to bother right now. That's not very objective of me, but that's life - just wait until the next bit.
Further Frustrations
This has been on in the background for a while now, and the music is... not to my tastes. Let's put it that way. It's not bad, per se, but it's not exactly shouting "You must poke my keys and scratch my disc to these happening beats" or whatever the appropriate phrase is.
The better you press the buttons, the better the music will sound, the more points you'll score. Every now and then you're given the opportunity for a little freestyle scratching, and that's about it. I don't see anything else going on here.
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| Source // Hardcore Gaming 101 |
Final Word
I've not played this hands-on, nor have I played any of its descendants, spin-offs, what-have-yous. I should, because of the tens of titles that there are, one of them is bound to work for me and let me see just how cool it is to time my inputs to a tiny part of the screen, while something much more interesting happens elsewhere.
Am I biased? I sound biased.
I listen to music. I don't create it. I don't have that kind of brain. Rhythm games like this are sort of making a chore out of listening to music. Where's the fun in that? What am I missing? Maybe one day I'll find out.
If you're an aspiring DJ who has to take a break from actually practising how to DJ in order to play a Japanese rhythm game from the late 1990s, then Beatmania could be for you. I simply don't know, and will likely never understand you. But have fun.
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| Source // Gaming History |
Fun Facts
I'm not kidding when I say there are a load of versions of this game. Wikipedia's incomplete list has 55 entries for Beatmania spread over consoles, portables and dedicated Beatmania Pocket devices. Maybe I should try the GameBoy Color releases...
Beatmania, developed by Konami, first released in 1997.
Version watched: Beatmania, PlayStation, 1998 (World of Longplays)