Beatmania IIDX
Beatmania was Konami's first game in their Bemani division. It contributed largely to the boom of music games in 1998. It is essentially a DJ game, where one presses keys indicated on the screen to play notes of a song. There is also a 'scratch' pad, where the player 'scratches' it to produce a sound effect. Later developed was Beatmania IIDX, which superceded Beatmania in 1999. It had seven keys instead of five, larger screen, and a better sound system.
Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution, or more simply, 'DDR', is Konami's most popular music game. Since it's release in 1998, it gained a large following, and many people mastered this difficult game. As Konami's most popular game, it also has the largest community. With such sites like DDRFreak and local ones like DDRCanada. In this game, there are four panels on a 'stage', where the player stomps on these panels to the beat of the music playing. Faster songs become more difficult, and accuracy is also important.
DrumMania and GuitarFreaks
DrumMania was one of the first more realistic music games. It involves a player playing a drum set by hitting corresponding notes falling down the screen. DrumMania and GuitarFreaks are often mentioned together, because they share the same music and these two games can be linked in an arcade for a 'band' play. GuitarFreaks obviously involves playing a guitar, sharing the same premise as DrumMania and several other Bemani games where the player strums to notes falling on the screen. An American company called RedOctane developed a rival to GuitarFreaks called Guitar Hero. This game gained huge popularity in the U.S. and is slightly more difficult than GuitarFreaks.
Pop'n Music
Pop'n Music is one of the most popular music games in Japan. It features
nine colorful buttons that are very shiny. Pop'n Music features a wide
variety of music like other Bemani games, however, this game is different
in that it does not resemble a musical instrument. Don't be fooled by this
game's cute interface and funny characters, because it is very difficult to
master.
Taiko no Tatsujin
Taiko No Tatsujin, or Taiko Drum Master, is a game developed by Namco rather than Konami, but is widely accepted in the Bemani community. It features a large, realistic Japanese taiko drum and two sticks. This game is easily learned, but is also very difficult to master as the levels become more difficult and the songs become faster. Taiko is another game that is disguised with a cute interface, but it's eventual difficulty makes this a ferocious game at heart.
In The Groove
The first In The Groove was released in 2004. Surprisingly, it is not
made by Konami, but rather by Roxor Games. The game uses the popular, open source Stepmania engine. Although it is very similar to Dance Dance Revolution, having four panels and the same type of gameplay, there are many distinct differences. Some of these differences include using percentage-based scoring, having a different judgement system, and boasting a totally different collection of songs. The community for In The Groove is generally shared with DDR, with similar sites such as ITGFreak and DDRFreak. Most DDR players also play ITG, particularly higher level players. Needless to say, if you like DDR, you will definitely like In The Groove!
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