"Atrocious"

When I put in this game, I laughed. The game seemed to be playing iidx 9th Style introduction music; however, the game looked nothing like 9th Style, or any beatmania game I've ever seen. If you want to visualize what the interface looks like, imagine that a rainbow was blasted with a shotgun onto your screen. Really, the main menu almost gave me a seizure.

After throwing up, I thought I might -try- to play some songs. This was my folly. I think, if a committee of the best beatmania players assembled and had to come up with "a songlist so bad that beatmania US will flop hardcore," they still couldn't have matched the unsurpassed horror of Konami's songlist. I felt like I had traveled back to 1998. Even though I didn't know about beatmania at that time, if I had, I probably would have hated it if these songs were on there.

Assuming that Konami really didn't choose these songs just to destroy the hope of a US beatmania franchise, I headed over to Free Mode to check out the entire songlist.

Uhh...

Apparently, Konami felt that the wonderful residents of the United States aren't entitled to a full songlist in Free Mode. It would be unthinkable for them to have all but hidden songs unlocked in Free Mode; they've only done that since about beatmania iidx 5th style, and lord knows that the US shouldn't get ahead on features or songs simply because they've been introduced to the game 8 years behind Japan. After all, American fans of the series, who've been importing beatmania games for years, would HATE the game if they didn't have to unlock everything! Every seasoned beatmania veteran enjoys playing gambol[7] over and over in game mode, just so they can unlock other stuff.

ANYWAY. Well, I should have stopped there, but I didn't. I decided I'd go back to game mode and try to unlock some "good" songs. Unfortunately, there aren't many. But, the worst thing happened when I went to choose my first song.

Oh. My. God.

ANOTHER MODE DOES NOT EXIST. You have to UNLOCK IT!

Another mode does not exist. Another mode does not exist. I can't say it enough. This was the point where I snapped the disk in two and threw it in the garbage. As if it wasn't bad enough that you didn't have immediate access to all the songs, you can't even play a third of the stepcharts. You need to UNLOCK EVERY SINGLE SONG in order to play Another. And really, between playing You Really Got Me[7] by those Wavegroup fools, or suicide, I choose suicide.

I don't even care about any counter-arguments to my point. Really. "Oh, but..but..but.. Attitude and Colors and Nemesis are on there!" Fine. I like those songs. But I also like to play them on another. And anyway, almost ALL of the songs on this mix appeared on a Japanese beatmania iidx game somewhere. And if they didn't, it's because they're god-awful. Any songs on this game that are "new appearances" are just so bad that I never want to play them.

I didn't emphasize the point about the terrible interface too much, but the graphics are a sour apple. Even beatmania iidx 3rd style's graphics aren't that bad. Most likely, it's a sick, sick joke by Konami. I can imagine them as little kids, jeering and pointing, "Americans will NEVER get a good beatmania game! Hehehe!" And that's all just as well. If you're like me, then you'll just ditch this game and continue to support the Japanese beatmania effort, because that's all Konami really cares about.

For any newbies to the series, let me tell you, this US version is an awful representation of the awesomeness of beatmania. Don't judge the series based on this game; in fact, it's best to pretend this game never happened, and look into the Japanese games. That's the point that makes me most sad about Beatmania US: new gamers will be introduced to this disgusting game, and judge it as the worst game ever. And they'd be right, if this was the only beatmania game.

Of course, your opinions are reserved by yourself, but I think you'll probably see the game the same way I do, if you ever get the courage to pick up this game (you'll probably be laughed at, and maybe even jumped). It's hard to think of any positives: but there may be one or two. The controller is fine, and certainly a lot cheaper than importing a Japanese one. Also, this game has two modes: beatmania and beatmania iidx. While you can basically achieve beatmania mode by turning on 5key while playing iidx, a separate beatmania mode was the only good thing I noticed about this game. Maybe. If original beatmania is nostalgic to you and you like some of the songs included with the game, it could be a positive. Or, you might see it as a regression, or just a useless mode, since everyone knows that iidx is "in," and beatmania is "out."

Finally. One thing I forgot to mention is the options menu. You know, where you select hi-speed and stuff like that. It's nothing like the other beatmania games. I don't know if it's based off beatmania iidx 12's interface or something (I've only played console games), but it's really bad. And speaking of iidx 12, one thing I did notice is that this game incorporates happy sky difficulties (ranging from 1-12 instead of 1-flashing 8). I saw that as a positive, but the negatives of this game far outweigh its positives.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 10/20/06