Hard --Append 3rd Mix-- Bossa Groove House __________ __ \______ \ ____ _____ _/ |_ Japanese Hip-Hop | | _/_/ __ \ \__ \ \ __\ | | \\ ___/ / __ \_ | | |______ / \___ >(____ / |__| \/ \/ \/ --Yabisu Append Mix-- Raga Rock _____ .__ Rave / \ _____ ____ |__|_____ Crossover / \ / \ \__ \ / \ | |\__ \ / Y \ / __ \_| | \| | / __ \_ \____|__ /(____ /|___| /|__|(____ / Soul \/ \/ \/ \/ --Pocket Beatmania-- Ballad _________ Rakuga Kids .___.__ \_ ___ \ ____ _____ ______ ____ ____ __| _/|__| __ __ _____ / \ \/ / _ \ / \ \____ \ _/ __ \ / \ / __ | | || | \ / \ \ \____( <_> )| Y Y \| |_> >\ ___/ | | \/ /_/ | | || | /| Y Y \ \______ / \____/ |__|_| /| __/ \___ >|___| /\____ | |__||____/ |__|_| / \/ \/ |__| \/ \/ \/ \/ --2nd Arcade Edition-- Big Beat Mix "Metal Gear Solid" World Groove --Beatmania GB-- --Append Gotta Mix-- Trance R&B Eurobeat Gabbah Free Soul Digital Funk Country --Beatmania Wonderswan-- __________________________________________________________________________ Aoi Beatmania Compendium grenun@aol.com August 28, 1999 for Sony Playstation, Gameboy, & WonderSwan DJ Simulation Game BeatMania Guide for Club DJ'ing ___________________________________________________________________________ Disclaimer: Beatmania is a trademark of Konami, copyright 1997,1998, 1999. This faq is copyright Aoi. No part of this faq is to reproduced without the rest of it, leave it complete as is if you want to use it, just give proper credit. As for magazines, I'd hate to have to fly way over yonder with a crew of army buddies to come kick your tails for not crediting people for their faqs. So basically anyone can use and enjoy this faq just leave it complete, status quo. Print this document from your web browser it looks best printed from there. Enough of that let's get down with Beat Mania! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ======= UPDATES ======= June 2, 1999 -- First release. Initially I started this faq on January 14th but I never could get everything I wanted to put into the guide so since then a new edition to Beatmania has surfaced it's called Beatmania Append "Gotta Mix" a new append mix for the Beatmania collection. I have been working on this faq for months now adding here and there and setting it aside. The faq should help alot. I'll have more info on Beatmania Gameboy when I can get my Gameboy when I go on leave in July. I bought Beatmania GB in Seoul, but forgot I left my GB at home, heh. I have listed the songlist because I tried out the Gameboy version on my friends' Gameboy Color and I only played a little and the game is pretty good at a glance. August 28, 1999 -- Changed email address because I am moving to Fort Lewis in Tacoma, Washington so I had to get rid of Frontier Internet which was a home based ISP. I'll have a bigger update when I get Beatmania 4th Mix - The Beat Goes On and Pocket Beatmania Summer Mixes (I just haven't went out and bought it yet, I will next week). I have decided on getting Beatmania WonderSwan right before I leave Korea so that will be around mid November. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================= Table of Contents ================= NOTE: You need Beat Mania 2nd Arcade Edition to play the 3rd Mix if not when you put in the 3rd Mix CD you'll get a notice in Japanese with little english letters asking for the 1st disc of the 2nd edition because the 2nd edition is a double CD. So don't go and buy the 3rd Mix without the 2nd edition or you'll be lookin' funny. Beatmania Append Gotta Mix is a whole seperate game so you can play it without disc 1. Also Beatmania is a Japanese game, if you don't have a Japanese Playstation or MOD chip installed in your American system, you won't be able to play the game. You'll just get the blue screen for the CD Player. If the newer model Playstations allow you to play both American and import without any alerations to your system then you are all set. If not you will have to get a chip or Japanese Playstation. *When I say Disc 1-4 it means: Disc 1: Beatmania 2nd Mix Disc 2: Beatmania Append Yabisu Mix Disc 3: Beatmania Append 3rd Mix Disc 4: Beatmania Append Gotta Mix i. Introduction ii. The World of Beatmania 1. Brief Description 2. Controls, how to play, and how to complete a song 3. Configuration 4. Modes 5. Expert Mode on Disc 1 (Beatmania 2nd Mix) 6. Timing, listening and getting rythmn going 7. Scratching 8. Dual Shock and Beatmania Controllers 9. Complete Song List -- including Pocket Beatmania and Beatmania GB 10. The rest of the songs and how to get them 11. Some recommended songs to practice with to get better 12. Beatmania Append 3rd Mix (Disc 3) 13. Beatmania Append Gotta Mix (Disc 4) 14. Tip and Tricks 15. Putting it altogether 16. Where to find this faq 17. Acknowledgements 18. Beatmania Merchandise 19. Pocket Beatmania & Beatmania Wonderswan 20. Credits -------------------------------------------------------------------------- i. INTRODUCTION Thank you for viewing my Beatmania faq for the Sony Playstation, Gameboy, Pocket Beatmania and Beatmania Wonderswan. First off print this document from your web browser it was written in notepad and looks perfect in your browser. This faq will introduce you to the game as well as get used to the concept, controls and pretty much everything there is to know about this game. If you can't read the Japanese instructions which I can't either, this faq will help you play through the game with all the things I learned myself from just playing. Use this faq as your DJ bible I guarantee it will help you alot so you won't sit there confused like I did when I first saw the game at the Electro Mart here in Seoul, S.Korea. The game now has 4 discs total. The first is the 2nd Mix and the other 3 are Append Mixes. By the way I don't live in Korea I am just stationed here. ii. THE WORLD OF BEATMANIA In getting started in Beatmania you should first check out all the features and options given to you and utilize them. They are all very important in helping you play the game well even without knowing how to read the japanese instructions. I haven't successfully finished all the songs myself but that's what great about this game. The songs are all cool and some prove very, very challenging and some songs are insanely difficult. You would have to play for months in order to perfectly play some of the harder songs well. The notes just drop altogether like 20 or more right after the other. Beatmania is a very fun game and can increase your hand/eye coordination tremendously. The dual shock feature of Beatmania is much better than Metal Gear Solid in my opinion. The beat of the music sets it off really well and is just great. You can also purchase a turntable controller. I have seen 3 or 4 different models: DJ Man, DJ Station PRO, Beatmania Controller and I think there is one other model too. Check out Section 8 about the Dual Shock Controller and Beatmania Controllers, it has a detailed explanation of the controllers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. BRIEF DESCRIPTION Beatmania is a "DJ Simulation Game" that is truly awesome. You basically DJ at Club Katta (says the name of the club on Disc 4, Nonstop Megamix "Bemani Hit Tracks") and if you are good you get different rankings but if not, you get booed off the stage like a chump. If you like music games like I do like Bust-a-Groove, Dance,Dance Revolution and other music/dancing games this game will be somewhat easy to get used to. This game is actually easy, but you do need rythmn, quick fingers, proper control configuration (if you don't have the turntable controll- er), and basically a musical ear. You definitely need rythmn. I also have Bust-a-Groove and it's the same concept. So I would recommend getting that also. From what I hear Beat Mania is doing very, very well in Japan so much that it beat out Konami's own Metal Gear Solid, which is a feat in itself. The only problem is if you want this game it is one of the many outstanding Japanese games that you'll have to import. I am stationed in Korea right now so I am right near Japan. We get games as fast as Japan makes them including the ones we'll never see back in the states. I just hope many of you can enjoy this game if and when it does hit U.S. shores. I go to the Electro Mart in Yongsan, Korea just outside of Seoul. If you just so happen to ever come to Korea check out the Electro Mart commonly called the "Electronic's Market". It's a long strip that is just filled with electronic devices. If you ever been to Toronto and been on Young Street the main street downtown; you know how big it is imagine something sorta like that but everywhere you look is electronics, a gamer's paradise. They have toys, Sony Mini-Disc players, home appliances, tons of Playstation games (although they are all CD-R) and N64 games, computers and alot more for very low prices. Cheaper than the states and they are brand new electronics (by usually barganing). For some reason CD-R Playstation games are not illegal in Korea neither is mod chips like it is back in the states. Plus Mod Chips are cheaper here, $15 as opposed to $50 back in the states. Dunno why *shrug* anyways enough talk, on with the game!! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. CONTROLS, HOW TO PLAY AND HOW TO COMPLETE A SONG Ok this game is pretty easy to get the hang of, except it's not that easy of a game. The first 3 songs are usually pretty easy but as you progress to harder songs notes come down very close to each other with 2,3 or more simultaneously. One good thing though is if you get to a certain song that you cannot get down you'll get booed, but if you go into practice mode that song will be in the BGM list and you can set the practice options on "autoplay" and the computer will play it for you. You can then watch how it plays the song and pick up tips on stringing notes better. This helped me alot when I first had trouble with Bossa Groove "French Version" near the end of the song you have to alternate left and right with the piano keys. Once I got the hang of the song from when the cpu did it I got it down. So once you complete songs other songs will appear on your turntable. Later I'll explain how to get the other songs. The basic concept here is to key in the notes as they come down; if you have multiple notes coming down, press the command for the lowest note. The red bar on the bottom is where you input the key command for the note. So once the note comes down to the bar, key in the note. You get GREAT, GOOD, BAD or POOR. You'll get GREAT if you key in the note just as the bottom of the note hits the red bar, GOOD if you were a little soon or late (just a little), BAD if you were off key or were too early or late and POOR if you didn't key anything at all or were way early or late. As for controls, you are in charge here you can configure the controls in the options menu to any of the buttons on your controller. What works best for me is: --With auto turntable chosen--: Left bar: left & square Middle bar: up & triangle Right bar: right & circle Left blue notes: L1, L2 Right blue notes: R1, R2 --Without auto turntable chosen--: Left bar: left & square Middle bar: up & triangle Right bar: right & circle Left blue notes: L1, L2 Right blue notes: R1, R2 Turntable: X I prefer auto turntable, but if you would rather be a all around DJ then the second configuration is what I use. The reason I have it this way is the upper buttons (L1,L2,R1,R2) I usually use for the blue notes (ebony keys), left for the leftmost bar, up for the middle bar and right for the rightmost bar. I also use square, triangle and circle for the directional arrows because you sometimes get 2 or 3 notes simultaneously and it gets hard hitting the directions on the D-pad fast enough or is impossible to key in notes adjacent to each other coming down at the same time, so I just chose square to go along with left for the leftmost bar because square is to the left, triangle to go along with the middle bar because triangle is in the middle, and circle to go along with the rightmost bar. One more thing is some notes are spaced out like one in the left bar and one in the right, that is why you will need to have the action buttons configured to some of the directionals. So like for a note that comes down like this: | | | | | | | | | ==== | | ==== | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ==== | | | | | | | | | | Normally you would think; "How would I get the 2 left and right ones at the same time", well if you used the action buttons like I have you can just press up to get that first note coming down in the middle then press left & circle simultaneously which would register as left and right. Here is a diagram of how the play screen looks: | | | | | | | | | ==== | | ==== | | ==== | | | | | | | | | | | ==== | | | | | ==== | | | ==== | | ==== | | | | | | | | | | ==== | | | | | ==== | | | | | | | | | | ==== | =====================-------- RED LINE { } <------------- RECORD PLAYER ====================={ } Your objective is to play the beats precisely and correctly to get the the music pumpin'. First off you may notice the 3 record scratches that are coming down together then one spaced out above with the middle regular note in the middle bar lined consecutively with the first scratch. All you do is simply press the commands that you configured prior in options, and try to get either "GREAT" or "GOOD" beats. It's that simple just making sure that you get the button presses just as the bottom of the note hits either the top of the red line or the record player. If you are a novice player you might want to go into "options" and set the turntable to "auto turntable" so you can get the hang of playing the regular notes first then once you become familiar, turn "auto turntable" back off and practice having to work the turntable too. That corny DJ, DJ Battle can really be of some help when he challenges you to a "Scratch off". It's funny how Konami used the primitive flip book type animation for DJ Battle and the voice over will have you crying laughing too when he says: "So you think that you can scratch, well...." That first part alone has me cracking up all day after hearing that. Konami does do a keen job with voice over work and dual shock vibration though. DJ Battle does make a return appearence in the new Append "Gotta Mix" with a little better graphics for his hand while he scratches. If you play "Normal" mode (2nd Mix) and pass the first two songs, then on the third stage DJ Battle will challenge you. It's a good idea not to use auto turntable for normal mode so you get some good practice in. If not the computer will play stage 3 for you getting all "GOOD" ratings for the scratches that you play. It's a pretty easy challenge so don't get mesmerized by the 5 and 6 scratches that come down at once. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. CONFIGURATION Like I said before, configuring your controls is very important if not you'll be confused and in a world of hurt when you do progress to the harder songs. If you have the turntable controller it should be alot easier to work with than the regular controller. To configure your controller goto the "options" menu then highlight "Configuration", you can set the controller to anything you like that is comfortable to play the beats correctly. I have an example of how I configured my controller in the prior paragraph above which is section 2. Also remember to choose autosave from the option mode under "memory card", so that when you turn on your game for later use the game will auto load and load your settings depending on whether you have a regular controller connected or a Beatmania Turntable controller plugged in. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. MODES Game Start Training Free Options Disc Change Basically everything is self-explanatory. The last option "Disc Change" allows you to play disc 2 Yabisu "Append" Mix from the 2nd arcade mix, the Append 3rd Mix CD and the Append Gotta Mix CD. You can interchange any of the 4 CD's using the "Disc Change" option. Once you go to "Game Start" you have 3 options: Practice, Normal and Expert modes which is on Disc 1, the Append discs don't give you these three options. Practice shows you the basic fundamentals of the game with DJ Kunani. He'll explain how and when to key in the commands you set for the piano keys and record player. Once you finish with him you will then be sent to the club to play your first gig, if you perform successfully you'll then move on. The third stage is DJ Battle on Disc 1 you have a "Scratch Off" with him then finish the remaining songs. The ending is pretty simple but could have been way better maybe a CG of a DJ playing at a Club meeting the club dancers or something like that, but oh well they didn't think of that. Free mode lets you mix with a friend or the cpu making the songs sound much cooler. In free mode you can also choose the option of having the notes disappear just before they reach the red line. It helps you by making you rely on rythmn and remembering what key commands where displayed. There is one song that can only be played in 2 player free mode which is Ambient "Greed Eater" (Disc 1). Under the options menu you will find "auto turntable"; basically all that does is have the computer scratch for you. This can be a plus or minus. The reason is, is because yes you don't have to worry about scratching when you get to harder songs that have you scratching while playing 2 or 3 other notes around the same time frame and may throw you offbeat, but you don't get the full effect of the game with auto turntable turned on. I'm not against auto turntable, but this game will be way more exciting without always having the feature turned on. The minus is the cpu will always get a "GOOD" rating for all the scratches. You won't be learning how to scratch and it may become pretty boring plus you can work on getting "GREAT" ratings for your scratches instead of just "GOOD". Training mode has alot to offer. You can even record practice sessions and save them to your memory card for later listening. Training also gives you a chance to hone your skills with no assistance from the cpu such as "auto turntable". You can replay saved songs over and over and practice at will. There is also a "Judgement Review" feature that tells you how you did during your recording session except it's in Japanese. One thing in training mode that is great and you may not realize at first is, no matter what your turntable settings are, you have to manually scratch, meaning you can't depend on the cpu to assist you. Once you play a song, it will appear on the song list in practice mode where before there were question marks. Practice also allows you to listen and watch as the cpu performs the songs so that you can get better. If you haven't played a song yet question marks fill in it's spot. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. EXPERT MODE ON DISC 1 Expert mode has some pretty cool songs once you play normal mode and get most of the regular songs down first. The farthest I've gotten is stage 3. The first 3 songs are: Classic "Break Beats" Techno Vocal I also got Soul, but have to progress further to get the other expert songs. Techno is a pretty good track as well as the others I've played in expert mode. The only song that I have added to my list is Soul "Love so Groovy" a 2nd mix to the "Love so Groovy" in normal mode. Expert mode is very deceiving. You'll play and get a few "BAD" and "POOR" here and there twice too many and fail. The object is to get "GREATS" you can pass with "GREATS" and "GOODS" but you have to get nearly no "BAD" or "POOR". You shouldn't rely on "GOOD" either because you gain little on your crowd meter that's why you need to shoot for "GREAT" notes. Don't get me wrong you can have "GOOD" notes in there but, your an expert DJ now, you gotta show them what you got and play the beats. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. TIMING, LISTENING AND GETTING RYTHMN GOING Timing is very important if you want to successfully key in notes at the correct time. The concept of the game is simple but you have to time your keystrokes right or you might wind up inputting too early or late. Your are going to need rythmn without a shadow of a doubt you NEED rythmn. If you have some rythmn tapping the commands at the correct time, you shouldn't have a problem. The beat changes constantly for some songs so you have to be on the money with your timing of keystrokes and scratches. You'll notice the little red club dancer on the bottom left of the little Titan Tron T.V., if you are getting the club going doing slammin' beats and rocking the club he'll start dancing faster, but when your messing up and making a idiot of your self in front of the crowd not producing beats like your supposed to the little red club dancer will shrug his shoulders as if to say what's up with the music. Listening is also important in this game. I played percussion/drums from the 4th to 9th grade and quit after 9th cause our band instructor just was too demanding at the time and I wasn't used to that, heh. I came from being a junior high lead drummer which I worked for then ended up at the bottom again which was hard for me being young at the time. Anyways I listened to certain beats and rudiments I had trouble with and basically mimicked them by ear; you can do this here too. Just let the CPU play the song in practice mode if you failed with the song, and listen and look as to where notes fall so you can know what to expect when it's your time to get on stage. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. SCRATCHING Scratching is just the same as the other keystrokes except it's on the far right with the yellow notes coming down. The record player plays the same role as the red line, you must wait till the yellow note or free zone bar comes down with yellow notes inside and press the scratch command the same as you would the other notes, in this case just as the bottom of the note reaches the record player. If you don't feel like scratching the records yourself or just have problems scratching and hitting the other notes well, you can turn on "auto turntable" in the options menu. When using the turntable controller for scratching, it's best to move the record back and forth instead of in one direction if you have multiple scratches. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8. DUAL SHOCK AND BEATMANIA CONTROLLERS Beat Mania supports dual shock very well. Konami did a great job with dual shock for Metal Gear Solid and did just the same for Beat Mania. The best vibration option is "on every beat". DJ Station Pro currently sells for 110,000 won here in South Korea which is about $104. I own this controller and it is the best one that I have seen on the market. Here is a explaination of each of the controllers I have seen and how I would rate them. 1 star for Poor - 5 stars for excellent. DJ Man ***** DJ Man is probably the best Beatmania controller on the market. It's about the same size as the Beatmania Controller, but way better. The record player looks like an actual record like DJ Station PRO as oppossed to the cheap looking Beatmania Controller interface. The only thing I don't like about this controller is that there are one too many accessories for me. Mainly just the wrist sets for the rumble pak compatibility. The "shock" from the wrist sets is mediocre not as good as the dual shock vibration on the regular dual shock controller, but it is pretty good. I understand the reason why Konami and Bemani didn't incorporate the dual shock effect into the actual turntable, because the thing would be shaking all over the place when you set it on a table and that would get annoying. The wrist sets aren't that bad but it sorta got on my nerves thinking about having to keep up with them. If you so happen to lose them, then no more vibration with the controller. That shouldn't happen to you though, hopefully not. There is an accessory available called the PS Rumble Pak. I saw it for $5 in a shop here in Korea. It plugs into a controller port on your Playstation, then you can plug the turntable controller into the device and feel the vibration through the wrist sets. One other great feature is the keys light up like DJ Station PRO. The keys on the DJ Station PRO completely light up and the keys on DJ Man only light up in the center of the keys. Nothing to really cry about though, the feature itself is a cool idea. Also the ring around the record lights up and pulses to the beat of the music if you choose "music" instead of "rumble". DJ Man Controller deserves 5 stars because it is a superb controller, just edging out DJ station PRO by a little because there is no "dual shock" feature on DJ Station PRO like DJ Man has. DJ Man is about the same size and shape as the Beatmania controller, but is a better controller. DJ Man retails for $50-60. DJ Station PRO ****1/2 DJ Station PRO is the best looking turntable controller that I have used and seen on the market. The performance is also great. You have to be a all around DJ in order to use the turntable controllers because there is no auto turntable when you have the turntable controller plugged in. It plays every note precisely and never misses when you hit "double & triple notes", that's when you get the two notes coming down simultaneously. Another cool feature is when you hit the piano keys on the controller they light up. Also DJ Station PRO has heaphone jacks with volume controls to the left of the keys and has audio video cables in the rear of the controller. It does not support "dual shock" which is why I didn't give this controller a full 5 stars. If it did, this controller would be the most amazing controller for Beatmania. The DJ Station PRO controller retails for $104. You could get the PS Rumble Pak and plug the DJ Station PRO into it then play with the wrist sets if you want to feel the vibrations, which would make playing more exciting. Beatmania Controller * This is the first controller that I got. DJ Station Pro wasn't out yet and DJ Man was the other option. I jumped the gun and bought this one. Bad mistake. This controllers' main problem is it won't play "double & triple notes" correctly. For some reason it will play one of the keys and won't register the others. I have tested it over and over and it simply won't do it. I play the same notes fine with the DJ Station Pro, but the Beatmania Controller won't do it. One other problem is the record player for scratching.....it is very, very unexceptable. It sucks..period. The record sticks and doesn't allow any freedom at all to move the record back and forth. When DJ Station PRO came out about a week in a half later at the Electro Mart, I told the Korean vendor I wanted to swap controllers for the DJ Station Pro and pay the difference which was like $54 dollars, and it was worth it. The Beatmania Controller was the first one on the market, but that's not a excuse for the poor interface and control. Although, the Beatmania Controller is very light weight and affordable. $50 dollars to be exact I do not recommend it at all though. You'd be better off using your dual shock controller and get the vibration effects with it. Lesson learned here is try before you buy. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9. COMPLETE SONG LIST You'll notice you might see Reggae, Hip-Hop, Ambient or another song listed twice they are just different versions of a easier song of that genre just remixed and just a bit harder to play and are most of the time slammin'!! You might think some of the harder songs like the Rave song "E-motion" which they have 4 stars for difficulty is hard, turn on the auto turntable and it becomes just as easy as the first Reggae song "Jam Jam Raggae Master 73". "E-motion" is actually easy if you have the auto turntable on or off I think it should have gotten either 2 or 3 stars cause it's not that hard of a song as opposed to some songs that got 2 stars for difficulty which are pretty tough sometimes like Ballade "Do you love me" during the middle part with like 12 notes that drop all together you just have to remember the correct commands and you should be set. To become a "real" DJ though you should try not to use auto turntable but it certainly does help for some of those faster Ska and Techno songs. There are 70 songs in all (when viewing the list in training mode) not including Expert mode on Disc 1. I haven't really played that mode much because I can only get to stage 3, so I don't know if there are more songs in Expert mode. Disc 1 of Beat Mania 2nd Arcade Mix There are actually only 20 songs on the song list in "Training Mode", but DJ Battle's Scratch Off makes 21. 1. Hip-Hop 2. Reggae 3. Ambient 4. Techno 5. Ballade 6. Break Beats 7. Hip-Hop Street Mix 8. Japanese Hip-Hop 9. Konamix 10. Rave 11. House 12. Soul 13. House Spiritual Mix 14. Minimal Techno Mix 15. Ska 16. Hard Techno 17. Drum n' Bass Mix 18. Rave (2nd Mix) 19. Ambient (2 player mode) 20. DJ Battle (Scratch Off) 21. Reggae (2nd Mix) Disc 2 Yabisu Append Mix of Beat Mania 2nd Arcade Mix 1. Funk 2. Style Garage 3. Bossa Groove 4. Speed Garage 5. Funky Jazz Groove 6. Asian Traditional 7. Hard House 8. Big Beat Mix ---- Metal Gear Solid Main Theme 9. Bossa Groove French Version "La Bossanova de Fabienne" Disc 3 Beatmania Append 3rd Mix (add-on disc) These are somewhat harder than the previous discs. 1. Ambient 2. Soul 3. Reggae 4. Soul (Classic) 5. J~Dance Pop 6. Ballad (classic) 7. Hip Hop 8. Bossa Groove French Version "La Bossanova de Fabienne" 9. 80's J~Dance Pop 10. Eurobeat 11. Hard Techno 12. Drum'n Bass 13. Digi Rock 14. House (classic) 15. D'n Bass (classic) 16. Digital Funk 17. World Groove 18. Big Beat Mix 19. Funky Jazz Groove 20. House Disc 4 Beatmania Append Gotta Mix 1. Real Garage 2. Hip and Soul 3. Raga Rock 4. Big Beat 5. Hip Hop 6. Crossover 7. DJ Battle (Naha Naha & Gattchooon DJ Duel) 8. R&B 9. Rock'n Techno 10. Japanese Garage Pop 11. Free Soul 12. Break Beats 13. Collage Techno 14. Jazz Electro 15. Trance 16. Euro Beat 17. Gabbah 18. Nonstop Megamix 19. R&B (Hard Version) 20. Drum n' Bass Beatmania GB 1. Break Beats 2. Country 3. Classic 1 4. Classic 2 5. Latin 6. Rakuga Kids 7. Jazz 8. Reggae 9. Minimal Techno 10. Konamix 11. Bossa Groove 12. J~Dance Pop 13. Techno 14. Funk Pocket Beatmania Songlist (This is the list in the instructions, some songs are different mixes if their names are repeated) 1. Reggae "Jam Jam Reggae" 2. DJ Battle 3. Rave "E-motion" 4. Reggae "Jam Jam Reggae" 5. Break Beats "2 gorgeous 4U" 6. DJ Battle 7. Rave "E-motion" 8. Funky Jazz Groove "Stop the violence" 9. Eurobeat "Luv to Me" Disc 3 is a seperate disc from the double disc set of Beat Mania Arcade Mix, but disc 3 is a add-on and is not meant to be a seperate game, Disc 4 is a seperate game so you can play it as a seperate game. You need disc 1 to use disc 2 & 3, although disc 2 comes with disc 1 as a set. Disc 3 is a seperate add-on of mixes. You can just change back and forth between discs by using the "Disc Change" option. Just leave the power on, open the lid and change discs then press start. Don't completely turn the system off you have to leave it on to change discs. If you turn the system off and try to put in disc 2 or 3 it will have some Japanese writing and say "disc 1 arcade" "disc 2 append" or "disc 3 append". So when changing discs it's safe to leave the power on. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10. THE REST OF THE SONGS AND HOW TO GET THEM Well these songs aren't really secret but you have to either simply pass the previous songs or do exceptionally well in previous songs on the list to get them. *IMPORTANT* There are two factors in getting all of the songs for all 4 discs. Basically if you do very well in the normal difficulty songs harder songs will appear. Since I can't read the instructions this is my observation from playing Beatmania for a long time. To get the other songs you must PLAY HARDER songs too, when you beat the game. For example, start off by playing a "normal" difficulty song and play progressively difficult songs. If you only play the easy songs and a few normal here and there you will not get all of the songs. So if you notice that you are still missing some songs when you go to training mode to practice. Play all normal mode songs, then a harder one for the final stage. You can also play all easy songs then a normal or hard one for the finale to get different songs. The second factor I've noticed is your PERFORMANCE on certain difficulty songs. For example if you get almost all "GREATS" on a normal mode song like Japanese Garage Pop you will then get Nonstop Megamix and so forth. The songs you get from doing exceptionally well on normal difficulty songs are usually hype. Both factors go hand and hand. Don't get confused and think that you have to get all "GREATS" in a normal mode song. Just get as many "GREATS" as you can. Here's how to get the other songs (and it works all the time): Here are some examples of the factors I talked about.... Disc 1: Konamix - Your performance is key here (not just simply passing the stage, it's how well you did). Try not to get any "BAD" or "POOR" notes. The worst I've had in a performance is 2 BAD and 1 POOR when getting Konamix, so you are allowed some leway but you have to try to get as less "BAD" and "POOR" notes as possible. Japanese Hip-Hop - You get Japanese Hip-Hop along with Konamix. Disc 2: NOTE FOR ALL DISCS: Once you play a song it will disappear from your DJ Booth so you must play any of the remaining songs to progress. ie. You start with Bossa Groove, Style Garage and Funk. Say you pass Bossa Groove you will then have Style Garage, Funk, and Speed Garage. Pass Funk for example and you'll then have Style and Speed Garage, Asian Traditional and Funky Jazz Groove. Pass Asian Traditional for example and you'll get both Hard House and Big Beat Mix "Metal Gear Solid" Main Theme added. After that you beat Disc 2. Speed Garage - Pass any of the first 3 songs Asian Traditional - Pass any remaining songs on your DJ Booth of records Funky Jazz Groove - Comes with Asian Traditional Hard House - Pass any remaining songs on your DJ Booth of records Big Beat Mix "Metal Gear Solid" - Comes with Hard House NOTE: If you perform just well enough you will only get Konamix without Japanese Hip-Hop. The same goes for the remaining songs. If you perform very well though you will get both songs at the same time. Bossa Groove French Version "La Bossanova de Fabienne" has the same stipulations as Nonstop Megamix on Disc 4. You have to perform well on Normal difficulty songs then the others will become available to you. Disc 3: The songs aren't that hard to get and I haven't seen any difficult "stipulations". There is a fair amount of songs on this disc. Disc 4: Beatmania Append Gotta Mix is a great addition to the series. The songs are very good and they are more challenging than the previous CD'S. Nonstop Megamix has the same stipulations as Bossa Groove French Version "La Bossanova de Fabienne". -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11. SOME RECOMMENDED SONGS TO PRACTICE WITH TO GET BETTER Here are some songs that seem difficult at first but are actually moderately easy and sound good too. These are from all 4 discs. Rave (both mixes) "E-Motion" Bossa Groove "Papaya Bossa" Funk "Cat Song - theme of UPA" Techno "Expert Mode" Ballade "Do you love me" Trance Eurobeat (on disc 3 & 4) Gabbah (disc 4) Funky Jazz Groove Nonstop Megamix These songs have multiple notes that drop at once in the middle and near the end of the song. Rave just sounds cool because of the record scratches. The scratches in Rave will help you alot too when you progress in the game to other harder songs. There are a few other earlier songs in the game that are good practice. The key is to practice. The songs don't change, you can pick up on your mistakes and be able to practice and go over the parts you have problems with in practice mode. Here is a list of songs that sound very, very good in "Free" mode: Rave - Emotion (both mixes) Nonstop Megamix Japanese Garage Pop DJ Battle (Naha Naha & Gattchooon DJ Duel) Big Beat Mix ---- Metal Gear Solid Main Theme Bossa Groove French Version "La Bossanova de Fabienne" R&B (Hard Version) These are just a few of my favorites. They sound really cool when playing in free mode. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12. BEATMANIA APPEND 3RD MIX (DISC 3) The third disc has 20 songs on it with wide variety. All I have to say is practice, practice, practice the first 2 CD's on the 2nd Arcade Mix game before diving into this one because these are really tough songs. As a reminder the 3rd Mix is just a add-on Append disc and isn't meant to be a seperate game. If you get just the 3rd Mix without the first game, 2nd Arcade Mix, you'll be in for a rude awakening and big surprise when the Playstation asks for Disc 1 from the game. So get the 2nd Arcade Mix first then get the Append 3rd Mix. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13. BEATMANIA APPEND GOTTA MIX (Disc 4) Disc 4 is actually a whole seperate game. The new songs are very cool. The songs are very challenging this time and have some pretty nice hooks. One thing I noticed is in some songs near the middle, the song speeds up and the notes fall faster which is a new feature. One example is DJ Battle. Where two of the game creators Naha Naha and Gattchooon battle it out in a "DJ Battle". The original DJ Battle makes a cameo appearence at the beginning of the song. There are other songs that have the "speed up" feature in them too. I don't know if there are two versions or what, but the one I have doesn't need need disc 1 or the "disc change" option to play like the other Append mixes. I have seen some that require disc 1 (2nd mix) so just get all the mixes, they are all cool. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14. TIPS AND TRICKS Studio/Room Effect: Normally in the options mode you can choose this feature under "Effect". If you press the "select" button during play you can toggle between the two effects. If you look to the middle of the screen right underneath the screen with the pictures there is a small spinning record. It will change colors when you activate the toggle effect. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15. PUTTING IT ALTOGETHER Taking all you have read and learned here, try it out and incorporate it into your own play style. I basically explained the game in as much detail as I possibly could. This game is a simulator so it is somewhat of a challenge and is a pretty good representation of DJ'ing. If there is something anyone wants to add, feel free to email me at aknight@frontiernet.net. If your information is usefull I'll print it into my faq and give proper credit. The biggest thing about this game is you must practice harder songs over and over, they will become seemlessly easy after a while. Konami did a excellent job with the Beatmania series and have a wide range of other cool music games as well like Dance, Dance Revolution which has the same play style as Beatmania except you play 70's and mid 80's music (you don't DJ though there is a Disco Dancer in the middle of a dance floor). Unlike Beatmania if you begin to slump and fail, the game will make fun of your rythmn and the dance club doors will close which is sort of a slap in the face, but it's funny. Konami also has Guitar Freaks which you play a guitar and play music just like in Beatmania, although I read this in a magazine and have seen pictures of it from the Tokyo Game Expo I don't know much about it. It sounds pretty cool. Konami also has Drum Mania and another I have, Pop n' Music which is almost identical to Beatmania with some familiar characters. Music/Dance games are very popular in Japan and they are making them so fast. There are a few more music games like Stolen Song and Dance, Dance, Dance but they aren't as good as the previous ones listed. There are controllers abundant for the more popular music games like Beatmania and Dance,Dance Revolution. The one for Dance, Dance Revolution looks just like the old Power Pad for the Nintendo Entertainment System, it just has different controls on it. Beatmania is one of the best games I've played on the Playstation and is very addicting. You've gotta practice and if you don't already have some.....get yourself some rythmn. Heh. This game is all about rythmn, timing and patience. Once you have put all of that together and you've got the hang of the game you'll have more fun. Also if you don't already have a turntable controller, get one. It will help you out tremendously and retails for about $45-104. One of the controllers, DJ Man includes "Rumble Compatibilty" which vibrates just like the Dual Shock controller. You can have a video game import store import it for you. Otherwise just use your Dual shock and have fun and play the beats. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16. WHERE TO FIND THIS FAQ An updated version of this faq can be found at: Sove Interactive -- http://www.frontiernet.net/~aknight Gamefaqs -- http://www.gamefaqs.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This faq is a compilation of all of my Beatmania knowledge. I really enjoyed writting this faq which took some time because of all the changes I had to make, to make the guide precise. There are many sites on the internet about Beatmania but 99% of them are Japanese websites. I wanted to make this guide as complete as possible so if you can't understand what the sites are talking about you can look to this guide for all the information you need. I haven't found any codes or anything for this game and I don't know if there are any codes for Beatmania, except for some Gameshark codes. Please feel free to email me any questions about Beatmania. I am pretty busy nowadays so if I answer your emails too slow I apologize. I will try to get back to you as soon as I can. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18. BEATMANIA MERCHANDISE There is so much Beatmania merchandise available in Japan I can't remember them all but here is a short list of things I've seen and I have or plan on getting soon. 1. Beatmania T-Shirts 2. Pocket Beatmania (I have) 3. Beatmania Zippo Lighters 4. Beatmnia Books 5. Beatmania Videos 6. Beatmania Keychains 7. Beatmania GameBoy (I have) 8. Beatmania Wonderswan -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19. POCKET BEATMANIA & BEATMANIA WONDERSWAN I just got Pocket Beatmania and it's a trip. The sound quality for a little LCD keychain game is phenomenal. You can pick out the songs from the various mixes automatically. The songs come from the 2nd Mix and the Append 3rd Mix. The funny thing is the record scratching is alot better than the Beatmania Controller, heh. Plus the record actually has grooves in it to make it look like a "real" record. The features are about the same as the Playstation version. The little Konami logo to the left of the game lights up when you get "GREAT" 
     ratings for the beats you play. It won't light up for "GOOD", "BAD" 
     or "POOR". The modes available are: Normal, Practice, Auto Play
     and Free Play. If you get confused at how to play when you first see
     the game. It's the same format as the Playstation version. The 
     little blue area is for the black keys while the others are for the 
     white keys and the far right is for record scratching. There is 
     a "Groove Gauge" to the bottom right and the "action" window to
     the upper right. 
     Pocket Beatmania is also headphone compatible. The game retails for
     40,000 won which is $38.   

     
     Beatmania Wonderswan retails for 60,000 won which is about $58.
     I haven't tried it out yet nor do I have it, but I have seen it on 
     display at the Electonics Market in Yongsan. I plan on getting it 
     later after I come back from leave, maybe in August 1999. Until
     then you'll have to wait for detailed info later.


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 20. CREDITS

     Konami of Japan for making such a phenomenal game. You guys should
     make more games of this genre. No other game company has utilized
     Dual Shock so well as Konami has recently. Great Job......One thing
     though, what's up with these crappy fighting games? I bought Deadly
     Arts of the Nintendo 64 when I was on leave from the Army back in
     November I traded it in for $15 when I paid $51 for it, every place I 
     went said the game was so bad that it doesn't sell often I got jipped
     $36 bucks on the trade cause the game wasn't even 24 hours from being
     opened; mint condition. Magazines rate most of your fighting games real
     low come on guys. I remember my Contra days from way back when in the 
     late 80's let's get some exceptional fighting games produced like 
     Namco.

     Electro Mart in Seoul, S.Korea for having American and Japanese games
     for the N64 and Playstation as well as full supplies of Dreamcast 
     systems. This place is awesome, I never thought I'd be in Korea.
     The service is pretty good, but knowing a little Hangul (Korean
     language) doesn't hurt either. Taking a Korean Cab is cool, you 
     can learn Hangul from the drivers who are mostly friendly. I 
     learned a little Hangul from them which is a great experience.
     I am almost finished up here, I leave in November. This place has 
     tons of things to do cause Seoul is the second largest city in the 
     world, New York City is the largest. New York baby!!! Home sweet home.
     I'm from Northern New York though, heh. 
     I'll let you guys in on new Beatmania games as I see them. 




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                                Konami of Japan         The Showstoppa
                                     Bemani