Type:   DJ Simulation Release:   1997 Home Status:   inactive Arcade Status:   inactive

Beatmania was the game that started it all. Released in the arcades in 1997, this DJ simulation game took the idea of a music game (first introduced in '97 by Parappa the Rapper on the PlayStation) and turned it into something totally different. While Parappa was more of a music-driven action title, Beatmania was purely a simulation. The player is presented with six input devices: five keys (three black and two white arranged similarly to a piano) and a large rubber-topped turntable. The turntable and three black keys each have a "lane" on-screen where keys fall from the top (the two white keys straddle the two lanes on either side of them); when the key hits a line at the bottom of the screen, the corresponding key should be pressed and a note or sample will sound. The more accurate the key-press is, the more the player's "Groove Gauge" fills, while a miss causes the gauge to decrease. On many tracks a music or lyric bed is also present, and when combined with correct key-presses, a song is born. The actual sounds triggered by the keys or turntable vary from song to song, though many times a key will trigger a single note or a lyrical phrase, while the turntable will often add a scratch to the song, just as if the player was a club DJ.

This simple concept immediately caught fire in the arcades, and additional releases (called Mixes, such as Beatmania 2nd Mix) began popping up rapidly. Konami quickly expanded into other music games, with the immensely popular Dance Dance Revolution hitting the scene next. Not intent to keep the game in the arcades, Konami partnered with ASCII to release a home controller for the PlayStation, along with a 2-disc set featuring the arcade 2nd Mix and an "Append" disc of home-exclusive songs, a feature that was later utilized to create multiple budget-priced Append sequels.

Beatmania later spawned not one, but two series of sequels: the 7-key beatmania IIDX, which was released both as an arcade series and later as home releases for the PlayStation 2, and the 5-key arcade-only beatmania III. Beatmania also provided the name for Konami's BEMANI music line, as the BEMANI name is a contraction of the Japanese syllables used in BEatMANIa. Finally, the basic Beatmania premise has been duplicated both in other Konami games (such as pop'n music and Guitar Freaks & Drummania) and in games by other manufacturers (including DJ Max and EZ2DJ).

Beatmania's impact on the game scene is considerable, especially when you consider the number and popularity of the games that followed it. While the original 5-key Beatmania was retired in 2001 with the arcade release Beatmania the Final, the Beatmania name lives on in the 7-key IIDX series, which is well into double-digits in releases, as well as in the North American release of IIDX, which is simply titled "beatmania" and features both 5- and 7-key modes.