Beatmania IIDX 22: Pendual
Beatmania IIDX 22: Pendual is a music video game and the 22nd installment of Beatmania IIDX series of video game, a part of the long-running Bemani series. The theme of the game revolves around the concept of time with the theme split between the present and the future; Pendual itself is a portmanteau of "pendulum" and "dual". The UI mainly features white to symbolize the present and purple to symbolize the future. It was first announced during the BEMANI Namahōsō event on June 4, 2014, with location testing held from June 13 to 15, 2014. It was released on September 17, 2014.
Gameplay
For more information about the gameplay of Beatmania IIDX in general, please refer to Beatmania IIDX#Gameplay.Beatmania IIDX tasks the player with performing songs through a controller consisting of seven key buttons and a scratchable turntable. Hitting the notes with strong timing increases the score and groove gauge bar, allowing the player to finish the stage. Failing to do so depletes the gauge until it is empty, abruptly ending the song.
Beatmania IIDX 22: Pendual retains the core gameplay introduced in the first game. Players are required to hit notes that fall from the top of the screen at the hit zone using keys or turntables which are required to be scratched. Hitting the notes correctly will fill up the Groove Meter, while failure to do so drains it. Players must attain at least 80% of the meter at the end of the song to pass. Two gameplay variations introduced in Beatmania IIDX 17: Sirius: Charge Note and Backspin Scratch are retained. The player now has a choice to display their EX-Score instead of a combo during gameplay. Two new options were introduced—An Expand-Judge option, which increases the timing of the "Great" judgment, but the player's score and rank are rendered invalid; and Rotational-Random option, which shifts the hit notes to the left and right depending on the setting. Pendual features a new theme system which cycles the theme of the game throughout one to five days: the "present phase" features mainly whites in the UI with the in-game clock displaying the year as 2014, while the "future phase" features purples with the in-game clock displaying the year as 2222. Each theme has their own features, including songs. Throughout December 22, 2014 to October 28, 2015, players can now freely change the time phases by Paseli through a purchasable item, "Time Hourglass". Expert mode, a mode that plays through a course consisting of four songs without stopping, has been revived by an update on February 14, 2015.
Unlocking System
Chrono Chaser (One More Extra Stage)
The unlocking system which unlocks the One More Extra Stage had started on September 24, 2014. To access it, the player must attain a Full Combo with a higher grade while playing exclusive songs on the time phases. The gate would then be activated and would appear on subsequent playthroughs during the game's Final Stage. The player must then Full Combo the charts on the same difficulty without activating Random or Mirror modifiers with a higher grade during the Final/Extra Stage. Regardless if the player had succeeded on Full Combo or not, the door will change time phases, but failing to do so will lose a chance to unlock the gate. Failing to Full Combo three times would cause the gate to disappear.When the player subsequently Full Comboed two other charts of the same difficulty as of December 22, 2014, the gate would open and the player immediately accessed the One More Extra Stage automatically upon the difficulty the player had cleared on the last song. Whichever song that will be played on One More Extra Stage varies on the time phase the player had activated the gate.
Regardless if the player failed to Full Combo three times or has played the One More Extra Stage once, the player must start all over by Full Comboing the three charts again starting on the songs exclusive to the time phase.
As of April 22, 2015, conditions to access the One More Extra Stage were now simplified. The door now has a health bar system and the player must fully deplete the gauge in order to open the gate. Each Full Combo depletes half of the gauge, but every time phase switch will increase the gauge by 5%. As always, the difficulty played for the last song will be played for the One More Extra Stage, and the gauge will be restored upon the next activation of the gate.
On June 17, 2015, a new unlockable challenge was available. To activate the gate, the player needs to full combo K or eagle songs in another chart this time. Conditions to activate the gate were simplified on June 24, 2015, as players need to ex-hard clear on hyper or another. Conditions were further simplified on July 1, 2015 where the player needed to hard clear any chart on any difficulty. During the credit's final/extra Stage, a folder which randomly selects five songs on any selected difficulty would be available, and players can retain the Challenge Chances regardless of outcome and the modifiers selected. As with the previous challenge, the player must deplete the gauge completely in order to access the One More Extra Stage..
In an update on July 1, 2015, players can unlock the first two One More Extra Stage songs on Expert Mode. Also, the gauge used for the One More Extra Stage is lowered to the Hard gauge. On September 1, 2015, the second set of One More Extra Stage Songs was added as an unlockable feature on Expert Mode.
Chrono Seeker
Chrono Seeker is the first unlockable event in the game which started on October 1, 2014 and ended on December 21, 2014. In this unlocking event the player must collect Crystal Shards for each respective time phase via each playthrough. Each one of the time phases has a different condition to unlock for each gemstone row while on different difficulties. Completing the Crystal will unlock the song on the "Chrono Seeker" folder, and playing the song once will unlock another gemstone row and the song itself for regular play..When the player gathered all 12 crystals for the time phase and playing all four songs at least once, the fifth gemstone row will appear in the respective time phase. To unlock it, the player must play the songs based on the artists in one credit after playing through all the songs under the respective version folder at least once. This will then unlock the boss song of the "Chrono Seeker" folder which are exclusive to the time phase. Unlike those songs, they are not unlocked for regular play.
If the player gathered all 30 crystals and played the boss songs at least once, the last gemstone row will appear. To unlock it, the player must input the Konami Code on the game keyboard, and then play the songs in relation to Gradius after playing at least one song from each game folder at least once to unlock Broken Sword in the "Chrono Seeker" folder. Playing Broken Sword once will mark the event complete and the boss songs can now be played on all time phases.
After the event ended, any locked new songs can now be purchased through the online website using Fricos for regular gameplay. Prior from January 21, 2015, any songs unlocked for regular play are still playable, except for the boss songs. On July 10, 2015, players playing via the Super Future time phase would automatically unlock all the event songs for regular play.
Qpronicle Chord
The second unlocking event begin on December 22, 2014 and ended on July 28, 2015. For this event, the player's avatar would have to revisit the three places again to defeat the monsters and maintain friendship with the Partners. The three places and their six partners are based on the previous three games. The player firstly chose a location and rescued the partner to unlock the Normal Chart for the respective song of the version. Players would then play relevant songs depending on the location selected during each session to deal much higher damage to the enemies. The Partners would get experience points and level up after each playthrough, and if the combined partner's level reaches a certain amount, the player can unlock Hyper and Another charts the next time the player revisits any of the locations. Once the partner's Another charts are unlocked, the location would be marked as a check.Players can also raise the friendship of the main partner they chosen. Though this doesn't affect the speed of unlocking the charts, the player must raise the partner's friendship to max to unlock customizations.
Player can also unlock Console Songs if the player defeated certain rare enemies from any place they selected. The enemy appearance and the unlock conditions may also vary depending on the time phases and playthroughs.
After the first thirteen songs have been unlocked, the player can access the Tower of Time Chord to unlock the last two songs of the event. Unlike the other locations, the conditions for unlocking are not varied based on any time phases, and don't require the partners to level up as a condition. The player would then scale the tower and by reaching certain levels at the end of a session, the player would be forced to play 共鳴遊戯の華 as their One More Extra stage using the Ex-Hard gauge with Random and Mirror modifiers disabled. The chart played during the One More Extra stage would depend on how high the player had scaled the tower, and the player needs to play the song once for the chart to be unlocked for normal play. Unlocking this song fully also completes the event, which automatically unlocks several accessories and all the past three versions of design frames for use. Note that the Chrono Chaser event is temporary disabled until the final boss song is fully unlocked.
A ranking event, "Affection Ranking" was held from April 22, 2015 to June 23, 2015. This ranking event was split into three cups which lasted for three weeks each. Each cup was ranked based on how much the partner's friendship was raised. By taking part in each cup, accessories for the avatar would be unlocked. If certain conditions were met after participating in all three cups, The Least 100sec would also be unlocked for regular play.
There were three chapters in this event and 16 songs were available for unlock.
Expert Mode
The mode which plays four songs consecutively had returned since its last appearance in beatmaniaIIDX 19 Lincle via an update on February 14, 2015. They may still be able to set any of the modifiers permitted by the course. The gameplay would start when the player selects the course and the difficulty, and the player would pass if they cleared all four stages, or failed once the gauge is fully depleted. There are several courses which can be selected through Course Folders including:- Internet Ranking
- Hit Chart
- Monthly Hit Chart
- Local Original
- Best
- Random
- Secret
On certain periods, players can vote for the songs during each credit by playing the songs under the "Expert Vote" folder. Players can cast a vote by selecting the song. After the voting period ends, the four songs having the most votes would be selected and compiled into a course.