Bemani


, stylized in all caps, is Konami's music video game division. Originally named the Games & Music Division, it changed its name in honor of its first and most successful game, Beatmania, and expanded into other music-based games, most notably rhythm games such as Dance Dance Revolution, GuitarFreaks, and DrumMania.

Current Bemani games

Since 1997, Konami has released many different series of music games under the Bemani brand. Each series has a unique way of playing the game and detaches players from the typical hand held controller of modern game systems by using their whole body to control the game. Dance Dance Revolution lets players dance with their feet, Beatmania gives players a DJ style mixing board complete with turntable, ParaParaParadise is controlled with the players hands and arm by setting off motion sensors during the dance routine, and GuitarFreaks & DrumMania let players use simplified instruments to create music. Below are the Bemani series of video games in alphabetical order.

''Beatmania IIDX''

Continuing the Beatmania series, Beatmania IIDX was released in 1999. The rules of the game remain the same from Beatmania with the addition of two more keys giving players seven keys to play with along with the turntable. "IIDX" stands for 2 Deluxe, "Beatmania 2 Deluxe", as Konami gave the series an entire internal and external makeover. The deluxe versions of the arcade machines were bulked up with larger displays, a platform for players to stand on and literally feel the bass of the music, and other amenities. As time went on Konami ceased production of the standard cabinet and went exclusively with the deluxe cabinet.
Beatmania IIDX has been released on the PlayStation 2 and PC platforms for home players and continues to this day with arcade releases worldwide. In 2006, the game was released on the PlayStation 2 in North America for the first time, simply titled Beatmania.

''Dance Around''

Dance Around, stylized as DANCE aROUND, was released on March 3, 2022, in Japan. Internationally, it was released on June 6, 2022, in North America, and in December 2022 in China. The game is named after Round One arcades, and it is exclusive to these arcades. Dance Around uses a pair of cameras mounted on either side of the cabinet to detect the player's body using parallax. Dance Around is considered by fans to be a spiritual sequel to Bemani's own Dance Masters and Dance Evolution Arcade, and is also comparable to the Just Dance game series.

''Dance Dance Revolution''

Dance Dance Revolution, often initialized to DDR and also known in Europe as Dancing Stage, was first produced in 1998. The game is played by stepping to music on a dance platform with four pressure-sensitive arrow pads. The game has changed little since its introduction but has come a long way in terms of musical selection and visual appearance. While originally an arcade title, many versions of Dance Dance Revolution have been released on many different platforms including the Sony PlayStation 2, Sega Dreamcast, Nintendo Wii, and Microsoft Xbox. Other versions have also appeared on portable handhelds, cell phones, and as standalone TV plug'n'play devices. Dance Dance Revolution is commonly considered to be the most well-known BEMANI series outside of Japan.

''Dance Rush''

Dance Rush Stardom, stylized as DANCERUSH STARDOM, was first released on March 23, 2018. It is marketed as a shuffle dancing simulator, and encourages the players to learn several real-life moves, such as the running man, the crab step, the SpongeBob, and the Charleston. It uses a Microsoft Kinect-like body tracking camera and a dance platform powered by an IR frame. In addition, Dance Rush has five buttons for navigating the menu, but not used during gameplay.
In Dance Rush, the player is given a set of prompts that scroll down the timeline, and must match the horizontal foot positions by stepping in the right place on the platform, sliding their feet left and right, or keeping their feet off the platform by jumping. In addition, the game also detects the speed at which the player's center of gravity moves, requiring the player to go "DOWN" in time with the prompts.
Similar to other Bemani series like Dance Dance Revolution and Dance Evolution, Dance Rush has three game modes: Light, Standard and Premium.
Dance Rush also has a cooperative 2-player mode, where one player uses the front half of the platform and the other uses the back half, as well as a head-to-head battle mode using two separate cabinets. The two modes can even be activated at the same time, resulting in a 2v2 cooperative multiplayer game.

''Gitadora'' (''GuitarFreaks'' and ''DrumMania'')

Also known as Gitadora in Japan, the combined series of GuitarFreaks and DrumMania are games that use simplified instruments after their namesake. GuitarFreaks uses a small, plastic guitar with three buttons known as "frets", a strum bar, and a motion sensor that players set off by pulling the neck of the guitar up and quickly down again. Despite the similarities, Guitar Freaks predates Guitar Hero by several years; in fact, the heads of RedOctane, Charles and Kai Huang, were reportedly inspired by the GuitarFreaks gameplay to develop the Western game's guitar peripheral and pitch its gameplay proposal for what would eventually become Guitar Hero.
Drum Mania lets players play a set of drums. Modeled after modern digital drum kits, the player strikes the appropriate piece with the drumsticks on cue with the music and failure to do so causes the song to sound incorrect. Many American players will recognize the Drum Mania setup from more recent games like Rock Band, which is unrelated to the Konami game.
Similar to the 5-key to 7-key upgrade from Beatmania to Beatmania IIDX, GuitarFreaks and DrumMania received a major gameplay overhaul with the 2010 release of GuitarFreaks XG and DrumMania XG, with a total of five frets and nine drums respectively. While standard GuitarFreaks and DrumMania games were originally being released alongside the XG games, the latter has now become the primary focus of the series, with the last standard series game being V8, released in 2011. The XG series was rebranded in 2013 as simply "GITADORA".
Despite being separately released games that can be played independent of each other, Konami markets the GITADORA series as a pair that can be linked for co-operative play in the arcades. The two series continue to be released to this day.

''Jubeat''

Announced on December 22, 2007, Jubeat is similar to Whac-A-Mole, where players must tap the square-shaped panels on a touch screen when they light up. It was released in Japan in July 2008. A localized version of the game for North America was announced the month after with tests held at an arcade in Southern California alongside Dance Dance Revolution X. After two separate testing phases Konami canceled all plans to release the game in North American Arcades. Jubeat arcade presence is localized in Japan and several East Asian countries. Free-to-Play adaptations for mobile were eventually released in 2010. Japan received Jubeat Plus, available for iOS and Android. International regions received a localized version called Jukebeat, available solely on iOS. While the apps may appear similar, Jukebeat songlist is far more restricted and features different licences.

''NOSTALGIA''

NOSTALGIA was first released on March 1, 2017, available as an upgrade kit for BeatStream cabinets or as a new machine. The game serves as a spiritual successor to Keyboardmania, with its gameplay involving a keyboard-esque controller used to hit notes coming from the top of the screen. Unlike Keyboardmania though, the player does not have to hit a specific key, just one in the note's general area. Only one row of keys is used as well; while the cabinet does have black keys, they are solely for decoration. The touchscreen used by BeatStream is reused to navigate the game's interface. Similar to Keyboardmania, "Real" charts requires players to know how to play the piano in order to easily pass the songs.

''Pop'n Music''

Released in 1998, Pop'n Music is like a simplified Beatmania. With larger, colorful buttons, no turntable, and easier note patterns, Pop'n Music presents players with a more childlike appearance. However Pop'n Music is viewed as every bit as difficult as Beatmania IIDX, with modes that use up to nine hand buttons at once, and having some songs that aren't keysounded. Pop'n Music is stylized with cute cartoony characters and a musical selection to match. The series continues to this day as one of the most popular Bemani games.

''Sound Voltex''

SOUND VOLTEX was first released on January 18, 2012. Its gameplay involves four white buttons, two orange "FX" buttons, and two knobs, one blue and one pink. While the white and orange buttons are simply pressed or held, the knobs must be adjusted on cue with blue and pink lasers which quickly move left and right across the track. Similar to beatmania, this gameplay is meant to mimic a DJ controller, but places more focus on layering effects over the music. Besides music featured in other BEMANI series, many songs are arrangements of music from Touhou Project, and some are produced by Vocaloid artists. SOUND VOLTEX also holds regular song contests, officially called SOUND VOLTEX FLOOR, in which fans submit original songs or artwork for a chance to be part of the game's extensive songlist.