Has the music stopped for the rhythm genre?
With the latest installments in the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises selling far below expectations, and every game room cluttered with at least one set of dusty plastic instruments, it’s easy to think so. But Guitar Hero and Rock Band weren’t the first rhythm games to rise to incredible heights of mainstream acceptance only to plummet, nearly instantaneously, into obscurity. Far from it, in fact. Case in point: Bemani. This series of articles in Evil.JP will describe the meteoric rise and cataclysmic fall of Japan’s most overlooked contributions to the rhythm genre during gaming’s first casual renaissance.
What is Bemani? Bemani was a brand name for a set of games revolving around music from Japanese game developer Konami. Originating from DJ sim Beatmania in 1997, the brand evolved into several different music games including the widely-accepted Dance Dance Revolution, arcade guitar simulator Guitar Freaks, arcade drumming simulator DrumMania, keyboard arcade release KeyboardMania, bubbly rhythm simulation game Pop’n Music, and ParaPara choreography simulation game ParaParaParadise. Although many of these games did not contain the emphasis on realism that defines Western rhythm games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero, Konami’s focus was on making rhythm games that were easy to learn, difficult to master, and fun to play. What’s more, all of these games were developed and released to Japanese game centers years before the first Guitar Hero hit stores.
I was reminded of Bemani when I popped a quirky little title called DanceMasters into my Xbox 360. I’m not talking about Dance Central; I’m talking about the OTHER dance game. I’m talking about the dance game from Konami, released with next to zero fanfare and very few mainstream reviews. This reception is very typical of new Konami rhythm game releases in the West, and in some cases may be undeserved. But how did it all come to this? Let’s start at the beginning…
In 1997, Konami released a DJ simulation title called Beatmania. The game required players to manipulate a set of controls to line up with falling notes and win the praise of the audience. The set of controls included five keys and a simulated turntable. Though unusual at the time, it was a hit. This led to several other arcade releases (sequels to Beatmania) and the creation of a quirky little dance game called Dance Dance Revolution. Consisting of a larger-than-life cabinet and a platform with two bright-red stability bars and eight pressure-sensitive arrow pads (up, down, left, and right, on both sides), this game tasked one or two players with stomping out dance routines to music by hitting the correct directional pad when an arrow pointing that direction reached the top of the screen. It was a massive success, spawning NINE sequels (including spinoffs) in the span of one year from the first version’s release in Japan.
Konami planned a US release for DDR soon after the second game (Dance Dance Revolution 2nd Mix) hit Japanese arcades. Although the game made a great impression at trade shows, the expense associated with purchasing a cabinet (which went for $15,000 to $17,000 – nearly double the cost of a “normal” arcade cabinet at the time) was prohibitive for many smaller arcades. When the game was released in March of 1999, very few arcades were able to afford it. Those that had access to the machine, however, were seeing profits pour in as curious arcade-goers took it upon themselves to try it out. In time, crowds began to form around the machines, and a subculture was born. After its success was assured, many additional arcade owners attempted to purchase the machines from Konami of America, but they were incapable of filling those orders, which provoked many arcade owners into entering the world of gray-market arcade game importing. Many arcades purchased used machines from Japan, which had different song selections than the official US version.
It wasn’t long before a home version was announced. Although Japan received its first home version port of Dance Dance Revolution (for the original PlayStation) in March 1999, it wasn’t until August 2000 when the US version of DDR was released. Although not a million seller (as a peripheral was required to simulate the control scheme of the arcade version), it did reasonably well. However, the differences between the Japanese arcade and home releases and the substantially more limited US releases were creating rifts among the hardest of the hardcore in the growing DDR fan community.
It wouldn’t be long before a new (more controversial) home version was released in the West, and the death of arcades creates an opportunity for a new generation of consoles to take the reigns of Konami’s star series, but at what cost?
[To Be Continued...]
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