2008: Difference between revisions

After the success of the original group of BEMANI titles, KONAMI attempted to introduce more new entries throughout the 2000s. Most of them never truly caught on, but in 2008, a new game would begin its path to success.  

[[AC jb|jubeat]] introduced a different style of gameplay to arcade music games. Based on the concept of "touch", jubeat's gameplay consists of 16 buttons arranged in a 4x4 grid, hitting buttons in time with the music as they light up. It doesn't actually use touch screens, but it was the first arcade rhythm game to emulate touch-based gameplay. The cabinet itself doesn't take up much space in arcades and it's often paired up with other cabinets for local multiplayer. Another thing that sets jubeat apart from its BEMANI siblings was the bigger focus on licensed music. The number of licenses ended up overtaking the number of KONAMI originals in a 2-to-1 ratio. The game was released in Japan in the mid-summer and an American location test under a different title was held shortly after, though never released. Despite the oddball appearance and nature of the game, it managed to obtain a crowd with its unique style of gameplay.

KONAMI continued to throw the dice and take risks on newer entries in established series. One of these risks was [[AC DDR X|DanceDanceRevolution X]], one of the more peculiar entries in the series. For one, it's the first (and only) arcade title in all of BEMANI headed by an American sound director, [[Jason Borenstein]]. Another thing is that it actually ''debuted'' on North American consoles three months before it was released in the arcades of Japan. As such, the entry is more Western-focused in its sound, visuals, and artist selection. X expanded the difficulty scale to the current "20-footer" model and also introduced the Shock Arrows mechanic.

While 2008 saw many celebratory releases, it also signaled a change from the old to the new. [[Mutsuhiko Izumi]] stepped down from his position as sound director of the GuitarFreaks & DrumMania series, and [[Asaki]] would take up his place for [[AC GFDM V5|GuitarFreaks V5 & DrumMania V5 Rock to Infinity]]. Likewise, [[AC EMPRESS|beatmania IIDX 16 EMPRESS]] would be [[Takayuki Ishikawa]]'s last title as sound director of beatmania IIDX. [[AC pnm 16|pop'n music 16 PARTY♪]] is the last BEMANI title that [[Reo Nagumo]] would be involved in, and many of his songs would be removed later that year in other BEMANI titles.

* March 24th: [[AC pnm 16|pop'n music 16 PARTY♪]] is released to Japanese arcades. Final appearance of [[Reo Nagumo]] in BEMANI. Several of his songs would be removed in the following BEMANI titles.

** [[Toshiyuki Kakuta]]'s first album, [[Denjin K|電人K]], is released.

** Maya Takamura's first art book, ''puzzle / MAYA TAKAMURA'S PIECES'', is released.

* November 19th: [[AC EMPRESS|beatmania IIDX 16 EMPRESS]] is released to Japanese arcades. It is the last beatmania IIDX title to feature [[Takayuki Ishikawa]] as a sound director. First credited appearances of [[Nagisa Nakamoto]] and [[Hidenori Kotera]].

* December?: [[Maya Takamura]] leaves KONAMI, though would continue to contribute to BEMANI as a freelancer. Her last credited work as a staff member was beatmania IIDX 16 EMPRESS.