What Could Have Been

A game sometimes go through a lot of changes before it emerges as a finalized product. Layouts get changed around, songs get moved around to other places, and sometimes the whole interface is scrapped! This page is for listing various concepts, ideas, and BEMANI transplants that KONAMI left out in the process of finalized BEMANI games.

In contrast with the Scrapped Songs and Cancelled Games sections, this page is more for concepts and ideas that were removed from finalized BEMANI projects, as opposed to songs (save BEMANI transplants). Examples of data include:

• BEMANI transplants that were planned for a game but either were delayed, shuffled around, or just plain never were put it at all (for an example of the latter, masquerade being planned for beatmania IIDX 20 tricoro). Note that to qualify for this page, the song must have already been in a released BEMANI game beforehand.
• Delayed releases (such as Asaki's second album 天庭, which was delayed two years due to him being sick).
• Notecharts that never made to an arcade BEMANI release, despite data for the song existing in HDD data (i.e. Line Times's EX chart).
• pop'n music games that had characters scrapped (i.e. the KING's removal from pop'n music 9).
• Various contests that never came through.

This page is under HEAVY construction. If you're going to add any information here, please post proof on the Talk Page first.

beatmania

beatmania

• According to Kiyoshi Mizuki on the beatmania press mix book, at the very beginning of the development of beatmania, the game had three buttons per player. There was only one turntable, which was shared between both players.
• The January 1998 issue of the MyCom BASIC Magazine (マイコンBASICマガジン) includes a screenshot of an early version of beatmania:
  • beatmania is referred by its working title, DJ BEATS.
  • Most notably, the notes are rounded, and the notes on the black keys are gray instead of blue.
  • The judgment line is absent.
  • Only one GROOVE GAUGE (named GROOVE LEVEL) is used, even if two players are present.
  • An audio visualizer graphic is shown below the GROOVE LEVEL gauge.
• beatmania was first unveiled to the public at the AM Show 1997 event. While it retained the GROOVE LEVEL gauge and audio visualizer from the above-mentioned screenshot, the notes were changed to the same shape as the final version's ones, although a bit thicker.

beatmania 2ndMIX

• The April 1998 issue of the Famitsu magazine includes a screenshot of an early version of beatmania 2ndMIX, which also shows the audio visualizer graphic from DJ BEATS. It is currently unknown if this graphic was present during development of beatmania 2ndMIX, or if the screenshot is just an updated version of the aforementioned DJ BEATS' image.

beatmania 5thMIX -Time to get down-

• During the beatmania 5thMIX -Time to get down- location tests, each song had a separate, unique title card, much like beatmania 4thMIX -the beat goes on-. This was removed in the final release due to memory issues.

beatmania ClubMIX

• A hidden developer comment states "TRUE NAME IS MIRAI MIX", hinting that this may have been the game's original subtitle.

beatmania featuring DREAMS COME TRUE

• A hidden developer comment states "LAST DJ MAIN BORD BEAT DCT", meaning this may have originally intended to have been the last beatmania game on the BEMANI DJ-MAIN hardware (or potentially the last beatmania game at all). The BEMANI DJ-MAIN board would not be discontinued until the release of beatmania THE FINAL two years later.

beatmania IIDX

beatmania IIDX 2nd style

• Shake was nearly cut from beatmania IIDX 2nd style, as sound director dj TAKA was upset by the death of double member Sachiko months before 2nd style's release. He changed his mind when he thought the song matched too well with his vision of 2nd style to scrap it.

beatmania IIDX 4th style/5th style

• According to Ryu☆, he submitted sakura storm for a second Musicianship Trial, similar to how his song starmine won the first contest. The second contest was cancelled, and the beatmania IIDX staff wouldn't announce winners for a second one for two more years in beatmania IIDX 9th style, when vocalist flare and musician Sho Maruyama won. (Coinidentally, Ryu☆ and fellow first Musicianship Trial winner kors k returned to IIDX in 9th style as well.)

beatmania IIDX 16 EMPRESS + PREMIUM BEST

• Foundation of our love / dj TAKA feat.ASAKO
• Pink Rose / Kiyommy+Seiya
  • Both songs were at one point listed on the official website for the game. Neither song made it to the final version of the game.

beatmania IIDX 20 tricoro

EXPERT MODE

Although tricoro was the first beatmania IIDX game to not have EXPERT MODE, graphical data for this mode on the MODE SELECT screen can be found unused in tricoro's HDD. However, no further data for this removed mode has been found, so it is currently unknown if it can be forced to work by hacking.

masquerade / TЁЯRA

• Sound and HDD data for the song exists in tricoro, but it has no notecharts and was never made playable, being the only unused song with sound data that didn't appear in any of the following IIDX games. This might be attributed to its composers, NAOKI and jun, both leaving KONAMI in early 2013.

No volume 2 of the tricoro ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK album

• The beatmania IIDX 20 tricoro ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK Vol.2 album was never released; the closest thing to it is the second disc of the beatmania IIDX 21 SPADA ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK containing the remaining tricoro songs, but the release's product page never mentions that it is the second volume of the tricoro OST. The long versions of the tricoro songs that made it to the beatmania IIDX 21 SPADA ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK caused long versions of some SPADA songs to be delayed due to lack of space (some of them made it to the beatnation RHYZE vs HARDCORE TANO*C album).
  • The final cutscene of the ぼくらの宇宙戦争 event mentioned a final battle against the joker villains to be coming soon, which further suggests that a true final event for tricoro was planned. This final battle only happened almost two years later, in beatmania IIDX 22 PENDUAL's Qpronicle Chord event.

POINT ZERO's overlays

• Placeholder graphics for overlays for POINT ZERO can be found on the tricoro HDD. As the dummy images used as placeholders only show numbers, it is currently unknown if POINT ZERO's jacket was based on the scrapped overlays for the song.

灼熱Lost Summer Dayz / DJ Mass MAD Izm* vs DJ YOSHITAKA

• The original sequel to 灼熱Beach Side Bunny, titled 灼熱Lost Summer Dayz and made by both DJ Mass MAD Izm* and DJ YOSHITAKA at the time, was supposed to come out in Summer 2013 according to DJ Mass MAD Izm* himself, however nothing came out of it; it was likely the initial final boss of the クプロ・ミミニャミ・パステルくんのみんなで宇宙戦争!! event. This was supported by data of a collaboration song between both artists found on pop'n music Sunny Park, with said song's ID being replaced by Zirkfied afterwards. A reworked sequel of 灼熱Beach Side Bunny involving only DJ Mass MAD Izm*, titled 灼熱Pt.2 Long Train Running, would then appear two years later on beatmania IIDX 23 copula.

beatmania IIDX 21 SPADA

beatmania IIDX 21 SPADA is well known for its unfinished status. Event content being cut or not added altogether due to DJ YOSHITAKA becoming the producer midway throughout the game's life cycle and pushing for another IIDX title, and PASELI features, might have ruined plans due to the modified EXTRA STAGE restrictions.

Qprogue

Qprogue had a convoluted development, originally just having seven original songs and two CS crossovers (お願いアインシュタイン, Pharaoh, ra'am, Hypersonik, refractive index, RIZING YOU UP, Unicorn tail, with 煉獄のエルフェリア as the last boss), just like beatmania IIDX 20 tricoro's main event format.

After the second phase, Qprogue was supposed to get a third and final one themed after the fire island seen at the end of Qprogue DX. Map data of said phase was made but was eventually purged (including all its references) once Qprogue DX was added; Qprogue DX is referenced as "phase 4" in the data, proving that a "phase 3" was skipped.

It was supposed to house, aside some CS crossovers, at least into the battlefield and M.D.Injection, explaining why they were the only Qprogue DX songs aside 煉獄のエルフェリア to have overlays. It was also going to have Broken Sword as a sub-boss prior to 煉獄のエルフェリア. Placeholder images for the Broken Sword mini-boss battle in the fire island was left in the data (with the boss itself implied to be Tuonetar given the location and following the Last Dance story).

The third phase eventually did not happen and both it and a whole second unlock event were replaced by Qprogue DX as a last-ditch effort to quit development on SPADA and move to PENDUAL. Most of the songs and CS unlocks of Qprogue DX were likely part of this cut second event. PENDUAL's Q-Pro data referenced an "Elferia" army and an "Imperial" army which might have been the focus of the second event. 煉獄のエルフェリア could not have been the real final SPADA boss song as there wasn't a L.E.D. one yet (the only IIDX style without a L.E.D. exclusive unlock since L.E.D. himself started to make them in the series), who at that time was always in charge of final boss songs.

Interestingly, compared to other IIDX events, Qprogue's medal list did not sort songs in the order they were unlocked within the game - it was either random or sorted by when they were added to the data. Even more strangely, SUPER STAR -MITSURU- Perfect Revival medal entries were part of Qprogue's list, which added even more questions to the weird nature of Qprogue's development.

Overall, the only known song that was cut from Qprogue was Broken Sword, which premiered in PENDUAL instead.

Spada†leggendaria

Spada†leggendaria saw an eighth, truly final song being cut. A result banner showing the Spada†leggendaria chamber from above alongside all seven swords (including the usual "Spada†leggendaria - SECRET MUSIC UNLOCKED" text) was left unused in the data. This song is wrongly assumed to be Broken Sword (which was part of Qprogue instead) and there is no info on what it could have been. It is also assumed that the planned artist alias could have been related to the legendary sword Excalibur, which was noticably absent across the entire theming of the game (even though other swords of legend were mentioned).

It was likely going to be a ONE MORE EXTRA STAGE song (while SPADA ended up having none, it still had image text for it) but the newly introduced PASELI features in SPADA probably caused issues, and so the idea was dropped, leaving Verflucht as the final song of the event and last overall exclusive song of the style.

beatmania IIDX 22 PENDUAL

Phase exclusive song system

One of PENDUAL's core features was songs being exclusively playable in only the PRESENT or FUTURE phases. Aside the default exclusive phase songs being part of the Chrono Chaser event's unlock requirements, no other ones were added in the game and there was no development whatsoever on this feature. PENDUAL's sound direction comments mentioned more emphasis on the PRESENT/FUTURE phases by each director.

Chrono Chaser

Chrono Chaser was likely going to have a more regular cycle than what eventually happened in reality, as Say YEEEAHH and Reflux, made available late in June 2015, were instead added in November 2014. Negative reception of Chrono Chaser's extremely vague unlock system was what likely put the event on a long hiatus. After PENDUAL, IIDX went back having secret extra stage events like LIMIT BURST and Spada†leggendaria.

Unfinished overlays

• Despair of ELFERIA's boss overlays data contained unused sprites for a second form; they looked identical to the last form of 煉獄のエルフェリア's boss, except colored differently.
• 共鳴遊戯の華's LIMIT BREAK boss attack sequence was going to feature every joker villain, as images showing their names were found in the overlays data. Strangely, the data also contained an unfinished sketch image of Lopica (共鳴遊戯の華's main boss character).

beatmania IIDX 23 copula

Mystery Line

Even though there were no clear evidences of Mystery Line being unfinished, it was the only IIDX regular event where you couldn't achieve a Platinum Tran Medal since their introduction. It also didn't have any Gold Tran Medals. The event's medal list in the files contained additional, unobtainable medal entries that had the same unlock requirements (unlock three Mystery Line charts) up to nine more songs; the entries felt more like placeholders, as the devteam just added songs to the event until the end.

Compared to any other regular IIDX event in recent styles, Mystery Line also did not have any sort of ending or congratulation message. L.E.D. announced a collaboration song with 黒猫ダンジョン before copula's release, but it never saw the light of the day - Tomosuke's only appearances in copula were crossovers, while L.E.D. did not appear in Mystery Line.

beatmania IIDX 27 HEROIC VERSE

Double BEGINNER

• Text related to Double BEGINNER can be found in the game data. However, this difficulty has never been available in an arcade title, and only a handful of songs have had Double BEGINNER charts in CS titles.

Fire Beat

• Full data for Fire Beat exists inside the game, including charts, keysounds, a generic video assigned to it, and a listing inside the game's music ID database. It is speculated that the song was intended to be added alongside an event challenging players to beat top-ranker DOLCE.'s scores on the song; the event was held using beatmania IIDX ULTIMATE MOBILE instead. The charts found inside HEROIC VERSE are also different than the ones used in ULTIMATE MOBILE, possibly being a pre-release revision.

SHADOW REBELLION.VI and VII

• SHADOW REBELLION is the EXTRA STAGE system of beatmania IIDX 27 HEROIC VERSE. It was originally planned to have eight parts, but it was later modified to have seven instead. After resuming the event in June with STOIC HYPOTHESIS, the next part was originally set to be イリィガル・ベイス・メディスン. This song was mistakenly revealed in the game's official website for a short period of time in July 2020, which was when it was scrapped and replaced instead by the seventh SHADOW REBELLION song, 魅惑のYUMMYスイーツ. The reason for this change is unknown.
  • This is evidenced by the unused results screen for SHADOW REBELLION.VII, which shows the Pastel-kun Q-pro from 魅惑のYUMMYスイーツ in front and the six other SHADOW REBELLION Q-pros behind it, including Shizuku Yamashina (who was the character for イリィガル・ベイス・メディスン).
  • The modification date for the results screen of SHADOW REBELLION.VII is much earlier (July 2020) than those of VI (August 2020) and FINAL (October 2020), implying that the plans were changed around July 2020.
  • Dummied out data for イリィガル・ベイス・メディスン's Shizuku Yamashina Q-pro parts can be found in the game.

DanceDanceRevolution

DanceDanceRevolution

• Files for an unused male dancer are hidden within the game's data.
• Graphics for Dancemania BASS#1 and Dancemania SPEED albums can be found in the game's data, suggesting they were to be displayed alongside the other images of Dancemania albums in the advertisement section for i-dance compilations in the attract sequence.
• An unused graphic that displays the text "MUSIC FROM" would've presumably used above the CD titles that appears on the game's song selection screen.

DanceDanceRevolution 2ndMIX

• Unused graphics for PUT YOUR FAITH IN ME and KEEP ON MOVIN' alongside unused CD images for EL RITMO TROPICAL, stomp to my beat, and PARANOiA MAX～DIRTY MIX～ appear in the game's data.
  • The same unused graphics for PUT YOUR FAITH IN ME is also found in the data of DanceDanceRevolution Best of Cool Dancers.
  • A background animation from the first DanceDanceRevolution game can be found alongside BRILLIANT 2U's early graphics in the data.
• Placeholder graphics for the ROULETTE option and for the STEP BATTLE songs can also be found within the game's data.

DanceDanceRevolution 2ndMIX with beatmania IIDX CLUB VERSiON

• Unused graphics for BRILLIANT 2U, EL RITMO TROPICAL, and stomp to my beat are present within the game's files.
  • The same unused banners for BRILLIANT 2U and stomp to my beat are also present in the data of DanceDanceRevolution Best of Cool Dancers.

Dancing Stage featuring TRUE KiSS DESTiNATiON

• An unused icon graphic for the Step Up mode can be found in the game's data. This mode would later be added to Dancing Stage featuring DREAMS COME TRUE.

DanceDanceRevolution 3rdMIX Ver.KOREA2

• Every song added in this version has an internal code following the pattern of "korX", where X is an alphanumeric character from 2 to D. 1, 3, 4, and B are skipped over, meaning that at least 4 songs were cut from the game prior to release. It is unknown what any of these songs were.

DanceDanceRevolution 3rdMIX PLUS

• Unused CD titles for the Dancemania SPEED#4 and Dancemania WINTERS2 albums are found in the game's data.
• Early versions of 4thMIX's background animations are present within the game's data.
  • One of the early background animation sprites is used as a basis for MY SUMMER LOVE and ONLY YOU's graphics.
• Full stepchart and graphical data for TOTAL RECALL by ULTIMATE HEIGHTS, a song that had previously appeared in beatmania 5thMIX -Time to get down-, can be found in the game's data.

DanceDanceRevolution Solo 2000

• DanceDanceRevolution Solo 2000 has additional step data for two other, harder difficulties in 3 Panels mode, but they're left unused as that mode only has one difficulty available. Almost all songs those extra two charts, save for NONSTOP G and NONSTOP I (the 3 Panels TRICK and MANIAC charts are the same) and NONSTOP H (all three 3 Panels charts are the same).

DanceDanceRevolution 4thMIX

• Early concept art showed different songwheels, one of them eventually was used in 5thMIX, and another in UNIVERSE.
• Early versions of the game's interface can be found within the game files, along with different character image assets for the character selection screen.

DanceDanceRevolution 4thMIX PLUS

• According to an interview by Aaron Chmielowiec (from the website aaronin.jp) with a former DanceDanceRevolution staff member, DanceDanceRevolution 4thMIX PLUS was going to have its system upgraded to allow for 60 FPS instead of the usual 30 FPS during gameplay. This idea was not implemented until the next release as the developers wanted to have a more stable engine with less bugs.

DanceDanceRevolution 4thMIX CS

• Several graphic files for songs from the Solo series and DanceDanceRevolution 3rdMIX VER.KOREA that never appeared in the final game can be found in the game's data.

DanceDanceRevolution 5thMIX

• According to an interview by Aaron Chmielowiec (from the website aaronin.jp) with a former DanceDanceRevolution staff member, DanceDanceRevolution 5thMIX was going to include SOLO stepcharts, but the idea was cancelled due to negative feedback from players.
• Early versions of the game's interface can be found within the game files, including a brighter interface during gameplay, different loading, style select, and ranking screens, a blue "CLEARED" graphic, and different animations for the characters from the ones seen in the final game, along with larger spacing between the character names.
• CD titles for the Dancemania presents CLUB THE EARTH II, Dancemania SUPER TECHNO and Dancemania WINTERS ROCK GROOVE albums can be found unused in the game's data.

DDRMAX -DanceDanceRevolution 6thMIX-

• Mockup screenshots showed songs from previous mixes, which were cut in the finished product as well as a different song banner for NORI NORI NORI.
• Freeze Arrows had their own judgement, "FreeZe!".
  • The graphic for this judgement can be found in the data of arcade and console games up until DanceDanceRevolution EXTREME2, DanceDanceRevolution STR!KE, and Dancing Stage Max, and even went under through some changes in Dancing Stage EuroMIX2 and DanceDanceRevolution EXTREME.
• A shoshinsha mark graphic that would've been used to indicate songs that have a BASIC chart with a rating of 2 or lower goes unused in the game's data.
  • Like the unused "FreeZe!", this graphic can be found in the data of arcade and console games up until DanceDanceRevolution EXTREME CS (Japan).
• According to an interview by Aaron Chmielowiec (from the website aaronin.jp) with a former DanceDanceRevolution staff member, the screen filter option introduced in DanceDanceRevolution X was going to appear in DDRMAX. However, the graphics team didn't like the idea of the artwork being covered.
• Unused graphics that presumably would've been used to indicate a Long Version song on the songwheel can be found in the game's data, implying that Long Version songs were planned at some point during development.
• An unused GAME OVER/THANK YOU FOR PLAYING screen is hidden within the game's files.

DDRMAX2 -DanceDanceRevolution 7thMIX-

• Several early versions of title tags that would've appeared on the songwheel for 革命, MORE THAN I NEEDED TO KNOW, and Spin the disc appear in the game's data.
• Early versions for TRANCE DE JANEIRO (SAMBA DE JANEIRO 2002 Epic Vocal Remix)'s graphics are found in the game's files. Most notable, these early renditions of the song's graphics removes subtitle of the song.

DanceDanceRevolution EXTREME

• As the first DanceDanceRevolution game to introduce the MARVELOUS timing judgment, it was originally intended to be used in all modes. However, negative feedback towards its usage in location tests resulted in the idea being scaled back. In the final release, MARVELOUS only appears on courses.
  • MARVELOUS timing would finally be added to all modes in DanceDanceRevolution SuperNOVA2.
• Early in EXTREME's development, there were several rounds for fans to vote on a BEMANI crossover to add over to the game. Nominees included Across the nightmare, Cat Song ～Theme of UPA, DJ BATTLE, FLOWERS for ALBION, Morning Music, THE SAFARI, Threshold Lebel, Waza, and WITHOUT YOU AROUND. The winning song was Across the nightmare, and to date none of the other nominees have ever appeared in another DanceDanceRevolution title.

DanceDanceRevolution EXTRA MIX

• Early renditions of the game's menu screens, much closer in appearance to those of the previous home release, can be found in the game's data.
• Unused data of PETIT LOVE is found hidden within the game's data.

DanceDanceRevolution KONAMIX

• The title screen was originally based on DanceDanceRevolution 5thMIX, as seen in a pre-release build.
• In the pre-release build, the music played in the style/character select menus originates from DanceDanceRevolution Solo 2000 instead of DanceDanceRevolution 4thMIX like the final game.

DDRMAX -DanceDanceRevolution-

• The demo featured no foot-scale, just like its arcade counterpart.

DDRMAX2 -DanceDanceRevolution 7thMIX- CS (Japan)

• Full Double charts for Kind Lady (interlude) can be found in the data, suggesting that the new CS songs might have been planned to have full Double charts instead of only CHALLENGE charts like in the final release of the game.

DanceDanceRevolution EXTREME CS (Japan)

• Unused audio previews of A MINUTE (Extended Mix), IT'S RAINING MEN (Almighty Mix), MORE THAN I NEEDED TO KNOW, SENORITA (Speedy Mix), and THERE YOU'LL BE can found within the game's data. Notably, none of these songs have ever appeared on any Japanese console release of DanceDanceRevolution.

DanceDanceRevolution EXTREME CS (America)

• One of the pre-release builds showed a interface resembling the arcade version, as well as featuring dance characters from Party Collection.
  • The E3 2004 build resembles much more of the final release, but still contains a few differences, as the interface in the demo is simpler.
• Assets for the ENCORE EXTRA STAGE exist within the game's files, however, they go unused since there is no such thing in the actual game.
• Sweet Sweet ♥ Magic and CANDY♥ were going to be featured on this game. They made it into the following game instead. Similarly, unused data for LOOK AT US (Daddy DJ Remix) appears in the E3 demo for this game, but made it into EXTREME2 instead.
• Information for both White Lovers and HYPNØTIC CRISIS can be found in the game's data, but are otherwise inaccessible.

DDR FESTIVAL -DanceDanceRevolution-

• BEGINNER charts for many of the ULTRAMIX songs can be found in the game's data, whereas in the final game they don't appear. Some of these would later appear in later titles, however.

DanceDanceRevolution SuperNOVA CS (America)

• Timepiece phase II / 佐々木博史
  • This song, along with ME AGAINST THE MUSIC and Übertreffen, appeared on the DanceDanceRevolution master songlist. However, unlike the other two, it has yet to appear in the DanceDanceRevolution series.

DanceDanceRevolution ULTRAMIX

• ULTRAMIX was initally planned for the PC, and was meant to be a sequel to DanceDanceRevolution (PC). Screenshots of this game resembled more of its predecessor, and featured a new cast of dancers. However, it ended up shifting development to the Xbox, and the overall design was re-worked. This may explain why ULTRAMIX had very few new songs, due to its development.
  • Two of the scrapped characters reappear in ULTRAMIX3's Quest Mode.
• Unlike other DanceDanceRevolution games, ULTRAMIX does not have a HOW TO PLAY section in the game's attract demo. Despite this, unused image assets for said screen can be found in the game's data.
• INSERTiON (Machine Gun Kelly Mix), BALLAD FOR YOU～想いの雨～, HYPNØTIC CRISIS, Kind Lady, THE EARTH LIGHT, サナ・モレッテ・ネ・エンテ, SO IN LOVE, and La Señorita Virtual all have unused sets of charts within the game's files. Most of the unused charts from pre-DDRMAX songs are almost identical to their original charts, with the exception of added Freeze Arrows, suggesting that the ULTRAMIX team may have planned to update said charts.
  • Kind Lady and La Señorita Virtual are the exceptions to the above as Kind Lady's unused charts removes Freeze Arrows instead, marking the missing Freeze Arrows with regular arrows at the end of where each Freeze Arrow would end, implying that these unused charts are test files; while La Señorita Virtual's charts are unchanged with the exception of newly added BPM adjustments.

DanceDanceRevolution ULTRAMIX2

• Early concept art featured a songwheel similar to that of the previous ULTRAMIX.
• Early gameplay videos showed EMI using LADY's body and a more revealing outfit.
  • LADY was originally to use her model from ULTRAMIX as well, according to pre-release screenshots. Several UI elements (like the images of AFRO and LADY) from that game were also used as well, along with a different BG clip playing in the menus.
    • In the final version of the game, the images of both AFRO and LADY that appear on the Single/Double Play selection screen sport their new outfits, but with the facial features of their previous appearance in ULTRAMIX. This suggests their ULTRAMIX appearances were to be used, but the final game redesigned their models.
• Banners for BOOM BOOM DOLLAR (K.O.G G3 MIX) and g.m.d. appeared on the game's website but the songs themselves were not included in the final game.

DanceDanceRevolution ULTRAMIX3

• Drivin' appeared in a screenshot in ULTRAMIX3's website, and later in ULTRAMIX4's manual. However, the song finally appeared in DanceDanceRevolution SuperNOVA, suggesting the Japanese arcade team wanted the song to debut in the arcades first.
• ULTRAMIX2 renders of the dancers were used in some of the menus.
• The free DLC songs 250bpm Jondi&Spesh remix and Love Me Do The Acolyte's remix are listed as Song Pack 25 and 26 respectively. This suggests ULTRAMIX 3 (and its later sequel ULTRAMIX4) were going to each have six packs like the first two ULTRAMIX titles, for a title of 24 packs plus the two free DLC packs. The final release of ULTRAMIX3, however, only has three song packs, and ULTRAMIX4 only has two.

DanceDanceRevolution ULTRAMIX4

• In the E3 demo, the songwheel was very different, resembling more of its predecessor.
  • In both the E3 demo and trailer, the judgement font was directly lifted from its predecessor.
• Listen To Your Heart Furious F. EZ Radio Edit used BROKEN MY HEART Cusimo & Co. Starlite Remix's graphics.

DanceDanceRevolution UNIVERSE

• In the E3 trailer, the judgement fonts were lifted from ULTRAMIX2, much like ULTRAMIX3 (and ULTRAMIX4, to a certain extent) did as well.

DanceDanceRevolution UNIVERSE3

• Senses was originally going to appear in this game until it got replaced by its remix.
• Alice's music video might have been planned to be used in-game as evidenced by its jacket using a still from said video.
• EMI originally was set to appear in the game. However, the final release does not have her as an playable character; her outfit is available for custom dancers instead.

DanceDanceRevolution HOTTEST PARTY

• In a pre-release demo, what was shown originally was very different from the final product. It initally featured AFRO and EMI in the character lineup, and the dancer models were adult-sized unlike in the final version where they were smaller. Routines and graphics were carried over from DanceDanceRevolution MARIO MIX and DanceDanceRevolution SuperNOVA. It was also to feature CHALLENGE difficulty.
  • Lips of an Angel
  • Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)
    • These songs had different vocalists and banners.

DanceDanceRevolution HOTTEST PARTY3

• A Brighter Day originally featured a different jacket that displayed an white outline of an butterfly against an orange background in the E3 demo.
• Nearly all the sound effects were taken from HOTTEST PARTY 2.

DanceDanceRevolution (2010)

• The title screen was different from what was seen in the final product.
• Let's Get Away credited the artist to just NAOKI.
• Several other placeholder elements from HOTTEST PARTY3 appeared as well.
• The gameplay mode header originally stated STANDARD/SINGLE style instead of NORMAL style.
• Several stages from previous HOTTEST PARTY games are found unused in the game's data, suggesting they might have been planned to return in this game.
  • Along with the returning stages, another unused stage featuring geometrical shapes with neon lines was found hidden in the data. This stage did not previously appear on any other HOTTEST PARTY game.

DanceDanceRevolution II

• The game initally used the classic 1-10 scale on its development, and lacked CHALLENGE charts.
• There are some placeholder graphics and sounds from the previous game as well. The title menu is an exact replica of the previous game, for example.
• The difficulty could be selected from the song selection menu, instead of after picking an song and its short or full versions (if it has both available).
• POSSESSION and Sky Is The Limit lacked their videos.
  • In addition, POSSESSION was not labeled as a boss song.

DanceDanceRevolution (PS3)

Changes from E3 2009 version

DanceDanceRevolution (PS3) was announced at E3 2009. What was shown was drastically different from the final game. First, the songlist was based on DanceDanceRevolution HOTTEST PARTY3 while the interface resembled more of DanceDanceRevolution X2, and had dance stages and characters in it. The game also originally featured Octo-Mode as a full-fledged gameplay style (complete with full difficulties for all songs) instead of appearing only on CHALLENGE charts for a few select songs. Furthermore, the game was also to feature custom themes, Edit Mode and DLC from all the mainline arcade games up to this point (along with DanceDanceRevolution S). While the DLC made it into the finished product, the song packs were based on the US PS2 releases instead (and even then, the DLC was incomplete as seen below).

DLC packs

Evidence for several DLC packs that were planned but never released can be found in the game's data, including Greatest Hits packs based on the following DDR CS games:

• DDRMAX -DanceDanceRevolution-
• DanceDanceRevolution EXTREME CS (America)
• DanceDanceRevolution EXTREME2
• DanceDanceRevolution X CS (America)
• DanceDanceRevolution HOTTEST PARTY
• DanceDanceRevolution HOTTEST PARTY2
• DanceDanceRevolution HOTTEST PARTY3 / DanceDanceRevolution X2 CS
• DanceDanceRevolution ULTRAMIX series
• DanceDanceRevolution UNIVERSE series
• DanceDanceRevolution (2010)

DanceDanceRevolution EXTREME2

• In one of the trailers for this game, there was a different interface shown alongside from what was shown in the final game. The interface resembled that of Dancing Stage Fusion. This may imply that Fusion's interface might've been the original interface for this game instead.

DanceDanceRevolution SuperNOVA

• MAX.(period) and Colors Midihead's Sapphire Mix were slated to appear in the game, as evidenced by the master songlist.
  • MAX.(period) would appear later in DanceDanceRevolution (2014) as the ENCORE EXTRA STAGE song of the Replicant D-ignition event.
• Mockup screenshots show songs that never made it into the final game, most of them were from the ULTRAMIX series.
  • The judgement font was lifted from STR!KE as well.

DanceDanceRevolution Disney Channel EDITION

• Data for CUTIE CHASER(MORNING MIX), DYNAMITE RAVE, ON THE JAZZ, Red Room, Brilliant R•E•D, ORION.78 ～civilization mix～, Keep Ya Body Movin', Senses, and Istanbul Café can be found in the game's files, including complete background videos; however, the songs are found nowhere in the final game.

DanceDanceRevolution X2

• In an article, a picture from the game showed a dance stage that never made it in the final game.

DanceDanceRevolution (2013)

• A new mode, called "TAG Play", is added in the location test that replaces VERSUS play. The mode is essentially the same as Versus Play, except that the game rewards the two players that hit arrows on both pads at the same time with "Synchro-Bonus" points. While the player's individual scores are unaffected, these points are tallied to form the "Team Score". Players do not need to select the same difficulties for this to work. This feature is removed in the final release.

DanceDanceRevolution (2014)

• According to the JASRAC database, Surrender (PureFocus remix) was slated to appear in this game, however, it has yet to appear on any arcade release of the DanceDanceRevolution series as of this writing.

DanceDanceRevolution A

• Stepchart and audio data for Twinkle Wonderland could be found in the game's files until all evidence of such was removed in an update at an unknown date.

Dance Maniax

Dance Maniax

• Files found in the game's database reveal early concept art of the game's songwheel interface with the song titles displayed in a circular wheel and different artwork appeared for each of the songs.

GuitarFreaks & DrumMania / GITADORA

GUITARFREAKS

• The background animations of LUCKY? STAFF contain the screenshots of the title and result screens of RIFF & GIG, which was the prototype of GUITARFREAKS. The GUITARFREAKS 6thMIX & drummania 5thMIX website also features a page with a gameplay screenshot of said prototype.
• Based on unused graphics and audio data found in the game, it seems the EXTREME difficulty was going to debut in this game. It was later added to GUITARFREAKS 2ndMIX.

GUITARFREAKS 3rdMIX

• DOUBLE ORBIT / 泉 陸奥彦
  • BGM data for this song can be found in GUITARFREAKS 3rdMIX. While the song never appeared in the GuitarFreaks series, it is playable in both Riff Riff medleys, which contain the song.

GUITARFREAKS 8thMIX & drummania 7thMIX

• 大見解 / Des-ROW‧組
• 林檎と蜂蜜 / 亜熱帯マジ-SKA爆弾 feat. MAKI
  • Graphics for these two pop'n music crossovers can be found in the GUITARFREAKS 8thMIX & drummania 7thMIX data. These songs would later appear in the next release.

GuitarFreaks V8 & DrumMania V8

• Lepton / TIME CAPSULE Lab.
  • Lepton, a song from GuitarFreaksXG2 & DrumManiaXG2, has complete charts for the classic series of GuitarFreaks & DrumMania (it also had these unused charts in GuitarFreaksXG2 & DrumManiaXG2's CLASSIC MODE).

GuitarFreaksXG3 & DrumManiaXG3

• 5-10 / good-cool ft.近藤葵
  • Full chart data for this revival from GuitarFreaks V4 & DrumMania V4 Яock×Rock was found in GuitarFreaksXG3 & DrumManiaXG3, and an updated jacket was added to this data in GITADORA. However, this song would not be playable until GITADORA Tri-Boost Re:EVOLVE, over five years after the initial inclusion of its data.

jubeat

jubeat prop

• KHAMEN BREAK -SDVX Infinity MashUp- / くふおー effected by Megacycle
  • Full data can be found in the jubeat prop files, and its song ID is among the jubeat prop songs. It would go on to appear in jubeat Qubell.

MÚSECA

MÚSECA 1+1/2

• Concertino in Blue / 佐々木博史
  • Its jacket can be found in the data of MÚSECA 1+1/2, highly likely that it was planned to be one of the unlocks of the Premium Friday (プレミアムフライデー) event but never finalized due to the halt of MÚSECA's development.

ParaParaParadise

ParaParaParadise 1st MIX Plus

• Based on early chart files found in the data of ParaParaDancing, it is presumed that Feeling of love -super euro version- was going to use a longer cut, which included the third and fourth verses not present in the final release.

pop'n music

pop'n music

• pop'n music was first unveiled at the AM Show 1998, where it showed some differences compared with the final release of the game:
  • pop-kuns were rectangle-shaped.
  • The red judgment line at the bottom of the screen was absent.
  • UNCLE Jam's name was capitalized as UNCLE JAM.
• The pop'n music character illustration book includes early sketches for the characters of the first game, alongside their respective genres. The genre for UNCLE Jam's song appears as HIP HOP instead of RAP.

pop'n music 6

• pop'n music 2 song what i want (EURO MIX) was originally going to be revived for the Euro Course (ユーロコース), making it into the location test version of the game. The final game however, replaces it with Bit of Love, with what i want (EURO MIX) not being featured in the game at all. This change was reverted in the console version of pop'n music 6, though.

pop'n music 8 CS

• Licensed songs THUNDER BIRDS and みなしごハッチ were planned to be included in this game, as graphical data for their respective rival characters can be found in the data.

pop'n music 9

• the KING was planned to be in the game, dressed up as either a chef or fast food employee. He never made it to the final version of the game.

pop'n music 10 CS

• Atsushi Shindo songs なんか変だ！ and ナーバス ブレークダウン～タイプゼロ～ were planned to be included in this game, as graphical data for both songs can be found in the data. However, they were likely removed due to the expiration of Atsushi Shindo's contract with KONAMI, as well as his accounts of plagiarism getting publicly known by then.

pop'n music 11

Line Times' EX chart

Line Times, a pop'n music 8 CS song, first appeared in arcades in pop'n music 11. However, its EX chart from the console releases was not playable in arcades, despite its data existing in the hard drive for every arcade game since its debut. No official reason for its absence was given by the staff, save for a vague "In the world, there are lots of mysterious things" [1].

Line Times' EX chart would finally appear in pop'n music peace as an unlockable chart.

Planned URA charts

References to 3P palettes for risette, SANAE♥chan, and S・8・TARO can be found on the pop'n music data, named with the same suffix for the 3P palettes used in URA charts. Of these three characters, the latter two have, besides their respective portraits, proper colored sprites as well. Those can be seen in this video.

pop'n music 18 せんごく列伝

EXPERT MODE and planned theme

Much like beatmania IIDX 20 tricoro mentioned above, pop'n music 18 せんごく列伝 was the first pop'n music title with no EXPERT MODE since its introduction. However, graphical data for this mode can be found on the HDD, revealing that the original theme for pop'n music 18 was city/town based, not unlike TUNE STREET. This suggests that EXPERT MODE was dropped early on the game's development.

There is placeholder data for EXPERT MODE courses, which uses THE MOVIE's courses, further suggesting that the mode was dropped before the final theme was decided.

pop'n music Sunny Park

• 
• 

• In the Sunny Park location tests, none of the songs had banners. This was eventually reverted in the final release of the game due to players complaining about being used to find songs for its banners.
• Graphics for 組曲『 』 by →Pia-no-jaC← were present when pop'n music Sunny Park was released, including its banner, background, and a unique portrait for SMOKE. However, its charts and sound data were never available. With the exception of the unique portrait for SMOKE, all references for 組曲『 』 were removed from later builds of the game.

pop'n music うさぎと猫と少年の夢

• According to the second page of this うさぎと猫と少年の夢 article, the game was originally going to have a diner theme, not unlike pop'n music 9's café one, before the staff went with a steampunk layout.
• A placeholder image for a new portrait for SHOKO can be found among the pop'n music うさぎと猫と少年の夢 characters. However, given that there are no placeholders for her new animations in the data, it would likely recycle either her fragments or リメンバーリメンバー animations.

REFLEC BEAT

REFLEC BEAT groovin'!! Upper

• Real / Aya
  • Sound data for this beatmania IIDX song can be found in the game's files. Its internal ID is the same one used for 男々道, indicating it was supposed to appear as part of the 8th Set (PHQUASE's SELECTION) of the BEMANI MUSIC FOCUS unlocking system, but was replaced.

SOUND VOLTEX

SOUND VOLTEX BOOTH

• Graphics for an early gameplay interface can be found in the game's files. What is interesting to notice is a graphic featuring a controller layout that is completely different from the final, with one effect and three volume knobs, one fader and one button on each side, and a turntable on the middle, can also be found.

SOUND VOLTEX III GRAVITY WARS

DJ YOSHITAKA Song Remix Contest

On October 19th, 2016, it was announced that a remix contest involving songs composed by Yoshitaka Nishimura was planned to be held. [2] The event never ended up happening in SOUND VOLTEX IV HEAVENLY HAVEN.

ミライダガッキ FutureTomTom

Planned songs

• Data for several BEMANI crossovers can be found in the game files, but none of these songs were ever added to the final version of ミライダガッキ FutureTomTom Ver.2. Notably, all of these songs have appeared in the DanceDanceRevolution series (except Burning Heat! (Full Option Mix), which has a shorter remix featured in that series instead), with several being added to the series in DanceDanceRevolution (2014). The sound director of the ミライダガッキ FutureTomTom series, Yuichi Asami, would return to becoming the sound director of the DanceDanceRevolution series starting in DanceDanceRevolution (2014) after ミライダガッキ FutureTomTom Ver.2 ended.
  • Baile Le Samba / Big Idea
  • Burning Heat! (Full Option Mix) / Mr.T with Motoaki.F
  • Electronic or Treat! / PON
  • FUNKY SUMMER BEACH / P*Light
  • Gamelan de Couple / TOMOSUKE
  • Plan 8 / Ryu☆
  • POSSESSION / TAG underground
  • rainbow rainbow / Ryu☆
  • Remain / ZERO+ZIBA
  • SABER WING / TAG
  • Seasons / TOMOSUKE feat. Crystal Paloa
  • Starlight Fantasia / TAG
  • Thank You Merry Christmas / VENUS
  • Truare! / Akhuta
  • からふるぱすてる / ki☆ki
  • エンドルフィン / U1 overground
  • 怒れる大きな白い馬 / Morning Blue Dragon
  • 三毛猫ロック / 亜熱帯マジ-SKA爆弾
  • 海神 / 兎々

Albums / Contests / Etc.

cyber beatnation 2 -Hi Speed conclusion-

• beatmania IIDX 20 tricoro song Re:GENERATION was originally written for the album, but didn't appear because it wasn't 180 BPM, nor a remix of a previous BEMANI song.

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