2002 (year): Difference between revisions

Jump to navigation Jump to search
No edit summary
No edit summary
Line 11: Line 11:
The second big thing was the launch of [[e-amusement|e-AMUSEMENT]] for their arcade BEMANI titles. First launched in November 2002 with [[AC GF8DM7 power-up|GUITARFREAKS 8thMIX & drummania 7thMIX power-up ver.]], e-AMUSEMENT is an online service provided by KONAMI to access exclusive content you otherwise wouldn't be able to with just regular coin-based gameplay. Among the benefits of e-AMUSEMENT include the ability to save your scores and records for BEMANI games, view live Internet rankings, and be able to unlock content from events held in BEMANI games. While only GUITARFREAKS 8thMIX & drummania 7thMIX and [[AC pnm 9|pop'n music 9]] supported e-AMUSEMENT in BEMANI titles released in 2002, by the following year every then active arcade BEMANI series supported e-AMUSEMENT, which is still used to this very day.
The second big thing was the launch of [[e-amusement|e-AMUSEMENT]] for their arcade BEMANI titles. First launched in November 2002 with [[AC GF8DM7 power-up|GUITARFREAKS 8thMIX & drummania 7thMIX power-up ver.]], e-AMUSEMENT is an online service provided by KONAMI to access exclusive content you otherwise wouldn't be able to with just regular coin-based gameplay. Among the benefits of e-AMUSEMENT include the ability to save your scores and records for BEMANI games, view live Internet rankings, and be able to unlock content from events held in BEMANI games. While only GUITARFREAKS 8thMIX & drummania 7thMIX and [[AC pnm 9|pop'n music 9]] supported e-AMUSEMENT in BEMANI titles released in 2002, by the following year every then active arcade BEMANI series supported e-AMUSEMENT, which is still used to this very day.


beatmania entered its final year, as it released its two final games: [[AC bm 7th|beatmania 7thMIX -keepin' evolution-]] and [[AC bm THE FINAL|beatmania THE FINAL]]. 7thMIX introduced the short-lived 1-turn Scratches, which required you to turn the tuntable exactly once by the time the note ended to get the best score possible. THE FINAL featured the series' biggest number of songs in the series with 192 songs, with songs from every non-licensed game. While memory limitations meant some games' songlists were very incomplete, as well as videos being reduced to just little square boxes, all older songs received brand-new charts to replace any duplicate charts left over, and new songs featured the hardest charts the series had ever seen, with Double ANOTHER charts like [[IMPLANTATION]] and [[Quickening]]'s just as hard as any beatmania IIDX charts at the time. [[CS bm 6th + CORE REMIX|beatmania 6thMIX + CORE REMIX]] was also released on the Sony PlayStation, combining the new songs from both [[AC bm CORE REMIX|beatmania CORE REMIX]] and [[AC bm 6th|beatmania 6thMIX -THE UK UNDERGROUND MUSIC-]] together. It would be the last CS release, unfortunately, as neither 7thMIX or THE FINAL ever got home ports. (Though quite a few of 7th and THE FINAL's originals ended up in pop'n music via [[ee'MALL]] the following year.)
beatmania entered its final year, as it released its two final games: [[AC bm 7th|beatmania 7thMIX -keepin' evolution-]] and [[AC bm THE FINAL|beatmania THE FINAL]]. 7thMIX introduced the short-lived 1-turn Scratches, which required you to turn the tuntable exactly once by the time the note ended to get the best score possible. THE FINAL featured the series' biggest number of songs in the series with 192 songs, with songs from every non-licensed game. While memory limitations meant some games' song lists were very incomplete, as well as videos being reduced to just little square boxes, all older songs received brand-new charts to replace any duplicate charts left over, and new songs featured the hardest charts the series had ever seen, with Double ANOTHER charts like [[IMPLANTATION]] and [[Quickening]]'s just as hard as any beatmania IIDX charts at the time. [[CS bm 6th + CORE REMIX|beatmania 6thMIX + CORE REMIX]] was also released on the Sony PlayStation, combining the new songs from both [[AC bm CORE REMIX|beatmania CORE REMIX]] and [[AC bm 6th|beatmania 6thMIX -THE UK UNDERGROUND MUSIC-]] together. It would be the last CS release, unfortunately, as neither 7thMIX or THE FINAL ever got home ports. (Though quite a few of 7th and THE FINAL's originals ended up in pop'n music via [[ee'MALL]] the following year.)


DanceDanceRevolution saw the release of [[AC DDRMAX2|DDRMAX2 -DanceDanceRevolution 7thMIX-]], which introduced a whole new difficulty level; CHALLENGE. And with the new difficulty level came a new mode called CHALLENGE MODE, where you played courses made up of songs with one noticeable catch; you had a battery displayed instead of the traditional dance meter. Each time you got anything other than GREAT or PERFECT, you lost a part of the battery. Four misses results in an instant GAME OVER, though it will recharge after each song depending on your performance. KONAMI revived some older KONAMI originals as well, though memory limitations left the videos very pixelated. The end of the year saw [[AC DDR EXTREME|DanceDanceRevolution EXTREME]]. Intended to be a relaunch of the series (its arcade tagline was "We're starting over"), it ended up being the last arcade release in Japan for over three years. EXTREME revived near every KONAMI original from the series that had been earlier removed, along with 13 classic Dancemania tracks, as well as a then record 69 new songs to the series, with BEMANI crossovers ranging from the original beatmania to as recent as last year's [[AC MAGG|MAMBO A GO GO]]. Despite lower sound quality and very grainy video, the game became a huge hit, and is considered one of the greatest DanceDanceRevolution releases. Only one new CS DanceDanceRevolution game came out in Japan in 2002; [[CS DDRMAX JP|DDRMAX -DanceDanceRevolution 6thMIX- CS]], a direct port of DDRMAX with two new songs. However, it did mark the first game in the series to be released on the PlayStation 2, and was the first game to introduce the '''V-RARE SOUND TRACK''' album concept explained above.
DanceDanceRevolution saw the release of [[AC DDRMAX2|DDRMAX2 -DanceDanceRevolution 7thMIX-]], which introduced a whole new difficulty level; CHALLENGE. And with the new difficulty level came a new mode called CHALLENGE MODE, where you played courses made up of songs with one noticeable catch; you had a battery displayed instead of the traditional dance meter. Each time you got anything other than GREAT or PERFECT, you lost a part of the battery. Four misses results in an instant GAME OVER, though it will recharge after each song depending on your performance. KONAMI revived some older KONAMI originals as well, though memory limitations left the videos very pixelated. The end of the year saw [[AC DDR EXTREME|DanceDanceRevolution EXTREME]]. Intended to be a relaunch of the series (its arcade tagline was "We're starting over"), it ended up being the last arcade release in Japan for over three years. EXTREME revived near every KONAMI original from the series that had been earlier removed, along with 13 classic Dancemania tracks, as well as a then record 69 new songs to the series, with BEMANI crossovers ranging from the original beatmania to as recent as last year's [[AC MAGG|MAMBO A GO GO]]. Despite lower sound quality and very grainy video, the game became a huge hit, and is considered one of the greatest DanceDanceRevolution releases. Only one new CS DanceDanceRevolution game came out in Japan in 2002; [[CS DDRMAX JP|DDRMAX -DanceDanceRevolution 6thMIX- CS]], a direct port of DDRMAX with two new songs. However, it did mark the first game in the series to be released on the PlayStation 2, and was the first game to introduce the '''V-RARE SOUND TRACK''' album concept explained above.
Line 21: Line 21:
pop'n music saw two new arcade releases and two new home games this year. [[AC pnm 8|pop'n music 8]], much like beatmania THE FINAL and DanceDanceRevolution EXTREME, saw a lot of BEMANI crossovers come its way, possibly as a late hurrah for the aging BEMANI FIREBEAT HARDWARE, being the last game in the series to run on it. [[AC pnm 9|pop'n music 9]], released near the end of the year, was the first to run on the PlayStation 2-based BEMANI Python 1 hardware, and also the first to support e-AMUSEMENT for saving scores. As if that wasn't enough, KONAMI revived nearly ''every'' song from the past eight arcade games back, many of them which received brand-new charts. Most licensed characters could also be finally played as as well, after years of being restricted to only being rivals.
pop'n music saw two new arcade releases and two new home games this year. [[AC pnm 8|pop'n music 8]], much like beatmania THE FINAL and DanceDanceRevolution EXTREME, saw a lot of BEMANI crossovers come its way, possibly as a late hurrah for the aging BEMANI FIREBEAT HARDWARE, being the last game in the series to run on it. [[AC pnm 9|pop'n music 9]], released near the end of the year, was the first to run on the PlayStation 2-based BEMANI Python 1 hardware, and also the first to support e-AMUSEMENT for saving scores. As if that wasn't enough, KONAMI revived nearly ''every'' song from the past eight arcade games back, many of them which received brand-new charts. Most licensed characters could also be finally played as as well, after years of being restricted to only being rivals.


The first of the two new home releases was [[CS pnm 6|pop'n music 6 CS]], the last Japanese game on the original PlayStation. It had the biggest songlist in PlayStation BEMANI history with 104 songs and included all the new originals from [[AC pnm 6|pop'n music 6]], and most of the course songs. Near the entire [[AC pns|pop'n stage]] songlist was included for play as well as a bonus. But this came with some sacrifices: all but two licenses were gone, BATTLE MODE and [[RGB]] MODE were removed, and course songs only had the chart in that course and no others. Despite this, the game ran at a smooth 60 FPS and boasted an impressive high number of new songs as well. It also introduced [[Kanashiine|悲しいね]], at the time considered the hardest song ever in a CS pop'n music title, going at a frantic 200 BPM and putting in 820 notes into a song barely over 90 seconds long. The second game released this year, [[CS pnm 7|pop'n music 7 CS]], saw the series switch over to the PlayStation 2. Space restrictions were a thing of the past: BATTLE MODE made its CS debut, course songs now had their full charts and were playable in arcade mode as well, and the loading times got overall shorter. 7 CS sold well and was even re-released as part of KONAMI's KONAMI the BEST line several years later at less than half its price.
The first of the two new home releases was [[CS pnm 6|pop'n music 6 CS]], the last Japanese game on the original PlayStation. It had the biggest song list in PlayStation BEMANI history with 104 songs and included all the new originals from [[AC pnm 6|pop'n music 6]], and most of the course songs. Near the entire [[AC pns|pop'n stage]] song list was included for play as well as a bonus. But this came with some sacrifices: all but two licenses were gone, BATTLE MODE and [[RGB]] MODE were removed, and course songs only had the chart in that course and no others. Despite this, the game ran at a smooth 60 FPS and boasted an impressive high number of new songs as well. It also introduced [[Kanashiine|悲しいね]], at the time considered the hardest song ever in a CS pop'n music title, going at a frantic 200 BPM and putting in 820 notes into a song barely over 90 seconds long. The second game released this year, [[CS pnm 7|pop'n music 7 CS]], saw the series switch over to the PlayStation 2. Space restrictions were a thing of the past: BATTLE MODE made its CS debut, course songs now had their full charts and were playable in arcade mode as well, and the loading times got overall shorter. 7 CS sold well and was even re-released as part of KONAMI's KONAMI the BEST line several years later at less than half its price.


GUITARFREAKS & drummania still struggled with the space restrictions with the PlayStation-based KONAMI BEMANI SYSTEM 573 DIGITAL hardware. [[AC GF7DM6|GUITARFREAKS 7thMIX & drummania 6thMIX]] only had 98 songs versus the [[AC GF6DM5|previous game]]'s 138, though the new songlist spawned quite a few popular BEMANI crossovers choices for the future, including [[Concertino in Blue]], considered one of the better songs from the classic era of the franchise and was even popular enough to be transplanted into beatmania IIDX, DanceDanceRevolution, jubeat, and pop'n music many years later. [[AC GF8DM7|GUITARFREAKS 8thMIX & drummania 7thMIX]] was the first game to revive older songs, and months later came an upgrade in [[AC GF8DM7 power-up|power-up ver.]], which added six new songs and saw re-ratings for near every chart in the game.
GUITARFREAKS & drummania still struggled with the space restrictions with the PlayStation-based KONAMI BEMANI SYSTEM 573 DIGITAL hardware. [[AC GF7DM6|GUITARFREAKS 7thMIX & drummania 6thMIX]] only had 98 songs versus the [[AC GF6DM5|previous game]]'s 138, though the new song list spawned quite a few popular BEMANI crossovers choices for the future, including [[Concertino in Blue]], considered one of the better songs from the classic era of the franchise and was even popular enough to be transplanted into beatmania IIDX, DanceDanceRevolution, jubeat, and pop'n music many years later. [[AC GF8DM7|GUITARFREAKS 8thMIX & drummania 7thMIX]] was the first game to revive older songs, and months later came an upgrade in [[AC GF8DM7 power-up|power-up ver.]], which added six new songs and saw re-ratings for near every chart in the game.


beatmania IIDX saw two new arcade releases in 2002 as well. [[AC 7th style|beatmania IIDX 7th style]] came out this year, introducing the new EXTRA STAGE and ONE MORE EXTRA STAGE model for exclusive songs rewarded to those who managed to complete the requirements for them. [[AC 8th style|beatmania IIDX 8th style]] was noticeable in that it was the first game in the series to be released after beatmania's end, released two months after THE FINAL. Many beatmania regulars at the time migrated over to beatmania IIDX; sound director [[Takehiko Fujii|SLAKE]] even joined the beatmania IIDX staff as a member of the following two arcade games. Unfortunately, similar to GUITARFREAKS & drummania, beatmania IIDX found itself struggling with the limitations of the Twinkle arcade hardware. New songs in 8th style didn't even have overlays, and a lot of originals in both 8th and the preceding 7th were removed due to space. KONAMI seemed to be aware of this, though, as the following year saw a big change in store for the series, one that would turn it into the future cornerstone of BEMANI altogether.
beatmania IIDX saw two new arcade releases in 2002 as well. [[AC 7th style|beatmania IIDX 7th style]] came out this year, introducing the new EXTRA STAGE and ONE MORE EXTRA STAGE model for exclusive songs rewarded to those who managed to complete the requirements for them. [[AC 8th style|beatmania IIDX 8th style]] was noticeable in that it was the first game in the series to be released after beatmania's end, released two months after THE FINAL. Many beatmania regulars at the time migrated over to beatmania IIDX; sound director [[Takehiko Fujii|SLAKE]] even joined the beatmania IIDX staff as a member of the following two arcade games. Unfortunately, similar to GUITARFREAKS & drummania, beatmania IIDX found itself struggling with the limitations of the Twinkle arcade hardware. New songs in 8th style didn't even have overlays, and a lot of originals in both 8th and the preceding 7th were removed due to space. KONAMI seemed to be aware of this, though, as the following year saw a big change in store for the series, one that would turn it into the future cornerstone of BEMANI altogether.
Retrieved from "https://remywiki.com/2002_(year)"