Vanquish The Ghost

Vanquish The Ghost

Song Information

Vanquish The Ghost's jacket.

Artist: BEMANI Sound Team "TAG"
Composition/Arrangement: Konami Amusement (TAG)
BPM: 77-311
Length: 1:42
First Music Game Appearance: DanceDanceRevolution A
Other Music Game Appearances: None.

Lyrics

None.

Song Connections / Remixes

None.

Trivia

• Vanquish The Ghost is DanceDanceRevolution A's EXTRA EXCLUSIVE LEVEL 14 song. It was added on August 16th, 2018, and can only be played on EXTRA STAGE LEVEL 2.
  • As of DanceDanceRevolution A20, it is available by default.
  • It is the final EXTRA EXCLUSIVE song added to DanceDanceRevolution A.
• Prior to DanceDanceRevolution WORLD, Vanquish The Ghost reuses BOOM WHITE, HAPPY☆LUCKY☆YEAPPY's background dance stage.
• Vanquish The Ghost's difficulty level change from DanceDanceRevolution A20 was applied to DanceDanceRevolution A on March 27th, 2019.
• Despite having a displayed BPM of 78-155, Vanquish The Ghost actually hits 310 BPM as its highest, during the stops.
• Song comments for Vanquish The Ghost were posted on TAG's blog.
  • According to TAG, Vanquish The Ghost is named after Vanquish Jr. (バンキッシュJr.) and Big Bang Ghost (ビッグ・バン・ゴースト), which are two models of Mini 4WD cars.
• Vanquish The Ghost is available in DanceDanceRevolution GRAND PRIX from March 13th, 2024, by purchasing the BEMANI SELECTION music pack vol.1 (BEMANI SELECTION楽曲パック vol.1).
• Prior to DanceDanceRevolution WORLD, Vanquish The Ghost's BPM is displayed in the song selection screen as 78-155.

Song Production Information

TAG

The theme is "EDM".
The sound concept of DanceDanceRevolution A, which includes this song, was certainly EDM, so it follows that concept.
DDR A was my personal favorite title, and I really enjoyed the variety of EDM songs included, which the composers interpreted in their own unique way.

Well, I had never made an EDM song before, so I started by doing some research. I listened to everything from world-famous EDM songs to so-called game-like EDM songs included in IIDX and DDR, and then I realized something.

EDM is the same thing repeated over and over again...!

This is obvious when you consider what EDM is originally intended for, since it was originally intended to be danced to in clubs and festivals. Therefore, the rhythm is constant, the same phrases are repeated, and it's easy to figure what is next. If the music suddenly takes an unexpected turn, the people dancing will be confused. You have to consider this to avoid such a situation.

However, this was difficult for me. Perhaps it's an occupational disease, but if there's a continuous progression, this disease will kill me. You might call it constant-phobia. Music game songs require a different progression every 8 measures (or at least, I personally think so). So I can't stand the same progression going from beginning to end.

I wondered what to do, but my predecessors always had the answer.
The EDM music on the market seems to be the same thing over and over again, but the tone and rhythm subtly change to keep the music interesting. If you listen carefully, you will never hear the exact same progression twice. This is the skill of a craftsman.
Since I don't have this level of technique, I compensated for it by using gimmicky elements like those found in music games.

This song is my own interpretation of EDM. I tried to repeat the same chord progression and melody as much as possible, but I was aware that it had to work in a game.

I almost put a completely different melody on the chorus because I couldn't stand the same progression, but I decided to stay with it because I knew it wouldn't be EDM at all. It sounds cool when I write it like that, but I just couldn't get into it at all because that melody completely ignored the song flow.

If you think about it, POSSESSION was also a repetition of the same phrases except for the intro. Maybe there's no such thing as a disease that would kill me if there was a continuous progression.

The name of the song came from the Mini 4WDs that I was crazy about at the time. There was a third Mini 4WD boom in the world, and I was attending the Japan Cup, so it was named after both "Vanquish Jr." and "Big Bang Ghost", which are considered famous cars among many other machines.

Difficulty & Notecounts

DanceDanceRevolution difficulty rated from 1 to 20 from X onwards. (Ratings and notecounts obtained from BEMANIWiki 2nd.)

Game	Single					Double
	Beginner	Basic	Difficult	Expert	Challenge	Basic	Difficult	Expert	Challenge
Notecounts / Freeze Arrows / Shock Arrows	108 / 6	246 / 24	360 / 32	525 / 25	- / - / -	243 / 21	360 / 17	516 / 18	- / - / -
DanceDanceRevolution A (original ratings)	3	8	12	15	-	8	12	15	-
DanceDanceRevolution A→Present	3	8	12	↑16	-	8	12	15	-
DanceDanceRevolution GRAND PRIX	3	8	12	16	-	8	12	15	-