2003: Difference between revisions

 

[[2002]] saw the end of beatmania, and the hibernation of the arcade DanceDanceRevolution series for three more years in Japan. For the second year in a row, KONAMI introduced no new BEMANI series. In fact, in the entirety of 2003, only ''six'' arcade titles came out: two GUITARFREAKS / drummania titles, one new beatmania IIDX game, and a new pop'n music arcade title. And with the exceptions of [[PnM CS Best Hits!|pop'n music Best Hits!]] [[PnM_CS_8|pop'n music 8 CS]], ''all'' CS BEMANI titles in 2003 were exclusively DanceDanceRevolution related.

beatmania IIDX finally got an upgrade to PC hardware with [[AC 9th style|beatmania IIDX 9th style]], resulting in higher resolution graphics, no more blanked out videos during gameplay, and a '''lot''' of new songs and revivals: 60 new songs and 28 revivals. Unfortunately, it came with a price; the PC hardware was not very reliable. Many machines crashed when attempting to run ONE MORE EXTRA STAGE song [[quasar]], and [[General Relativity]] had a glitch when it would used the timing windows of the previous song, resulting in no timing windows at all and causing the player to fail. Unfortunately KONAMI never patched 9th style during its run, but thankfully [[AC 10th style|the following game]] fixed all these problems.

GUITARFREAKS and drummania had the biggest amount of exposure this year of the arcade BEMANI scene with [[AC_GF9DM8|GUITARFREAKS 9thMIX & drummania 8thMIX]]

and [[AC_GF10DM9|GUITARFREAKS 10thMIX & drummania 9thMIX]]. Song revivals finally became a thing, though the game still struggled with space limitations. In the latter game's case, revivals were exclusive to those who had [[eAMUSEMENT|e-AMUSEMENT]] access, leaving coin players unable to play the songs for a couple of years. e-AMUSEMENT was also needed to access [[ee'MALL]] as well, which will be explained more below.

pop'n music only had one new arcade game and one new CS game in 2003. [[PnM_AC_10|pop'n music 10]] was the series's sole new arcade release that year, but it carried with it a lot of extras and surprises. With 64 new songs added to the main arcade series, 10's songlist consisted of KONAMI originals, new CS songs, and several crossovers from the [[PnM_AC_Animelo|ANI]][[PnM_AC_Animelo_2|MELO]] series. But what really set 10 apart from previous entries was the "Pray to the stars" event, where fans could leave feedback for speed mods, new charts for old songs, and even suggestions for songs and collaborations between BEMANI artists. [[PnM_CS_8|pop'n music 8 CS]] was a straightforward port of the [[PnM_AC_8|arcade game]] with lots of new CS songs, but two of its licenses were missing. pop'n music Best Hits! contained songs from the first six arcade/CS games, plus three new remixes, two new original songs, and a few missing licenses from [[PnM_AC_6|pop'n music 6]]. With its small songlist of only 54 songs, it went under the radar of most pop;n music fans, and was the only game on PlayStation 2 prior to [[PnM_CS_11|pop'n music 11 CS]] that was never re-released.

Ironically, the BEMANI game that got the most exposure in 2003 was the one that ''wasn't'' in the arcades - DanceDanceRevolution. KONAMI released a total of 9 new DanceDanceRevolution titles worldwide that year. Japan itself received four games. The first was [[CS DDR Aerobics Revolution|エアロビクスレボリューション]], a fitness software-oriented game that used the DDR mat and features a "DDR mode", with ~3 minute long songs. Japan also received home ports [[CS DDRMAX2 JP|DDRMAX2 -DanceDanceRevolution 7thMIX- CS]] and [[CS DDR EXTREME JP|DanceDanceRevolution EXTREME CS (Japan)]], the latter holding a then record 111 songs, the most of ''any'' CS BEMANI game. Round off the year was [[CS DDR Party Collection|DanceDanceRevolution Party Collection]], a best hits game containing Dancemania licenses and KONAMI originals from [[AC DDR 1st|the first arcade game]] to [[AC DDR EXTREME|EXTREME]], along with five brand-new songs.

North America received [[CS DDRMAX2 US|DDRMAX2 -DanceDanceRevolution-]] on the PlayStation 2. While it shared a few songs and the interface from [[AC DDRMAX2|the arcade DDRMAX2]], it contained many new songs and licenses, and a few returning classic Dancemania tracks. It also marked the first DanceDanceRevolution game in ''any'' region to feature the original music videos for licenses, which eliminated any on-screen dancers. DDRMAX2 also marked the return of playable dancers in the PlayStation 2 DanceDanceRevolution series (though they need to be unlocked first through play).

The Xbox also received its own DanceDanceRevolution title that year - [[CS DDR ULTRAMIX|DanceDanceRevolution ULTRAMIX]]. It also marked with its several DDR firsts. It was the first DanceDanceRevolution game ''not'' made in Japan (it was made by KONAMI's Hawaii division), the first DDR game to support widescreen ration, the first to go 480p, the first to have DLC song packs (and thus the first game in the series to go online), and lastly the first to allow free playing of songs without setting options. While it only contained 51 songs (4 new licenses, 4 new CS songs, and 7 new BEMANI crossovers), it also contained a few exclusives to the North American DDR series, such as the original [[AFTER THE GAME OF LOVE]] and [[HYPNOTIC CRISIS|HYPNΦTIC CRISIS]], neither of which have ever appeared in a North America PS2 DDR title.

Europe also received two of its own PlayStation 2 DDR titles, again under the Dancing Stage name. Unfortunately, both games together don't equal the 69 found in the U.S. DDRMAX2 game. [[CS DS MegaMiX|Dancing Stage MegaMiX]] and [[CS DS Fever|Dancing Stage Fever]] contain only 26 and 29 songs each, are missing the Groove Radar, and the former's licenses only go to a maximum difficulty of 4 unless playing on Double. (The PlayStation port of the latter only contains 16 songs.)

And lastly, 2003 introduced to both pop'n music and later GUITARFREAKS / drummania [[ee'MALL]], an arcade machine which consists of various little mini-games to play with your [[eAMUSEMENT|e-AMUSEMENT]] card. The big incentive to play the game was that it allowed one to unlock new songs and BEMANI crossovers for [[PnM_AC_9|pop'n music 9]]. A sequel later that year, [[ee'MALL 2nd avenue]], allowed one to unlock songs in both [[PnM_AC_10|10]] and [[AC_GF10DM9|GUITARFREAKS 10thMIX & drummania 9thMIX]]. ee'MALL continued until 2006, when KONAMI ended the service.

 

* January 22nd: [[THE Q-Mex Collection ~pop'n music & KEYBOARDMANIA~ "AROUND THE WORLD"|THE Q-Mex Collection 〜pop'n music & KEYBOARDMANIA〜 『AROUND THE WORLD』]] album released.

* February 27th: [[PnM CS Best Hits!|pop'n music Best Hits!]] is released in Japan for the PlayStation 2.

* March 19th: ''GUITARFREAKS & drummania BEST TRACKS'' album released. Exclusive to this release are the new KONAMI originals from [[AC_GF8DM7|GUITARFREAKS 8thMIX & drummania 7thMIX power-up version]].

 

* April 2nd: [[AC_GF9DM8|GUITARFREAKS 9thMIX & drummania 8thMIX]] is released to Japanese arcades.

 

* July 3rd: [[PnM CS 8|pop'n music 8 CS]] is released in Japan for the PlayStation 2. It is the first Japanese KONAMI game to feature the current KONAMI logo.

 

* August 6th: [[PnM_AC_10|pop'n music 10]] is released to Japanese arcades.

* August 20th: [[SASEBO BROTHERS "1st BEST" ~pop'n music Artist Collection~]] album released.

 

* September 18th: ''beatmania IIDX 9th style Original Soundtrack'' album released. It is the final album released under Konami Music Entertainment, Inc.

* September 18th: [[Sana-mode II ~pop'n music & beatmania moments~]] album released.

* September 23rd: [[CS DDRMAX2 US|DDRMAX2 -DanceDanceRevolution-]] is released in North America for the Sony PlayStation 2.

* September 27th: KONAMI announces consideration of a home port of [[AC 7th style|beatmania IIDX 7th style]] if 10,000 questionnaires are filled out. They were on October 22nd.

 

* October 8th: [[AC_GF10DM9|GUITARFREAKS 10thMIX & drummania 9thMIX]] is released to Japanese arcades.

* October 24th: [[CS DS Fever|Dancing Stage Fever]] is released in Europe for both the Sony PlayStation and the Sony PlayStation 2.