Talk:AC bm 5th

Combo counter

Here's what I can gather about the combo counter:

• There are a number of videos of people playing the arcade game where it does not count combo.
• There are also a number of videos of people running 5th in MAME where it does count combo.
  • This leads me to believe that there might be a DIP switch that controls the combo counter?
• The PS1 port does not count combo.

I can't figure out what to make of this. --FSX (talk) 15:59, 16 March 2017 (UTC)

Findings

Hi! It appears that your last user contribution was in 2019, so I'm not sure whether you're still an active user on RemyWiki. Regardless, if you read this, here are my findings:

• I could not find any videos hosted on YouTube that show a combo counter while someone is playing the arcade version of beatmania 5thMIX.
  • Are you sure that the videos you saw that had a combo counter were indeed for 5thMIX? Are you sure that they weren't for completeMIX 2, which has an almost identical interface but does have the combo counter?
    • If you are positive that it was indeed 5thMIX, can you provide a link to a video that definitively shows it to be 5thMIX and not completeMIX 2?
  • Update: I did another search for videos (using beatmania 5thmix basic as the search string), and I went way further down in the results this time. I managed to find videos that show a combo counter in both AC and CS:
    • AC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IGzc_uLL78
    • CS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ-beCSYVic
• According to the page on Kani's beatmania website that lists the DIP switch settings for the arcade games, there is no setting related to combo in any of the games.
• There does not appear to be any undumped, undocumented, or unreleased version of 5thMIX that contains a combo counter, nor DIP switch setting for it.
• You are correct in that the PS1 port does not count combo.
  • Update: The PS1 port does count combo, but not in all modes. See the description below for more details.

I hope these findings help resolve your confusion. --Calpisco (talk) 00:32, 27 September 2021 (UTC)

Follow-Up Research and New Findings

Hi to anyone who reads this. I am here today with minor embarrassment, but more importantly with new, accurate information about 5thMIX.

The following information applies to both the AC and CS versions of 5thMIX:

• BASIC mode has a combo counter during gameplay, and shows your max combo on the song results screen.
• HARD mode and EXPERT mode both do not have a combo counter during gameplay, nor do they show anything related to combo on the song results screen.
• EXPERT mode has the PGREAT judgment (i.e. "Flashing GREATs") during gameplay and counts the total on the results screen, and is the only mode to do so.
  • Here is a YouTube video that shows the PGREAT judgment in an EXPERT course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puLGQDSxjpw

The following information applies to only the AC version of 5thMIX:

• After personally checking the available DIP switch settings in MAME, as well as the DIP SWITCH TEST screen in the game's test menu, I saw no switches or settings related to combo.
  • I did this for revision JA-A, but I believe this likely applies to all known, existing revisions and variants of AC 5thMIX.
    
    

I feel more confident this time in the research I did, and believe it will stand up to scrutiny. Ultimately, I hope these new findings resolve your confusion, mine, and that of anyone else who reads this! --Calpisco (talk) 02:13, 29 September 2021 (UTC)