BEMANI
Background
BEMANI (ビーマニ) is the brand name of KONAMI's music simulation game series. The brand was originally named the Game Machine Division (G.M.D.) until it was changed in honor of its first successful game, beatmania in 1999. The name BEMANI is a Japanese syllabic abbreviation of beatmania. Following the success of beatmania, the line was expanded with other music-based games throughout the years.
A more colorful variation of the logo was created in 2004. This alternate logo is used only for some select series or games only:
- pop'n music 12 いろは to present, including CS releases and ポップンリズミン.
- Toy'sMarch
- DANCE 86.4 FUNKY RADIO STATION
- マリンバ天国
- My First DanceDanceRevolution, DanceDanceRevolution Winx Club and DanceDanceRevolution MUSIC FIT
- ミライダガッキ FutureTomTom
Series
Active
Please note that, as currently BEMANI no longer credits its staff, the producer and sound director columns might have old information. The last known producer and sound director for each series are listed here.
| Name | First release | Producer | Sound director |
|---|---|---|---|
| beatmania IIDX | 1999 | DJ YOSHITAKA | L.E.D., HuΣeR |
| pop'n music | 1998 | DJ YOSHITAKA | PON |
| DanceDanceRevolution | 1998 | ナカムラマサル | U1 |
| GITADORA (formerly GuitarFreaks & DrumMania) | 1999 | まっする | Yvya |
| jubeat | 2008 | まっする | ? |
| SOUND VOLTEX | 2012 | DJ YOSHITAKA | PHQUASE |
| ノスタルジア | 2017 | ? | wac |
| DANCERUSH | 2018 | ? | ? |
| DANCE aROUND | 2022 | ? | ? |
Inactive / Cancelled
| Name | Activity |
|---|---|
| pop'n stage | 1999 (arcade only) |
| DanceDanceRevolution Solo | 1999-2000 |
| RAP FREAKS | 1999 (cancelled, arcade only) |
| KEYBOARDMANIA | 2000-2001 |
| ParaParaParadise | 2000-2001 |
| Dance Maniax | 2000-2001 (arcade only) |
| MAMBO A GO GO | 2001 (arcade only) |
| beatmania | 1997-2002 |
| beatmania III | 2000-2002 (arcade only) |
| Toy'sMarch | 2005 (arcade only) |
| DANCE 86.4 FUNKY RADIO STATION | 2005 (arcade only) |
| マリンバ天国 | September 15th, 2005 (home only) |
| REFLEC BEAT | 2010→2018 |
| DanceEvolution | 2010→2016 |
| ミライダガッキ FutureTomTom | 2013→2015 (arcade only) |
| BeatStream | 2014→2017 (arcade only) |
| MÚSECA | 2015→2018 |
| おといろは | 2016 (cancelled, arcade only) |
| 彩響DJアニクラゲ (formerly Rizminance) | 2018 (cancelled, arcade only) |
Events
BEMANI Events
KONAMI often holds several events involving one or more of its BEMANI series. For a list of them, please see BEMANI Events.
KONAMI Arcade Championship (KAC)
Created in 2011, KONAMI Arcade Championship is an annual competition hosted by KONAMI for some of its arcade games series. Currently, it includes the following BEMANI games: beatmania IIDX, DanceDanceRevolution, DANCERUSH, GITADORA (GuitarFreaks & DrumMania), jubeat, pop'n music, REFLEC BEAT, SOUND VOLTEX, and ノスタルジア.
A second contest, KAC Asia, was also held in Asia using only BEMANI series in 2011. The following year, the second contest was merged with the original KAC.
Other Media
ビーマニポケット
The ビーマニポケット (BEMANI Pocket) is a portable game device created by KONAMI in 1998 to 2001. In total, 26 versions of the device were created with each containing a BEMANI game from one of the following series: beatmania, DanceDanceRevolution, ParaParaParadise, pop'n music and GuitarFreaks.
beatnation Records
beatnation Records is the in-house recording label of KONAMI's BEMANI music branch founded in 2006 by dj TAKA. A sub-label, beatnation RHYZE was founded in 2014 with upcoming artists mainly from the SOUND VOLTEX series and a few other BEMANI series.
BEMANI Backstage
BEMANI Backstage was an Internet radio program hosted by あさき and Yuei from March 1st, 2012 to September 9th, 2013. Each week on Thursday, they covered the latest news with other BEMANI staff members as special guests. In 2012, a BEMANI Backstageテーマソング (Theme Song) contest was held in SOUND VOLTEX FLOOR. The winning song, V.I.P. was added to SOUND VOLTEX BOOTH on November 8th, 2012. After the 70th episode, the program was put on indefinite hiatus.
BEMANI Sound Team
Since November 1st, 2017, all in-house KONAMI original songs in BEMANI have been solely credited to BEMANI Sound Team. In-house musicians still appeared in live events but are referred collectively as "BEMANI Sound Team". The reason for this is unknown but it appears to be a policy extending throughout the Konami Amusement department. In-house graphic artists on KONAMI websites are solely credited to BEMANI Designers.
- The term was however used already as part of the announcement of the Continuing the Seniors! The Second Vocalist Contest update for SOUND VOLTEX IV HEAVENLY HAVEN on October 13th, 2017. The contest songs only credit the vocalists.
- On the DANCERUSH STARDOM location tests, in-house songs were credited to "オリジナル". Once the game was released, only the How To Play/Lesson songs are credited to オリジナル, and on the official website for the game only.
- As of December 13th, 2017, all the in-house KONAMI original songs added from there and on credit the artist name as well, written within quotation marks after the BEMANI Sound Team name.
- As of January 16th, 2019, the BEMANI Designers now have their names written within quotation marks as well.
- The change for BEMANI Designers is only reflected in websites so far, and not in-game. The SOUND VOLTEX series either retains the original artist credit or is left blank for newer jackets by in-house designers.
- In-house composers in soundtracks have been either credited under either BEMANI Sound Team, Konami Amusement or Konami Digital Entertainment with their real names or aliases enclosed in parentheses.
- BEMANI Sound Team is credited in METAL GEAR SURVIVE for the cassette tape music, alongside the "PES Sound Team" (referring to the musicians and sound designers of the Pro Evolution Soccer series) and the cryptic "Successive KONAMI Composers".
BEMANI生放送(仮)
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BEMANI生放送(仮) (BEMANI Namahousou (kari)), abbreviated as BE生(仮), is a weekly live video broadcast that started on September 12th, 2013. The kanji in parenthesis in the title, 仮 (kari) means temporary, indicating that the program might change its name but was eventually kept as it is. Each Wednesday, various BEMANI staff cover the latest BEMANI news for each of the active series. The program is also commonly used to reveal exclusive news for the first time. On December 12th, 2014, the logo used for the program was revamped.
Throughout 2017, BEMANI生放送(仮) stopped being weekly and aired only in specific days (to the point of becoming a rare occurrence), plus it also started to cover other KONAMI games such as the QUIZ MAGIC ACADEMY series. Since October 2017, in-house artists stopped appearing due to the BEMANI Sound Team policies.
Official Website
Throughout the years, a few websites acted as main websites for the brand. In 2007 to 2010, two websites served as the main BEMANI sources of information: BEMANI Portal which covered the games releases and BEAT REVOLUTION / BEMANI MUSIC FOUNDATION, which covered the music content. Since 2012, BEMANI Fan Site became the only website for the BEMANI brand.
- BEAT REVOLUTION
Launched in 2006, BEAT REVOLUTION was the first collaboration between i-revo (Internet Revolution) and BEMANI. The website goal was to cover the musical aspect of the series. It had a separate section for BEMANI artists, the various BEMANI related albums and special interviews with the artists. The website was shut down in August of 2007 as BEMANI MUSIC FOUNDATION took it place.
- BEMANI Portal
The BEMANI Portal launched on April 25th, 2007 as the central hub for all the BEMANI series. The first version of the website included only news from all the active BEMANI series and links to all of those along with the KONAMI STYLE store and the コナミネット (KONAMI NET) service. In 2011, the website was revamped and new sections were added: ARCADE GAME, GAME SOFT, MOBILE and MUSIC. It would eventually be closed on January 3, 2012, redirecting instead to BEMANI Fan Site.
- BEMANI MUSIC FOUNDATION
BEMANI MUSIC FOUNDATION debuted in September of 2007 as a replacement for BEAT REVOLUTION. The website was very similar to its predecessor, acting as a repertoire for BEMANI songs and artists. It also had a radio program titled BEMANI RADIO. The website closed on June 30, 2010 and the address redirected to BEMANI Portal.
- BEMANI Fan Site
Opened on June 30th, 2011, BEMANI Fan Site is the replacement to BEMANI MUSIC FOUNDATION and since January 3rd, 2012, to BEMANI Portal. BEMANI Fan Site re-introduced an artist section along with special report about various events. It also resumed the radio program which was retitled BEMANI Backstage. The radio program was eventually replaced by a weekly live broadcast, BEMANI生放送(仮) in 2013. The website was revamped on December 12th, 2014 and added a monthly music selection, a list of BEMANI events and an introduction page to all the current BEMANI series. On the front page, a selection of daily music is also featured with songs from REFLEC BEAT, jubeat and beatmania IIDX (which started at a later date). The birthdays of pop'n music characters for the month are also included.
External Link
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