Bemani

, stylized in all caps, is Konami's music video game division. Originally named the Game Machine Division (G.M.D.), it changed its name in honor of its first and most successful game, Beatmania, and expanded into other music-based games, most notably rhythm games such as Dance Dance Revolution, GuitarFreaks, and DrumMania.

Video game series

Since 1997, Konami has published a variety of music game series under their KonamiG.M.D. and Bemani brands. These game series have distinctive user interfaces and game controllers. The controllers in the Beatmania series simulate a DJ mixer and direct-drive turntable. ParaParaParadise is controlled by activating motion sensors with one's hands and arms. The controllers in GuitarFreaks and DrumMania simulate a guitar and drum set, respectively.

Beatmania

Launched in Japanese video arcades in December 1997, Beatmania was KonamiG.M.D.'s first game series and franchise. The original Beatmania game was an immediate hit. Within a year's time, there were five installments in the series in video arcades in East Asia and North America, and three home console titles for the Sony PlayStation. Within two years, there were at least30 Beatmania variations in arcades, on home consoles, and on handheld game consoles.

The franchise encompasses such series as Beatstage for the South Korean market; HipHopMania in North America; the Bemani Pocket titles for Konami's own Bemani Pocket console in Japan; the BeatmaniaIIDX series; as well as BeatmaniaIII (2000) and its variants.

Dance Around

Dance Around, stylized as DANCE aROUND, was released on March3, 2022, in Japan. Internationally, it was released on June6, 2022 in North America and in December2022 in China. The game is named after Round One arcades, and it is exclusive to these arcades. Dance Around uses a pair of cameras mounted on either side of the cabinet to detect the player's body using parallax. Dance Around is considered by fans to be a spiritual sequel to Bemani's own Dance Masters and Dance Evolution Arcade, and is also comparable to the Just Dance game series.

Dance Dance Revolution

Dance Dance Revolution, often initialized to DDR and also known in Europe as Dancing Stage, was first produced in 1998. The game is played by stepping to music on a dance platform with four pressure-sensitive arrow pads. The game has changed little since its introduction but has come a long way in terms of musical selection and visual appearance. While originally an arcade title, many versions of Dance Dance Revolution have been released on many different platforms including the Sony PlayStation 2, Sega Dreamcast, Nintendo Wii, and Microsoft Xbox. Other versions have also appeared on portable handhelds, cell phones, and as standalone TV plug'n'play devices. Dance Dance Revolution is commonly considered to be the most well-known BEMANI series outside of Japan.

Dance Rush Dance Rush Stardom, stylized as DANCERUSH STARDOM, was first released on March23, 2018. It is marketed as a shuffle dancing simulator, and encourages the players to learn several real-life moves, such as the running man, the crab step, the SpongeBob, and the Charleston. It uses a Microsoft Kinect-like body tracking camera and a dance platform powered by an IR frame. In addition, Dance Rush has five buttons for navigating the menu, but not used during gameplay.

In Dance Rush, the player is given a set of prompts that scroll down the timeline, and must match the horizontal foot positions by stepping in the right place on the platform, sliding their feet left and right, or keeping their feet off the platform by jumping. In addition, the game also detects the speed at which the player's center of gravity moves, requiring the player to go "DOWN" in time with the prompts.

Similar to other Bemani series like Dance Dance Revolution and Dance Evolution, Dance Rush has three game modes: Light (up to two songs, or only one in South Korea), Standard (up to two songs, plus Extra Stage if the total score for the two songs exceeds 180.000) and Premium (record any one song fulfilling the license terms and upload them to YouTube).

Dance Rush also has a cooperative 2-player mode, where one player uses the front half of the platform and the other uses the back half, as well as a head-to-head battle mode using two separate cabinets. The two modes can even be activated at the same time, resulting in a 2v2 cooperative multiplayer game.

Gitadora (GuitarFreaks and DrumMania)

Also known as Gitadora in Japan, the combined series of GuitarFreaks and DrumMania are games that use simplified instruments after their namesake. GuitarFreaks uses a small, plastic guitar with three buttons known as "frets", a strum bar, and a motion sensor that players set off by pulling the neck of the guitar up and quickly down again. Despite the similarities, Guitar Freaks predates Guitar Hero by several years; in fact, the heads of RedOctane, Charles and Kai Huang, were reportedly inspired by the GuitarFreaks gameplay to develop the Western game's guitar peripheral and pitch its gameplay proposal for what would eventually become Guitar Hero.

Drum Mania lets players play a set of drums. Modeled after modern digital drum kits, the player strikes the appropriate piece with the drumsticks on cue with the music and failure to do so causes the song to sound incorrect. Many American players will recognize the Drum Mania setup from more recent games like Rock Band, which is unrelated to the Konami game.

Similar to the 5-key to 7-key upgrade from Beatmania to BeatmaniaIIDX, GuitarFreaks and DrumMania received a major gameplay overhaul with the 2010 release of GuitarFreaksXG and DrumManiaXG, with a total of five frets and nine drums respectively. While standard GuitarFreaks and DrumMania games were originally being released alongside the XGgames, the latter has now become the primary focus of the series, with the last standard series game beingV8, released in 2011. The XGseries was rebranded in 2013 as simply GITADORA.

Despite being separately released games that can be played independent of each other, Konami markets the GITADORA series as a pair that can be linked for co-operative play in the arcades. The two series continue to be released to this day.

Jubeat

Announced on December22, 2007, Jubeat (pronounced "you beat"; title changed to UBeat and Jukebeat in the American test releases) is similar to Whac-A-Mole, where players must tap the square-shaped panels on a touch screen when they light up. It was released in Japan in July2008. A localized version of the game for North America was announced the month after with tests held at an arcade in Southern California alongside Dance Dance RevolutionX. After two separate testing phases Konami canceled all plans to release the game in North American arcades. Jubeat arcade presence is localized in Japan and several East Asian countries. Free-to-play adaptations for mobile were eventually released in 2010. Japan received Jubeat Plus, available for iOS and Android. International regions received a localized version called Jukebeat, available solely on iOS. While the apps may appear similar, Jukebeat songlist is far more restricted and features different licences.

NOSTALGIA

was first released on March1, 2017, available as an upgrade kit for BeatStream cabinets or as a new machine. The game serves as a spiritual successor to Keyboardmania, with its gameplay involving a keyboard-esque controller used to hit notes coming from the top of the screen. Unlike Keyboardmania though, the player does not have to hit a specific key, just one in the note's general area. Only one row of keys is used as well; while the cabinet does have black keys, they are solely for decoration. The touchscreen used by BeatStream is reused to navigate the game's interface. Similar to Keyboardmania, "real" charts require players to know how to play the piano in order to easily pass the songs. Four arcade (AC) versions were released: 1st, FORTE, Op.2, and Op.3.

Pop'n Music

Released in 1998, Pop'n Music is like a simplified Beatmania. With larger, colorful buttons, no turntable, and easier note patterns, Pop'n Music presents players with a more childlike appearance. However Pop'n Music is viewed as every bit as difficult as BeatmaniaIIDX, with modes that use up to nine hand buttons at once, and having some songs that are not keysounded. Pop'n Music is stylized with cute cartoony characters and a musical selection to match. The series continues to this day as one of the most popular Bemani games.

Sound Voltex

Sound Voltex was first released on January18, 2012. Its gameplay involves four white buttons, two orange "FX" buttons, and two knobs, one blue and one pink. While the white and orange buttons are simply pressed or held, the knobs must be adjusted on cue with blue and pink lasers which quickly move left and right across the track. Similar to beatmania, this gameplay is meant to mimic a DJ controller, but places more focus on layering effects over the music. Besides music featured in other BEMANI series, many songs are arrangements of music from Touhou Project, and some are produced by Vocaloid artists. SOUND VOLTEX also holds regular song contests, officially called SOUND VOLTEX FLOOR, in which fans submit original songs or artwork for a chance to be part of the game's extensive songlist.

Inactive Bemani games Beatmania

Modeled after nightclub DJs and mixing boards, Beatmania, known as Hip Hop Mania in North America and Beatstage in Korea, allows the player to "spin" the music with five activator keys and a turntable. The Beatmania series was the first Bemani game introduced and its successor is still the most popular Bemani game in Japan. With numerous releases in arcades and on video game platforms Beatmania set itself as a role model for future Bemani titles. The music featured in this series of games is still in use today in Beatmania IIDX and other Bemani games.

Beatmania III

Built off the Beatmania gameplay, Beatmania III added a foot pedal to the five keys and turntable used by players. The Beatmania III series was short lived with only a few releases and a series run of only two years, ending in 2002. Many songs from Beatmania III were ported to the IIDX series as well as other Bemani games.

BeatStream

Released on July 17, 2014, and discontinued on March 1, 2017, its gameplay involves hitting notes that come from eight directions to an octagonal judgment lines within a wide touch panel. The notes have several types: some need to be held down, and some need to be slid. Similar to Beatmania IIDX, the player starts with 30% clear gauge (represented by a ring in the middle of the screen) and have to obtain at least 70% by the end of the game to pass the stage. The music library features a good number of songs from Vocaloid and Touhou Project, like Sound Voltex, but BeatStream does have its fair share of original songs. e-Amusement support for BeatStream ended on September 1, 2017, discontinuing most cabinets that require constant e-Amusement connection, rendering the game unable to run after boot and recycling cabinets for other games. There were only two versions of the game released: 1st and AnimTribe (アニムトライヴ, Animutoraivu).

Bemani Pocket

Similar in style to Tamagotchi handhelds, the Bemani Pocket series released small, handheld versions of Dance Dance Revolution, Beatmania, and ParaParaParadise intended to be played with one's fingers. Rarer Pop'n Music and GuitarFreaks variants were produced later on.

Dance Dance Revolution Solo

An offshoot of the Dance Dance Revolution series, Dance Dance Revolution Solo added two additional arrows to the dance stage, but supported only single-player gameplay. The Solo series saw two major releases and two complementary releases before being canceled in 2001. Most of the music exclusive to Dance Dance Revolution Solo was reused in the main Dance Dance Revolution series.

Dance Maniax