Beatmania

[MonMotha]

Well, you just need to start getting more Es then. (Do you still have a copy of the picture from that?)

[Ho]

I don't think either of us could hold a candle to TaQa's DDR great attack madness. The big difference is that I'm usually not trying when I get huge great counts.

[Amp Divorax]

Yea, alot of the 2 and 3 songs I will play one handed as it helps me improve overall skill and accuracy in the game (Spica and I'm in Love Again I AAAed one handed, then later went back with two hands and destroyed outright) and it shows. The major reason for going to two hands was that alot of my favorite songs are higher difficulty. Some songs of note being The Theme of Denjim J, Hyper Boundary Gate, and The Big Voyager.

[MonMotha]

One thing I've noticed about the difficulty rating system in IIDX is that they seem to rate for two hands. There's some stuff that's actually pretty hard one handed but has a low rating (Airflow 7K), and some stuff that isn't much harder one handed that two handed that'll have a higher rating that some things that are rediculously easy two handed, but rather hard one handed.

I have also noticed that I tend to score better two handed, but since I really don't care much about my score, but rather what I can pass in what way (one or two hands), I tend to one-hand if possible. I'm usually good up through 5-6 stars on L7 and 4-5 stars on 7K, depending on the song of course.

[sam]

i don't get where you guys got the notion the game was meant to be played with one had. all the difficult songs require two hands unless you do nothing but play iidx all day.

[XeroCi]

*cries* I wanna play IIDX all day.

I should try and convince my arcade owner to spend his hard earned cash to supply my every wish and command.

[Amp Divorax]

Beatmania will come out soon enough in the US along with a controllers that aren't price inflated finally. (The most recent controllers in Japan are usually $50 in stores and importing sites are still selling it for $80-$100.) Heck, maybe some other vendors will get smart and come up with some GOOD 3rd party controllers. (Then again, outside of Cobalt Flux and until recent Red Octane most 3rd party DDR gear has sucked so who knows.)

On a even stranger note, I added some more scores for today and the 3 newest ones were done when I was in full combat gear (Refer to http://zagreus.yafro.com for a pic of me in this gear) as a bit of a joke for one of my bosses. I'll have to get a picture the next time I do that.

[Ho]

i don't get where you guys got the notion the game was meant to be played with one had. all the difficult songs require two hands unless you do nothing but play iidx all day.

I never said the game was meant to be played in any particular way--only that I prefer to play it one-handed.

The most recent controllers in Japan are usually $50 in stores and importing sites are still selling it for $80-$100.

Unless the importer is also a retailer in Japan and can get wholesale pricing, it makes perfect sense for a $50 controller to get marked up $30 for sale here in the US.

Overseas package shipping costs are staggering! It would not surprise me at all to have to pay $20-30 to ship a IIDX controller from Japan to the US via any sort of reasonably fast air transit. Surface transit can be less, but it's S-L-O-W and usually uninsured and untrackable.

Now if an importer bought up a few dozen controllers and shipped them all at once, they might be able to save a little money and offer a slightly better price, but they've gotta make their cut too...so we're probably right back at around $80.

Heck, maybe some other vendors will get smart and come up with some GOOD 3rd party controllers.

I've seen this 3rd party IIDX controller fairly frequently over the years...although a lot less lately as the official Konami controller has seemed to become more plentiful. However, all accounts I've heard have been that the official controller is your best bet short of the Konami ASC.

However, I know that Ransai and Desktop Arcade are both gearing up to offer IIDX controllers in addition to the fine pop'n music controllers they already make (I own a Ransai pop'n controller and love it!). And of course there's the Controllica IIDX ASC as well. Of course all of these are pretty hardcore controllers bent on duplicating the arcade experience, not trying to undercut the $50-80 standard Konami controller.

[sam]

wow i thought the point of making replicas of the ASC was to make them cheaper

also that 3rd party blows...don't waste your money

[Ho]

wow i thought the point of making replicas of the ASC was to make them cheaper

At least in some cases, I think it's about making them better.

also that 3rd party blows...don't waste your money

Agreed. I only mention that it exists. That was in no way a recommendation.

[Amp Divorax]

One thing I should have mentioned is that the controller is $80-$100 before shipping. After shipping it goes up to $100-$130 so I have to question the markup to some extent. As for controllers, I put in that maybe for a reason as I doubt if Madcats and Red Octane will release a controller at all, let alone a good quality one. I didn't know about Ransai and Desktop Arcade jumping in until now which is pretty cool. I know when I get back I'll have to mod my controller as the buttons keep sticking and I have to clean the controller every 3 days due to sandstorms right now.

[God Of Rock]

Now's the part where I'd make some tactless remark about
playing Sandstorm in a sandstorm....but I have a little more
tact than that.











Nope, not doin it.








Plus I can't think of one.

[xK1]

I got to play 12th Style: Happy Sky in an arcade today. Since I suck at Beatmania, I can't really make any insightful comments though. My player ID card is super awesome though, once I get access to a scanner I'll post a picture.

I somehow managed to full combo Era (nostalmix) on beginner, and there were a couple of really cool 2 star songs, I stopped there though because I failed pretty badly at the 3 star one that I tried.

[Ho]

One thing I should have mentioned is that the controller is $80-$100 before shipping. After shipping it goes up to $100-$130 so I have to question the markup to some extent. As for controllers, I put in that maybe for a reason as I doubt if Madcats and Red Octane will release a controller at all, let alone a good quality one. I didn't know about Ransai and Desktop Arcade jumping in until now which is pretty cool. I know when I get back I'll have to mod my controller as the buttons keep sticking and I have to clean the controller every 3 days due to sandstorms right now.

It depends on whether they're shipping directly from Japan or bringing them to the states first. If it's the latter, then you're looking at their initial shipping cost to get the controller stateside PLUS the shipping cost to get it to you. At that point the $100+ total price tag starts to look realistic again. Regardless, it will definitely be a good thing to have them distributed domestically when the game is released here in the US.

[Amp Divorax]

Such is true. I might consider one of the ASCs after this deployment is over if the price and quality is good enough.