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Where can I get a very.. very.. very... *about a thousand more times* cheap PS2 Japan version. I want to play games like Beatmania and Pop'n music at home.. but the Japan PS2s and Beatmania 9th style and the controller adds up to about... 314$. Is there a way I can lower this price by like getting a cheaper PS2 Japan/NTsomething J somewhere?

- Thanks,
XeroCi - Just tried Pump It Up and loves it.

There are various methods to load Japan region games on a US PS2, some more effective than others. You can use a slide card with a swap disc, put a flip top on your PS2 and use a swap disc, use a real mod chip, use HD Loader, etc. This could save you the cost of a PS2 if you already have a US region PS2. If you don't have a PS2, just buy the Japan region one. It'll cost you a little more, but you'll save yourself a lot of hassles. You may be able to find a used Japan region PS2 on eBay, but beware of how "used" it may be.

Getting a copy of the game isn't going to be cheap. You can get it from Lik-Sang (and probably get $5 off using the IndyDDR coupon code), PlayAsia, etc., but they'll charge you retail+ for it. You could also check eBay.

There is really nothing you can do about the controller short of building your own, which will end up costing you a boatload anyway (I'm looking at about $250 to build my controller).

Same applies to Pop'n Music. Actually, getting a Ransai or Desktop Arcade is about the same price as building one yourself for Pop'n, especially if you factor in trying to get the real Pop'n buttons, not the (albeit very similar) buttons that Happ sells (various places sell the buttons, but mostly in large quantities like 1000, and you'll want multiple colors).

Register on the KYDDR forum and PM RyogAkari and Dr. Awesome about this. Ryog (Zach) has filled his PS2's hard drive with BM 3rd-9th mix, and uses HDadvance or whatever it is to load em up. Dr. A (James) is a good BM player and I would imagine he's helped Zach find the mixes.

P.S. You can PM RyogAkari here on IndyDDR as well. n_n

That you can. I didn't realize Zach was a member here too until I posted that.

ehhh... nvm.. its coming out in america! yay

Enjoy some of the most frustrating fun you'll ever have.

I started playing IIDX out here in May and I got some good scores on my VJarmy profile. Given how little time I do have to play this I hope I am progressing at a decent rate in the games. Currently I have 6th and 9th styles with 7th and 8th arriving in about 12 more days. I also got a pic with my controller out here on http://zagreus.yafro.com which should be good for a laugh or two.

That picture is priceless!

I did a DJ Battle between you and me and VJ Army. You are absolutely slaughtering me, and I've been playing for about two years. So I think you're progressing just fine. I played (and struggled) a lot when I first got it, but then I didn't play very often for about a year while I was distracted by every other Bemani game I've been trying to collect.

I started a VJ Army account late last year (I think) and got back into the game semi-regularly again this year. I started playing again heavily after ACen this past May. While I was there, Random showed me how to clean out the turntable in my ASC, and it totally opened up my play and made the game much more enjoyable to play (my turntable felt kind of grindy before and was difficult to turn).

Over the past couple of weeks I've found myself addicted in full-force and have been trying to fill out complete data for Light 7. So far I've completely filled in 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th. 7th is almost done, but I've got quite a few blanks in 9th still.

I've been mostly concentrating on filling in missing scores, but I've taken time to replay some songs I already had scores for. On several occasions I've found myself doubling scores I logged at the beginning of this year. So it seems that I'm getting better at least. I'm going to add you to my VJ Army friends list to give me something to shoot for.

BTW, do you play with one or two hands on keys? Personally, I'm a one-handed player unless I just can't seem to manage it. About half of songs I can't pass one-handed I can pass with two, and the other half I just can't pass at all either way. For whatever reason I just find one-handed play more fun.

One last thing...if the enemy attacks you out there, you should whip out your controller and DJ Battle them!

Light 7 one handed is pretty easy, but once you get to 7 keys around the 7 stars or the flashing 7's, the one handed becomes almost impossible. I used to one hand everything, but then came a song called V, and after that, I kinda had to learn to two-hand songs.

Unless of course you're disgusting like DJ LISU.

That's pretty much what I've found. Most L7 stuff is quite doable on one hand (FUCK YOU STOIC!!!!!), but once you get above about 5 stars on 7 keys (let alone another), one hand becomes REALLY challenging. It's fun to try to do it (go watch Jizzon do the beginning of V another some time...it's sick), but actually passing things becomes so difficult that actually having fun with the game for more than 10 minutes is almost impossible for me.

Hence my current policy: L7 I try to play everything one handed, but on 7 keys I'll two hand if I need to (and I don't play another).

Oh, and I think both Ho and I will agree...LISU is IIDX God.

I believe so too.

But some really fun songs that are HARD but fun as hell one handed:

Reincarnation [a] (crampmania)
B4U
Jive Into the Night

I learned how to play using one hand for keys first, and even passed V with it once. When I played Photongenic and Lion Suki 7K though I broke down and switched to two hands. Once I did that I started getting a ton of AAs and whatnot.

I wish I could get 3rd-5th styles somewhat, but the US release (which might come out as early as November, possibly even the 19th or 20th. I'm serious!) should have some of those eariler songs since it looks to be using songs that appeared on DDR in the US.

In general, I don't two-hand to score higher. I only two-hand if I can't seem to pass it one-handed. But I guess I play IIDX like I play DDR. It's about fun first, pass/fail second, and scores a distant third. A good score will make me happy, but a mediocre score (as long as it's a pass) doesn't really bother me at all. In fact, a really craptastical score (that's still a pass) will make me just laugh at myself--which I also find enjoyable.