I got Beatmania GB having a problem(repurposed my old thread, scroll down)

[Tanooki]

I've decided I'd like to find a new bit of a challenge to mess with. I've had a couple DDR games (Mario Mix and one of the later PS1 games) before but that's it, and never Beatmania which appears to be even harder?

I'm wondering if anyone has some experience with these things at all on the Gameboy? I know the DDR game has an optional snap on thumb dance pad (not needed), not sure if Beatmania had anything or not. DDR seems to mix LEFT/DOWn and B/A to do the arrows which feels right. Beatmania though seems a lot more sketchy using d-pad left/up/right b/a and start(scratch record) and that looks like a bad mix of thumb karate that'll be trouble. Kind of tired of messing with the same crap, though it could be fun, but I don't want it frustrating. I have no hate or love for the music, it's nice chip tune so that's cool, so I can't much play favorites though that last beatmania game has the Lupin theme (I tried to fake it using my gb watching youtube and it tore me up.)

[davidbrit2]

The GBC Beatmania and Pop'n Music games are really good, considering the platform. The DDR games are so so, but amusing. Audio quality isn't as good as Beatmania and Pop'n.

[Tanooki]

Interesting, but how about the control? Trying to fake following Bemani Gaccha Mix 2 with my GBC was a confusing hot mess, though I have no idea what that dude was playing it at either. Could need to just get a ROM and try it but the keyboard is no substitute. The DDR setup seemed far easier to handle.

[davidbrit2]

There are a couple control schemes, but for the default, the 5 keys are LURBA, with Start as the turntable (no turntable in Pop'n, obviously). The notes are arranged so you never have to do anything impossible like L+R. It takes a little getting used to, but it's pretty intuitive once you've gotten the hang of it. Now, 9-button Pop'n Music on the PSP is quite a handful...

[Jorpho]

I have some vague memory of a picture of a little snap-on turntable controller for a Game Boy, but my searches turn up nothing. How frustrating.

[Tanooki]

I was thinking the same thing earlier but didn't see one in the ebay history and stopped there with beatmania.

I'm thinking maybe since they're not too spendy I could just pop for what I've read appear to be the best of the lot DDR GB2 and Beatmania GB Gotcha Mix 2 (3rd on system) and see how it goes. I noticed my favorite japanese retailer has the game.

[chronic_archaic]

I'll need to check the Beatmania games out. I was aware of the DDR games - but I can't imagine a rhythm game could be good given the hardware. Let's hope I'm wrong.

[davidbrit2]

I have some vague memory of a picture of a little snap-on turntable controller for a Game Boy, but my searches turn up nothing. How frustrating.

You're thinking of the Wonderswan Betamania. That one had a little turntable that would clip over some of the buttons. It's got fewer songs than the Gameboy version, but the audio quality is nearly the same as PS1.

I'll need to check the Beatmania games out. I was aware of the DDR games - but I can't imagine a rhythm game could be good given the hardware. Let's hope I'm wrong.

You'd be surprised. I've gotten a lot of play time out of the Beatmania and Pop'n Music games.

[Tanooki]

Would you think it might be best just to grab that DDR GB2 and Beatmania Gotcha mix v2 carts and see how it works out? I can only guess being brutally wrecked by them but given a little time probably doing alright in beatmania. DDR I can handle ok enough with a real gamepad as I have in the past. For some reason that game has always made me trip out at higher speeds where I just start hitting the wrong buttons for the arrows. That's why beatmania is a concern since it's more than 4 things to worry about.

[InsaneDavid]

The little DDR Game Boy Color snap on controller actually works really well and makes the GBC DDR games a fun little diversion.

[Tanooki]

I had seen that over the years and it looked like it would make the game far more playable, or at least comfortable if you're familiar with the big version. I tried to play both the games a little using my 360 ms windows control pad yesterday and beatmania was a bitch, but DDR I could fairly well keep up with on some of the tunes and others not so much and it isn't laid out like a real game/console and being an emulator probably not timing itself right either.

[davidbrit2]

All three Beatmanias are fantastic, really. The first one can be had relatively cheaply, and has a lot of well-known songs from the series, so I'd say that's a good place to start. The DDR games aren't bad, but the music quality just doesn't really compare to Beatmania and Pop'n Music. Songs like Paranoia, Trip Machine, and AM-3P just don't lend themselves well to Gameboy audio hardware.

[Jorpho]

You're thinking of the Wonderswan Betamania. That one had a little turntable that would clip over some of the buttons.

I guess that must be what I'm thinking of.

It might be worth noting that Band Hero for the DS Lite also comes with some weird button-covering gadget that's supposed to simulate drum pads in some fashion. (And it comes with the guitar controller that is of somewhat dubious merit, of course.)

[Tanooki]

David I'll give you that, I agree. While I'm not familiar with the music in true form, as far as 8bit renditions of bitchin chiptune music goes the beatmania stuff does sound quite a lot nicer in quality.

There's a guy over at racketboy who has been trying to dump a beatmania game for $12 for a good many months now. Maybe I can get him to deal down because it matches the price on ebay for a US seller who has had no luck in awhile ($15 shipped.)

[Tanooki]

I put an order in on the 30th, and it's already here from Japan. Surprisingly for very little I got a complete copy of it from Japan. I'm enjoying the chiptune 8bit music scoring here, but I was wondering if there was any hope or tips with my problem?

Speed or timing isn't my issue more or less, I mostly cluster into the GOOD stuff as I'm still figuring out the sweet spot. My problem is on a full set of 6 buttons being used I have only cleared one song so far on the easy 1 star rating with normal settings under options. I struggle on 3/4 star stuff tweaking it to use just 3 buttons (others are auto fired by the AI.)

I can't seemingly get my damned mind to unsee what I guess it's seeing. When the notes are in the up or right position for some f'ng reason I keep hitting the B button. I have no idea if it's crappy muscle memory or what but I seemingly can not relate to having Up and Right as an actual button. Left I get, been that way for years with old 8/16bit pinball games for the flipper so I have no problem there. I can not without slowing myself down and calling out the words in my mind 'press up, press right, press B' will I nail it, and how I did it on that 1 star one. Even the reggae 1 star I fail because it has parts where the up and right nip at each other fairly quickly and it throws me off the red zone into green to fail by the time it ends. I keep doing it over and over, the score isn't ticking any higher.

Suggestions? (Other than quit.)