Riyu Kosaka's single and SKY GIRLS Original Soundtrack

 A few months ago, I took a half-day leave at the office. I went to the outskirts of Manila, somewhere near Quiapo area. I stumbled a Japan Surplus which I used to visit years ago,

Front cover art

While I was looking at the CD's, I saw a very interested CD, I found a SKY GIRLS ~OPENING THEME "Baby's tears/Riyu Kosaka" & Original Soundtrack.

Compact Disc

This CD is quite expensive and hard to find back then and I bought it for an affordable price! This CD is the last single by Riyu Kosaka with KONAMI back then which she sang the Opening theme of the SKY GIRLS OVA in 2007. Two of her songs in her single is playable in DanceDanceRevolution SuperNOVA and SuperNOVA2.

Tracklists

Good thing I was able to snagged her single and good thing I took a half-day leave. :)

 

DDR's only PlayStation 3 game!

A week before 2022 ends, I bought a used DanceDanceRevolution game for the PlayStation 3 from Facebook's Marketplace. The game I bought doesn't have a USB dance pad.  The game was released in 2010. Aside from the only DDR game for the PS3, this is also the only DDR game that has Downloadable content (DLC) as song packs. Unfortunately, my PS3 won't let me change PSN account. I notice from cover art, that this DDR game is not under Konami's BEMANI label. By the way, I bought this game for around 300.00PhP! 

DanceDanceRevolution (2010) cover art

The game has an initial 30 songs with 20 hidden songs. Unlocking songs is pretty straightforward, to unlock songs they must unlock it through the game's CLUB MODE. But filling up a bar in CLUB MODE, it unlocks a song. 

DDR 2010's Video manager

Another unique feature is to be able to record gameplays in game. The bad thing is, this is not available to license songs, only Konami Originals can record. 

It is sad that Konami didn't continue the game for the PS3 and this game was cancelled in Japan, although this was promoted prior to its cancellation. 

DDR Japanese versions for Wii! (Photos)

Box art (HOTTEST PARTY ~ MUSIC FIT). For me, HOTTEST PARTY has good box design

Game front cover art (HOTTEST PARTY ~ MUSIC FIT)

Konami Official Controller dance pad for Nintendo Wii

DanceDanceRevolution titles written in katakana. BEMANI games are rated CERO A. On top of the FURUFURU PARTY box.

Wii LOVE  DANCE! Back box art from DDR HOTTEST PARTY

Music licenses featured in DDR MUSIC FIT

DDR HOTTEST PARTY coincides with BEMANI 10th Anniversary

Finally! e-amusement service is back!

As of yesterday, Konami's e-amusement service is now available in Quantum's Q Power Station in Rockwell Power Plant Mall and Club Synergy in SM Megamall. This is one of the first game centers in the capital where connection has been established since the start of the quarantine last year. 

Finally!

All e-amusement dependent games are outdated, it needs to be updated. As of this writing, although outdated, Power Station's beatmaniaIIDX, GITADORA, SOUND VOLTEX, and DDR are now playable. IIn the coming days, jubeat and DANCE RUSH will be available soon. 

Because today is a Saturday, there is an influx of mall goers going to the game center for entertainment, both adult and children, and of course, minimum health standard is strictly observed! 

jubeat needs to be updated

Good to see that the entertainment industry is finally attracting customers again!  Hoping that all Quantum stores will also restore e-amusement, Banapassport, and Aime connections. Let's hope that our country can maintain low cases, so that this kind of industry will keep running even though we are still in pandemic.

When DDR went to consoles for four years: filling the gap in the arcades

After the release of DDR EXTREME back in Christmas of 2002, there were no DDR arcade releases back then. There were no press releases on why they halted the series. In 2006, Konami shocked the gaming community when they announced that DDR will have a comeback, ending the absence in the arcades.

DDR Party Collection ~ STR!KE! for PS2

It took them four years for the ninth installment. Many gamers would have thought that DDR EXTREME is the last arcade game and DDR will be more of a video game console. Because one of the pop-outs found on top the screen, "WE ARE STARTING OVER!" assumes the end of the series. In the same year, the original beatmania and beatmaniaIII made its last hurrah of the series. 

A "WE ARE STARTING OVER" pop-out on top the screen.
screenshot: Konami website

During hiatus, Konami continues to release console versions of the franchise in different regions. In Japan, for example, they have released DDR Party Collection (2003), FESTIVAL (2004), and STR!KE (2005) for the PlayStation 2. The difference between Japanese and North America and Europe releases is that American and Europe released console DDR in different consoles at the time, whereas Japan focused mostly on PS2. During DDR's absence, RoXor Games, an American game developer, released In The Groove (ITG) for the arcades and later for PS2. ITG was the answer for gamers who are longing to play the freshest songs and step charts at the time. In The Groove uses DDR's gameplay and cabinet, but resulted in a lawsuit by Konami. The lawsuit resulted in favor of Konami and acquiring intellectual property of the game.

BeForU members; Riyu and Noria at the back cover art of DDR FESTIVAL

The last DDR console game produced was released in 2011 as DDR II (North America) /DDR hottest party5 (Europe) for Nintendo Wii . Right now, Konami is in the works for the DanceDanceRevolution game for PC, similar to other BEMANI games such as IIDX, pop'n, and SOUND VOLTEX.

 

DDR Hand Controller for PlayStation

A few months, I received the Dance Dance Revolution Hand Controller without a box that I ordered online. This controller was released around 2000 in Japan. 

DanceDanceRevolution Hand Controller for PlayStation 1 / 2

The controller design is like an arcade dance pad with SOLO buttons. The controller can be used as an alternative DualShock controller without the L and R buttons on the side. The controller is lightweight, because it doesn't have vibration. When I tried the controller for the first time, I felt an awkward feel, maybe because of the design but after a few songs, my palm and hand started to feel pain.

A few days after I bought the controller, posted it online. I realized that the design of the hand controller doesn't fit to my hand. Maybe if I will buy again, I would rather put it in display. Right now, it's a hard to find. I searched Ebay some listings and found seller that sells it for $85.00 without the box. 

DDR V for PC!

Konami today released the alpha version of the upcoming DDR game for PC, DanceDanceRevolution V for a limited time. This will be the second time that Konami released a DDR game for PC, the first one was in 2000. To be able to play the game, the user must register or logged on to his/her Konami ID at the e-amusement website. This Alpha testing doesn't have gameplay mods in this version but it does have the controller and timing options available. The 25 percent dark filter (I think) is available by default. Difficulties in all songs are available. 

DDR V downloading screen

Directional buttons in your computer can be used. I also tried playing the game using PlayStation 2 controller with USB adapter connected, unfortunately only the directional buttons can be registered for this alpha version. I think using the conventional PlayStation dance pad with USB adapter will do the trick. The jump arrows on this version counts as two combos. Grading seems lax, you can get a grade of AAA for less than 999+ score. For specifications needed in order to boot the game please see link (Kindly use google translate).

There will be a lot changes and bugs during its testing stages. We look forward on the next alpha version.

Song list at Alpha version

My first play

Controller and Timing options are only available

Let's play DDR EXTREME at home!

During this Enhanced Community Quarantine in the Philippines, everybody is in their houses to prevent exposure from infection. Some people does the house chores, working from home, and some are slacking off. To avoid boredom inside the house, I play console games. I livestream my gameplays recently (sorry for video quality and sometime weak connections) during this lockdown period and this time I choose to play DDR [DanceDanceRevolution].

Cover art of DDR EXTREME.

I picked up my most fave DDR game, the DDR EXTREME (CS). The console counterpart of DDR EXTREME was released back in 2003. I bought this game thru a Japanese Ebay seller in 2012. DDR EXTREME was the largest number of songs in one disc (111 songs to be exact) in all DDR console releases. That's forty-six percent of it's Arcade counterpart (240 songs). Part of the campaign of the game, Konami also released a bonus gift Music CD, DanceDanceRevolution EXTREME PREMIUM CD for people who bought the game early. I already featured that special CD in this blog years ago. Another thing that I liked this game is the staff roll, they used an unplugged version of Remember You during the staff rolling and they also feature all the DDR mainline console games.

back cover art

By the way, the game can also unlock previous games starting from DDMAX~MAX2 by means of System Data Support. Data Support for EXTREME is only available if you own a DDR Party Collection game. For more information regarding DDR's Data Support please click here. Prices for the game differs, depending on the condition for a used game. And because the game was released 17 years ago, it is rare to find a sealed one and if there is, it will be expensive. 

Game manual and game disc

How I wish there's still an available DDR EXTREME arcade in the metro, to relive the moments when DDR EXTREME is the current game during DDR's hiatus in making an arcade version. The last time I stumbled a DDR EXTREME arcade is in Centris Mall, Quezon City a decade ago. If there's one, it will be nostalgic to all old DDR players!

The seller includes the unused warranty card

Konami's KEY and APPEND DISC for PlayStation 1 and Dreamcast

During the 90's era, when Konami released their very first BEMANI game for the PlayStation 1, the beatmania in October 1998. The game consist of two disc, the Arcade disc and Yebisu Mix disc. The arcade disc is the direct version of beatmania in the arcade, while the Yebisu Mix act as APPEND disc. In order to play the Yebisu Mix, they must first load the arcade disc, select the DISC CHANGE option and swap disc. 

A Note in the cover art that the game requires a KEY DISC to play (cover art from pop'n music 4 APPEND)

The kind of concept was used up to APPEND ClubMIX, succeeding beatmania games were standalone game. If someone tries to load the APPEND DISC directly, a warning will appear in the screen and the game will not boot. pop'n music used this to their APPEND 3 and 4 (pop'n music 2, 5, and 6 as KEY DISC, GUITARFREAKS to their APPEND 2ndMIX (GUITARFREAKS 1st as KEY DISC). As for DanceDanceRevolution (DDR), they used this kind of setup to their CLUB VERSION's VOL. 1 and 2 (using the DDR 2ndReMIX and DDR 3rdMIX (CS) games). I previously blogged about CLUB VERSION DISC. They also implement the DISC CHANGE in its Dreamcast version of pop'n music.

DISC CHANGE schematics for beatmania 6thMIX + CORE REMIX (CS)

Interestingly, beatmania APPEND DISC can play the Bonus edit, more like an alter ego of the direct arcade port. They can play the Bonus edit if they DISC CHANGE in a certain order, for Example, in order to play the beatmania 5thMIX Bonus edit, they must load the beatmania Arcade disc, swapped disc to APPEND 3rdMIX, then, swap disc from APPEND 3rdMIX to APPEND 5thMIX. Another interesting feature by using the DDR 3rdMIX (CS) as KEY DISC for DDR 1st and 2ndReMIX the graphic interface of the latter will be used and not the original interface, although, background animations are disabled during gameplay.

Reducing my video game collection

Over the last decade, I have collected quite a number of video games from BEMANI titles, Silent Hill, Metal Gear series, Winning Eleven series to Gundam titles. Over time, I accumulated too many games, too many that the games reached over the top of our apartment shelf. And by the way, not just game softs, I also accumulated video game controllers, soundtracks, and BEMANI related merchandise. You can see it on previous blog post from 2012 on how my video game collecting progresses.

My first photo in video game collecting (circa 2009)

There's a time that my Mother asked me to remove all of them because I am to hoard games and she don't want to see them clutter. At first, I ignored her, although, they are many, I always find a way in organized them and in some way she was able to accept the fact that my passion for collecting video games is intense. When I was 28 years old, I had this realization, the feeling that I am starting to outgrew them and starting to feel uncomfortable owning too many games. On that same day, I started to declutter them. My first attempt was a bit lame because I only disregard a few games (I think around 10 games) all are Gundam titles. I gave all my Gundam titles to a friend. A few weeks after, I tried again to declutter. This time, I declutter a lot of games such as Winning Eleven and Proyakyu (Baseball) titles. I handed it over to a friend.
On the third time, I was able to declutter prominent titles, such as Metal Gear and Silent Hill. I was able to sell it in an event which I earned a few thousands pesos. On my fourth declutter, I was able to donate it to a fellow video game collector who is living nearby. As for BEMANI merchandise and controllers, I am selling it in a group at Facebook.

My video game collection (circa Jan 2012)

While I am decluttering games, I am starting pile a number of game soundtracks, good thing I was sell it some of it right away. Aside from video games, I also sold my Gunpla kits to a close friend in cheap deal.

I also started collecting action figures, most of them are no longer in my possession (circa June 2012)

Currently, All I have are BEMANI titles (mostly from PlayStation 1 ~ 2) Artist albums from BEMANI (Some of them are for sale though), BEMANI actions figures, and a two Gunpla kits with a Jehuty revoltech figure from ZONE OF THE ENDERS .

Games I have in 2020

From what I have learned from this, It's good to be a collector, but collect on things that you are really passionate of. Being impulsive in collecting has repercussions in terms of household space, emotional and monetary stress. If you think its time to let go of your things; give it to a friend or better sell it. Right now, I am being selective, if I buy some thing; either I replace it on existing item or its for sale.

My soundtracks left

By the way, as of posting, Metro Manila is currently in Enhanced Community Quarantine due to COVID-19 pandemic.