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DrumMania

DrumMania V3 alongside a GuitarFreaks V3 cabinet.
Developer(s) Bemani
Publisher(s) Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual that creates Video games A developer may specialize in a certain video is Konami 's Music video game division Originally named the Games & Music Division, or simply G
Platform(s) Arcade, PlayStation 2
Release date 1999
Genre(s) Music
Mode(s) Single player (Can also have 1 or 2 more players but other players must be connected to GuitarFreaks and the machines must be linked. In Computing, a platform describes some sort of Hardware architecture or Software framework (including Application frameworks, that allows An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in businesses such as Restaurants Pubs Video arcades and Family Entertainment Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) See also [[Game classification]] Video games are categorized into Genres based on their Gameplay interaction A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a Video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's GuitarFreaks (also GUITARFREAKS, abbreviated GF) is a Music video game series produced by Konami. )
Input methods Drum set
Arcade system System 573 (until V),
PlayStation 2 (until V4),
Windows XP Embedded (as of V4)
Display Raster, standard resolution, horizontal

DrumMania (alternately drummania, abbreviated DM) is a music video game series produced by Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. Windows XP has been released in several editions since its original release in 2001 In Computer graphics, a raster graphics image or bitmap, is a Data structure representing a generally rectangular grid of Pixels A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a Video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's , where colored notes travel down the screen which correspond with color coded parts of an electronic drum set. The player must hit the drum parts when the notes reach the bottom of the screen in order to fill in missing drum parts from a song.

Earlier versions of DrumMania which includes before the release of DrumMania 10th Mix, have been released in Asian countries, under the title Percussion Freaks.

Since DrumMania V, DrumMania and GuitarFreaks had been united with a single version number as part of the 5th Anniversary of the video game. A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. As of writing, DrumMania V4 is the latest version of the DrumMania series, and it links to GuitarFreaks V4. They are essentially DM 14thMIX and GF 15thMIX. The V5 series of the two games is expected to be released later in 2008.

Konami has not mass produced an American version of DrumMania, primarily since MTV Games holds the US patent for "drum simulation games", which MTV took full advantage of with the release of Rock Band. A patent is a set of Exclusive rights granted by a State to an inventor or his assignee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an MTV ( Music Television) is an American Cable television network based in New York City. Even with this possible obstacle in mind, Konami has tested English builds of DrumMania and Guitar Freaks V4 at the ATEI exhibition in London and at a Brunswick Zone bowling alley in Naperville, Illinois - though official releases have not been announced. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Naperville ( is an affluent city in the Chicago metropolitan area in Illinois in the United States, voted the second and third best place to live Nonetheless, imported versions of DrumMania can be found in various locations across the United States and Canada. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page

Contents

Controller

DrumMania is played using a controller designed to imitate a drum set. Five pads are arrayed from left to right for the hi-hat, snare drum, high tom, low tom and cymbal. A hi-hat, or hihat, is a type of Cymbal and stand used as a typical part of a Drum kit by percussionists in R&B, hip-hop, Disco The snare drum is a Drum with strands of snares made of curled metal wire metal cable plastic cable or gut cords stretched across the a drumhead typically A tom-tom (not to be confused with a Tamtam) is a cylindrical Drum with no snare. Cymbals are a modern percussion instrument Cymbals consist of thin normally round plates of various Cymbal alloys; see Cymbal making for a discussion of their There is also a foot pedal for the bass drum near the snare and the high tom. A bass drum is a large Drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. During play, the player depresses the pads and steps on the pedal.

The pads are actually a modified version of the DTXPRESS electronic drum kit made by Yamaha Corporation which is available in almost any musical chain store. DTX electronic drum is the line of electronic-MIDI drum set manufactured by Yamaha. A drum kit (also drum set or trap set) is a collection of Drums Cymbals and sometimes other Percussion instruments such as cowbells

To the right of these pads, there are three buttons, Left, Start and Right, which are used to select and decide in the selection screens. In those cases, the Left button is assigned to the snare drum pad, Right to the low tom, and Start to the cymbal.

Gameplay

The screen setup is simple. On the left side, notes scroll vertically downwards and a short video clip for each song is displayed in the right side of the screen. Individual notes are represented by small colored bars that scroll downward in the columns.

To play the correct note, the player must hit one or two of these pads and/or step the pedal when the note bars reach the yellow line. The note scroll in DrumMania is in essence a drum tablature timed with the music and placed vertically. A Drum tablature, also known as drum tab is a Tablature in use for Drums An example follows B = Bass Drum HH = High-Hat

The player's accuracy is judged for each note played, and while the individual note judgments have changed throughout the series, the current system uses Perfect, Great, Good, Poor, and Miss to evaluate performance of each note. Ratings of Poor or Miss will deplete the player's "Excite Gauge", while accurate play will replenish it.

If the Excite Gauge is emptied completely, the game ends. Players will be able to play anywhere from three to five songs depending on the game's configuration, with the potential to earn one or two additional stages in certain versions of the game if performance is good enough.

At the completion of a song, players are given a letter rank for their performance which can range anywhere from E to A, as well as S and SS depending on how well the song was played, and how the particular release of the game being played computes ranks.

Session Linking

One of the major selling points of DrumMania is its ability to be linked to another of Konami's Bemani games, GuitarFreaks. GuitarFreaks (also GUITARFREAKS, abbreviated GF) is a Music video game series produced by Konami. This allows up to 3 players to play together, the music will play from both games, and the players' guitar and drum sounds will be relayed between the two games as well.

Konami's numbering scheme for the GuitarFreaks and DrumMania series is such that the current release of DrumMania is numbered one less than the current release of GuitarFreaks. For example, as of this writing, GuitarFreaks 11thMIX can be linked with DrumMania 10thMIX.

This is necessary due to the fact that only DrumMania 1stMIX was released on Konami's System 573 Analog hardware, whereas both GuitarFreaks 1stMIX and GuitarFreaks 2ndMIX were released on the same platform, and a System 573 Analog board cannot link to a System 573 Digital board, on which the following nine releases of both were made. Additionally, a PercussionFreaks game cannot be linked to a GuitarFreaks game, as despite being essentially the same game as DrumMania, PercussionFreaks units lack link hardware.

Beginning after the 11th and 10th mixes of GuitarFreaks and Drummania respectively, the numbering was synced up with the V series. All newer versions of the two games follow matching V numbering. For example, GuitarFreaks V2 links with DrumMania V2, etc.

As of date, DrumMania V4 arcade machines now run on Konami's modified Windows XP Embedded OS. Windows XP has been released in several editions since its original release in 2001 An operating system (commonly abbreviated OS and O/S) is the software component of a Computer system that is responsible for the management and coordination

Super Session

Seen only in two releases each of GuitarFreaks and DrumMania, Super Session (or Multi Session) allowed the games to be linked up with Keyboardmania 3rdMIX as well. Keyboardmania (alternately KEYBOARD MANIA, and abbreviated KBM) is a rhythm video game created by the Bemani division of In addition to having three players control the guitars and drums, two more could be added playing along on keyboards.

However, when linked with Keyboardmania, only about a dozen songs are available to play. Keyboardmania 3rd Mix can be linked with GuitarFreaks 5thMIX and DrumMania 4thMIX, or GuitarFreaks 6thMIX and DrumMania 5thMIX.

List of DrumMania games

Main article: List of GuitarFreaks & DrumMania games

e-Amusement

Main article: e-Amusement

Since 9th Mix, the series has taken advantage of Konami's e-Amusement system, which adds several online capabilities to the game:

Avatar

With the usage of the e-AMUSEMENT Pass, players are allowed to select an avatar to represent themselves. This list comprises the entire GuitarFreaks & DrumMania catalog of Music video games This list does not contain beta demo bootlegged e-AMUSEMENT is an online service offered worldwide by Konami to enable exclusive online features in games such as Internet Rankings and unlockable content An avatar is a computer user's representation of himself/herself or alter ego whether in the form of a three-dimensional model used in computer games a two-dimensional Icon

Battle

As of Drummania V3 with the usage of the e-AMUSEMENT Pass, players are allowed to select an additional mode: Battle (Worldwide). With Battle mode, players can compete and pit their skills with another player available on the e-AMUSEMENT server; otherwise not available without the usage of the e-AMUSEMENT Pass.

Players can select NORMAL, PERFECT or COMBO modes upon selection of the song to determine the final calculation. Upon winning or losing, they will be entitled to promote or demote to another higher BATTLE CLASS rated from D3 to SS, where players are sorted according how well they have successfully defeated opponents.

However, without the use of the e-AMUSEMENT Pass, if there are additional Drummania machines in the arcade, an additional Battle Mode (Local) option is created, just like in a LAN. They have the same functionaility as the Battle Mode (Worldwide); otherwise do not have Battle Classes to sort the players.

Other than Battle Mode (Local), alternatively players can select the Battle Mode (CPU) which is also available only Drummania machines without e-AMUSEMENT access. This mode allows players to complete with the CPU, rather than a player.

Hidden songs

With the usage of the e-AMUSEMENT Pass, players are allowed access to hidden songs not playable without the usage of the e-AMUSEMENT Pass. These songs are highlighted in green prior to selecting a song.

Internet ranking

With the usage of the e-AMUSEMENT Pass, players are allowed to have their results posted via the Internet. These results include their own personal ranking and have results of their songs stored into the e-AMUSEMENT Pass.

Regional competition

With the usage of the e-AMUSEMENT Pass, players can compete against other players locally before being selected as the top 8 players to represent for their country. According the BEMANI TOP RANKER 2008 Competition, these players will be invited to Hong Kong for the semi-finals and Japan for the finals respectively. [1]

However, an online registration must be submitted via the BEMANI TOP RANKER website and the player must play the complusory songs to determine the players who will be representing for their country.

Skill Points

Songs played are then converted to Skill Points, which is determined by the percentage of Perfects, Greats and the number of notes hit in concession, known as Combo. The higher the combo count and percentage of Perfects, Greats, the higher the percentage of skill obtained for that particular song, up to 100% or simply MAX.

As of Drummania V4, Skill Points are dependent on the first 14 songs released for the particular mix, next 36 songs from previous mixes and last 3 long songs from any mix played throughout the song list.

The previous mixes uses a different calculation of Skill Points since NON-STOP Mode is abolished in Drummania V4. The old skill point calculation is dependent on the first 13 songs released for the particular mix, next 35 songs from previous mixes, 2 long songs from any mix and the last 3 non-stop courses played throughout the song list.

Skill Points are awarded upon successful completion of a song, and depending on how well the Skill Percentage earned for the particular song, the player earns the amount of Skill Points reflected at the end of the game.

Titles

Players are allowed to select titles earned from Drummania to represent them. These titles require special condition(s) to be met before earning the particular title.

Soundtrack

Main article: List of GuitarFreaks & DrumMania songs

As of DrumMania V4, the arcade versions of DrumMania have contained over 500 songs in total. The following is the complete list of songs that have been featured in DrumMania and GuitarFreaks, a music video game developed Most songs are either crossovers from other Bemani games, J-pop and J-rock. is Konami 's Music video game division Originally named the Games & Music Division, or simply G J-pop is an abbreviation of Japanese pop. It refers to Japanese popular musicians and was coined by the Japanese media to distinguish Japanese musicians from foreign musicians The modern Japanese music scene includes a wide array of performers in distinct styles both traditional and modern ranging from rock electro punk folk metal reggae salsa and tango Some mixes also contain covers of popular North American songs.

Drummania simulators

DTXmania, a DrumMania sim
DTXmania, a DrumMania sim

A handful of DrumMania simulators have been created for use on PCs, the most popular of which is called DTXMania, which also supports GuitarFreaks. It can be controlled using the computer keyboard, any USB device that can act as a joystick, or any MIDI instrument such as a MIDI keyboard or professional quality electronic drum kit.

See also

References

  1. ^ BEMANI TOP RANKER 2008 Competition

External links

Simulators

Community

Hardware information


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