Post Your Controversial Bemani Opinions

Not really controversial but Konami really needs some new blood in audio direction and music composition given how forgettable the music has been the past few years in general and long-term composers leaving the team.

if it's not really controversial then don't post it in the controversial bemani opinions thread you stinkfist smh

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right now DDR is at the best it has ever been and is only getting better, both from a song choice & charting standpoint. The future is looking bright

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the last song they added was アドレナリン, do not tell lies

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Very rare miss but honestly even that has a very fun and creative (albeit overstepped) chart that clearly has a lot of care and creativity put into it. A20 would have given this the most boring 13 imaginable

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1. TAG had some good stuff but he kept making the same song over and over, and I know a lot of BEMANI artists do that but most of them weren't "the boss song guy" for so long like TAG. If he'd left in the early 2010s I think I'd like him a lot more.

2. I think it's okay that a few songs are easier/harder to pass/score than the rest in the same folder. I've started thinking of the folders less like exact difficulty ratings and more like zones in a video game, where most challenges are about the same difficulty in each zone with a few weaker ones to ease you in and a few harder bosses. It seems like any song that could be the hardest in its rating for passing/scoring gets talked about a lot. Beach Side Bunny. Poochie. The Smallest Triperfect. Milquetoast, cause (a) you know what song it is and (b) that meme never would've happened if it were an 18. If those were the "right" rating would they be as memorable? I doubt it.

Obviously you don't want TOO many songs with different difficulties, since you still need a frame of reference for each folder, and you don't want a song TOO far above or below the standard (EGOISM 440 17 anyone?). But a little variance is okay.

i think alot people echo ur statement on TAG tbh, if anything, TAG being praised is kinda more rare and I felt like his peak was his earlier years and his last years in BEMANI, he def did get more repetitive around the 2014-2015 era though i agree


i would also say A20 giving out 13s or understepping would rlly only apply to some of their originals, they gave their crossover songs the perfect charts in terms of difficulty tbh

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I'm doing this whole project collecting all the simfiles for BEMANI songs I can find, and I never realized how... forgettable so many of the songs are. Like, every game has a few hits and if you add them all together over 25 years, you get a lot of good songs. But 80% of them, maybe more, are just like the other songs in their game. It hits worse for certain franchises than others (looking at you, Guitarfreaks). It makes sense, they have to make so many songs so quickly and some of them have been there for ages, but it's still weird to think about.

With artists such such as Ghost, Alestorm, Rumahoy, Feuerschwanz, and Christopher Bowes and his Plate of Beans, I think the best time for a Dancing Stage reboot was 2 years ago.

In fact, I feel like DDR will need to be heavily reliant on licensed music due to a lot of artists from the early 2000s having already left Konami and while I am a fan of the Bemani x Touhou collab, I can personally see those songs going stale on me even as a Touhou fan.

Okay, i guess European pop music would probably make more sense than the European metal scene, but can you blame me for stumbling into Napalm Records' repertoire of bands while searching for a cover of Square Hammer to chart?

Honestly as a European player the last category of songs that ever got me into DDR was licenses, European or no.

And I would really like it if DDR were ever to become relevant over here again (not gonna happen) for it to remain DDR instead of bringing the Dancing Stage name back. There's no need for that anymore.

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DDR Solo BASS MIX and 2000 had some of the most memorable originals and remixes. The theme of cheesy and high-tempo Miami bass songs gave the mix a ton of personality compared to most other mixes, which had a more grab-bag approach. I can't believe a song like MY BABY MAMA is in an official mix. If you can turn your brain off and enjoy corny music, give it a listen.

Iunno, I feel like with the European music industry existing as it is, I could definitely see some value in the Dancing Stage name? I feel like in recent years, DDR's identity has shifted in such a way where modern European music might look out of place. A shame too, cuz I still think that Ghost would've been one of the best possible options for music licensing.

As for my bias towards Ghost and why I think they'd be a fit for DDR... while they are classified as a metal band, their musical styles has shifted more towards pop music since Papa Emeritus III had become the band's vocalist, with Cardinal Copia/Papa IV also leaning towards pop vibes.

There's a reason I requested it for StepmaniaX

(Why they then actually listened to that request, I have no idea)

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How’s this for a controversial bemani opinion: I don’t think there’s been anything remotely noteworthy, interesting, or memorable in a Bemani game since at least like 2016 or so. The gameplay in each game has gotten stale as hell and the music sounds like all the same overproduced and underwritten dreck.

I think there have been flashes of brilliance in music (I've only really paid attention to DDR lately but stuff like Teleportation and Yuni's Nocturnal Days hit hard) but in terms of the games themselves, yeah, I've been completely over them for quite some time. Doesn't help that DDR's harder charts have gotten worse aside from a few exceptions during this mix.

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You might be right, I only somewhat follow DDR and IIDX these days but I literally feel like the last time I heard a bemani song and thought “this is friggen great” was the melodic section of the song Emeraldas from IIDX 25. Just about everything else to me since then sounds like total style over substance. I’m at a point in my life where wubby flashy effects in songs just don’t do it for me. I might have nostalgia glasses on to some extent but I feel like melodic progressions in earlier DDR and IIDX games were much more compelling.

I admit I was also always a sucker for other non-song asthetic elements like new rating systems or extra stage systems and stuff like that, and on that front there’s been no change in a long time.

Is "Dancerush is bad" a controversial opinion?

Maybe I'm just frustrated because the UI sucks and it's super grindy to unlock songs with stars not having standard start.

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Nah, I agree. There's a few songs I like playing on it but I just have never been able to fully get into it. Like, all power to the people who do and can do all the flashy moves and shit. It's just not my scene.

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I think the gameplay is fun and unique, but it's slow to navigate. It just needs a massive UI overhaul. Discount and unlock missions should be able to be selected pinned to the screen rather than seen briefly after completing each song. I shouldn't have to look up on remywiki what to do to unlock songs. Grid or wheel format for song selection instead of list where you can only see 6 songs at a time. Groove radar for different step types (spongebob, running man, t-step, charleston, crab step) as well as note counts. 3 songs for light start, instead of locked to standard start.

And my personal beef, the startup to get to the actual game takes forever. Having to press the 2 diamond buttons *and then* the square button to start the game feels so redundant.

E: Also, new players get super confused by "down", because it looks like you're supposed to duck through the arch.

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I know Naoki Maeda and Terra's respective departures from Konami are old news but I feel like DDR is in a position where they're reliant on music licensing for interesting tunes.

Wanna think a Dancing Stage reboot is in order in that regard, cuz a lot of the licensed music from DDR are from European bands. One can only play the Touhou collab for so long before it starts to get stale, but having talent such as Christopher Bowes (Alestorm, Gloryhammer), Thomas Winkler (Angus McSix), Tobias Forge (Ghost BC)... Hell, I could totally see a Dancing Stage reboot primarily be a collab with Napalm Records.