Beatmania IIDX 14 Gold PS2 JPN - Pre-Order - Release Date 5/29/08

Konami is finally back with their 14th installment of the ever-so popular Beatmania series! I never had a chance to play it in the arcades, but I have been patiently waiting for it to come home. There are many things that I love about this game, here are some of the reasons why:

• The game features over 45 new songs, some of which are unlocked over Konami's e-Amusement As suggested by the title, Gold's interface is a retouch of the interface of Distorted, featuring a prodomently metallic interface containing a gold and silver color scheme.
• Core gameplay remained the same on Gold. A new hidden modifier, "REGUL-SPEED", locks the BPM of a song to a constant 150, but scores achieved with it turned on are not recorded. In addition, a new song folder was added, Assist Clear, for songs which were cleared using the 5-Key or Auto Scratch modifiers. Gold also utilizes less strict timing windows than previous arcade releases, utilizing more CS-like timings. Also, the ability for 2 players to play on separate difficulties was added.
• A new e-Amusement feature added to Gold are "GP", points earned during songs which can unlock secret songs such as console exclusives and revival songs from previous styles.
• If the player gets three AA's on any difficulty (without use of the Random or Mirror modifiers) and the levels for all the songs add up to either 20 for Hyper or 30 for Another, the player is awarded a chance to play the extra stage, Vanessa by Suzaku. The stage is played on Hard mode, which removes the 80% groove gauge requirement, but will fail the player if it drops down to 0%. If the stage is cleared, the player gets to play One More Extra Stage, Fascination MAXX, a crossover from the then recently released Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA.

Fans will be able to enjoy three notable songs:

• GOLD RUSH - a song accessed through the VIP Room system. The song is an extended remix of Gold's opening theme, with additional vocals provided by Michael a la Mode. The song has gained a cult following in IIDX online communities due to it's ridiculous sound and vocals (further characterized by its given genre, "Reckless Rave") and its incomprehensible lyrics. Lines from the song, such as "Make it make money" have also been parodied by players.
• Tranoid - a tribute to video game music. The video for the song contains an opening sequence for a fictitious game of the same name, staring "Tran", an alien character seen frequently in IIDX videos. The actual game, consists of her running down a track (which resembles the gameplay area of IIDX but tilted on its side), dodging other red, white, and blue aliens. The "game", is actually Tranoid's notechart on Normal for that portion of the song, and the game area and colors even imitate the standard colors of notes on IIDX. The logo for the game, resembles the logo for Gradius, another Konami game.
• The Smile of You - the theme song from the Konami game Elebits, which coincidentally also includes references to other Bemani games in general.

And for those thinking about waiting for the american version? It will be quite some time before its release, potentially 2009.

For those seeking the limited edition, which comes with the game, the summit live dvd, the gold special edition box, and the limited edition gold poster, we will have limited quantities available as we approach the release date.

Beatmania IIDX 14 Gold - $68.90
Beatmania IIDX 14 Gold [Konamistyle Special Edition] - $139.90