I often get asked why I play 5-key beatmania even though I wasn’t part of that generation, so here I’ve written down the course of events that got me to where I am now.
From birth to when I started to play video games
I was born in Osaka (the prefecture) on January 1st, 1993.
This was because my mother’s family’s home was in Osaka, but I was raised entirely in Kanagawa.
When I was a child, video games weren’t allowed in our house.
At the time, everyone around me was trading Pokémon with each other on their Game Boys.
The only time I touched video games was when I was at friends’ houses to play Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart 64.
When I entered middle school, I found out I could go to an arcade and play games by putting in 100 yen coins…
History and background with music games
- Circa 2005Witnessed someone playing an Oni chart in Taiko no Tatsujin
I previously thought Taiko was just something that’s there in little arcades. Watching someone easily play through an Oni chart made me learn about getting good at music games, and I began playing Taiko no Tatsujin.
- Circa 2006 (pop’n music IROHA)Started playing pop’n music
I became interested in a song my friend was playing, FLOW BEAT (CURUS), and so I tried my hand at pop’n.
My local arcade had an older version, IROHA (when arcades already had FEVER), but when ADVENTURE came out with online support, they started running current versions.
This is when I genuinely got into playing BEMANI games.
- Circa 2007 (beatmania IIDX GOLD)Started playing beatmania IIDX
I became interested in a song my same friend from before was playing, starmine, and I began playing IIDX.
This was the dawn of Nico Nico Douga, and when music game MAD (music anime douga) videos were popular.
There weren’t any cabinets in my area, and I realized I was spending a lot of money on train fare to go play it.
- Circa 2007 (beatmania IIDX DJ TROOPERS)Started playing 5-key beatmania
I learned about the song 20,November and that there was a celebration for it.
Cat’s Eye in Machida had beatmania III THE FINAL, so I started playing it.
It was wide open, after all (I hated lining up for IIDX).
- November 2008Stopped playing IIDX, mainly played 5-key beatmania
On the eve of when EMPRESS launched, I went to play 19,November (which was also the launch date), and I noticed that 20,November was missing even though I was expecting it to be there.
On that day, I played 20,November in III THE FINAL.Other songs that I liked were mostly removed from the game, so I lost interest in playing IIDX.
This is when I genuinely started to mainly play 5-key beatmania.
A big part of it was the fact that “THE FINAL” meant that songs wouldn’t get removed (as long as the cabinet didn’t disappear!). - Circa 2010beatmania III was removed; I shifted over to fighting games
The thing I was fearing had happened:
The beatmania III cabinet was removed at the same time DJMAX TECHNIKA officially launched in Japan.A fighting game I was playing alongside beatmania III, BLAZBLUE, became my main game.
- December 2017Tournament and meetup
There was a tournament, so I signed up for it as a commemoration.
I didn’t really care about scoring even after playing for a little under 10 years, so naturally I was eliminated in the first round.I learned about the act of aiming for Border + Perfect clears to get scores.
The following February, I also participated in a meetup in Osaka.
I played the CLASSIC course from 3rdMIX, which the arcade was holding rankings for, and I learned the fun of score attacking.
I registered myself on the UIR (Unofficial Internet Ranking).
I started to focus on scoring on the FIRST course from beatmania THE FINAL with no Hi-Speed and no Options, similar regulations to those of the CLASSIC course from 3rdMIX. The course had a lot of participants on the UIR.
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