Q. Which style should I buy?
Every person has their own opinions about which style is the "best". Rather than point out a definative list, I'll list the pros and cons of each style, and let you decide. It is easier, however, to get the newer styles.
beatmaniaIIDX 3rd style
Pros:
+ Huge songlist
+ Beginner friendly songs
+ Can be found cheap used
+ Actual music videos
Cons:
- Timing is bad on certain songs (gambol, overdoser).
- No beginner's mode (but there are enough easy Light 7 songs that you can get away with it).
Other:
* While it's kind of unfair to list this as a con, 3rd Style is extremely dated. It doesn't tell you when you set a new score, it doesn't save your modifiers even between games, and it's the only PS2 Style where turning off videos will literally make the game run smoother.
beatmaniaIIDX 4th style
Pros:
+ Good song selection, with few songs repeated on other styles.
+ Now tells you when you set a new high score.
Cons:
- Expensive to purchase.
- Smallest songlist of all the PS2 games.
- Light 7 songlist is significantly harder than other styles.
- No beginner mode.
beatmaniaIIDX 5th style
Pros:
+ Introduced Beginner Mode.
+ Best Beginner Mode out of all the Styles.
+ Introduced Drill Mode.
+ Can now change High Speed settings on the song select screen.
Cons:
- Slower hispeeds than found on other games.
- Many complain about timing issues.
- Lots of songs are repeated on later styles.
- Unlockable songs not available in Beginner Mode.
Other:
* First appearance of consistant High Speed mods; from here on out they're the same in each game.
* First official appearance of a difficulty level higher than 7.
beatmaniaIIDX 6th style
Pros:
+ Lots of extras in the game. Tatsujin videos. Movie clip mode.
+ Introduced High Speed 4, Hard, and Easy modifiers.
+ Can now change all options on the song select screen.
+ Three separate files for Drill Mode.
+ Performance now graded on a song-by-song basis, instead of only giving you a grade at the very end.
Cons:
- Songlist is hit or miss for people.
- Notecharts by this time were getting harder, and this style reflects it. First really "top heavy" Style.
- Beginner Mode is less friendly than 5th's Beginner Mode.
Other:
* 6th Style is where Goli's art really begins to shine.
* Includes day Expert courses, which are different depending on the day of the week, and 10-song marathon courses.
beatmaniaIIDX 7th style
Pros:
+ Introduces Dan (or Class) Mode.
+ Game can now save High Speed settings, and will compare your scores with your record for the song.
+ Good beginner mode (covers all the songs in the game).
+ Decent balance between hard and easy songs.
Cons:
- Only 2 unlockable songs (Murmur Twins and Abyss The Heaven's Remix).
- Master's Mode is a very lame way of unlocking, and also shuts out new players from unlocking everything.
- No new CS songs.
- Some complain about the sound quality, and say the style has an "incomplete" or "rushed" feel to it.
Other:
* Great Style for experts as well, as 7th Style introduced a lot of the more challenging songs in the series.
* Gallery unlocks still have the Judgment details that you see when you get them in-game.
* Unlocking hidden Expert courses is quick, but not especially obvious.
beatmaniaIIDX 8th style
Pros:
+ New sort methods. Other info can be displayed while selecting the song.
+ Includes Random+, introduced in IIDX RED AC
+ First Style to allow you to set separate high speed mods for each song in a Class Mode course.
+ High Speed settings for 桜 (Sakura) modified to suit the song's high BPM.
Cons:
- Beginner mode restricts you to a shorter playlist than all of the songs in the game.
- Lack of regular record screen as from previous styles.
- Scores achieved in Expert Mode do not get saved.
Other:
* Balance leans a little towards the harder side, but beginner's mode can cover for it.
* Individual song records replaced by a list of "vital stats" on the song select screen; EX Score, Max Combo, Play Count, and Miss Count.
beatmaniaIIDX 9th style
Pros:
+ Higher resolution graphics.
+ Includes Mirror+.
+ Includes two "Favorite" sort folders for you to fill with your favorite songs.
+ Expert courses will now track your progress compared to your progress when you set your high score.
+ Similar to what was done for Sakura in 8th, the High Speed settings for Paranoia Survivor Max are modified to suit the song's high BPM.
Cons:
- Several songs have disproportionately difficult endings.
- Once again, Beginner Mode has a limited song selection.
Other:
* Timing is noticably different in 9th Style. It's easy enough to adjust to; within a few games you won't have any problems with it.
* Japanese characters are now displayed on the song wheel; English-speaking players are no longer able to recognize songs with Japanese titles by their Romanization.
beatmaniaIIDX 10th style
Pros:
+ Much more movement incorporated into the game's graphics, which makes it look very nice.
+ Introduced "DJ Point" system of tallying your total progress.
+ Includes .5, 1.5, 2.5, and 3.5 High Speeds, as well as S-Random and S-Random+, all of which were introduced in IIDX HAPPY SKY AC.
+ New-to-CS Goli art.
Cons:
Other:
* Timing is similar to 9th Style's, which means it'll take some adjustment if you change games often.
beatmania IIDX 11 IIDX RED
Pros:
+Additions of HS4.5, HS5, Sudden+, Hidden+, and DP Flip mods.
+Score graphs for score comparisons added. Allows the player to import rival data for comparison with others.
+Interface customization added, allowing the player to change various visual elements of the game, such as the animation that plays when a note is hit and the turntable icon.
+New Another ratings
Cons:
-You must say speed rave
-Another ratings only go up to 8+, so some songs with that rating can be significantly more difficult than others.
beatmania IIDX 12 HAPPY SKY
Pros:
+Comes with thousands of rival scores built in.
+More customization options; players can now change the music that plays on the song select screen.
+Revamped rating system rates songs from 1 to 12, making it possible to more accurately group songs of similar difficulty.
+Hidden long song.
Cons:
-You are prohibited from saying speedrave
beatmania IIDX 13 DistorteD
Pros:
+Revival of oldschool 5 Key songs, with their old charts and brand new 7 Key charts.
+CS songs are collaborations of pairs of artists chosen by player polls.
+Cardinal Gate Extra Stage system (aside from being really cool, it also means there are 5 extra stage songs instead of 2).
Cons:
-Easy DJ Chucky song : (
Q. What does the DX in beatmania IIDX stand for?
DX = Deluxe. The beatmania IIDX machine is actually the 2nd beatmania II machine design. The machine used to make the Tatsujin videos on beatmania IIDX 6th Style is an original beatmania II machine.
Q. How do I unlock X feature/song on X Style? This Wiki will tell you everything you need to know.
Q. Why doesn't (song X) sound the same as (song X on a different difficulty)?
Some songs have different notecharts for the Light 7 or Another difficulty, and others sound completely different. Here's a list of songs that sound differently when played on Light 7:
- Indigo Vision
- Lucy
- Murmur Twins
- Spica
And a list of songs that sound differently when played on the Another difficulty:
- 20, November
- 22 Dunk
- 5.1.1
- .59
- Celebrate
- Deep Clear Eyes
- e-motion
- Era Nostalmix
- g.m.d
- Genom Screams
- Gradiusic Cyber
- Infinite Prayer ~Floating Flock Style~
- Innocent Walls
- Karma
- Leading Cyber
- Lucy
- moon_child
- Murmur Twins
- Paranoia Max
- Prince on a Star
- Radical Faith
- R3
- R5
- Schlagwerk
- Sense
- Something Wonderful
- Spica
- The Big Voyager
- The Earth Light
- The Shining Polaris
Q. What is e-amuse and what's the big deal?
E-amuse is a network that Konami uses for its arcade games. In IIDX, Konami uses e-amuse to record world record high scores, patch problems with the game, and unlock new material. Players can buy e-amuse cards from a machine usually located near a IIDX machine connected to the system, and can use these cards to store personal records.
The problem with e-amuse is that it's really not available outside of Japan. While the chance to save your arcade scores would be nice, the biggest problem caused by this is that all IIDX unlocks are done over e-amuse
only, meaning that machines outside of Japan will never be unlocked unless they buy a used kit from Japan that was connected to e-amuse at the time Konami decided to unlock them.
I've heard rumors that Konami
is willing to connect machines in other countries, but for one hell of a monthly fee. That's just a rumor; I would guess that if that were the case then some arcades would pay the fee at least once so that their machine could be unlocked.
DDR Transplants
So Dance Dance Revolution was your gateway bemani games and you want to play more of them. Well, here's a small breakdown about the differences between DDR and beatmania.
- During song selection, you don't get to hear a preview of the song you want to play. So knowing titles over how the song goes would be a good idea.
- Difficulty is measured in stars rather than feet. The ranking for songs currently go from a 1 star to a flashing 8 star. However, for all the current home versions avaliable, it goes up only to a flashing 7 star. There is also a difference between flashing 7 star and 7 star rank (the flashing 7 is harder). Difficulty is also relative, so a 4 star ranked song on Light 7 will not be the same difficulty as a 4 star ranked song on 7 Key. The ranking for songs on Another is not displayed, thus usually referred to by the difficulty of the song on 7 Key with a plus symbol at the end. (5.1.1. is a 1 star, 5.1.1[a] is a 1+).
Note that with Happy Sky's release, difficulty is now 1-12, and Anothers DO have a rating.
- Autofail doesn't kick in until you miss about 50 notes without pressing any buttons, and only exists in the arcade versions. As long as you are pressing buttons, the game won't end abruptly (unless you are playing with the Hard modifier on. Please look at the terminology guide below). You will still have the remainder of the song to rebuild your Groove Meter and pass the song.
- You do not need to get 100% Just Greats to gain an AAA.
- The maximum score you can get (without bonuses) on any song is 200000 (I think?). It's not relative to the difficulty of the song you are playing.
- There are two kinds of Extra Stages. The first is just one more stage that plays like any other. This kind of ES is earned simply by passing a song of a certain difficulty (it changes periodically, but IIRC it's a 7 on 7 Key or higher). The other is an Extra Stage where you earn a special song by scoring well enough, similar to how it works in DDR.
Comprehensive IIDX FAQ + Controller Tutorials 
