Beatmania IIDX

Beatmania IIDX (Japanese: ビートマニア ツーディーエックス, Hepburn: Bītomania Tsū Di Ekkusu) (IIDX) is a series of rhythm video games, that was first released by Konami in Japan on 26 February 1999. Beatmania IIDX has since spawned 33 arcade releases and 14 console releases on the Sony PlayStation 2. It is the sequel to the beatmania game series, and is part of the Bemani line of music games.

Initially conceived and developed as a sequel to Beatmania, Konami released Beatmania IIDX in Japan in 1999. The development team designed the game to simulate the experience of a DJ performing at a real venue, and gave the cabinet a "club Visual Jockey style." While its predecessor used five keys, IIDX had seven of them, increasing the games complexity and skill ceiling. The larger controller was integrated into the cabinet alongside a larger 40-inch widescreen monitor, dual speakers, and spotlights to replicate the feeling of performing at a live venue.

Beatmania IIDX tasks the player with performing songs through a controller consisting of seven buttons and a turntable. Hitting the notes at the correct time increases the score and groove gauge bar, which if equal to or above 80% on Normal difficulty will allow the player to clear the stage. Failing to hit the notes at the correct time depletes the players groove gauge until it is empty.

Starting from beatmania IIDX 17 SIRIUS, two new note types are added: Charge Notes, which require the user to hold and release buttons in time with the music, and Backspin Scratches, which involve spinning the turntable in one direction and then turning it in the opposite direction at the end of the note. beatmania IIDX 23 copula introduced a variation called Hell Charge Notes, which refill the gauge when held down but rapidly deplete it when not. Unlike regular Charge Notes, they can be pressed at any time, though missing the start or end will still break the player's combo.

Aside from standard single play with seven buttons and a turntable, Beatmania IIDX offers doubles play-style, where users can play with fourteen buttons and two turntables. Certain versions of Beatmania IIDX have modes that are available in both single and double play-styles such as Course mode, Step-up and Arena. In Course mode players are challenged to complete four songs in a row of similar difficulty with a shared health bar, if the health bar reaches zero during any song, the game ends. Step-up mode allows players to play up to four songs without fear of a game-over. However, only a small selections of songs will be available. Arena mode matches up to 4 players in a competitive lobby where each player can pick one song, whichever player performed the best across all 4 songs wins.

Originally, Beatmania IIDX difficulties ranged from "Level 1" to "Level 7". However, beatmania IIDX 5th Style, beatmania IIDX 10th Style and beatmania IIDX 11 IIDXRED added "Flashing 7s", "Level 8" and "Level 8+" respectively.

With the release of beatmania IIDX 12 HAPPY SKY, songs were re-rated on a new difficulty scale ranging from "Level 1" to "Level 12". This has remained the standard in all subsequent releases.

When playing a song in Beatmania IIDX players can set how their groove gauge functions. Easy & Assist Gauge will drain slower on misses, with Assist lowering the bar to clear to 50% instead of the usual 80%. Hard & EX Hard Gauges drain at higher rates when a player misses, and do not regrow as quickly as other gauges. When a Hard or EX Hard gauge hits zero, the song immediately ends.