Beatmania Gameboy

Almost anyone with expendable cash, a PS2, and any kind of Japanese fanaticism (Or music fanatacism) has a DDR, Beatmania, or Guitar Freaks game. The three games created by Konami are the flagship models of games that involve movement, rythm, awesome music, and insane difficulty. Essentially you have two groups: The DDR fanatics, the ones dancing with their feet, and the Beatmania fanatics, the ones that hit the buttons and tweak the wheel faster than a DJ on crack.



Then again, there are some times when a franchise gets too stupid for it's own good. Beatmania is awesome, but... on the GAME BOY COLOR? We're talking about a game series famous for having special controllers now being stuck on a portable console famous for being easy to pick up and play. What does this mean? Bad port.

Essentially, the game runs like a pixellated version of Beatmania. Get on, choose Arcade or Freestyle mode, and get jamming. Sounds pretty simple, and it is- all you do is hit the game boy buttons in tune. Of course, just like DDR, there are insane combinations you have to pull off, and there are also times when you wanna shoot whoever decided to set it up like it was set up.



The big problem with this game is that it is insanely hard to control. Left, Right, Up(or down), A, B, and Start all control a specific portion of the scale dealy. When a little indicator falls down, hit that button to fill in with the beat. Its a very simple game to play, and I wouldnt give Konami any negative points for making an overly complex game. The issue falls under the Game Boy layout itself- it just doesnt feel right to hit the buttons. I may be just blowing off steam, but it's somewhat of a serious issue I've run across- I couldnt even beat a one-star song because of it.

The game's graphics are something between NES high-quality pictures and Game Boy pixellation. I'll give Konami props for being able to port all these complex pictures to a Game Boy system, but it still doesnt help it that it looks like ass. The whole thing looks rather dreary, and it has a distinct lack of color. I know its part of the Game Boy's limitations, but JEEZ.



The big killer here is the music. Why Konami thought that this music sounded anything like the Arcade equivelant is beyond me. It's grainy, beep-and-boop ish, and it just sounds like s***. There are too few songs, and probably only 10% are original, the rest being rehashes of existing songs (Like the Nutcracker Suite).



Overall, this game is crap. Thank god it was only released in Japan. Don't pick this game up from an import/used store, you'll be wasting whatever you pay for it.

1 star(s) out of 5

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