seanshannon.org

As if I weren't already at risk for carpal tunnel.
posted 2006/04/02 at 22:49

Thursday while I was out I picked up the Beatmania bundle that just came out. Back when I was giving serious thought to getting a Japanese PS2 to play the Japanese DDR games, I thought that I might also get into Beatmania, since Beatmania games were only being released in Japan. Given that the US release has a lot of my favourite songs on it (including my two all-time Bemani favourites, 5.1.1. and Fly Through the Night), I don't think I'll be doing that now.

A lot of people in the Bemani community go to great lengths to get the best Beatmania experience possible, including not only buying all the games they can, but purchasing arcade-quality controllers that usually cost in excess of $400 each. By point of comparison, the Beatmania bundle, which includes a controller as well as the game, only costs $60. Not that I don't understand the impulse to get quality equipment, but $400 for a controller (and Beatmania also has a "doubles" mode like the dance games which forces you to use two controllers at once) just seems absurd to me. Keep in mind, the only reason I buy super-expensive dance pads is because I go through cheaper pads too quickly to make them affordable. That, and you can't wear shoes on "soft pads," and I need the ankle support that shoes give me.

That being said, I've been playing Beatmania a lot this past weekend, and it's been a pretty frustrating experience. I grant you that I haven't been playing a lot of piano lately, and even at my peak it wasn't like I was a virtuoso, but all things being equal I'm a pretty darn good piano player. Why, then, am I having such trouble with Beatmania? Seriously, I'm starting to think that I'm now more rhythm-accurate with my feet than I am with my fingers, and that just makes no sense. I know that playing on a Beatmania controller isn't exactly the same thing as playing a piano, but still, you'd think at least some of my skills would transfer over. Given the scores I've been getting on Beatmania, though, that doesn't seem to be the case, and it burns. Oh yes, it burns.