Beatmania (PlayStation, Europe)

Proto:beatmania (PlayStation, Europe)

This page details one or more prototype versions of Beatmania (PlayStation, Europe).

An early prototype of the European PlayStation release of beatmania was released on May 25, 2006. It is dated April 20, 1999, a little over eight months before the final build, and over a year before the game's release.

This prototype is documented on Hidden Palace.

Differences#

Title Screen#

• The Konami logo graphic which is seen when booting the game is different.

Prototype	Final

• The alignment of the graphics in the title screen is different. Also, the "Press Start Button" text has a blue gradient rather than being pure white.
• The copyright year was updated from 1999 to 2000.

Prototype	Final

• The prototype refers to itself as the "European Edit" in the main menu. In the final game, this only happens during the staff roll.
• Records cannot be accessed through the title screen, but rather from the Options menu.

Prototype	Final

• The title screen music is the same as beatmania APPEND 3rdMIX, whereas the final game changes it to that of the Japanese PlayStation release of beatmania.

Options#

• The background in the prototype is different; the same as the original beatmania PlayStation release.
• The Button Configuration menu is labeled as "Key Config" in the prototype, and the Screen Adjustment one was originally shortened as "Screen Adjust".

Prototype	Final

• The screen adjusment menu does not use a gameplay graphic as a reference.

Prototype	Final

Records Menu#

• The backgrounds are different; the prototype shares the same background as the rest of the Options menu, whereas the final game uses a unique background.
• The prototype lists an additional Expert course: Special. While it is possible to see the Score Rankings screen for this course, it does not appear on the selection screen in Expert mode, and it is currently unknown whether there is a way to unlock or access this course in the prototype.
• Music High Score appears to be unselectable (and cannot even be highlighted) in the prototype, making it unclear if that screen was even implemented at that point of development.

Prototype	Final

Score Rankings#

• The backgrounds are different; the prototype simply has a black background, whereas the final game uses diagonally scrolling gold-colored "DJ" emblems that change in brightness.
• The default DJ Levels and judgement counts are different; each screen in the prototype shows three Fs and four Gs, whereas each screen in the final game shows two Gs and five Hs.

Prototype	Final

• The Score Ranking screen for the Special course, which is exclusive to the prototype, contains six additional DJ names not found in any other course or in the final game.

Training#

• There was originally a dot before any of the listed options. The final release makes how to access the help guide more clear by indicating a command rather than just the key to be pressed.

Prototype	Final

Songs#

• The songlist is different. Notably, there are some songs in the prototype that are not present in the final game, and vice versa. There are also some songs with different genres.

• The songs available in Practice Mode are different; they are luv foundation and PAPAYAPA BOSSA instead of Sing it Back and Shake What Ya Mama Gave Ya.
• The song Sing It Back does not have background animations.
• The song Shake What Ya Mama Gave Ya has different background animations.

Song Selection#

• The genre labels in the song selection screen are in lowercase rather than uppercase.
• The vinyl graphic of the song e-motion is completely white in the prototype, whereas it has gray labels in the final game.
• The "Press 2P start" text is written in a bigger font in the prototype.

Prototype	Final

Courses#

• Each of the game's three courses are different too. Songs in bold indicate that they are exclusive to a certain version.

Gameplay#

• The splash image seen when selecting a song is unique, whereas the final game reuses the one from the original beatmania.

Prototype	Final

• The "Press Start Button" text is aligned differently.
• The BPM and Effect indicator text is red rather than white.
• The combo and judgement text is written in a different font.

Prototype	Final

• Pressing Start during gameplay enables an autoplay cheat, which is not present in the final release.

Results#

• The prototype's results background seen when clearing a song is the same unique background as the song splash image, whereas the final game uses a different unique image that would later also be used in beatmania APPEND GOTTAMIX2: Going Global. The "fail" results background is the same, though.
• The indicators of GREATs, GOODs, BADs and POORs are colored yellow, orange, green and blue, rather than the yellow to orange gradient seen in the final game. Their alignment is also different, and the GREAT indicator lacks an exclamation mark at the end.
• When obtaining a Perfect in the prototype, the number of GREATs is not displayed.
• Song grades are displayed in the center of the meter graph, rather than at the bottom of the screen.
• The prototype lacks the "Perfect A" song grade.

Prototype	Final

Name Entry/Final Results#

• The background in the name entry screen is red rather than golden. This also extends to the final results.

Prototype	Final

Credits#

• There is no proper staff roll in the prototype; there is only a credit to Konami's KCE Japan branch for the game's development.
• The original short version of Love's Theme of beatmania is used instead of an extended one.

Unused Video#

BMMOVE.STR, which is normally used for the intro videos in other beatmania games, goes completely unused here. Notably, its contents are completely different from the final version's, and also uses the old beatmania opening theme, Theme of beatmania.