KeyboardMania 3rdMIX

The last of the KeyboardMania arcade games. It supported connection with GuitarFreaks 5thMIX & drummania 4thMIX, allowing several songs to be played together.

For it was indeed an uncanny jam session.

Unused Graphic#

M_00.GCZ, found in the folder MOVIE, is a placeholder graphic which consists of frames from the movie of the song Presto on a negative scale, alongside several floating text lines reading "なんちゃって" [Just kidding].

(Source: tikal.)

Debug Display#

A simple debugging display on the right side of the screen can be toggled on by enabling the second, third, fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth DIP switches.

(Source: WindyFairy)

Development-Related Text#

Hidden Comments#

Some of the game's .MSQ files, located in the folder MOVIE and used to control the songs' background animations, contain comments, as noted below.
Fukuda, mentioned in the first and last comments, is Atsushi Fukuda, who is credited under Programming.

File	Message	Translated
M_00.MSQ	`# 福田が作ったダミーサンプル．` `# フリーモードはこんなかんじ？` `# 2000/12/11`	`# Dummy sample made by Fukuda` `# Is this what Free Mode looks like?` `# 2000/12/11`
M_03.MSQ	`# 14.6/sec`
M_06.MSQ	`# こうじゃないかな`	`# I think it goes like this`
M_11.MSQ	`# 14.55/sec`
M_16.MSQ	`# 14.56f/sec`
M_19.MSQ	`# 14.6/sec`
M_23.MSQ	`# 14.6f/sec`
M_27.MSQ	`# 14.56f/sec`
M_29.MSQ	`# 14.55f/sec`
M_69.MSQ	`# 福田が作ったダミーサンプル．` `# プレッシャーモードはこんなかんじ？` `# 2000/12/11` `#<SS_?>` `#0,0,15,-1` `#<SS_?>` `#2000,0,15,-1`	`# Dummy sample made by Fukuda` `# Is this what Pressure Mode looks like?` `# 2000/12/11` `#<SS_?>` `#0,0,15,-1` `#<SS_?>` `#2000,0,15,-1`

(Source: tikal.)

Security Switch#

The last of the game's security switches, which is present in offset 0x8FB54 of a decompressed FIREBEAT.EXE, when read backwards, reveals a colorful message from a programmer. So much for kindness, huh.

!uoykcuf

(Source: tikal.)

Programmer Credit#

Nearby, at offset 0x8FB9C, is a set of strings which contain a developer credit.

MoDe:MaNuFaC/PRoGRaMeD BY USR01979(HaJiMe SaiTo)
MoDe:SeRViCe/PRoGRaMeD BY USR01979(HaJiMe SaiTo)
MoDe:EVeNT /PRoGRaMeD BY USR01979(HaJiMe SaiTo)
MoDe:OVeRSea/PRoGRaMeD BY USR01979(HaJiMe SaiTo)
MoDe:NoChkHd/PRoGRaMeD BY USR01979(HaJiMe SaiTo)
MoDe:Rental2/PRoGRaMeD BY USR01979(HaJiMe SaiTo)
MoDe:DuMMY03/PRoGRaMeD BY USR01979(HaJiMe SaiTo)
MoDe:DuMMY04/PRoGRaMeD BY USR01979(HaJiMe SaiTo)

Burn Date#

A burn date can be found in the title of the game's program disc:

VOL_20010212132711

References#

ギター、ドラム、鍵盤で５人同時演奏もコナミ「マルチセッション」版 - Game Machine, Issue 630, March 15, 2001↩︎

v · t · e The KeyboardMania series
Arcade	KeyboardMania • KeyboardMania 2ndMIX • KeyboardMania 3rdMIX
PlayStation 2	KeyboardMania

See also
GuitarFreaks • DrumMania