Beatmania IIDX 10th Style General FAQ
Version 0.8 Written 1/15/06
Written by Thunderbird
*******************************************************************************
Copyright Notice
*******************************************************************************
This FAQ is copyright ? 2006 by Sean Taylor.
This FAQ is merely intended to assist you, the reader, with tips for playing
Beatmania IIDX 10th Style for the Playstation 2 computer entertainment system.
You may not modify this FAQ and then post it as your original work. You may not
use this FAQ for money making purposes (this includes running ads on the same
page as this FAQ). If this FAQ is posted on your site, it may not be placed in
an area that requires a special membership (paid or otherwise) to access.
*******************************************************************************
Copyright Notice
*******************************************************************************
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Version History
3. How To Play
4. Arcade Mode
5. Beginner Mode
6. Free Mode
7. Modifiers
8. Song List and Information
9. Expert Courses
10. Class Mode
11. Unlocks
12. Scoring System
13. Cleaning Your Controller
14. Additional Frequently Asked Questions
15. Contact Me
16. Credits
17. Conclusion
1. Introduction
Welcome to my Beatmania IIDX 9th Style FAQ. There are several similarities
between this and my previous IIDX FAQs, simply because there's a lot of
similarities between the games, and the series itself. Though 9th saw some
pretty big changes as well.
2. Version History
Version 0.8
Initial version of the FAQ. Most everything filled out, only exceptions are the
song list and the last two Double Play class courses.
3. How to Play
IIDX is said to have the steepest learning curve in the Bemani series. The
basic gameplay involves hitting keys on the IIDX controller and turning a
turntable. However, as the songs get harder, the note sequences get varied
quite well. In order to pass under normal conditions, you must end a song with
80% or higher. However, you cannot be failed out at any time unless you hold
Start down for 3-4 seconds.
4. Arcade Mode
This is the basic mode of IIDX. When you hit a key with this selected, you will
see two sets of options. The first determines how many are playing, 1 or 2. The
second depends on the answer to the previous option. If playing with one, you
will have three options: Normal, Double, or Double Battle. Normal is standard
1P play. Double requires two controllers and has one person play both. Double
Battle is the same as Double, but the normal 1P patterns are on both sides.
Quite a challenge, but no records are kept for it.
Like previous styles, there is an opportunity to play more than 3 songs per
round in arcade mode. The requirement to earn an Extra Stage varies with the
difficulty of the song you are playing on. They are as follows:
6 star or higher: Clear.
5 star: Finish with 100%.
4 star: Full Combo the song.
Extra Stage cannot be obtained while playing Light 7 (so it is impossible to
earn it for a 1, 2 or 3 star song, as there are no songs on 10th of those
difficulties).
Also, 1st Samurai and One More Lovely are absent from the arcade mode playlist.
These are the special Extra Stage songs. To get 1st Samurai, you must get a DJ
level of A or higher on an 8 star song played on Another mode. Hard must be
turned on. If you meet these conditions, 1st Samurai Another will be selected
as your song (it can be changed, however). Play this on Hard Mode, get an A or
better, and One More Lovely Another will be started after the results screen
with no opportunity to change modifiers. You will know if you met the
requirements if a special picture shows up as your results screen. Both of
these are also gallery pictures.
5. Beginner Mode
This mode is to learn IIDX. When you first enter it, a robot will give you tips
(in Japanese, naturally, so just skip this section if you don't understand it).
You must pick a level to play on. After doing this and reading (or not reading)
the information, you will get the songlist for songs of the difficulty (and
below) you've chosen. Play proceeds as normal. Double play and 2P play are not
available. There are two songs with Double Beginner charts, but they can't be
played here.
Note: Modifiers cannot be chosen when Level 1 is selected.
6. Free Mode
If you don't like the dead time between rounds of Arcade Mode, you'll probably
spend nearly all your time here. All songs available to you are here (there are
3 unlocks which do not initially appear), so just pick one and start playing.
When you first enter Free Mode, you'll see a menu with options. First option is
who's playing. If you are playing Double, you can pick 1P or 2P Only, or 1P &
2P. Auto options are available as well. Second line is your game modifier (6th
and earlier allowed you to pick your song modifiers here as well, but 7th and
8th do not), Normal, Battle or Double. Normal cancels out the other two. Battle
gives two players the standard Single notechart for the song and pits them
against each other (choosing Battle will cause 1P & 2P to become automatically
selected if 1P or 2P Only is selected). At the end of the song, the player with
the better score will be declared the winner. Normal with 2 players gives the
Double notechart with each player taking their respective side of it.
And finally, hit Start to begin your session.
You will get the initial menu with All Music, New Music, Old Music, and a
plethora of other display categories.
The first special set is for songs of a particular difficulty rating. Choose
one of them to display the songs with that rating. If you change between Light
7, 7 Keys and Another, the list will update to reflect what it should be at
that level (though since Anothers show the 7K rating, changing between 7K and A
will not have much of an effect).
The second set of display options are songs starting with a specific letter.
Anything starting with a number (5.1.1, 5.8.8, 1st Samurai) or written in
Japanese lettering will be listed under Others.
The third set of display options will be by what grade you got on the songs.
The fourth set of sorting options is No Play, No Clear, and No Clear (Hard). If
any of these are empty, the light next to the sorting category will be lit.
The last set of display options is the two Favorites folders, which are
individually customizable.
The last button is for Settings, which controls what shows up. You can remove
sorting categories from the list, except for All Music. You can also edit the
contents of the two Favorites folders (which are initially empty). You can also
choose to sort the main list alphabetically, by play count, by difficulty (the
default), and by miss count (number of noncombo notes). You can also clear
existing records from here.
After you're done messing with any settings you want to, select your display
category, pick a song and start playing.
7. Modifiers
There are 7 different modifier sets that can be chosen. You can choose
modifiers in two ways: Arcade style, or Home Version style. Go to the
Options menu, and select Extra Settings to change this. Push the Start button
on any screen to open the modifier list.
Note: The modifiers can be set for both sides individually, if enabled in the
Options. The sides in Double can also be set individually, though options
affecting the lifebar (Easy/Hard) apply universally.
Group 1:
Random: Notes are shuffled, but maintain similar patterns. In Double Play each
controller is randomized separately.
Mirror: Notes are mirrored. In Double Play, the controllers are mirrored
individually.
Random+Mirror: Same as Random in Single and Double. Don't know why this
combination is possible, as it's pointless.
S-Random: This one must be unlocked. The individual note lines are individually
randomized (for those of you who have played In The Groove, this option is
similar to ITG's Blender option). Using this will cause records to remain
unaltered. This can also be grouped with Mirror (again, rather pointless).
S-Random, Random and Mirror all have a + mode that will include the turntable
in the modifications. Random+ and Mirror+ are available from the start,
S-Random+ is unlocked with S-Random. To select the + option, select the
combination of modifiers from this group as desired, then hold down the key
until it turns red. Using the + option will cause records to remain unaltered.
Group 2:
Easy: Groove Gauge decreases less with each Bad/Poor, and gains more with note
hits.
Hard: Each Bad/Poor will remove 10% from the Groove Gauge. Note hits
increase the gauge at a normal rate. The 80% pass restriction is removed (can
pass with any percentage), but if 0% is reached, autofail takes effect. (Note
that 0% cannot be attained in normal play mode, the gauge bottoms out at 2%)
Note that Easy and Hard will affect your Clear status this time around. The
order of clear display is Play (failed), Easy Clear, Clear, then Hard Clear.
Group 3:
Autoscratch: Can be set to one or both sides in Versus/Battle/Double.
Turntable notes (called scratches) do not need to be hit. Using this mode will
cause the Records to remain unaltered.
5-Key: This is the 5-Key mode from previous styles. The right two key columns
are placed on Autoplay, and do not have to be hit. Using this will cause
records to remain unaltered. Note that unlike previous styles, since this is
now a modifier, Light and Another charts can be played on 5-Key. This option is
locked on if you have told the game you are using a 5-Key controller.
Group 4:
Battle: In 2P Mode, enabling this will give both sides the Single notes. At the
end of the song, the two players are compared by Expert Score, and the player
scoring higher is deemed the winner. This must be chosen before you start your
game. Enabling this in Double Play mode will have the same effects, but no
scorekeeping will be in effect.
Group 5:
Double: One player plays with 2 controllers. This must be chosen before you
start your game.
Group 6:
Hidden: Notes disappear before reaching the bottom.
Sudden: Notes appear about halfway down the screen.
Hidden+Sudden: Notes are only visible for a short time near the center of the
screen.
Group 7:
Hi-Speed: Alter the speed of the song. Normal Speed, or HS0.5-4 can be chosen.
In Free Mode, Hi-Speed settings can be saved for each individual song. Go to
Options Mode and look at Extra Settings to turn this on or off. Double and
Single Hi-Speed settings are saved separately. The Hi-Speed settings are
adjusted in increments of 0.5. Unlike the previous two styles, there are no
songs using special Hi-Speed settings.
In Class Mode the modifier menu operates in a special way. Hi-Speed modifiers
are the only ones that can be chosen, but they can be chosen individually for
each song. If the Hi-Speed option is set to Each Music, these are read from
your saved settings, and saved back if changed.
8. Song List and Information
Note: Songs will be shown as they appear on the songlist selection.
1st Samurai
Artist: sampling masters MEGA
BPM: 175-200
Genre: お江戸テクノ
Note: The BPM is only at 62 for the first few seconds of the song, then it
quickly speeds up to 224. It halves at one point during the song before
speeding back up to full speed later.
Courses are listed with their songs and difficulties under the 7 Keys and 14
Keys difficulties. If Light 14 is next to an entry, it is on Light for Double
Play only. If Another is next to an entry, it is on Another for both Single and
Double Play (unless the A14 chart is absent).
9. Trance2
システムロマンス
Rise'n Beauty
Love is Eternity
Alien Temple
Ghost Revival
10. Reserved
Feel It
EXE
A-Jax (3-Way Mix)
High
Narcissus at Oasis
11. Riyu&Noria
Glorius Days
Love Shine
Silvia Drive
Shooting Star
Baby Love
12. Taka
Gradiusic Cyber
Reincarnation
V
Colors (radio edit)
pandora
13. Mr.T
Burning Heat! (Full Option Mix)
fly through the night
Zero-One
xenon
EXE
14. sampling masters
rottel-da-sun
one or eight
rottel-the-Mercury
Debtty Daddy
1st Samurai
15. Y&Co.
Shakin' 31
Score
Smell Like This
Attitude
Monkey Dance
16. ConSolidated
jelly kiss -Midihead's Smack Mix-
Ixion
Acid Vision
satellite020712 from 'CODED ARMS'
Hype the Core
17. King
雪月花 (Another)
1st Samurai (Another)
One More Lovely (Another)
rainbow rainbow (Another)
No.13 (Another)
10. Class Mode
This mode essentially measures your skill level for IIDX. There are 17 courses
(15 for Double Play mode) consisting of 4 songs each (3 for Double Play mode).
As you progress up the chain, the courses get steadily harder.
Single Play courses
7-kyu
5.1.1 L7
No Doubt Get Loud Beginner
泰東ノ翠霞 L7
5.8.8 L7
6-kyu
desolation L7
Astral Voyage Beginner
Love Shine Beginner
Let's run Beginner
To unlock Under the Sky, clear Arcade Mode, Expert Mode, or Class Mode 3 times.
Clear it twice more to unlock Lesson 5.
Gallery Pictures
Some pictures come in monochrome versions. You must obtain the monochrome
version before getting the full color one. Once the monochrome picture is
obtained, the full color one will show randomly (exact chance unknown). Once
both versions are obtained, you can switch between them in the Gallery section
by pressing Start.
1-3: AAA a song (random selection of these three)
4-5: AA a song (Random selection of these two)
6: A a song
These next 7 are the daily pictures. To get them, you must finish an Expert
Course with a full bar on the day indicated. The game will use your PS2
timezone settings to figure out what day it is in Japan and give you the
appropriate picture. Thus, the directions for these will indicate the actual
day you'd get the picture.
20: Clear an 8 star song on Another with Hard enabled and get at least an A on
your final stage in Arcade Mode to get this picture and enable 1st Samurai to
be played as your Extra Stage.
21: Clear 1st Samurai Another with Hard enabled and get at least an A on your
Extra Stage on Arcade Mode to get this picture and play One More Lovely
Another. Be warned that you will get no opportunity to change modifiers (though
the songs both max out at 200BPM this time, so this isn't much of a problem).
44: Fail a SP dan course
45: Fail a DP dan course
46: Fail a song in Expert Mode or Class Mode
47: Fail a song in Arcade Mode or Free Mode
48: Obtain an IR password for a default course.
49: Obtain an IR password for an unlockable course (Except King)
50: Obtain an IR password for the King course.
51: Obtain a Dan Mode password
52: Obtain the above 4 pictures
There is a big gallery picture in the lower right corner of the Gallery screen.
The full picture itself is the 10th Style cover. Characters are slowly added to
this picture for every 50 DJ points you earn.
To unlock courses, simply obtain an IR password on any available course. Each
course can only be used to unlock one other course. The backside courses unlock
in numerical order.
12. Scoring System
Flashing Greats are worth more than Greats. Each song is worth 200,000
points maximum. You can gain the following bonuses:
Border Bonus: Finish a song with your groove gauge at 80% in normal mode for a
bonus of 5730.
Great Bonus: Finish a song with all Greats or better (Poors resulting from
extra note hits don't count) for a bonus of 3110.
Flashing Great Bonus: Finish a song with all flashing Greats or better
(Poors resulting from extra note hits are excluded) for a bonus of 4620.
Great+Border Bonus: Achieve both the Great and Border bonus for 11900 points.
Note that this isn't a straight addition of the two above bonuses.
Flashing Great+Border Bonus: Achieve both the Flashing Great and Border
bonuses (very difficult) for 19900 points.
No bonuses are possible when playing in Expert Mode, as the scoring is
different. The Great Bonuses can be applied in Class Mode, however, but the
Border Bonus cannot be earned due to the different lifebar. Also, if you are
using EX score view instead of the standard score view, you cannot earn any
bonus (not that it matters much since Free Mode is the only place where it can
be used).
EX Score: This is used to determine your DJ level, and for records.
Flashing Greats are worth two points, Greats are worth 1, all other
judgements are worth 0.
Grading System: The IIDX grading system is standard to the series, for the
styles that give you grades. While 9th Style will display your grade
automatically, you can use this information to figure out how many more EX
points you need to get a higher grade, or the grade you would have gotten on
an older style that doesn't use grades (such as 3rd Style). To gain an AAA,
you need 8/9 of the total possible EX points. AA needs 7/9, A needs 6/9 and
so on down the line. The lowest grade with a requirement, E, needs 2/9 of
the EX points, if you are lower than this, you will receive an F.
13. Cleaning Your Controller
This section only applies to the official Konami IIDX controller.
The official IIDX controller is designed to be taken apart. Separate the main
key unit from the controller by pressing the eject button underneath the
controller and pulling the key unit away. Turn the unit upside down and remove
the 6 screws. They are all the same, so don't worry about mixing them up.
Remove the underside of the controller, then take out the two screws connecting
the PCB to the buttons. They are differently colored from the 6 you removed
earlier. Take the PCB out carefully (note that it only goes on
in one direction). Make sure the unit is still upside down or the main keys
will go flying. Remove the rubber from each of the keys (the rubber attached to
the Start and Select buttons is a little different, and cannot be put on the
main keys). Remove the keys themselves, and clean around the sides. Afterwards,
put the keys back in, attach the rubber (make sure the keys all sink into their
slots). Attach the PCB (if you're putting it on incorrectly, you won't be able
to see all 6 screw attachment holes. If this is the case, reverse it), then use
the two silver colored screws to screw it down. Place the black bottom onto the
unit (make sure you can see the 6 screw holes, reverse it if you can't) and
then reattach it. Slide it back into the main unit.
14. Additional Frequently Asked Questions
This section is for information that doesn't really fit in any other section.
Q: The game won't let me take off the 5-Keys option, or play Class or Training
modes!
A: The game thinks you have a 5-Key controller. This option is set when you
start the game without system data available. If you initially set either
controller to Original 5 Keys, you will need to go into the options and either
set both to Original 7 Keys (only if you have a 7 Key IIDX controller) or
DualShock 2. Note: If only one side has the 5-Key controller specified, Class
and Training won't be open, but the side with Original 7 Keys/DualShock 2
selected can toggle the 5 Key modifier at will.
Q: I'm left handed. Is there any way to switch the controller around so I can
hit the keys with my left hand and use the scratch with my right?
A: Sure, at least with a Konami IIDX controller. The key unit is separable from
the main unit. Underneath the controller, find a button, and push it to be able
to remove the key unit. Take the unit out, remove the protective cover that's
on the right side of the unit, and move it to the connector on the left side.
Flip the key unit around so that the newly opened connector will slide into the
main unit's connector. After you've done this, you will be able to play with
the controller switched around from the normal configuration. With the default
options, this will appear exactly like Player 2's side does, but you can change
this if you like in the Options menu.
If you are using a Rave Discman controller, simply rotate the two sides of it.
I do not know how this works with a Konami Arcade Style Controller, and I'm not
about to dump $430 on one to find out either.
Q: I'm looking for a particular song on the game song list, but I don't see it!
Where'd it go?
A: You are either on Another(7) or Another(14) mode. When either of these is
selected, the game removes songs that don't have them from the list. Press
Select to switch out, and the songs will reappear.
15. Contact Me
If you have a question that's not answered by this FAQ, feel free to email me
at the email address specified in my contributor profile. Please include "IIDX
10th Style FAQ" in your subject. Failure to follow these directions will result
in the email either not reaching me (for an invalid email address) or the email
being deleted (wrong subject, or asking a question that's already in the FAQ).
Continuous sending of email regarding something (especially when it's breaking
the rules I've laid out here) will result in your email address being blocked.
16. Credits
Notecounts and BPM data obtained from VJ Army (www.vjarmy.com/iidx).
17. Conclusion
I'd like to thank Konami for making IIDX 10th Style and keeping the IIDX series
alive on the PS2 (my only way to play due to having no reasonable access to an
arcade machine).