Beatmania IIDX 12: Happy Sky
Beatmania IIDX 12: Happy Sky (stylized as beatmania IIDX12: HAPPY SKY) is the 12th game in the beatmania IIDX series of music video games. It was released in arcades by Konami on December 22, 2004. The game features over 45 new songs, some of which are unlocked over Konami's e-Amusement platform. Happy Sky introduced several small but significant changes to the series, such as a new difficulty scale, and a new boss song.
| Beatmania IIDX 12 Happy Sky | |
|---|---|
 Titlescreen of the CS version | |
| Developer(s) | Konami (Arcade), Konami Digital Entertainment (PlayStation 2) |
| Publisher(s) | Konami (Arcade), Konami Digital Entertainment (PlayStation 2) |
| Series | beatmania IIDX & Bemani |
| Platform(s) | Arcade & Sony PlayStation 2 |
| Release | Arcade
|
| Genre(s) | Music |
| Mode(s) | Single-player & Multiplayer |
| Cabinet | Custom |
| Arcade system | Konami Bemani PC Type 1 |
| CPU | Pentium 4 @ 2.4GHz |
| Sound | Realtek AC'97 |
| Display | 36" CRT, (Raster) 640x480 resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio |
Gameplay
Beatmania IIDX tasks the player with performing songs through a controller consisting of seven key buttons and a scratchable turntable.[1] Hitting the notes with strong timing increases the score and groove gauge bar, allowing the player to finish the stage. Failing to do so depletes the gauge until it is empty, abruptly ending the song.[2]
The core gameplay remains the same in Happy Sky. Songs are now ranked on a 12-point rating scale, with the difficulties being renamed in the process as well. "LIGHT7/14" is now Normal and "7/14KEYS" is now Hyper. All songs have been readjusted to fit the new ranking scales. A new folder called "HARD CLEAR" has also been added to the song selection screen for songs cleared using the Hard mode modifier.
Two new modifiers have been added, Hidden+ and Sudden+, which allow the user to adjust a lane cover over a specific portion of the screen. This had been popularly done with towels beforehand, acknowledged by Konami in the PS2 version of Gold, which offers a picture of a towel as one of the lane cover options.
e-Amusement
Happy Sky was the last version of IIDX to support the old styled e-Amusement cards, as Distorted would switch to the new "e-Amusement Pass" system. A cell phone application called "IIDX WAVE" could customize the interface of Happy Sky, with different menu music options, different frames for the gameplay interface, and being able to create custom courses.
Extra Stage
If the player gets AA's on all stages (with all 3 stages being played on Hard Mode and on Another difficulty, and the final stage being a 10), the player is awarded a chance to play the extra stage, where Scream Squad by Calf is offered. If a AAA is scored and the stage is played on Hard Mode, the player gets to play One More Extra Stage, 冥 (Mei) by Amuro vs Killer, a song rated 12 on Another.
Music
| Genre | Song | Artist | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Synthetic Progressive Rock | "100% minimoo-G" | Sōta Fujimori | |
| Gothic Metal | "Agnus Dei" | あさき | from GuitarFreaks 10th Mix and Drummania 9th Mix |
| Trance Core | "Aurora" | Ryu☆ | |
| Natural Sound | "alla turca con passione" | Twin AmadeuS | |
| Nostalish Requiem | "CaptivAte～浄化～" | A/I | |
| K-Groove | "キャッシュレスは愛情消すティッシュ " (Cashless wa Aijoukesu Tissue) | GINGER | appeared on BEMANI EXPO (ASIA) |
| Acid Jazz | "Catch Me" | DJ Yoshitaka feat. ERi | |
| J-Pop Remix | "Don't let it go" | ウッチーズ | |
| BATTLE2005 | "double thrash" | 414 | appeared on BEMANI EXPO (BATTLE) |
| Hyper J-Pop Six | "EDEN" | TËЯRA | |
| E-Rock | "EMPTY OF THE SKY" | AKIRA YAMAOKA | |
| Techno Rave | "First Resolution" | good-cool | |
| Cyber Jazz | "FUNKTION" | ULTRAdoof | |
| Swing Waltz | "garden" | 青野りえ | |
| J-Eurobeat | "月光" (Gekkou) | Tatsh feat. 星野奏子 | |
| Rave | "Get'em up to R.A.V.E" | Disconation | |
| Broken Tek | "GREEN EYES" | SLAKE | |
| Happy Hardcore | "HAPPY☆ANGEL" | jun with TAHIRIH | |
| J-Happy Hardcore | "ヒマワリ" (Himawari) | 小坂りゆ | from GuitarFreaks 10th Mix and Drummania 9th Mix |
| Cyber J-Rock | "I am" | 有沢みはる from BeForU | |
| Click House | "in motion" | Ryu☆ | |
| Trance | "INAZUMA" | dj TAKA | |
| Happy Extreme | "LESSON 5" | Risk Junk feat. Erika Mochizuki | |
| Click House | "Listen up" | Mitsuto Suzuki | |
| Punk Opera | "Little Little Princess" | SHRINE 418 | appeared on BEMANI EXPO (RPG) |
| Drum'N'Bass | "Love Magic" | D.J.SWAN | |
| UK Progressive | "mind the gap" | Osamu Kubota | |
| Future House | "MOON RACE" | ELEKTEL | |
| Drum'N'Bass | "PATRIOTISM" | kobo | |
| Heart | "Pink Rose" | Kiyommy+Seiya | from Keyboardmania 3rd Mix |
| Synthesized Techno | "PLASMA" | Sōta Fujimori | |
| Hard Dance | "Pollinosis" | dj REMO-CON | |
| Eurobeat | "POODLE" | Y&Co. | |
| Digi-Rock | "rage against usual" | dj TAKA feat. Gt. Shintaro | |
| Techno | "Scripted Connection⇒" * | DJ MURASAME | |
| Big beat | "SEXYSEXYCHEVY" | MATALLY | |
| Makina | "SigSig" | kors k | |
| Dance Pop | "SPARK!" | SILVER FOX PRODUCTIONS feat. 星野奏子 | |
| Techno | "Tant pis pour toi" | AKIRA YAMAOKA | |
| MPB (Musica Popular Brasileira) | "Tizona d'El Cid" | TOMOSUKE | |
| Country Techno | "TOE JAM" | BIG IDEA | from Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 2 |
| Happy Euro Paradise | "Twelfth Style" | Tatsh&DAYBREAKERS NEXT | |
| J-Eurotrance | "Under the sky" | 南さやか (BeForU) with platoniX | |
| Electroshock | "vault of heaven" | Mr. T | |
| Anthem Trance | "Votum stellarum" | iconoclasm | from Pop'n Music 10 |
| Disco | "We are Disっ娘よっつ打ち命" (We are Disco Girls of the Four-Beat Life) | DANCE☆MAN feat.Disっ娘 | |
| Medieval Choir | "Xepher" | Tatsh | |
| Funk | "俺はビートマニア！お前は何マニア？" (I am Beatmania, You are Whatmania?) | DANCE☆MAN | |
| Hard Dance | "合体せよ!ストロングイェーガー!! (Ryu☆ remix)" (The Strong Jaeger (Ryu☆ remix)) | L.E.D. remixed by Ryu☆ | |
| Reggae | "ラクエン" (Rakuen) | Chonan Chiharu | |
| Breakcore | "SCREAM SQUAD" | CALF | Extra (ES) |
| Human Sequencer | "冥" (Mei) | Amuro vs Killer | Extra (OMES) |
| Regular Song | Unlock | Extra Stage |
|---|
Noted songs
Mei, the OMES of Happy Sky, is known for its Another chart, which is rated 12 on Another and contains exactly 2000 notes. It was once considered one of the most difficult songs in IIDX history, and is still notoriously difficult to clear in HARD mode due to the slowdown and speed up in the middle portion. Xepher gained more exposure outside of IIDX when it was one of several new IIDX crossovers featured in Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA, and later as part of a set of Bemani crossover unlocks in Toy's March 2 (which also included Mei). Scripted Connection sounds slightly different on each difficulty level, thus having 3 different "versions". DJ Murasame stated in a "bio" page for the song on Konami's Happy Sky microsite, that the 3 different versions could be played together one after the other at once, and suggested a situation where all 3 versions could be played sequentially using 3 IIDX cabinets next to each other.[3] The console version of Happy Sky would later include all 3 variations playable separately, and a long mix of all 3.
Home version
A home version of Happy Sky was released in Japan for the PlayStation 2 on December 14, 2006. The game includes 9 new songs, plus an unlockable "long mix" of Scripted Connection. The home version also features unlockable customization features and artwork.
CS exclusive songs
| Genre | Song | Artist | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nu Style Gabba | "BLUE MIRAGE" | DJ CHUCKY | Also Featured on AC PENDUAL |
| Drum & Bass | "DAWN -THE NEXT ENDEAVOUR-" | L.E.D. fw. 堀澤麻衣子 | Also featured in AC SIRIUS as Extra Stage in the HAPPY SKY Parallel Rotation folder. |
| Japanese Reggae | "Endless Summer Story" | DJ Yoshitaka feat. 星野奏子 | |
| Club Jazz | "IceCube Pf.(RX-Ver.S.P.L.)" | 高田雅史 | |
| Happy Hardcore | "in the Sky" | Ryu☆ | |
| Nu School Breaks | "Just a Little Smile" | Sōta Fujimori | |
| Pops | "Recollection" | Noria (with dj TAKA) | Also featured on AC SPADA. |
| Bossa Electronica | "Reflection into the EDEN" | 猫又Master | Also Featured on AC Tricoro. |
| Techno | "Scripted Connection⇒ N mix" c | DJ MURASAME | |
| Techno | "Scripted Connection⇒ H mix" c | DJ MURASAME | |
| Techno | "Scripted Connection⇒ A mix" c | DJ MURASAME | |
| Techno | "Scripted Connection⇒ long mix" a | DJ MURASAME | |
| Trance | "風の谷のDREAM" (Kaze no Tani no DREAM) | PINK PONG | |
| World/Electronica | "サヨナラ＊ヘヴン" (Sayonara Heaven) | 猫又Master | From Pop'n Music 11 (CS). Also featured in AC SIRIUS as Extra Stage in the HAPPY SKY Parallel Rotation folder. |
| Happy Hardcore | "LOVELY STORM -LOVE IS DREAMINESS RE-INTERPRETATION-" b | L.E.D.-G |
aScripted Connection Long Mix can only be played by launching the "7-kyu" course in Class mode in a specific manner.
bLOVELY STORM replaces LOVE IS DREAMINESS if played on the Another difficulty. The song gained a full set of charts in DJ Troopers.
cIn the arcade version of Happy Sky, each "version" of Scripted Connection can be unlocked separately.
Soundtrack
The original soundtrack for Happy Sky was released on October 19, 2005. The soundtrack spans 2 discs, and includes the console-exclusive songs from 9th Style, plus 6 long versions.
External links
- Official home page (in Japanese)
- IIDX Gateway (in Japanese)
References
- Foster, Neil (April 1, 2013). "Beatmania (page 8)". Hardcore Gaming 101. Kontek. Archived from the original on July 23, 2019. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
- "overall on beatmania IIDX". Konami. Konami. 1999. Archived from the original on February 6, 2007. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
- "Scripted Connection song bio" (in Japanese). Konami. Retrieved 2008-12-15.