Got it!

Arka · Post by **Arka** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 7:40 am

MonMotha wrote:RAIDEN SAYS PLAY MORE IIDX!!!

Seriously, it's a fun game, but it does have an extremely steep learning curve. I still suck at it, and I've been playing it for over a year... Just stick with it, and you'll get better. It gets really fun once you start being able to do real charts.

ROTFL. That's great.

...Wait, there's only one controller on it.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Cbav · Post by **Cbav** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 9:33 am

aaaawesome cabinet. lol

Yeah, so I can pass V on beginner! YAY!

I'm experiencing the nooby excitement of noticing quick growth in skill! Like back in the day when I bought DDR Konamix and played for over 10 hours. ^_^

ANYWAY, This mix has some pretty lame songs. I need a new one.
Any suggestions...?

Arka · Post by **Arka** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 11:00 am

LOL. Yeah, I know what you mean. Yesterday I went, "YAAY! I can finally do 5s on Hyper!", and then realized that everyone else was probably way past me.

Do you have a Japanese PS2 or are you using a flip-top to play imports? I seem to recall something about IIDX-10 not working with the flip-top, so you might want to stay away from that one. Can anyone confirm?

Oh, yeah, if I'm going to be getting that NTSC-J PS2 maybe I should think about importing new IIDX mixes. Hrm.

Cbav · Post by **Cbav** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 10:42 am

My PS(two) has the flip top / I use Swap Magic.

Mainly bought it for my DDR Extreme (jp) game my bro got in Japan.
So JP IIDX Games would be awesome. I just need to figure out where and how i can get my hands on some. =\

Arka · Post by **Arka** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 11:51 am

Well, there's always www.play-asia.com, which is currently having a pretty decent sale. (For instance, you can get IIDX Red for... $53.00, including shipping?) If you use VJArmy, do them a favor and buy your game through their links there; they receive a referral fee, which in turn helps to keep VJArmy running.

I've also heard people use www.yesasia.com and Toys and Joys. I have tried none of these places, but I've noticed that Play-Asia has the best prices overall while Toys and Joys' dedicated beatmania section says it has some of the older beatmania games that are really hard to find. (They have prices listed all the way back to beatmania - NOT IIDX - 2nd mix. That's dedication.

)

Traditional importers would make direct contact with a friend in Japan and/or use a physical import shop; however, I am a lazy soon-to-be internet importer, and know nothing of such places.

And of course, the final option is taking a holiday to Japan.

This seems like a good topic for a general thread, and if you don't get more responses here I might start one.

Edit: note that Toys'n Joys also has a dedicated Konami music section, organized for the convenience of Bemani nuts everywhere. And despite the fact that it refers to Konami music in the title, it also includes the music games that aren't technically Bemani but really should count anyway (like Taiko no Tatsujin). I like these people.

danc1005 · Post by **danc1005** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 12:36 pm

Along with PlayAsia, Lik-Sang is also a pretty good site with (if I remember correctly) nice prices for imported stuff. I *think* the URL is http://www.lik-sang.com , but if that doesn't work, just Google "Lik-Sang" or something like that.

EDIT: Just checked the site, and, keep the link for future reference, but as far as their beatmania selection goes, they only have IIDX 9th and 11th style (RED).

Arka · Post by **Arka** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 12:42 pm

Oh, cool - their prices are better than PlayAsia's normal prices, though the selection is not as good. Edit: no, I have no idea whether this is still true once the value-added tax comes into the equation. Dan, comments?

For shipping reasons they're also a much better choice than PlayAsia if you're not in the U.S., but I assume that doesn't apply to you, Cbav.

Cbav · Post by **Cbav** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:13 am

Alright. thx.

I still need to find a good game to get. Red?
Or maybe a different one, with a good song list.

Arka · Post by **Arka** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 1:14 am

There seems to be a lot of love for Red out there, and it is discounted at PlayAsia. But I personally have no experience with any of the Japanese mixes (yet), so I can't advise you. Let's hope someone with more experience drops by this thread to advise us... hint, hint...

Sorry. I'm trying to figure out what I should think about importing, too, so I'm being all insecure and advice-needy. I recognize that your request for input probably wasn't directed at me personally... or at all.

If it does anything for you, you can register on the Bemanistyle forums and inquire in their Beatmania section. It's a much larger forum than IndyDDR, so you'll probably get more responses. The downside is that many of its members are idiots, so the opinions you get may be less valuable...

danc1005 · Post by **danc1005** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 6:53 am

Arka wrote:Edit: no, I have no idea whether this is still true once the value-added tax comes into the equation. Dan, comments?

I've actually never bought anything from them, so I have no idea either. I just have a huge database of various useful websites in my head...

pimpmachine · Post by **pimpmachine** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 7:04 am

Arka wrote:There seems to be a lot of love for Red out there, and it is discounted at PlayAsia. But I personally have no experience with any of the Japanese mixes (yet), so I can't advise you. Let's hope someone with more experience drops by this thread to advise us... hint, hint...

IIDX Red is the best one released yet in my opinion. although the styles do get progessively harder. a L7 song on Red is way different than a L7 song on even 7th or 8th style. Red still has some easy ones but the harder ones are like mid level 7K songs. so if youre just beginning, maybe get another earlier style with it or try an earlier style but do get Red sometime cuz its awesome. but all of the japanese mixes are good for the most part. get em all!!!!

Post by Ho » Mon Jul 24, 2006 8:44 am

Just to chime in...

6th Style seems to be a "classic" that a lot of people like to have in the same way that a lot of people seem to favor pop'n 8 over in the pop'n world. 6th Style also has the Tatsujin videos where you can watch the likes of DJ LISU and DJ AGOP play with a sickening level of skill that will make darn near anyone feel like a noob.

However, the newer interface beginning with 9th Style and refined/enhanced through RED really do make the gameplay experience very enjoyable.

Personally, I've purchased most of my games through YesAsia, but I've had good experiences with all of the merchants that have been listed: Play-Asia, Lik-Sang, and Toys 'n Joys.

Incidentally, my first big Bemani import purchase was from TnJ. I bought DDR 2nd Mix and two pads...for Dreamcast! Does that date me?

Fluffyumpkins · Post by **Fluffyumpkins** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:43 am

I enjoy the Drill Mode on 6th. I think it really helps in learning basic techniques that will appear time and time again. It actually remindes me a lot of mission mode except you almost never play the entire song.

Arka · Post by **Arka** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 1:59 pm

Ho wrote:Just to chime in...

6th Style seems to be a "classic" that a lot of people like to have in the same way that a lot of people seem to favor pop'n 8 over in the pop'n world. 6th Style also has the Tatsujin videos where you can watch the likes of DJ LISU and DJ AGOP play with a sickening level of skill that will make darn near anyone feel like a noob.

I wanna see Lisu play. He's the classical pianist, right?

Ho wrote:Personally, I've purchased most of my games through YesAsia, but I've had good experiences with all of the merchants that have been listed: Play-Asia, Lik-Sang, and Toys 'n Joys.

Thanks - this is VERY nice to know.

Ho wrote:Incidentally, my first big Bemani import purchase was from TnJ. I bought DDR 2nd Mix and two pads...for Dreamcast! Does that date me?

...Wow. <worships>

Did you buy them in the store or off the website? I'm of the impression that you lived in Hawaii for a while, but I don't know how recently that was (or even which island), so...

pimpmachine wrote:get em all!!!!

Sadly, this is probably what I'll end up doing.

dance1005 wrote:I've actually never bought anything from them, so I have no idea either. I just have a huge database of various useful websites in my head...

HA! Fount-of-info solidarity, brother.

Fluffyumpkins wrote:I enjoy the Drill Mode on 6th. I think it really helps in learning basic techniques that will appear time and time again. It actually remindes me a lot of mission mode except you almost never play the entire song.

Interesting. For those of you (like me) who didn't know what Drill Mode was, VJArmy's Beatmania IIDX infowiki has very useful information on the specific features of the different mixes. I should probably have pointed this out in the first place, actually... maybe I hadn't stumbled across it yet.

Too many words.

Post by Ho » Mon Jul 24, 2006 2:06 pm

Arka wrote:
Ho wrote:Incidentally, my first big Bemani import purchase was from TnJ. I bought DDR 2nd Mix and two pads...for Dreamcast! Does that date me?
...Wow. <worships>

Did you buy them in the store or off the website? I'm of the impression that you lived in Hawaii for a while, but I don't know how recently that was (or even which island), so...

Website.

I have family in Hawaii (my Dad's family is there). I have visited several times, but I have never lived there. Most of the family is on Oahu, but there's some on the Big Island, also.