Beatmania or Guitar Hero?

[Cheez]

I think it depends largely on what you want to get out of your purchase. I'll give my brief opinions on the two games:

Guitar Hero is a "fun" game. It's easy to get into, it has songs people know, it's great for parties due to the easy "pick up and play" factor. Though after you get used to the 5th button, the challenge will be pretty much drained within a couple of months if you play regularly.

Beatmania is a "serious" game. It's harder to get into due to the learning curve, it's not as good for parties since people have a hard time playing it and get intimidated by it easily after failing the easiest songs their first times. But it will last a lot longer as far as challenge goes, taking likely years to be able to clear the hardest songs.

I'd say if you're looking for a party-ish game that you don't need to devote a lot of time to, go for Guitar Hero, but if you're looking for something to just play by yourself mostly and have the patience and time to get good, go for Beatmania. That's my 2 cents.

[Iman]

[Jimizzle]

[dropoutextreme]

1. This Should be on Other Music Games forum
2. Guitar Heroes. Better music, easier to set up (dont have to clear off the table).
3. Totally biased choice, just go for the one that your gut tells you.
4. If all else fails, flip a coin
5. DON'T question the decision of the coin

[CStarFlare]

Depends on a few factors:

-What kind of game do you want?

Guitar Hero is a great party game, and has a very solid single player experiance. It's got a wide variety of difficulty and a steady learning curve; you won't have any trouble picking it up and tearing through the easy difficulty level (and maybe the others). However, I find that scoring (and if it's an issue, passing) is more heavily based on how strategically you use your Star Power than how good you actually are. The gameplay is awesome, but I don't think it's as well suited for seriously competative play as Beatmania is.

Beatmania is less accessable; you need to WANT to play it to be able to do even halfway decent on easy songs. As such it's not as much a "hey guys come over and play this new game I got" game as Guitar Hero is. However, the EX scoring system makes for a much better competative experiance. Also, alongside the steep learning curve it's much more difficult than GH is. People play for years without being able to pass everything, whereas everything in GH had been passed the day it was released.

-What kind of music do you like?

If you're into more mainstream rock-and-roll stuff, Guitar Hero is the way to go. The covers are for the most part well done, and there's tons of recognizable music at your fingertips. However, they're all original length, which means songs can go on for 5+ minutes.

Beatmania is a great choice if you like DDR music, though this mainly applies to the 7 Key songs.

As a longtime Beatmania player who's got all the Japanese relases anyway, I'd go for GH over beatmania US (at least, if I had to chose which one to get first). However, if you're seriously interested in picking up beatmania and this is your first beatmania game, I'd say go for that one.

PS Since I guess I can still do this, moved.

[Tobias Preener]

Forgot that you're a mod, CStar?

Anyway, I've made my descision. Im gonna get Beatmania first. I think I would get more pride out of that game, and I am dedicated. I saw that Quasar AAA video, and I wanna get that good someday. And Ive never played Beatmania before, and I think ill have more fun with it. Thanks, you guys.

PS-I think this is one of the few threads where people actually say theyve made their descision
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[Mr. A]

[almo]

Here's my Guitar Hero article.

I'd say that if you want a good solid game with full-length high quality music tracks, get GH. It's not as hard as Beatmania though. If you want a hardcore game that will challenge you more, get Beatmania. In terms of features, the main thing BM has over GH is a good training mode. In terms of controller, they both come with excellent controllers. Tough choice, really. Ideally you should get both.
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Almo!
PSP Programmer
http://theaxenalmo.blogspot.com

[RTP!]

IIDX has a steep learning curve. GH doesn't.

IIDX > GH
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[jpoppyz]

guitar hero-overrated.

lets see, it got so many awards for being innovative, but how long has guitar freaks been out in japan? 7, 8 years? Ugh, i hate that game. No speed mods, uncomfortable controller, not enough songs, no "shorter" versions of songs(i like it when there shorter, maybe that would make the game not so uncomfortable to play), and no extremely fun songs(spanish castle magic is the best on there).

beatmania is a solid choice. Picked it up a couple days ago for $60 at best buy. Comfortable controller, good songs, great rhythem; i feel like im making these songs as i play. It's very hard(i can only play begginer 1-2 on IIDX, on just beatmania i can pass 3s), and although the songlist isnt amazing it's solid.

And for how much you would spend to import the japanese controller($70, yikes), now you have an affordable one plus you can make sure its your cup of tea before you go out and spend $60 on a japanese beatmania mix.

You'll get more longevity out of beatmania, because once your done with this mix, you can go out and import away!

Don't listen to the media; beatmania owns guitar hero.

MTV is just trying to kill music games the way it killed music. Isn't that ironic? Yes, very. Don't worry though, im sure guitar hero 2 will have all your favorite fallout boy and panic at the disco sellout emo boy bands in it.

Take your crappy music, i'll sit in a corner and listen to naoki while you find you're next artist that sounds the same as the last every month.

[almo]

[mcgavin27]

get Guitar hero first and then beatmania later. Both games are well worth the purchase but I would recommend guitar hero first since it is a little easier to get into and has a party appeal to it.

[jpoppyz]

im sorry guys, but why is everyone so gaga over guitar hero? And where did i say guitar freaks was better than guitar hero? I personally think unless the songlist COMPLETELY blew me away it would feature basically the same repetitive gameplay as guitar hero. Forget songlists. Forget presentation. What about the CORE GAMEPLAY? Guitar Hero-Doesnt grade you on percision, doesnt give you a combo meter, doesnt offer much rhythem challenge, as long as you strum and hit the right fret button, you get the same, doesnt really matter the timing. Guitar Hero could have been so much more, and i was really looking forward to it. But it was too easy and had no real depth. The songlist was "meh" at best(i mean they're were a few good songs but nothing like the immigrant song or any good led songs, i cant let the led out!), and a bunch of stuff that could have been fixed up with a few more months in development.

and also, ive never even played guitar freaks. Im just saying, its been out for a long time and a game that was probably dubbed something like "american rocker game" during development probably got the gameplay idea from guitar freaks.

Now, let me explain why beatmania is better.
1. Percision. Unlike guitar hero, it actually grades you based on how you time you beats. Maybe guitar hero was meant for nongamers, but if your a hardcore music game person, beatmania is for you.
2. Speed mods. Customize at ease, so you can see the patterns scroll down at a pace of your liking.
3. Good controller. Solid and not "cheap feeling" like the guitar hero controller. For some reason, the guitar hero controller feels akwardly cheap in my hands. Maybe its because the fret buttons make a loud, "clickity" noise when i hit them and the stum thing is far to tight.

Conclusion: hardcore DDR freaks; point your finger at beatmania and chuckle at the inferior "cool" kids who thing guitar hero is the most amazing thing ever. Truly, the hardcore like challenge, something guitar hero doesn't have. Basically, once you start on hard, you realize the controller is so goddamn uncomfortable you don't wanna play again. So i guess there is challenge, but when the challenge comes from struggling due to the piece of s*** controller i guess its not good challenge. Beatmania is for real music game fanatics who like steady beats and know how to keep a good rhythem going. Guitar hero is for wannabe rockers who don't have any skill at music games or the guitar alike. Who are you? thats what you must ask when purchasing one of the 2.

[R.]

[triad.spacefight]

[R.]

[zaphod]

Gah!

Guitar Hero doesn't grade on precision for a reason. Playing a real guitar is not about perfect precision, people!

If you get the notes right, hae decent technique, and manage to keep wit the beat you're doing fine an drocking. and that is exactly what this game tries to capture. and, judging by the rave reviews, I think it suceeded.
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Stick Fighter Revolution Turbo Mega Alpha +4 Ned

[Flazh]

Let's be fair, most people here would see every copy of Guitar Hero in the world burn, before giving up IIDX to it. I know I would never choose Guitar Hero over IIDX, but tbh its not a hard choice, just pick one that you think will be fun. That's what games are about, not about elitism (oh boy the Bemani community knows a LOT about that), so just take a look at them in the store and just pick one that looks fun... do you want to pretend to play the guitar or pretend to be a DJ?

[Edible Bondage Tape]

i have both games and i got them both on the day they came out

i perfer beatmania over guitar hero even though for the most part i like the music in GH more (save for all the in house stuff and the dredful cheat on the church) but i just get more of a feeling of accomplishment with beatmania plus it just feels more fun


though the next music game i get shall be the king of all music and rythem based games

keyboardmania
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[mthegreatone]