Hi Keby, I go during the workweek normally.  But I play the gitadora for hours on end.  my gamecard says "AlphaConqrr" so if you see me, you'll know me.  Up for sessioning anytime.  Don't usually go on Sundays though...

Also when you say "unlocks" do you mean the Bear Garden stuff?  That's the only unlock I'm aware of-every time I finish a game I get a "QR" code that has some anime girls on it but not certain what, if anything, I can do with it.  Since I assume it is to be used with some Japanese Bemani phone app.

Oh, you mean the QR code that unlocks 回レ！雪月花? If I recall, it's not tied to any particular app. Just scan the code and it will take you to a website where you're asked to enter your email address (the one that's tied to your KONAMI ID, or it won't work). Click on the link in the subsequent email from Konami and voila, new song unlocked! Other than that, the game doesn't have any unlockable songs at the moment other than from the BEMANI-wide events. The Bear Garden only unlocks stickers for you to able to customize your player sheet from the e-amusement site.

And about the free credits thing: this site shows which games are eligible for you to be able to receive the credit and you only get that free credit if you've never played the game before with your e-amusement pass and are logging into the game for the first time.

Anyway, now that I'm back home for a little while, I'll see if I can visit this place at least once for one last BEMANI fix before I go back to school again. Should be fun, although $1.50 per credit seems a little harsh in terms of pricing, especially if it doesn't include all the features that come with standard play.

$1.50 a credit isn't exactly the most accurate way to put it. Round1 uses a card system, and you buy credits (with a base cost of $.25 a credit). However, if you buy in bulk ($20 or more, I believe), you receive some free credits to go with it ($30 will get you the base 120 credits, plus 30 bonus credits). So this effectively lowers the cost of the music games to about $1.20 thereabouts.

Even though you probably have no need for it if you're only planning on visiting with one or two visits to go I would add about 20 or 30 dollars onto a card. It'll last you for a few hours worth of Bemani games with a Club card. You get more credits with a club card instead of a game card.

I'm usually there on weekday nights, and I'm noticing a disturbing trend of people tapping on my shoulders, trying to have a conversation by yelling into my ears, taking pictures of me with their phones... all while I'm playing.

Also a lot of people putting their beer glass on top of machines... usually when a staff spots this they'll ask them to put it on the ground, but pretty soon someone's going to spill beer all over pop'n / IIDX / SDVX controllers.

The pads on prime are starting to need some work, especially the 1P side. It's starting to feel like the Fiesta 2 that was at Acme. It also looks like the legs under the pads were never used so it's just sitting on the wheels and starting to shake a lot while playing. Infinity is starting to shake a lot too. Thanks dudes.

Yeah, the center legs on both were never lowered, so the stage is supported by the outside legs, the inside wheels, and the metal brackets holding the two sides together. You can notice the stage bouncing/bending inward in the center.

I just heard about this place on Wednesday so I decided to stop by.  Today marks the first time I've seen a IIDX arcade machine, let alone played on one!  I played a few rounds, the buttons feel godly compared to the US KOC.  It was fairly bust today, but no one was really playing IIDX.  Just one other guy occasionally.  The machine facing away from the bowling lanes was quite loud - my ears are still ringing a bit.

What is this e-amuse stuff?  Is it worth it to get a card?  What do I do with the card once I have it?  I saw a numpad on the left of the machine - what is that?

The e-amuse cards are $10, and enable you to track scores and unlock stuff (though the main unlocking events for Pendual ended a few weeks ago, but there's still some stuff available to unlock). The number pad is primarily for entering the PIN to the card (the first time you use it, you need to set one), but it also has some in-game functions (the two that come to mind are swapping between Single and Double while picking a song and enabling the EXPAND-JUDGE modifier...makes the timing windows enormous, but won't save scores). Using a card will also cause modifiers to carry over between plays (though this is a double-edged sword, I forgot to turn off Hard mode once...ahem).

It sounds like the card is practically necessary for Sound Voltex, though I've not played that so I don't know.

I've been there a few Sundays (was not there today), and that seems to be fairly slow as far as IIDX is concerned.

Yeah, that's what I meant.  Thanks.  Been using Bear Garden and have blinged out my playercard =) but didn't want to miss out on any songs.

I hadn't even tried to open the QR code on my phone so that's what I get for giving up without even trying, heh.

To the cost situation, if you buy a club card for $5 and then fund the card at $29 a pop (for $30 worth of credits + bonus credits) it works out to 150 credits for $34, and then every funding thereafter is 150 credits for $29.

So at $34 you are paying $1.36 a game; and at $29 you are paying $1.16 a game.


Well, you're at the mall with a lot of people who have never seen these games before so I understand when people get excited about it.  In my subjective experience however, people wait between songs before asking me about Gitadora...and the IIDX games seem louder than Gitadora so they are probably speaking louder to compensate.    I have noticed the beer situation-actually a guy playing gitadora who i remember from a few years back was drinking a beer and left the pint by the Gitadora machine somewhat unattended.  He did come back and take it away later however.  I'm surprised they even are letting people out of the bar area with those drinks...

Is there a guide somewhere for Sound Voltex's unlock system or Gitadora's 'Bear Garden'?

Play Skill Analyzer, obtain a rank, allowing you to pick more difficult songs in LIGHT START.

There is a shop menu at the end of the game. Buy songs there with in-game credits.

Do missions: https://www.reddit.com/r/bemani/comments/3dxfdk/complete_guide_on_sdvx_missions_translated_from/

Also it seems like you unlock songs for playing up to 3 times a day by collecting stamps?

Oh good to know, thanks!  How would you use the card at the machine?  I didn't see a place to swipe it (except for the pay slot, but I would think that was only for payment?).

They're not "swipe" cards, they're more "tap" cards.  There should be a white or grey square/rectangle with that odd little at-sign logo printed on it.  There will also be a numeric keypad nearby, since you enter a 4-digit passcode to identify yourself as the owner of that e-amuse card.  Put in your credit, then tap your e-amuse card against that location instead of pressing Start.  (If you're playing a machine that gives your first play free, skip putting in the credit and just tap your card.)  It should ask you for your passcode if you've used the card before, or step you through the 'picking your passcode' routine if you haven't.

On the IIDX machines, it's off to the right side of the monitor.  [Maybe they're on both sides, I'm a Player Two side player.]  On SDVX, it's in the upper left of the control area.  Again, if you look for the keypad you should find it.  (IIDX might have a cloth draped over the keypad.)  I can't remember where it was on Gitadora, but it wasn't difficult to find.  The version of Pop 'n Music at Seattle Round One doesn't use e-amuse cards.


E-amuse "odd little at-sign" logo:  link

I think that's going away on the 31st of this month as part of a summer festival event. (Source?)

As far as the bear garden stuff goes, you get 20 "seeds" or whatever every time you play (as well as bonus seeds for doing tasks that you can see at the end of your round) and you can use those seeds to plant bears that give you miscellaneous items. Most of the things I get are stickers I can use to put on my player card (which I can access through the tri-boost official website.) I haven't seen any official guides on unlocks for Gitadora (Most unlocks I can think of are long version songs which are limited to standard starts) and for SDVX I just find the song on RemyWiki and fulfill the requirements. A lot of good songs are usually obtained from POLICY BREAK events, anyway.

A question for SDVX players, a recent update came out with a 5th episode of story (where you attack enemies and what not), but I have no idea what the squad select screen actually does. Is it something you can tweak with an eamusement subscription or is it just a character select with only one character?

For IIDX (and likely the others), you can actually scan your card and authenticate it before you put your credit in the machine. In fact, I recommend doing this, as there was one point the last time I was at Round1 where I think their internet connection dropped, and I wasn't able to use my card for one session (and their credit card systems were down for a bit when I later tried to go put more money on my game card). Since then I've been scanning my e-amuse card before putting my credit in (IIDX will not deduct the credit until you make a choice at the Step Up/Standard/Expert/Class/Free screen). Obviously this won't work if the network is offline.

Also, IIDX has readers on both sides, to distinguish who's scanning a card when two people are playing at once.

Agreed, tap your eamuse card before putting any credits in. This will make sure that you don't accidentally start the game without authenticating. This works for IIDX / gitadora / SDVX

Sweet, thanks for the info guys!

Someone at Round1 must read this thread, because the sound on Gitadora (the drums, I didn't check the guitar) was like 2x louder today.  I actually think it is a bit too loud now, and am a bit worried that bowling patrons may complain.  I also imagine the IIDX facing the bowling alley now has even more sound to compete with.

In short, *I* like the sound change but probably didn't need to be that much.  Maybe dial it back from 11, to 8?  Assuming that before it was a 5, heh.

And if no one here works at Round1 then I guess I'm talking to myself...

No one at R1 read it, I just asked them to turn it up and they let me set it in the operator menu. I didn't know how loud it would be in-game, and the operator menu volume preview was TOTALLY not representative of how loud it is in-game. It was originally set to 20/22 for BGM and SE (drum sounds) respectively; I turned it up to 28/28. It should probably be at 26/26 or so. I'm sure they'll turn it down for you if you ask for a "mechanic" (what R1 calls techs) at the front desk. It is definitely a little too loud right now; hopefully we can get it to a good level and leave it there.

GF also hasn't had its volumes adjusted at all. It uses the same speaker system so I imagine the same levels as DM would work well for it. I'll probably be stopping by again in the next day or two so I can try and get it taken care of if you want.

When I went to play IIDX on Sunday, I noticed that no one played except for one other person (who obviously had been playing a long time).  I didn't see anyone try it for the first time.  I can't but think that it's because everything is in Japanese (hell I don't even know the difference between step up, standard, free, ...).  I'm surprised that no one from R1 has at least put a small "how to" guide so that brand new players don't get stomped.  That + the 6 credits has to keep people away.  It might something to start getting more people interested, and that would keep money flowing into the machines.

I want to make guides, here on the website but possibly also to print out and give to round1 to use. Anyone interested in helping?

I've run into three songs so far in the Bemani games at Round One that are familiar from other sources.  Sound Voltex has (at least) two songs that were in the Project Diva games -- Megane (Glasses) and Roshin Yuukai (Meltdown)... I suspect there are others.  Gitadora has Kimi No Shiranai Monogatari, which I've played a fan-done version of in Project Diva, but which was apparently the ending theme for a series called Bakemonogatari.

Any other songs that might be familiar from other sources?

I may be able to help in coming up what to write (for IIDX, that's all I know).  Though if it's more than a page (including pictures) I don't think many people will look.

Isn't this something that Round 1 staff should do?  Or is Round 1 more of a "we'll give you guys the tools, you do what you want with it" type of company?  I noticed there were some "they let me fiddle with the volume in the operator's panel" posts so I'm curious.

I'm not sure if it's really reasonable to expect arcade employees to put together stuff like that. Though the point about people not looking much if it's longer than a page could be an issue.

If there's something I could help out with in putting something together, I'd be happy to help.