Guitar Freaks & Beatmania

[Soundwave]

Guys this might be a VERY daft question but is Guitar Freaks the NTSC/J version of Guitar Heroes & if so is it playable???

I really fancy a go of Guitar Heroes but I only have a JAP machine & really cant be bothered with getting it chipped or trying to find a set of Swap Magic discs so just wanted to check see if it's worth bothering with a JAP version or not

Also what version of Beatmania is best to buy as a complete novice with no experience of the series whatsoever??

Thanks

Neil

[fuse]

Guitar Freaks is a completely different game to Guitar Hero; it's 3 buttons instead of 5, for starters, and has a completely different presentation style/songlist/skill level. As with Beatmania, it's part of Konami's Bemani series - which I am a major advocate of Personally I adore GF and it's challenge, and got very sick of Guitar Hero quickly. There's now 14 different arcade GF titles (along with 13 Drum Mania titles which pair up with each other), and the PS2 home versions are getting back up to speed now which is great news.

It's a lot less beginner-friendly than GH, and in general gets way tougher. Beatmania's also a very difficult game at it's higher levels, but I'm pretty sure that all versions since 6th have included Beginner mode to break you in, so they should all be pretty safe bets. Happy Sky and RED (the most recent ones) are very popular for their snazzy interfaces, and whilst I'd comment on their music that's all very personal and probably isn't going to be much help

[toythatkills]

Guitar Freaks is a different game. Plays very similarly, but with Japanese music.

[Soundwave]

Ah well I may just avoid GF then might be a bit much for me, but I'm quite tempted by Beatmania.

I guess the controller is a pretty important purchase for the games or are they playable without to begin with?? (Just thinking about trying the game first then getting the controller once I know if I like it or not)

Thanks for the info.

Neil

[fuse]

I wouldn't really recommend either without the controller, Beatmania especially

I've probably put you off by highlighting how tough GF gets, but it's also worth mentioning that it's very, very rewarding. Top level play is a sight to behold, let alone be able to do.

[elaniel]

if you need the beatmania controller. its like 26 quid from play-asia.com and is shipped from within the EU if you check out the EU section on there.

i would highly recomend the controller as its very hard wtihout... plus i found 8th mix quite easy to begin with...

[Bort]

I've been looking to get Guitar freaks recently but haven't found anywhere that sells the controller as cheap as lik-sang did. Did lik-sang sell off their stock to anyone or is there another site that sells them cheap?

[Soundwave]

I wouldn't really recommend either without the controller, Beatmania especially

I've probably put you off by highlighting how tough GF gets, but it's also worth mentioning that it's very, very rewarding. Top level play is a sight to behold, let alone be able to do.

Oh it's not the difficuly thing with GF I think it's more down to the language barrier & not knowing the songs I'd be playing...half the fun of Heroes would be playing along to songs I know & I dont think that would be possible with GF.

Well I shall deffinitley look into a copy of Beatmania & a controller then
Been thinking it might be Beatmania IIDX 10th Style as reading up on it over at Play Asia it seems the easiest for beginners to get into & 88 songs should keep me busy for ages

Neil