History VideoGame / SoundVoltex

The special difficulty level for this game is Vivid (VVD). A new feature, Automation Paradise, is also introduced.

The other big distinction is that most of its soundtrack consists mostly of remixes of songs from other Bemani games by doujin musicians; but through DownloadableContent, this aspect quickly went out of control as the game began to be flooded with Music/{{Vocaloid}} songs and VideoGame/{{Touhou}} remixes (and even long-time meme songs like "Bad Apple", "Help me, ERINNNNNN!!", and even the Nyan Cat song).

** ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' has a particularly large presence, featuring Appeal Cards of the characters and several ''Touhou'' arranges. In fact, ''Sound Voltex II'' had a location test at the ''Touhou''-centric Reitaisai 10 convention in 2013. It certainly helps that Mayumi Morinaga, a prominent BEMANI vocalist, is also a vocalist for ''Touhou'' arrange circle Yuuhei Satellite. There are so many ''Touhou'' arranges that they got their own category in SDVX II.

** Some charts have a disproportionately high number of knob trails compared to button notes. [[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} #Fairy_dancing_in_lake]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-besX2LIXo8 EXH]] is one of the more infamous examples of this.

** [[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} Attack on Dwarf]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq8JfwAkfU8 EXH]] takes this UpToEleven. The chart has a maximum chain of 1700, but only contains 24 FX taps and 4 BT holds, which contribute 141 to the chain. The rest is knobs.

* DarkerAndEdgier: ''GRAVITY WARS'' comes after ''infinite infection'' and features a black and orange interface, [[AutobotsRockOut heavy use of guitar]] in its system music, and a title screen depicting Grace, the BigBad of the game, looming over the {{Series Mascot}}s.

** A stage/song is referred to as a "track". Perhaps a subversion, as "track" is the correct catch-all term for music compositions, while the proper definition of "song" is "a composition written for singing", [[YouKeepUsingThatWord but "song" is used more widely]].

** ''Sound Voltex II'' ups the ante by introducing the Infinite difficulty, which is only available for select songs. ''Sound Voltex III'' and ''IV'' have Gravity and Heavenly difficulty, which are alternative names for this difficulty; the name used depends on which game the chart was introduced in.
** ''Sound Voltex IV'' adds Maximum difficulty, which sits between Exhaust and Infinite/Gravity/Heavenly.
* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: Novice (NOV), Advanced (ADV), Exhaust (EXH), Maximum (MXM[[note]]In itself an idiosyncratic way of abbreviating "maximum", which is traditionally shortened to "max"[[/note]]), Infinite (INF) / Gravity (GRV) / Heavenly (HVN)[[note]]which of these three difficulty names is used depends on what game the chart debuted in[[/note]].

** Kamome Sano's cutesy french dessert-themed songs like choux a la creme, crepe suzette and eclair au chocolait.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: You see that character on that song jacket (provided it's not a Vocaloid or Touhou song)? [[http://p.eagate.573.jp/game/sdvx/iii/p/chara/index.html There's a 95% chance that character has a name and a bio]]. Yes, even the triangle [[note]]It's name is Tsumabuki[[/note]].

* ''Sound Voltex Exceed Gear'' (TBA) -- current version \\

* ''Sound Voltex Vivid Wave'' (2019)
The special difficulty level for this game is Vivid (VVD). A new feature, Automation Paradise, is also introduced.\\

* ''Sound Voltex Vivid Wave'' (2019) -- current version \\

* ''Sound Voltex Exceed Gear'' (TBA) \\

* ''Sound Voltex Exceed Gear'' (TBA)

* BigBad: Grace in ''Sound Voltex III''. Later she and her other companions get a {{HeelFaceTurn Heel-Face Turn}} by ''Sound Voltex IV''.

* BigBad: Grace in ''Sound Voltex III''. Later she and her other companions get a {{HeelFaceTurn}} by ''Sound Voltex IV''.

* BigBad: Grace in ''Sound Voltex III''. Later she and her other companions get a [[HeelFaceTurn]] by ''Sound Voltex IV''.

** The 7th KAC: After being inactive/missing from BEMANI for about two years, chiptune composer Chroma suddenly appears with the winning song ''I''. Absolutely no one in the crowd expected him - not even the players!

* ButWaitTheresMore: After iLLness [=LiLin=] is played at the 6th KAC, Cody announces shortly afterward that there will be a second finals song for the players.

** The difficulty levels: Novice = Purple, Advanced = Yellow, Exhaust = Red, Infinite = Rainbow/[[PurpleisPowerful Purple]] in SDVX IV, Gravity = Orange, Maximum = Black, Heavenly = Blue/White

* ''Sound Voltex IV: Heavenly Haven'' (2016) -- current version \\

* ''Sound Voltex Vivid Wave'' (TBA) -- upcoming version

* LighterAndSofter: Unlike ''BOOTH'', which primarily uses a blue and black interface, ''infinite infection'' uses a primarily pink and white interface. Also, ''Heavenly Haven'' uses a blue and white interface in contrast to ''Gravity Wars''[='=]s black and orange, more similar to the likes of DDR A and IIDX Happy Sky, and doesn't seem to a [[BigBad villain]] of some sort...yet.

* SuddenlyVoiced: Voltenizer Maxima actually has voiced lines in "TWO-TORIAL", telling you to "Listen..." (to the background track) and then "Go!" (replicate what you just heard by playing the relevant portion of the chart). The same gimmick is repeated for the AprilFoolsDay track "Maxima sensei no mankai!! HEAVENLY kouza".

** The 8th KAC: Before both songs were revealed, dj TAKA announces that there will be two winning songs for the KAC once again. Speaking of inactive/missing artists, Kabocha's ''ΣmbryØ'' was announced as the first winner, rendering even the MC's shocked. As for the second song, MAD CHILD stops dj TAKA in his talk before the song is revealed, giving a cryptic hint that refers to changing [=BPMs=] in the song. Then Camellia's ''*Feels Seasicknes...'' is announced as the winner, with young character Kanade Yamashina appearing on the jacket. Most of the crowd (and the live chat) had already jokingly expected denpa vocalist Nanahira, considering Camellia's heavy association with her as well as her own association with this character. ''[[HilariousInHindsight 15 seconds into the song...]]''

* HarderThanHard: Exhaust difficulty. ''Sound Voltex II'' ups the ante by introducing the Infinite difficulty, which is only available for select songs. '''Sound Voltex III'' introduces the Gravity difficulty, which has appeared as another extra difficulty for both preexisting songs in previous versions, as well as songs debuting in III. Currently no songs have both Infinite and Gravity difficulties. ''Sound Voltex IV'' has the Heavenly and Maximum difficulties.

** While ''beatmania'' is best known for its collection of in-house and commissioned tracks, ''Sound Voltex'' features some of those ''but'' also allows [[OfficialFanSubmittedContent fans to submit tracks for use in the game]] through ''Sound Voltex Floor'' contests.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}}''; it features white keys and black keys in staggered rows to go with the scrolling-note gameplay. It's also a SpiritualAntithesis: whereas ''beatmania'' is about putting the complete song together by hitting keys, ''Sound Voltex'' has you taking an already-complete song and adding effects on top of it.

* OddlyNamedSequel: The second version is actually "Sound Voltex II: [[FunWithAcronyms Infinite]] [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal Infection]]", the third is named "Sound Voltex III: Gravity Wars". and the fourth is named "Sound Voltex IV: [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal Heavenly Haven]]."

''SOUND VOLTEX'' (officially abbreviated as SDVX) is a member of {{Creator/Konami}}'s Franchise/{{Bemani}} series of {{Rhythm Game}}s. It's a variation of ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}}'' with pretty much identical gameplay, in regards to the "hit the keys when they hit the line" part (but then again, aren't most rhythm games similar to that in the first place?). But instead of the familiar piano keys, it uses four square buttons in a row, accompanied by two larger "FX" buttons directly below them, along with effector knobs on both sides (which you must either slowly rotate in a certain direction, or quickly slam between sides).

** There are currently four OMEGA DIMENSION EXTRA TRACK phases in Sound Voltex IV. To access certain songs like [=FIN4LE=] ～終止編の彼方へ～, WHITEOUT, and TWO-Torial, among others, the first few songs in the phase must be completed before being allowed to play said tracks in order to unlock them. This requires filling the BLASTER rate to unlock the EXTRA TRACK, or playing in BLASTER START.

* {{Bowdlerization}}: The Korean version of ''Heavenly Haven'' removes a number of album jackets due to South Korean regulations on suggestive content. The songs are still perfectly playable, but they have generic album jackets now.

A PC port is planned for 2017, making it the first ''SDVX'' game to be available on a consumer platform.

Although the series is pretty new compared to long-running BEMANI series like ''beatmania'' and ''VideoGame/{{DanceDanceRevolution}}'', its unique twist on falling-note button-pressing gameplay, heavy focus on fan-submitted content from recogonizable and aspiring artists, the lengths to which Konami takes player feedback (in ''Sound Voltex II'', Skill Analyzer charts were voted upon by players rather than being purely hand-picked by staff), and the loving care with which all key contributors to each song (music artist, chart designers (aka "Effectors"), and album art artists) are credited have made ''Sound Voltex'' one of the most rapidly-growing BEMANI series. In just three years, the songlist has expanded from 166 in ''Sound Voltex Booth'' to over 540 in ''Sound Voltex III''; to compare, ''VideoGame/{{jubeat}}'' took seven years to reach that point. As of September 2016, ''Sound Voltex III'' has over '''850''' songs to play.

''Sound Voltex'' songs are considered licensed songs, and therefore traditional ''Sound Voltex'' soundtracks are not available. However, there is an album of ''Touhou'' remixes featured in the series available for purchase: ''SOUND VOLTEX ULTIMATE TRACKS -Touhou Koumakyou REMIX-'', which is a compilation of songs chosen from the Touhou Project EOSD[[note]]''Embodiment of Scarlet Devil''[[/note]] Remix Contest.

* AprilFoolsDay: "GRACE-chan no chou~zetsu!! GRAVITY kouza w", for AFD 2016. It looks like a TutorialLevel...and then throws in a bunch of [[InterfaceScrew interface gimmicks]] that would make ''VideoGame/InTheGroove'' marathon creators proud. The only chart it has is a [[HarderThanHard Gravity]] chart...that's rated a '''1'''.
** The AFD 2016 chart is back in IV in the same vein of last year.
** 2018 April Fools Day has you playing SimonSaysMiniGame with Voltenizer Maxima.

* BossInMookClothing: Remember "Nyan Cat" from ''Sound Voltex Booth''? In ''Sound Voltex II'', it gets an [[HarderThanHard Infinite]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7KT0hc-B-k chart]]. And it's rated a ''15.''

** ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' has a particularly large presence, featuring Appeal Cards of the characters and over 50 ''Touhou'' arranges. In fact, ''Sound Voltex II'' had a location test at the ''Touhou''-centric Reitaisai 10 convention in 2013. It certainly helps that Mayumi Morinaga, a prominent BEMANI vocalist, is also a vocalist for ''Touhou'' arrange circle Yuuhei Satellite. There are so many ''Touhou'' arranges that they get their own category in SDVX II.

** The so-called 'boss songs', namely "For UltraPlayers" (with a difficulty of EXH 16), and "Everlasting Message" (GRV 16) have exceptionally complicated unlock conditions as the player has to pass a series of other rather difficult songs to be able to purchase these songs in the shop.

** In order to unlock [=FIN4LE=] ～終止編の彼方へ～ and WHITEOUT at the OMEGA DIMENSION EXTRA TRACK, the first eight songs in the EXTRA TRACK folder must be unlocked. This requires a full BLASTER rate to unlock the EXTRA TRACK or alternatively, playing in BLASTER START.

** When "Lachryma《Re:Queen’M》" made its debut as the game's final round song at the 5th KONAMI Arcade Championship, Grace took over the upper 1/3 of the screen, causing all interface elements at the top (score, opponent information, etc.) to vanish.
** During the 7th KONAMI Arcade Championship, "I" was presented in the same circumstances, with Rasis causing the top half of the inteface to vanish. [[InterfaceScrew Then the screen appears to turn off, then back on]], with all interface elements in the middle (such as the Effective Rate meter) gone too!

** ''FLOOR'' songs are considered licensed songs. As such traditional soundtracks are not available.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: You see that character on that song jacket (provided it's not a Vocaloid or Touhou song)? [[http://p.eagate.573.jp/game/sdvx/iii/p/chara/index.html There's a 95% chance that character has a name and a bio]]. Yes, even the triangle [[note]]Its name is Tsumabuki[[/note]].

** In SDVX IV, Lachryma《Re:Queen’M》becomes the first chart to be rated 20 in the new scale. Following the trend is the two new KAC songs Illness Lilin (the final round song) and [=He4Ven=], also rated a 20. Two new Level 20 songs were added such as WHITEOUT and [=FIN4LE=] ～終止編の彼方へ～

** An offline version was released in the Philippines in 2018. In lieu of a proper [=eAMUSEMENT=] connection, players use the on-cabinet QR code reader to scan a player code provided on the [=eAMUSEMENT=] website, and then scan an on-screen QR code at the end of their play session using a smartphone to upload their score data to the [=eAMUSEMENT=] network.