Awesome Music / beatmania

5-key

• 20,November by the now-retired Reo "DJ Nagureo" Nagumo, from the very first beatmania title, has become one of the most iconic songs in the Bemani franchise, and November 20 has become not only Nagureo's birthday, but also a day celebrated every year by fans.
• Interestingly, according to the poll in beatmania THE FINAL website, the most popular song during 5-key era is not "20, November," but super highway by nouvo nude. This song is included in beatmania IIDX 13 DistorteD.
• HELL SCAPER by L.E.D. LIGHT-G, originally from GOTTAMIX. With high speed gabba with senseless psychedelic animations, it's a 2-minute rave!
  • There's also the full version.
  • DJ TECHNORCH remixed it — he was specifically inspired to take up hardcore techno production by that song, and hardcore techno single-handedly turned him from an asocial, reclusive loner into a successful DJ with friends, a wife, a family, money, and prospects. So when he got the chance to remix the song that literally saved his life and made him a respectable man, he considered that deal his final trial, and the result is one of TECHNORCH's most amazing tracks in his entire discography. And the full version of the remix.
• COREDESAT by Des-ROW from beatmania THE FINAL. This song is a blend of the intro music Des-ROW did for beatmania CORE REMIX, beatmania 7th Mix, and beatmania THE FINAL''. Also appears on pop'n music via ee'MALL.

• Jack and Mark Get Busy! by Distant Soundz from Beatmania 6th MIX: The UK Underground Music. For this instalment, they brought in several UK artists to compose songs, and this is among the most memorable.
• Kouyou by Youhei from Beatmania Core Remix is just plain beautiful.

2nd Style

• Digital MinD (A/T Libra Mix) is one of TaQ's first entries in the series, but still holds up well today. Fast, pulsing bass and a strong rhythm give the song a nice minimal, yet full feel.
• Soft Landing On The Body, the first IIDX song with BPM changes.

3rd Style

• Even with its status as That One Boss, The Safari is still a bouncy, lighthearted track that's fun to listen to. Don't let the Soundtrack Dissonance catch you off guard when challenging the 7th Dan course, though...

4th Style

• starmine, Ryu*'s first track in IIDX, and a sign of great things to come.
• Akira Yamaoka (the very same who worked on Silent Hill) composed two tracks for this game. Part of the delight of listening to them is comparing the OST versions and in-game versions, where differences in mixing reveal quite different sides of the song.
  • DIAMOND JEALOUSY gives a strong, powerful industrial rock vibe. OST version, in-game version.
  • 250bpm, whose title suggests its main hook. It's seriously fast. Although the composer admitted he dislikes this one, his natural talent applied to this unfamiliar genre produces a track that's hard to dislike. OST version, in-game version.
• Clione (Nekomata Master Remix), a beautiful remix of kors k's first track in IIDX.

5th Style

• V by (dj) TAKA, a remix of "Winter" from Vivaldi's "Four Seasons", and V -conclusion- from dj TAKA's album "Milestone".
• Radical Faith by TaQ, a good example of his Big Beat work, as well as one of the songs with a separate Another mix.

6th Style

• Colors by dj TAKA. A broad, emotional trance piece that sets the standard for his best works. (Full version)
• Even though 19,november has absolutely no relation to the iconic 20,november, it still stands on its own as a fun, chill track.

7th Style

• Burning Heat! (3 Option MIX), another song based on Gradius. Notably, this track employs Motoaki Furukawa (who composed for the game of origin, Gradius II) to provide a sweet guitar solo. Also the Full Option Mix.

• The simply-named but mind-blowing A by DJ Amuro, actually the song that inspired Takayuki Ishikawa to take up the name "DJ Amuro". Ishikawa actually came up with the song around the time of 3rd Style, but decided to hold onto it until he thought players were good enough to handle it. The result is a unique mix of classical and electronic music which will get your pulse pounding.
  The A in the title is for the trump card, the ace.

8th Style

• murmur twins, by yu_tokiwa.djw. The music video has some nice artwork to go with it.

9th Style

• Manatsu no Hana ~ Manatsu no Yume by Sana. It's a shame that this is so underrated.

10th Style

• Setsugekka by Ryu*. Melds Japanese traditional music with hard house and it works remarkably well.

• No Doubt Get Loud is one of those most hilarious songs ever.
• No.13 by TAKA respect for J.S.B., a techno remix of Johann Sebastian Bach's Invention No. 13 in A minor, BWV 784 with an awesome video.
• DoLL by TEЯRA, a collaboration work between Jun and Naoki. And the full version is just as awesome, if not more. L.E.D.'s remix gives it a more techno flair.
• Daisuke by Y&Co may have become popular through Memetic Mutation, but it's also an amazing eurobeat work.

11: IIDX RED

• RED ZONE by Tatsuya Shimizu and Naoki Maeda. Fast-paced doesn't even begin to describe it. It's also very popular for meme remixes, and seems to have REALLY taken off on Nico Nico Douga.
• Injection Of Love by Akira Yamaoka and Sana. It's completely different from what either artist has done, but it works.

• Ageha, by Ryu*. SO MEMETICALLY ARRANGED! Even spawned memes using the beat of the song itself, called GentleMentleMen.
• Piano Concerto no. 1 "Anti-Ares" (known as "Scorpion Fire") by virkato. It is a full, 8 minute long piano concerto composed for this game, and it is fantastically written. It is unlocked as the final extra stage.

12: HAPPY SKY

• Xepher by Tatsh was so good it appeared as a shortened version in DDR SuperNOVA.
• Mei, the One More Extra Stage. It also serves as the final stage of the Kaiden Dan'inintei course. There's also Mei (Rockin' Swing Remix), first appearing in SOUND VOLTEX.
• Scripted Connection=> by Tatsh (under the pseudonym of DJ Murasame)is an epic 5 1/2-minute techno track, with a very unique gimmick: the Normal version fades into the Hyper version, the Hyper version fades into the Another version, and the Another version fades in from the Hyper version—put all three versions together for the aforementioned full version.
• SigSig by kors k is the poster child of the Japanese interpretation of mákina, a Spaniard subgenre of Hardcore Techno. It's famous for its Indecipherable Lyrics that say something like "It's a dream!~ alpha beta roy, beta beta~".

13: DistorteD

• Custom Drive, the opening theme. This was Yoshitaka close to his composing peak in IIDX. Contains the electronic screech more well-known from FLOWER.
• tripping contact by kors k vs. teranoid (both are names used by the same artist). A melding of two established styles of hardcore music from the same person - and it's brilliant. So much so that it got a remix in the same game version, remixed by the same artist again.

• Nageki no Ki by Kinjinshi (a special pseudonym of DJ TAKA). According to TAKA, the intention was to write a song to be the king of kings. It shows.
• Apocalypse ~dirge of swans~ is both beautiful and sad and, within context of the Zektbach world, horrifying. The full version more than deserves a listen as well.
• waxing and wanding, Ryu*'s first entry under his Seiryu alias. Fast-paced, synth-heavy, DANCE SPEED. A small fact to note: the persistent vocal samples used are from the same pack which holds the samples from Brain Power.

14: GOLD

• Sense 2007 by good-cool. Love or hate the song, the video's about three girls in short-skirt bodyfit clothing dancing with fans.
• Second Heaven by Ryu*. The artist himself has admitted he took inspiration back from when Cascada was at the height of worldwide popularity. And of course, can't forget that classic sample: SOMEBODY SCREEEEEAAAAAMMMMMM!!!!!

15: DJ TROOPERS

• Time to Air by Seiryu, the default Extra Stage of DJ TROOPERS. Clearly, the previous "waxing and wanding" wasn't enough fast-paced DANCE SPEED. Also a popular song of choice for MAD/YTPMV makers.

16: EMPRESS

• Empress March, the Opening Theme. Sets the tone for a dance/house-heavy IIDX style very well.

• smooooch was so famous in Nico Nico Douga, people made differentvariations of it.

• BRIDAL FESTIVAL!!! from S.S.D., also known as Arata Iiyoshi. Very catchy and heavily reminiscent of his works on Pokémon Mystery Dungeon.

17: SIRIUS

• Bad Maniacs by kors k as teranoid. A difficult hardcore song with lyrics spoken in a feminine computer voice about killing and/or fucking you. "We are... playing to die!"
  "How much do you hate me now? That is not enough. I ?????? you. We will be back to ???? again soon."
• Raison d'etre ~Kousa suru shukumei~ by Zektbach, from beatmania IIDX 17 SIRIUS. It's pretty much Tomosuke doing a Shout-Out to himself.
• She is my wife by Super Star Mitsuru, aka TAG. Notable for the hilarious background video (shown in the link) where TAG, dressed in a campy superhero outfit with large sunglasses and feathers, dances with dj TAKA, L.E.D, Ryu*, DJ Yoshitaka, and kors k in an extremely fabulous fashion. There's a live version performed at AOU 2011, now with even more hilarious cardboard cutout of Ryu* holding a boom box.

18: Resort Anthem

• Yuuyake ~Fading Day~ by JAKAZiD. Guaranteed to make you feel good.
• Get Out, a licensed track that several players were sad to see go so quickly. (The video links to the full version.)
• Kailua by kors k, inspired by a trip to said town. It just feels like a vacation. The remix kors k did as StripE adds even more energy.
• Dances with Snow Fairies by Dr Honda. One of RA's boss songs, and it definitely sounds the part.
• Shakunetsu -Beach-Side-Bunny-, the OMES from Resort Anthem. Setting itself apart from the usual threatening techno that usually finds itself in OMES, it's a lively summer track that sets a new standard for scratch-heavy music in IIDX.
• From the same composer of "Scripted Connection =>", we have ANTHEM LANDING, a six-minute Latin/eurodance track that serves as Resort Anthem's Extra Stage. Like SC=>, the track is divided up into Normal/Hyper/Another sections.

19: Lincle

• Every single Lincle Kingdom boss song. Slaughtering music game demons has never been this exciting:
  • Mamonis (The Sampling Paradise). Now with long version.
  • Bulluvegola (In the Blackest Den).
  • Ashemu (Scharfrichter).
  • Beridzebeth (Seijin no Tou).
  • Rche (Todestrieb).
  • Levaslater (NNRT).
  • STN (The Limbo).
  • Neulakyussra (YAKSHA).
  • Cuvelia (Tenkuu no Yoake).

• SHADE, another three-part song by Tatsh, this time serving as Lincle's standard extra stage.
• Round and Round by Masayoshi Minoshoma, the same person behind Bad Apple!! feat. nomico (and it certainly sounds like it).

• Suishoku komachi melancholia sounds like an opening to a horror themed anime.

20: tricoro

• GRADIUS 2012 from tricoro has a similar premise to "GRADIUS -FULL SPEED-" but is more uptempo and features a neat scratching section in the middle.
• LUV CAN SAVE U, a song by Hideki Naganuma of Jet Set Radio and Sonic Rush fame, takes a lot of cues from his previous music, and is all the more awesome for it. Brought over to jubeat, Dance Evolution, and Dance Rush too.
• Tricoro has Illegal Function Call. It's U1's first IIDX-specific song, and features a video full of callbacks to the 5-key era.
• tricoro brings in Nekomata Master as one of the new sound directors, and the system music he makes is awesome. For two examples, try the title theme and the music select theme. Nekomata Master also brings in new playable tracks, including Portal.
• The LIMIT BURST theme, played on the song select when you unlock a LIMIT BURST song.
  • The beatmania IIDX LIMIT BURST, Sol Cosine Job 2, by hardcore musician DJ Technorch. You know you're in for a brutal challenge when the song starts with "Good evening, or die!" Long version now available!
  • New Decade IIDX Edition, the DanceDanceRevolution X2 LIMIT BURST. It's a longer version of "New Decade" from DDR X2^note to be more accurate, it's a cut of the extended version of New Decade. And if you hate the DDR version's tempo changes, fear not: The IIDX version's charts are all constant-BPM! Also, kakkoi~
• The LEGEND CROSS series of boss songs, aka "songs from one Style meet songs from another Style:
  • CONCEPTUAL, by Sota Fujimori.
  • S!ck by kors k (under his Eagle alias) features vocals from "Rising in the Sun", as well as samples from other kors k songs.
  • SYNC-ANTHEM by Tatsh, with Kanako Hoshino on vocals. It's "ANTHEM LANDING" meets "RED ZONE" meets "Wise Up".
• From Ω-ATTACK:
  • Kasoukuukan no Tabibitotachi, or "Travelers of Virtual Space" as displayed on the LED arcade marquee. Yep, it's another extended Tatsh song...but wait! This time, instead of Normal/Hyper/Another, the song is split between Single and Double mode. Talk about a clever trick to get people to play Double mode.
  • The boss of Sector A, Torikago no Houou, a collaboration between L.E.D. and Yuuhei Satellite, the latter of which is well-known for Touhou Project arranges.
  • The boss of Sector B and the Final Boss of Omega Attack itself, Proof of the existence.
• From Our War of the Worlds: VEGA, REDALiCE's first instrumental BEMANI song. Featuring the dashing Galactic Gentleman "VEGA" in its video, it never fails to get you pumped.

• Although FLOWER appeared in three other games first, the IIDX version has been slightly modified, sounding more like something you'd hear at a club.

21: SPADA

• I will be back marks the triumphant return of SUPER STAR 満-MITSURU-. Not only is the song good, but the BGA features MITSURU saving the world from an incoming giant meteoroid!
• INSOMNIA by the Jakarta Funk Brothers, one of the few funky kota songs (as the artist name suggests) in the series.
• Miracle 5ympho X by USAO features machinegun notes halfway through the song.
  Are you ready? (clickclick) MACHINEGUN! (BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG BANG BANG BANG)
• The Spada✝leggendaria select theme, perfectly fitting of the fact that you're about to face one of the game's boss songs. Then there's the Spada✝leggendaria songs themselves:
  • Close the World feat. a*ru by REDALiCE, under the "天叢雲剣" alias. This is as light as the Spada✝leggendaria tracks get, and it is just as amazing as the rest.
  • Verflucht by Hommarju, under the "Tyrfing" alias. It's a high-energy, hard-rocking track with a ✝LEGGENDARIA chart notorious for having the most notes of any arcade IIDX chart, at 2401 notes^note MENDES's Kuro Another chart still holds the record for most notes of any IIDX chart, at 2626 notes, but it's a console-exclusive chart!

22: PENDUAL

• PRESENT Phase exclusives:
  • chrono diver -fragment- by Nekomata Master featuring Aki Misawa, a calming track that represents PENDUAL's PRESENT phase.
  • illuminate by Sota Fujimori, featuring his usual brand of synthetic goodness.
• FUTURE Phase exclusives:
  • CHRONO DIVER -NORNIR- by L.E.D., a hard drum 'n bass track that represents the Future phase. Nhato's remix turns the song into a trance/trap mixup, and it's amazing.
  • subtractive by Sota Fujimori (under his "Expander" alias) incorporates some dubstep elements.
• m1dy strikes again with m1dy Festival, featuring his signature brand of high-speed craziness.
• Amnolys from Onoken. An Artcore track that shifts quite well from beautiful drum 'n bass to heart pounding dubstep. The long version takes a different approach, and goes for a more epic feel.
• Cosmic Cat, a future bass track released as part of the Qpronicle Chord event.

23: copula

• Hoshikuzu Distancia/Stardust Distancia by ARM, a wonderful combination of jazz and EDM.
• Damage Per Second by Maozon. The little robot in the BGA is adorable. Also, there's an extended version.
• On The FM by C-Show sounds like something you'd blast out of your car speakers while cruising around town. There's an extended version too.

24: SINOBUZ

• Shishikasumu uruwashi no mai, a beautiful slow waltz track, applying HuΣeR's signature synths and beats.
• Hades, Massive New Krew's first entry in the Bemani franchise. The background video fits the video perfectly, not to mention that it's quite terrifying.
• Music Is The Answer by C-Show, a groovy, low-tempo beat with an awesome saxophone solo midway through. There's also an extended mix.
• PAPAYAPA BASS by Camellia feat. Nanahira. It's "weird" in a good way.
• DORNWALD ～Junge～ by DJ TOTTO, beautiful and haunting. Think Valanga meets Vajra.
• Beyond the Seven from Nhato, a trance track that sounds like something that came from A State of Trance with a dash of electro elements. And it's beautiful. It also has an Extended Mix
• BUZRA ARTS songs:
  • ECHIDNA by HuΣeR opens with that signature synth wail and develops superbly from there. Either you're enjoying the song or you're eyeing up the half-naked lamia in the video. Also has a full version.
  • Beat Juggling Mix, full of call-backs to the 5-key beatmania series, and the "DJ BATTLE" songs in particular, sample-heavy and full of tempo change ups.
  • Snakey Kung-fu is hard not to love, with the IIDX style brought in the direction of Hong Kong-style kung fu movie music.

25: CANNON BALLERS

• Chemical Cookie, YUC'e's debut in BEMANI. Future Bass cranked up a few gears and peppered with cutesy samples.
• Midnight Lady, this is the kind of song to which you would cruise by a beach.
• O/D*20, a remix of "Overdoser" from the first Beatmania game, also combines several elements of the song's previous remixes.

• Fervidex, Feryquitous' (of Deemo fame) debut in BEMANI. A beautiful combination of drum-n-bass, dubstep, and piano that results in a memorable Artcore piece that quickly became one of the stand-outs in CANNON BALLERS. It also has a Full Version on their solo album!

26: Rootage

• Night! Night! Night! was introduced in the Debility Laboratory event. It's uncomfortable how well the song manages to capture the sound of an old school Naoki Maeda song.
• Ember Lights from Nhato combines synthy trance and bass heavy hardcore for a blood-pumping track. Comes with an extended version. The a remix from ULTIMATE MOBILE by Taishi is his first contribution to Bemani, and with it his signature ethereal epic-like trance.
• Rootage introduces a new extra stage system called "Arc Score". It's similar to the Parallel Rotation extra stage system from SIRIUS in that the songs in it are based on previous games in the series, so of course it's gonna have some bangers in there.
  • Representing 8th Style is XENON II ～TOMOYUKIの野望～. A sequel to well... XENON, and it's just as (if not more) epic as the original.
  • Representing HAPPY SKY we have GENE. Similar to Scripted Connection, the song is split up in three parts depending on what difficulty you're playing the song on. (The link takes you to the full version.) The video for the song takes various videos and overlays of songs that were in HAPPY SKY and mashes them together in an incredible spectacle! It just doesn't end there though; the video, like the song, is split into three parts based on difficulty!

27: HEROIC VERSE

• Out of the gate, DÉ DÉ MOUSE's Silly Love has quickly solidified as sonic gold that has an accompanying video that equally soothes the heart.
• lapix gives us Double Dribble, a fusion of Disco and Gabber. Normally, these genres would not belong anywhere near one another, but somehow they perfectly compliment; Disco adding a welcome air of melody and funk, with Gabber keeping it from sounding too soft. The result is perfect for both breakdancing and breaking floors.

28: BISTROVER

• HIGH VOLTAGE from Yuta Imai is a Hardstyle power-stomper broken up by an especially catchy vocal melody. (...Also, the BGA has a mecha-catperson, which wins it some points. Not sure how, but it does.)

Console Versions

• Reflection into the EDEN by Nekomata Master for HAPPY SKY's console release, a relaxing and cheerful song with such a mesmerizing bass. It's extended version is just as good.
• Sayonara Heaven (long version), another one of Nekomata Master's songs for HAPPY SKY CS.
• Go Beyond!! by Ryu* vs Sota, from IIDX: Distorted Rates up there as one of the hardest songs in the game, but probably one of the most awesome songs as well. Wound up appearing in EMPRESS arcade, as a revival.
• Also from the console version of DistorteD, Shoot'Em All. If it reminds you of the Shoot 'Em Up genre, it should; it's composed by Manabu Namiki.

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