Beatmania IIDX 22: Pendual

Beatmania IIDX 22: Pendual (stylized as beatmania IIDX 22 PENDUAL) is a music video game and the 22nd installment of Beatmania IIDX series of video game, a part of the long-running Bemani series. The theme of the game revolves around the concept of time with the theme split between the present and the future; Pendual itself is a portmanteau of "pendulum" and "dual". The UI mainly features white color to symbolize the present and purple color to symbolize the future. It was first announced during the BEMANI Namahōsō event on June 4, 2014, with location testing held from June 13 to 15, 2014.^[1] It was released on September 17, 2014.

Gameplay

For more information about the gameplay of Beatmania IIDX in general, please refer to Beatmania IIDX#Gameplay.

Beatmania IIDX 22: Pendual retains the core gameplay introduced in the first game. Players are required to hit notes that fall from the top of the screen at the hit zone using keys or turntables which are required to be scratched. Hitting the notes correctly will fill up the Groove Meter, while failure to do so drains it. Players must attain at least 80% of the meter at the end of the song to pass. Two gameplay variations introduced in Beatmania IIDX 17: Sirius: Charge Note (notes required to be held) and Backspin Scratch (spin the turntable at one direction and spin it at the opposite direction at the end) are retained. The player now has a choice to display their EX-Score instead of combo during gameplay. Two new options were introduced—An EXPAND-JUDGE option, which increases the timing of the "GREAT" judgment, but the player's score and rank are rendered invalid; and Rotational-RANDOM option, which shifts the hit notes to the left and right depending on the setting. Pendual features a new theme system which cycles the theme of the game throughout one to five days: the "Present Phase" features mainly white colors in the UI with the in-game clock displaying the year as 2014 (or 2015), while the "Future Phase" features purple colors with the in-game clock displaying the year as 2222. Each theme has their own unique features, including songs. Throughout December 22, 2014 to October 28, 2015, players can now freely change the Time-Phases by PASELI through a purchasable item, "Time Hourglass". Expert Mode, a mode that plays through a course consisting four (previously five) songs without stopping, has been revived on an update on February 14, 2015.^[2]

Unlocking System

Chrono Chaser (One More Extra Stage)

The unlocking system which unlocks the One More Extra Stage was started on September 24, 2014. To access it, the player must attain a Full Combo with a higher grade while playing exclusive songs (chrono diver -fragment- and illuminate on "Present Phase", or CHRONO DIVER -NORNIR and subtractive on "Future Phase") on the Time Phases. The gate will then be activated and will appear on subsequent playthroughs during the game's Final Stage. The player must then Full Combo the charts with the same difficulty without activating RANDOM or MIRROR modifier with a higher grade during the Final/Extra Stage (the level and grade conditions is made easier for higher difficulty as of December 22, 2014). Regardless if the player had succeeded on Full Combo or not, the door will change time phases (thus the unlock conditions must be repeated while on other time-phase), but failing to do so will lose a chance (billed as 'Challenge Chance') to unlock the gate (and doesn't count towards the total Full Combo Count, each successful Full Combo will produce lightning effect). Failing to Full Combo three times will cause the gate to disappear.

When the player subsequently Full Combo two other charts of the same difficulty as of December 22, 2014 (previously nine before November 5, 2014, and three before December 21, 2014), the gate will open and the player immediately access the ONE MORE EXTRA stage automatically upon the difficulty the player had cleared on the last song (player is forced to play on EX-HARD gauge). Whichever song that will be played on ONE MORE EXTRA stage varies on the time phase the player had activated the gate. (cinder on the "Present Phase"; or Gravigazer on the "Future Phase")

Regardless if the player failed to Full Combo three times or has played the One More Extra Stage once, the player must start all over by Full Combo the three charts again starting on the songs exclusive to the time-phase.

As of April 22, 2015, conditions to access the ONE MORE EXTRA Stage is now simplified. The door now has a health bar system and fully depleting the gauge in order to open the gate. Each Full Combo depletes half (50%) of the gauge, but every time-phase switch (regardless of clears) will increase the gauge by 5%. As always, the difficulty played for the last song will be played for the ONE MORE EXTRA Stage, and the gauge will be restored upon the next activation of the gate.

On June 17, 2015, a new unlock challenge was available. To activate the gate, player needs to Full Combo one kors k (for Present phase) or Eagle (for Future phase) song's ANOTHER chart this time. Conditions to activate the gate was simplified on June 24, 2015, as players do need to EX-HARD clear on HYPER or ANOTHER. Conditions were further simplified on July 1, 2015 where player do need to HARD clear any chart on any difficulty. During the credit's Final/Extra Stage, a folder (Chrono Chaser Challenge) which randomly selects five songs on selected difficulty (song conditions that can be fulfilled easily) will be available, and players can retain the Challenge Chances regardless of outcome and the modifiers selected. As like the previous challenge, the player must deplete the gauge completely (depending on the difficulty of the song selected in the last stage of the credit) in order to access the ONE MORE EXTRA Stage. (Say YEEEAHH on the "Present Phase"; or Reflux on the "Future Phase").

On an update on July 1, 2015, players can unlock the first two ONE MORE EXTRA Stage songs (cinder and Gravigazer) on the Expert Mode. Also, the gauge used for the ONE MORE EXTRA stage is lowered to HARD gauge. On September 1, 2015, the second set of ONE MORE EXTRA Stage Songs (Say YEEEAHH and Reflux) were added as an unlock on Expert Mode.

Chrono Seeker

Chrono Seeker is the first unlockable event of the game which started on October 1, 2014 and ended on December 21, 2014. In this unlocking event the player must collect Crystal Shards for each respective Time Phases via each playthrough ("Present Phase" on the left, and "Future Phase" on the right). Each one of the Time Phases has a different condition to unlock for each gemstone row while on different difficulties ("Present Phase" has unlock conditions based on playing the songs, while "Future Phase" has unlock conditions depending on the Time and Date Settings). Completing the Crystal will unlock the song on the "Chrono Seeker" folder (accessible on Final/Extra Stage; once accessed, the player may not be able to return to the main song selection screen), and playing the song once will unlock another gemstone row and the song itself for regular play. (The opposing side on the same row unlocks the Console and Revival Songs, but was immediately unlocked for regular play instead).

When the player gathered all the 12 crystals for the time phase (or getting more Crystals than the other time-phase) and playing all the four songs at least once, the fifth gemstone row will appear for the respective time phase. To unlock it, the player must play the songs based on the artists (猫叉Master in "Present Phase"; or L.E.D. in "Future Phase") in one credit after playing through all the songs under the respective version folder at least once (PENDUAL for "Present Phase"; or the version matching the Month Number for "Future Phase"). This will then unlock the boss song on the "Chrono Seeker" folder which are exclusive to the time-phase (Symmetry in "Present Phase"; or NEO GENERATOR SEVEN in "Future Phase"). Unlike those songs, they are not unlocked for regular play.

If the player gathered all the 30 crystals (15 for each time-phases) and played the boss songs at least once, the last gemstone row will appear. To unlock it, the player must input the Konami Code on the game keyboard (in order, EFFECT button twice, VEFX button twice, 1P Start Button once, 2P Start Button once, 1P Start Button once, 2P Start Button once, any of the Black Keys and White Keys), and then play the songs in relation to GRADIUS after playing at least one song from each game folder at least once to unlock Broken Sword in the "Chrono Seeker" folder. Playing Broken Sword once will mark the event complete and the boss songs (Symmetry and NEO GENERATOR SEVEN) can now be played on all time-phases.

After the event ended, any locked new songs (including Boss Songs; no longer Time-Phase Exclusive) can now be purchased through the online website (Moonlight Holograms, if the player unlocked the new songs during the event) using FRICOs (formerly DELLARs) for regular gameplay. Prior from January 21, 2015, any songs unlocked for regular play are still playable, except for the boss songs. On July 10, 2015, players playing via the Super Future time-phase would automatically unlock all the event songs for regular play.

Qpronicle Chord

The second unlocking event begin on December 22, 2014 and ended on July 28, 2015. For this event, the player's avatar will have to revisit the three places again to defeat the monsters and maintaining friendship with the Partners. The three places and their six partners are based from the previous three games (the locations were "Lincle Kingdom", "Tricoro City" and "Elferia" from the games Lincle, tricoro and SPADA respectively). The player firstly choose a location and rescue the partner to unlock the NORMAL Chart for the respective song of the version. Players will then play relevant songs depending on the location selected (and the three partners they select at the beginning (one main and two backups); can be toggled via VEFX button at the location select screen) during each session to deal a much higher damage to the enemies (damage can be dealt more if the player use items such as Time Hourglass, being precise in the minigame, or fulfil special conditions). The Partners will get experience points (proportional to the damage dealt) and level up after each playthrough (the selected partner will get more experience points than the other two selected by backup), and if the combined partner's level reaches to a certain amount, the player can unlock HYPER and ANOTHER charts the next time the player revisits any of the locations (providing the player must unlock all the NORMAL charts first). Once the partner's ANOTHER charts are unlocked, the location will be marked as a check.

Players can also raise the friendship (named "LOVE Bar") of the main partner they chosen. Though this doesn't affect the speed of unlocking the charts, the player must raise the partner's friendship to max to unlock customizations.

Player can also unlock Console Songs (and songs from the Coca-Cola x Bemani event which has been previously locked on January 22, 2015) if the player defeat certain rare enemies from any place they selected. The enemy appearance and the unlock conditions may also vary depending on the Time-Phases and Playthroughs.

After the first thirteen songs (and all the charts) has been unlocked, the player can access to the Tower of Time Chord to unlock the last two songs of the event. Unlike the other locations, the conditions for unlocking are not varied on any time-phases, and doesn't requiring the partners to level up as a condition. The player will then scale the tower and by reaching certain levels at the end of a session, the player will be forced to play 共鳴遊戯の華 (Kyōmei Yūgi no Hana) as their ONE MORE EXTRA stage on EX-HARD gauge with RANDOM and MIRROR modifier disabled. The chart played during the ONE MORE EXTRA stage will depend on how high the player had scaled the tower, and the player needs to play the song once for the chart to be unlocked for normal play. Unlocking this song fully also completes the event, which automatically unlocks several accessories and all the past three versions design frames for use (all of which are redesigned). Note that the Chrono Chaser (the default ONE MORE EXTRA Stage songs) event is temporary disabled until the final boss song is fully unlocked.

A ranking event, "Affection Ranking" will be held from April 22, 2015 to June 23, 2015. This ranking event will be split into three cups (Lincle, tricoro and SPADA in order) which last for three weeks each. Each cup will be ranked based on how much the partner's friendship (on the respective versions) was raised. By taking part in each cup, accessories for the avatar will be unlocked. If certain conditions were met after participating in all three cups (at least 10 points in each partners), The Least 100sec will also be unlocked for regular play.

There are three chapters in this event and 16 songs (including six from Console Version and three from Coca-Cola x Bemani event) are available for unlock.

Expert Mode

The mode which plays four (previously five) songs consecutively has returned since the last appearance in beatmaniaIIDX 19 Lincle by an update on February 14, 2015. They may still be able to set any of the modifiers permitted by the course. The gameplay will start when the player selects the course and the difficulty, and the player will pass if the player clears all four stages, or fails once the gauge is fully depleted (though the player can guarantee a few stages if one using PASELI). There are several courses which can be selected through Course Folders including:

• Internet Ranking (Courses of four songs are predetermined, and allows scores (EX-Score) to be submitted Online)
• Hit Chart (The order of songs is determined by the frequency of the songs selected nationwide, starting from the least popular)
• Monthly Hit Chart (The order of songs is determined by the frequency of the songs selected nationwide in a span of one month, starting from the least popular)
• Local Original (The order of songs is set by the Arcade Operator. Players can also customise their own courses (MY ORIGINAL) and share it to other players nationwide, as well as songs alternating Single and Double Play in course)
• Best (The order of songs is determined by the Player's or their Rival's Four Most Played Songs, starting from the least popular)
• Random (Four randomly selected songs (can be all the songs, limited to PENDUAL songs, or LEGGENDARIA (and alternate ANOTHER) songs) without revealing the songs until the course is selected. Locked Songs or Non-Time-Phase Exclusive Songs are excluded. Players may also spend two Time Hourglasses to change the order of the songs)
• Secret (Courses which has one Expert-Mode Exclusive song that has to be unlocked)

To unlock the exclusive songs, player must play the respective Secret Course a certain number of times under the difficulty the player selected for the course in order to unlock them. The bar will increase progressively depending on how well the player did in the course and the modifiers they selected, and if the bar is filled completely, the respective chart for the difficulty will then be unlocked for regular play.

On certain periods, players can vote for the songs in during each credit by playing the songs under the "Expert Vote" folder. Player can cast a vote by selecting the song (up to four in one credit). After the voting period ends, the four songs having the most votes will be selected and complied into a course.

Music

Currently, there are a total of 107 new songs (including 2 preview songs, 2 revived song, 6 songs with alternate ANOTHER charts and 8 songs from the Console Versions). A total of 19 songs from previous versions have been removed.

References

External links

• Official site (Japanese)
• Official location test site (Japanese)
• Beatmania IIDX 22 Pendual on Bemaniwiki (Japanese)