Games ranked on how much I like the rhythm game element
this is ranked on several elements, namely:
-the timing window of the notes
-the beatmap difficulty
-hit sounds
-how ergonomic the beatmaps are - ie how much it strains your limbs and joints, and does playing it for a while hurt?
-visual note indicators
-backing mv/background quality
-how the background meshes with the game interface, and whether it's distracting or augments it
-interactivity of the background/mv with the music
-how it conveys the experience, from a jam session to a live show. does it spark....joy
-song selection and variety
-difficulty jumps
-QoL features - does it give you a 3-second leadin when you pause? is pausing easy to do?
-story quality
-balance and integration with other game features - ie roguelite for necrodancer, gacha for LLSIF
-how easy it is to get in the Zone
-how easy the game makes it to note-read
-cruelty. how cruel are the higher difficulties as opposed to just difficult.
-choreography - if there are dances, are they good and/or easily done irl?
-characterisation - do i care about the characters in the story?
-the timing window of the notes
-the beatmap difficulty
-hit sounds
-how ergonomic the beatmaps are - ie how much it strains your limbs and joints, and does playing it for a while hurt?
-visual note indicators
-backing mv/background quality
-how the background meshes with the game interface, and whether it's distracting or augments it
-interactivity of the background/mv with the music
-how it conveys the experience, from a jam session to a live show. does it spark....joy
-song selection and variety
-difficulty jumps
-QoL features - does it give you a 3-second leadin when you pause? is pausing easy to do?
-story quality
-balance and integration with other game features - ie roguelite for necrodancer, gacha for LLSIF
-how easy it is to get in the Zone
-how easy the game makes it to note-read
-cruelty. how cruel are the higher difficulties as opposed to just difficult.
-choreography - if there are dances, are they good and/or easily done irl?
-characterisation - do i care about the characters in the story?
22 Games
haruka's section my beloved. i wish there were harder difficulties though but also the costume change feature + the animated background videos/performance aspect are so so SO good and are part of what put this at #1, esp during the princess league, and beatmapping is really good, like, every time i hear loneliness loop, i can hear that janjan-janjanjan during the verses
a bit above bangdream and llsif since the beatmaps are fairly varied, though it's harder than llsif for sure, and the swipe notes can be really unresponsive sometimes. very fun though!! not to mention the story and characters are really good
every time i play this game i feel like i have to do everything to a rhythm afterwards
fun both on mobile and touchscreen laptop. lifetime thumbs player and sometimes i love just going ham on a master song even though i never fc anything
edit: this goes down to #3 bc i cramp my left hand every time
edit: this goes down to #3 bc i cramp my left hand every time
ok yeah the music jams which means it isn't as predictable as LLSIF beatmap wise, which provides a fun challenge
there's also bullets which complicates this but i'm getting used to it
dance club is so fun tbh. that being said i don't have the brainpower for skills bc if i want to use a skill AND know what it does, i have to break focus and lose my combo
9
10
i gotta play this again but i had lots of fun with it
11
decent music selection (kinda, it takes ages to select 3/4 songs in) but i found it easy to get my wires crossed and screw up bc i had an entire ring of notes to worry about, and i'd often screw myself over by doing double notes in a way that made it impossible to get the next one. admittedly as it's an arcade game it's more fun w friends, and i haven't played maimai w a friend since 2020
played in yakuza 5 remastered. also irl but the sticks were literally taped together and were extremely unresponsive so i'm not counting it
13
last played in the late 2000s, and i am not my teenage self
this represents dragon engine karaoke; i much prefer it to unreal engine karaoke as no awkward speed changes and no more notes at the start of new lines. the beatmapping itself is kinda just okay though
last played 20 years ago KJFDHLGKJFHG
16
kinda dependent on my own music but i still have fun
this represents old yakuza karoke; beatmapping is Okay, notes at the start of new lines are incredibly unfair as they're hard to intuitively anticipate and that combined w speed changes per line make it hard to get into the zone during this minigame
18
the disco minigame is. good ig
once again nontraditional but HRRRGH the stage 2 boss is so good
ranking preliminary - have only played the two songs but tbh the timing seems inconsistent (ie some notes just after the beat, some just before, etc), and beatmaps feel kinda eh
21
IIIIIT has potential but could be a lot better
22
i gotta retry this one to see it if clicks