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[kaizoku]

I've somehow done a bloody good job of completely overlooking every music game except Ouendan. Which completely rocks my socks off. So now I'm curious which other ones I missed out on and if you're feeling particularly friendly, what games/updates to franchises I should wait for.

Maybe some kind of note to say how or why one is better than another, or how they differ would be nice too. Otherwise all these clones are just gonna go over my head and I won't have a clue which to get. Like I want DJ Max for PSP, but if Beatmania or whatever is the king of music games I'll skip it.

 

[levious]

If you can find it, Keyboard Mania is one of my favorites. Guitar Hero of course as well. I've always wanted to try Beatmania. Someday I'll have to break down and import it with the controller. Edit - nevermind, Beatmania's coming to the US.

 

[JackFrost2012]

if you like Ouendan, get Gitaroo Man which rules and is from the same dev team.
Space Channel 5 Parts 1 + 2 for $20 is an insanely good value.
you can track down Parappa and UmJammer, skip Parappa 2, though.

as far as "instrument" based games go, get Guitar Hero and pass on the rest.

 

[GotchaForce]

Aplitude/Frequency
Gitaroo Man (highly reccomended as it's by the Oeundan team)
Bust a Groove
Rez, if it counts
MTV music maker?lol

How is the US version of Taiko Drum Master? Saw it at Gamestop tonight for forty bucks.
Oh yeah, Space Channel 5.

 

[Wario64]

How is the US version of Taiko Drum Master? Saw it at Gamestop tonight for forty bucks.

Hate the song list. I also hate the drum. It wasn't worth the $18 I paid for it

 

[Dyne]

I like Taiko Drum Master. I'd recommend it. And I got it for $30 canadian.

Donkey Konga's are good too, for parties only though.

 

[demi]

Top 5...have I even played 5?

I like DDR -- doesn't matter what version, I just like it. I'm no pro, but I find it fun.

Bust a Groove 1 & 2 are great, probably the first rhythm game I played.

Rez is cool...and boring.

Definiitely Guitar Hero, gotta give that a shout out.

Hate the song list. I also hate the drum. It wasn't worth the $18 I paid for it

The only Cheap Ass Deal where I still felt robbed.

 

[Amir0x]

Rez is cool...and boring.

Rez is practically the least boring game ever. Especially since the entirety of the game can be beat in like thirty minutes, so if you got tired of it in that time that's some problems

Anyway from what I've played (I still need Guitar Hero...arghh):

1. Rez
2. DDR/Extreme
3. Space Channel 5
4. Gitaroo Man
5. Amplitude/Frequency

 

[Mister Zimbu]

Off the top of my head:

1) Guitar Hero (Rock)
2) Amplitude (Great music and solid online)
3) Frequency
4) Space Channel 5 Part 2
5) DDR (slightly edges out Beatmania because DDR's music is *almost* bearable).

 

[demi]

Rez is practically the least boring game ever. Especially since the entirety of the game can be beat in like thirty minutes, so if you got tired of it in that time that's some problems

Nah, I'm pretty sure it's boring.

It's cool to look at, but










































*snork*

Oh, sorry, must have dozed off. Was playing Rez.

 

[jj984jj]

1. DDR
2. Space Channel 5/Rez tie
3. Guitar Hero/Frequency tie
4. Ouendan/Lumines tie
5. Gitaroo-Man/Amplitude tie
6. Donkey Konga/Taiko (both PS2/PSP) tie

And that's all the music games I've played.

 

[djtiesto]

1. Rez
2. uhhh...
3. uhhh...
4. uhhh...
5. uhhh....... I'd actually want to try Beatmania when that comes to the states, since DJing interests me.

 

[SKOPE]

Guitar Hero
No description necessary. If you have any interest in guitar music, buy this now.

Rez
A StarFox-like "3D on rails" shooter with psychedelic visuals and trance music. Locking onto enemies and shooting them adds to the music. Jane Pinckard from 1UP likes this game a little too much.

Space Channel 5 Special Edition (disc 2 only, disc 1 hasn't aged well)
(Or, if you live outside North America, Space Channel 5 Part 2.) Take the typical rhythm game, but instead of commands appearing on screen, you hear them. (It can take a while to get the timing right.) The silly, nonsensical story and characters add a lot to the game. Will probably be the last game ever to have Michael Jackson in it.

 

[sprsk]

pop n music CS 10
beatmania iidx (any version)
donkey kong jungle beat
bust a groove 1
ddr

 

[carlos]

OUENDAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Parrappa teh rapper>>>umjammer lammy>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>parrappa 2

taiko drum masta is good especially in 2p mode, but the song list isn't that great

donkey konga 1 and 3 (import) FTW ; skip part 2; 2p-4p mode recommended
use those kongas on DK jungle beat as well

GUITAR HERO ........nuff said

Band brothers DS; 8p play with one cart is a riot

I never got into mtv music generator, but if you know about making music, you'll get some use out of it...

Mad maestro is fun, if frustrating; bonus points if you like classical music

Technic Beat ps2 I havent played yet, but its pretty good, or so I've heard

 

[Aruarian Reflection]

My top 5:

1) Rez
2) Ouendan
3) Gitaroo-Man
4) Lumines
5) Samba de Amigo

 

[Aruarian Reflection]

Mad maestro is fun, if frustrating; bonus points if you like classical music

Minus points if you like classical music. I can't stand listening to these synthesized bastardizations of beautiful compositions.

 

[kaizoku]

Oh yeah I played Donkey Konga too! (Forgot) :lol Playing "Can't Stop Me Now" by Queen on that game is awesome!

omg I just noticed how bad my typing was in the first post. WTF was I thinking?

Anyway thanks guys! Keep em coming if you will

Not really after things like Rez though, things like Ouendan, Parappa, Donkey Konga, Daigasso Band of Brothers etc. Button pressing to music basically. I like games where the buttons you press actually affect the music, so it sounds like you're playing music along with it....like how Daigasso makes a bum note when you get it wrong. Any other games do that?

 

[Amir0x]

Minus points if you like classical music. I can't stand listening to these synthesized bastardizations of beautiful compositions.

QUOTED FOR ULTIMATE, UNENDING TRUTH. It's such a good concept in theory, and there's so many good things they can do with it... and if you're actually the type that likes classical this was just butcher bay.

 

[nexes]

1. Rez (one of my top 10 favorite games of all time)
2. DDR (two years of my life, gone)
3. Guitar Hero
4. Ouendan
5. Amplitude

I still need to play Gitaroo-Man.

 

[Mister Zimbu]

Truth there, Rez, Lumines, etc. are *not* music games.

 

[Aruarian Reflection]

Oh yeah I played Donkey Konga too! (Forgot) :lol Playing "Can't Stop Me Now" by Queen on that game is awesome!

omg I just noticed how bad my typing was in the first post. WTF was I thinking?

Anyway thanks guys! Keep em coming if you will

Not really after things like Rez though, things like Ouendan, Parappa, Donkey Konga, Daigasso Band of Brothers etc. Button pressing to music basically. I like games where the buttons you press actually affect the music, so it sounds like you're playing music along with it....like how Daigasso makes a bum note when you get it wrong. Any other games do that?

Gitaroo Man is perfect for you then. If you miss a note, that part of the song won't play. It gets to the point where you want to play well just so you can hear the whole song.

 

[Lambtron]

1) PaRappa the Rapper
2) UmJammer Lammy





3) DDR (though I hate playing on homepads)
4) Samba de Amigo ver. 2000

Haven't played others enough to put them here. GitarooMan is crazy overrated. It's alright, but it's not nearly as fun or charming as the PaRappa games (even PaRappa 2 which has a great first 3 stages, and then kinda peters out which is really sad). Rez is awesome, but that's more a shooter than a "music/rhythm" game. Guitar Hero is pretty cool, but I'm not totally addicted to it so much. Vib-ribbon is cool, but again, super overrated. PaRappa & Lammy for the fucking win by a goddamn mile.

 

[Amir0x]

Truth there, Rez, Lumines, etc. are *not* music games.

I don't necessarily agree. It's a game that mixes music with the visual aspects of gaming, for a very fused experience. I don't think there's anyway to seperate Rez and Lumines from their musical aspects, because then they'd just turn into some generic on-rails shooters and generic puzzle games. I know that's kinda the point, but it's appropriate to consider them at least partially music games.

 

[Mr Jared]

1. Pop'n Music Series
2. Guitar Hero
2. Shakkato No Tambourine
3. Dance Dance Revolution Supernova (BELIEVE!)
4. Beatmania III: The Final
5. Pump It Up: Extra

 

[the year 20XX]

1. Gitaroo Man
2. (tie mostly so I can fit Bust A Groove on the list) Parappa/Um Jammer Lammy
3. Amplitude
4. Guitar Hero
5. Bust A Groove

Harmonix games (Amplitude, Frequency, Guitar Hero, Karaoke Revolution) and Bemani stuff (DDR, Beatmania, Guitar Freaks, etc.) are all excellent arcade-style games that I guess focus on reflexes and memory (and I am completely terrible at all of them! and I still love them!)

Parappa, Um Jammer Lammy, and Gitaroo-Man are a lot easier (although Master Mode in Gitaroo-Man is not so easy), and story-based. I am a total sucker for these games.

 

[Jonnyram]

Not sure why Rez is being mentioned in a music/rhythm game thread, but anyway...

Parappa 2 was really easy, but had one of the best scenes in any game in this genre - the one where they're looking through the old junk in the basement and there's a famicom sound/hip-hop theme going on. Rockin'

My choices though:

Vib Ribbon
Ouendan
Gitarooman
Samba de Amigo
Taiko no Tatsujin

 

[carlos]

Minus points if you like classical music. I can't stand listening to these synthesized bastardizations of beautiful compositions.

heh, actually you're right, it's just been so long since I've played it, that I tried to forget how horrible they sounded

actually , same thing with band brothers...I hate midi....


oh and back on topic, samba de amigo igood if you don't mind making a fool of yourself, but wait for the inevitable revolution sequel (crosses fingers)

 

[Bowen_B]

Samba de Amigo
Space Channel 5

 

[kaizoku]

I don't necessarily agree. It's a game that mixes music with the visual aspects of gaming, for a very fused experience. I don't think there's anyway to seperate Rez and Lumines from their musical aspects, because then they'd just turn into some generic on-rails shooters and generic puzzle games. I know that's kinda the point, but it's appropriate to consider them at least partially music games.

I agree, Lumines is actually one of the games on my "To-get" list for its musical-fusion thing so I'm into that. I kind of know about those games though and how they distinguish from each other, its the DDR/Beatmania type games which all look similar and kinda confuse me @_@

But if they're in your top 5 by all means include the if you wish. Thread doesn't exist to placate me.

 

[Mr_Furious]

Guitar Hero
Samba De Amigo
Rez
Bust A Move (Groove)
Parappa The Rapper

...in no particular order

edit: I must give an honorable mention to Vib Ribbon too

 

[D3VI0US]

1. Guitar Hero
2. Parappa 1
3. Rez
4. Vib Ribbon
5. Samba

 

[Bojangles]

Vib Ribbon - The soundtrack is fucking AMAZING, and you can use your own CDs as well.

Guitar Hero - 'nuff said

Ouendan

DDR (any of them really)

Space Channel 5 pt 2


If you do end up getting Donkey Konga - you MUST GET JUNGLE BEAT. It's not a rhythm game, it's just a frigging amazing game.

 

[Error]

i seen guitarooman being mentioned a lot, is the game good? might actually grab the used copy at my local gamestop.

 

[Vlad]

donkey kong jungle beat

Just as a heads up, this isn't a rythm game, but a platformer (a pretty awesome one) that uses the DK Bongos as the controller.

My personal favorites:

Frequency/Amplitude: Overall excellent music, with Freq leaning more towards electronic music and Amplitude offering a little more diverse selection. Both are absolutely awesome games, though.

Guitar Hero: Absolutely excellent song selection if you at all like rock music, which thankfully skews more towards older songs, and the game just feels good once you get to the higher difficulties and start playing all the notes.

As far as other offerings go:

Mad Maestro: It's a good idea, but the game relies entirely on the pressure-sensitivity of the PS2s face buttons. This makes the game feel pretty imprecise at times. It's a neat idea, if you can get past the midi-sounding classical tunes.

Donkey Konga: Good controller, pretty bad song selection, even worse covers. The difficulty level's pretty low, too. It's fun for a little bit (really good in multiplayer, though), but it gets old fast.

Taiko: Better song selection than Konga, but a god-awful controller absolutely kills any enjoyment the game could have had.

Guitaroo Man: Fun, but short (only ten songs, but they're definitely different). Some pretty bad design flaws make the game needlessly difficult on the hard difficulty.

 

[bobbyconover]

I don't think story-driven and pure points/arcade/high-score based music games should be lumped together, but I guess that's kinda nitpicky. Anyway, my very favorites:

Drummania series (the rhythm series that comes closest to replicating the feeling of playing the actual instrument)
Um Jammer Lammy
Parappa the Rapper
Technic Beat
Pop'n Music series

Shakkato No Tambourine

It's just Shakka to Tambourine, btw!

 

[Senretsu]

I heard there was actually a Vib Ribbon 2 on PS2(?) but never heard anything beyond that. I'm guessing it wasn't so good since no one has mentioned it. Whats it like?

Guitaroo-man is pretty cool of the ones mentioned, and Parappa, frequency. If you had to buy one I'd get Guitar Hero.

 

[Tain]

Beatmania IIDX series (most versions)
Pop'n
Guitar Hero
DDR, whatever else.


How is Rez a music game when the music has extremely little to do with the gameplay?

Maybe some kind of note to say how or why one is better than another, or how they differ would be nice too. Otherwise all these clones are just gonna go over my head and I won't have a clue which to get. Like I want DJ Max for PSP, but if Beatmania or whatever is the king of music games I'll skip it.

Beatmania is pretty damn intimidating in both difficulty and the number of releases (with three seperate series and all), but it's the best, as far as I'm concerned. DJ Max looks like a clone, definitely, but it still looks interesting.

Pop'n is like beatmania IIDX (the only continuing beatmania series at this point), only more colorful and cute, more "kiddie" music, and a different control scheme (nine buttons instead of seven keys+turntable/fourteen keys+turntable). Some argue Pop'n is harder, some argue IIDX is harder, some bitch about Pop'n's scoring system, some bitch about IIDX's learning curve. They both rock, though.

I say wait for beatmania to get released over here, grab a cheap controller, and import one of the Japanese IIDX games. The US release looks like a bizarre mishmash of ancient 5-key stuff (which might be good to start, I don't know) and some new, but it's hard to tell if it'll be any good.

I'd actually want to try Beatmania when that comes to the states, since DJing interests me.

Don't expect it to be a representation of the real thing at all, just so you know.

 

[Red Scarlet]

Only played Bust a Move, Parappa, and Bust a Move 2. So there's my top 3.

 

[dog$]

Rez is not a rhythm game.
Rez is not a rhythm game.
Rez is not a rhythm game.
Rez is not a rhythm game.
Rez is not a rhythm game.
Rez is not a rhythm game.

My Top 5
1. Beatmania III/IIDX/normal, in that order
4. Guitar Hero
5. uh

 

[TheMissingLink]

Rez sucks.

1) Guitar Hero
2) Ouendan
3) Amplitude
4) Gitaroo-Man
5) Frequency

 

[Archie]

1) Ouendan (I don't like rhythm games)

I need to ebay some games to get the cash for Guitar Hero

 

[Nostrildamus]

Umjammer Lammy
Bust a Move
Guitaroo Man
Bust a Move 2
Space Channel 5 pt. 2

 

[Tsubaki]

5. Parappa the Rapper - perhaps the first rhythm game, but still oozes with charm
4. Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan - new way to play the genre, with good music choice. love the different difficulty levels, but too few songs hurt it overall
3. Dance Dance Revolution - fun and healthy
2. Daigasso Band Brothers - no frills, all gameplay with lotsa songs. with the choice of playing different instruments, you actually contribute to the song with what you do. the best multiplayer game too.
1. Space Channel 5 Part 2 - the first was fun, but this one does everything right. simon says never was so fun. and with the layering of music/graphics that responds to every success and failure you have in the game, it is the rhythm game i have the most fun with.

 

[ocelittle]

Karaoke Revolution
Karaoke Revolution Party

That is all.

 

[Pedigree Chum]

Parappa
Frequency
Amplitude

That's about all the ones I like. I'm sure Guitar Hero will find its way onto the list when I finally get to play it.

 

[Belfast]

Dear god, that's a hard list to make, but I'm going to have to put Pop'N Music at the top of the list. Combines cute wacky-jappy factor with difficulty with song genre diversity. Plus, it is just fun to play! Other rhythm games can only attest to one or two of those features, but Pop'N has them all!

 

[Beatbox]

1) Guitar Hero
2) Amplitude
3) Frequency
4) Gitaroo Man
5) Umm Lammer Jammy

 

[Zerodoppler]

Dance Dance Revolution series
Pop'n Music Series
Samba de Amigo
Ouendan
Daigasso Band Brothers


You're gonna love'em!

 

[polg]

Does singstar count as rythm an music?

If so...

Singstar Pop
Ouendan
Pump It Up
DDR 3rd mix for DC (played it to DEATH)
Daigasso

(no order)