beatmania 3rdMIX

beatmania 3rdMIX
Also known as: beatstage 3rdMIX (KR) Developer: Konami GMD Publisher: Konami Platform: Arcade (Konami DJ Main Board) Released in JP: September 28, 1998 Released in EU: January 1999 Released in KR: 1999? This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused graphics. This game has a hidden level select. This game has regional differences. This game has revisional differences.

beatmania 3rdMIX is the third in Konami's series of 5-key music games.

Unused Graphic

While this game removed Free Scratching Zones, graphics for them can still be found. However, the palette doesn't seem to be retained.

Hidden Level Select

Much like in 2ndMIX, 3rdMIX has a hidden debug feature which allows the player to select a song freely by holding Test and pressing a specific combination of keys at the same time in the song selection screen. Note that this function is only present in the Japanese release, and that it doesn't work while Event Mode is turned on.

Oddly, the "nagureo kidding style" and "crack style" charts for "20, november" and "attack the music" (respectively) cannot be accessed this way.

Key	Song
1	life goes on
1+2	Queen's Jamaica
1+2+3	attack the music
1+2+3+4	DJ BATTLE
2	find out
2+3	LOVE SO GROOVY (1P) LOVE SO GROOVY (12inch version) (2P)
2+3+4	super highway
2+3+4+5	Love's Theme of beatmania (Credits)
3	Beginning of life
3+4	METAL GEAR SOLID ~Main Theme
3+4+5	Believe again
4	jam jam reggae (Funky Jam Cookie mix)
4+5	20,november (single mix) (1P) 20,november (radio edit) (2P)
5	Do you love me?
6	Believe again HYPER MEGA MIX
6+7	Deep Clear Eyes
6+7+8	nine seconds
7	s.d.z
7+8	tribe groove
7+8+9	area code
8	wild I/O
8+9	SKA a go go
8+9+10	PRACTICE STAGE
9	La Bossanova de Fabienne
9+10	LUV TO ME
10	Stop Violence!

Game ID

At the beginning of the game's HDD data, a string containing the game's ID and version can be found. These strings can also be found in the combined program ROMs, at offset 0x2054E (ver.JAA)/0x2026A (ver.EAA).

ver.JAA	ver.JAB/EAA
GQ825 beatmania 3rdMIX ver1.00	GQ825 beatmania 3rdMIX ver1.01

Version Differences

Four versions of the game are known to exist, two of which are in the MAME database:

• ver.JAA - the original Japanese release, labeled as bm3rdmix in MAME
• ver.JAB - a revision of the Japanese release
• ver.EAA - the game's European release, labeled as bm3rdeaa in MAME; uses ver.JAB as a base
• ver.KAA - the game's Korean release, known as beatstage 3rdMIX

Attract

• The Konami logo seen in the game's attract sequence was updated in ver.JAB. This also extends to ver.EAA.

ver.JAA	ver.EAA

• During the game's How to Play sequence, the game still refers to the judgement line as being a "red line" (as it was in the original beatmania and in 2ndMIX) in the original release. This was corrected in ver.JAB, and also applies to ver.EAA. This error also happens in the PRACTICE STAGE song, which was also corrected in the revision.

ver.JAA	ver.EAA

(Source: Calpisco)

Songlist

ver.KAA lacks the songs find out and Believe again. In addition, the songs Believe again HYPER MEGA MIX and LUV TO ME THIRD-MIX were replaced with their English versions from beatmania completeMIX.

Charts

Several of the game's charts were updated in ver.JAB:

20,november

• The revision removes "load keysound" parameters for the 1P-4 key just before measure 12 begins, and for 2P-Scratch just before measure 21 in the song's Double ANOTHER chart. A single 2P-1 note was also removed from measure 24.

ver.JAA	ver.JAB

Attack the music

• A duplicate 2P measure marker at the very end of all Double charts was removed.

Believe again HYPER MEGA MIX

• In the Double chart, a 2P-5 note was added at the very start of measure 5. A duplicate 2P-Scratch note at the start of measure 21 was also removed.

ver.JAA	ver.JAB

life goes on

• In the song's Single HARD chart, some of the "load keysound" parameters are positioned much later in the original release, which may cause some notes to play unintended keysounds if they're pressed early enough. The affected notes are the 1 note in measure 24, which may play the sound 16 (a synth sound) rather than 40 (a drum roll), and the 3 note in measure 36, which may play the sound 2E instead of 30.

LUV TO ME THIRD-MIX

• In both Double charts, the revision adds "load keysound" parameters for the 2P-1 and 1P-5 keys around measure 13.

METAL GEAR SOLID Main Theme

• In the original release, the song's Double chart has no BG changing parameters.

nine seconds

• In the Single chart, the last 4 key in measure 14 was originally a 1 key.

ver.JAA	ver.JAB

• In the Double chart, a 1P-1 key was added to measure 3, in the same position as the 2P-5 key. Also, at measure 19, the last 2P-2 key was originally a 2P-1 key. Finally, measure markers were added to the last measure.

ver.JAA	ver.JAB

Queen's Jamaica

• In the song's Double charts, there is a "load keysound" parameter for 1P-5 that is positioned much later than the intended, around the middle of measure 16. This causes a 1P-5 key in measure 14 to play an unintended keysound (26, which is a snare hit, instead of 07, a synth sample). In the revision, the "load keysound" parameter is placed at the very end of measure 13, allowing for the correct keysound to be played. A duplicate 1P measure marker at measure 31 was also removed.

s.d.z

• In both Single charts, the revision adds "load keysound" parameters for the 5 key at the very end of measure 18 and just before the simultaneous 3+5 press in measure 20. For the former, the keysound that is played is 0D instead of 24, and for the latter, 27 instead of 26. In addition, in the Single HARD chart only, several "load keysound" parameters for the 1, 2, 3 and 4 keys in measure 21 were repositioned to be before the last 5 key in the measure.

super highway

• In the Single chart, the "load keysound" parameter for the 5 key in measure 36 originally loaded the keysound 27 rather than 1D.
• In the Double chart, all of the "load keysound" parameters load different keysounds. Curiously, the hex values of each of the keysounds called in the revision are 80 bytes bigger than the ones called in the original release.

tribe groove

• In the game's original release, measures 28 and 29 of the song's Single chart are the subject of a visual glitch in which some notes appear to be placed later than where they actually are. This is caused by the incorrect placement of a duplicate 1 note, as seen below. The JAB release fixes both of these issues by moving the early duplicate 1 at 3213 to before the 1 at 3195, both in terms of in-game placement and data order placement.

JAA Code			JAB Code
0x3A4 15 0C C0 00 - 1P measure marker at 3093 15 0C 09 00 - BG change at 3093 15 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3093 15 0C 40 00 - 1P 3 at 3093 15 0C 80 00 - 1P 5 at 3093 15 0C A0 00 - 1P Sc at 3093 1E 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3102 28 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3112 31 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3121 3A 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3130 43 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3139 4C 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3148 56 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3158 5F 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3167 68 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3176 7B 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3195 8D 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3213 84 0C C0 00 - 1P measure marker at 3204 84 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3204 84 0C A0 00 - 1P Sc at 3204 8D 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3213			0x3A4 15 0C C0 00 - 1P measure marker at 3093 15 0C 09 00 - BG change at 3093 15 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3093 15 0C 40 00 - 1P 3 at 3093 15 0C 80 00 - 1P 5 at 3093 15 0C A0 00 - 1P Sc at 3093 1E 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3102 28 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3112 31 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3121 3A 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3130 43 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3139 4C 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3148 56 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3158 5F 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3167 68 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3176 71 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3185 7B 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3195 84 0C C0 00 - 1P measure marker at 3204 84 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3204 84 0C A0 00 - 1P Sc at 3204 8D 0C 00 00 - 1P 1 at 3213
Note Placement (JAA Actual)		Note Placement (JAA In-Game)		Note Placement (JAB)

• A duplicate 1P measure marker at measure 3 of the song's Double chart was removed.

wild I/O

• A duplicate 1P measure marker at measure 40 of the song's Double chart was removed.