This page is under heavy construction.

BeatStream

BeatStream (also known as ビースト, BeaSt, while its official abbreviation is BST) is a touch music game released by KONAMI on July 2014. One of the main features of the series are the videos, with a big emphasis on most songs having unique videos.

BeatStream's machine serial number and version ID start with NBT.

From March 1st, 2017, BeatStream machines can be converted to ノスタルジア. BeatStream's online services ended September 1st, 2017.

Games

BeatStream (released on July 17th, 2014)
BeatStream アニムトライヴ (released on December 21st, 2015)

Gameplay

The BeatStream cabinet has two screens, both running at 60Hz: the upper screen displays movies and song information, while the lower one is a capacitive touchscreen used for playing. The gameplay consists of tapping or swiping various objects (known as "notes") on the touchscreen.

Scoring

BeatStream uses an X out of 1'000'000 scoring and it is solely judgment-based.

When hitting objects, player can get one of four judge ranks:

Fantastic: 83.33ms / 100% score.
Great: 183.33ms / 80% score.
Fine: 350ms / 50% score.
miss: >183.33ms late / 250ms early / Combo is reset to 0.

At the end of a song, player gets a grade from D to AAA based on their score:

AAA+: 970'000+ (Introduced in BeatStream アニムトライヴ, presented as a red-colored AAA.)
AAA: 950'000+
AA: 850'000+
A: 700'000+
B: 600'000+
C: 500'000+
D: 0+

Note Types

Some notes would move from outside in 8 directions towards the octagon, placed in the center of the screen. For each object approaching one of lower 3 sides of the octagon, an arrow pointing in their direction would appear from the center, notifying the player. The object types that approach the octagon are:

Tap Note: a round object with a spinning wheel pattern. Can be hit by tapping it when it overlaps a side of the octagon. Usually appears in magenta color.
Long Note: a long variant of Tap Note, that needs to be held down until it disappears. When initially hit, the judge rank player hit it with gets suspended. When object ends or is released within Fine timing window from the end of a note, suspended judge rank gets tallied and combo is increased by 1. If released too early, the player gets a miss and the object disappears. There is no penalty for holding the note down past its ending. Usually appears in magenta color.
Slash Note: a spinning, diamond-shaped object, that needs to be tapped and then flicked in any direction. When tapped without flicking, the judge rank for that note will be forced to Fine. Usually appears in green color.

There are also 2 object types that are not bound to the octagon. Those are:

Ripple Note: a circular object that may appear in one of 7 spots around the playfield ― 3 on the left side, 3 on the right and 1 more inside of the octagon. Usually appears in green color.
- Their appearance can be changed, which could also change the visual cue for hit timing. For details, refer to Customization section.
- In BeatStream, the 6 spots around the octagon are always visible and the center spot is exclusive to NIGHTMARE charts.
- In BeatStream アニムトライヴ by default all possible spots are initially invisible, only appearing as a bright ring shortly before the note itself appears. However, original behavior could be restored by toggling a corresponding guide option. The center spot exclusivity to NIGHTMARE charts is also abolished.
Stream Note: a series of triangle-shaped points, connected with lines, forming a path. Can be hit by sliding its cursor across the said path before its time runs out. Combo is increased for each point passed, but only one judge rank is given at the end of it ― Fantastic or miss, depending on whether the end point was reached or not. The timing for passing any of the points, including initial and last points, does not matter ― as long as the last point is reached in time, it is considered Fantastic.
- In BeatStream, the cursor must be slid across the whole path. Stream Notes have 24 fixed paths in total:
  - 8 arcs at the edges of screen going from one corner to another. 4 in clockwise and 4 in counter-clockwise direction.
  - 16 straight lines in 8 cardinal directions of the octagon. 8 go from octagon towards the screen edges and 8 go in the opposite direction. These variants are exclusive to NIGHTMARE charts.
- In BeatStream アニムトライヴ, Stream Notes got overhauled. In addition to existing 24 predefined paths, they can also have custom paths, allowing all different sorts of shapes. Because of that, exclusivity of straight paths to NIGHTMARE charts was abolished as well. Cursor now has inertia, which lets it continue sliding after getting flicked, losing speed at sharper turns. After initial flick, it could also be boosted by holding down spots across the path [1]. Similarly to Ripple notes, shortly before the Stream Note appears, a bright triangle indicator now appears at its initial point position. It can be toggled off separately from ripple indicator.

If any of the notes (except Streams) are to be hit at the same time with other notes, their color is changed, alternating between yellow and blue with each batch of simultaneous notes. This also includes combinations such as Tap + Ripple.

It is worth mentioning that Note Speed option only affects notes that approach the octagon, while Ripple and Stream notes' approach rate is BPM-dependent.

Customization

Ripple noteskin: Player can choose one of 4 noteskins:
- Default: a circle with a spinning wheel pattern and a shrinking ring around it. Hit when the ring matches the edges of a circle.
- Big: a scaled up variant of the Default skin.
- Split: a skin that resembles halves of a Tap Note, closing in on each other. Hit when both halves have completely closed up.
- Falling: a falling circle with a face and a shrinking ring around it. Hit when the circle fell into the spot and its ring matches the edges.
Hitsounds: Player can choose one of 3 sets of hitsounds:
- Set A – Default
- Set B – Claps
- Set C – Tambourine
Movie Filter: Darkens the background movie in gameplay area.
Extended customization functionality: Applies to Hitsounds and Ripple noteskins. For every 10 plays with one of the skins/sound sets selected, that skin/set gains a pawprint icon in options menu. Once 10 pawprint icons are obtained, that specific skin/set gets extended customization enabled.
- For Ripple noteskins: player can change the color of that skin to magenta.
- For Hitsounds: Alayer can drag individual sounds from that sound set to change it for specific note type (for example, make Tap sound play when hitting Ripple notes)
Added in BeatStream アニムトライヴ
- Hantei Text: Switch between English and Japanese judge rank splashes.
- Aibou: Player can choose a character to appear on play result screens and represent them in multiplayer. Some characters have to be unlocked first.
- Guide options: Additional indicators for Ripple and Stream notes as described in their respective sections.

Modes

Normal Mode

To be added.

Course Mode

To be added.

BeatStream Resources

BEMANIwiki 2nd

This article is a stub. You can help complete this page by filling in missing information and/or by correcting any errors.