Rhythm games - is Konami/Bemani the only game in town?

[Nostalgic]

With previous genre-defining games, we sometimes saw several clones, imitators, or enhancements to the original idea come in big waves. The introduction of Pac-Man brought games like Make Trax, Lock and Chase, and Jawbreaker (for home systems). Tetris spawned hordes of stuff-falling-from-the-sky puzzle games. After Street Fighter II came Virtua Fighter, King of Fighters, Tekken, and so on.

 

What about the rhythm games, like Dance Dance Revolution and its many variants? Every one that I've seen is under the Bemani imprint of Konami - Guitar Freaks, Para Para Paradise, Dance Maniax, etc.

 

Why is it we're not seeing a slew of rhythm games from other companies jumping into this new genre? (Could it be that there are other companies doing it in Japan and the games just haven't reached the U.S.?)

[Tempest]

SNK had one almost finished for the Neo Geo. I believe it was called Dance Rhythmics or something like that. It got location tested in Japan, but I don't think it will ever get released.

 

Tempest

[Xot]

Well, there's a few, "Dance with Intensity," "Feet of Fury," and "Pump it Up," for the PC, Dreamcast, and arcade, respectively.

 

The biggest hurdle is the music. Without A LOT of good music selections, any rhythm game will suck, suck, suck.

 

Pump It Up is the only other DDR clone with a sufficient music mix, but its non-intuitive interface turns me off. It's got five keys instead of four, which makes it interesting.

[Mr.FoodMonster]

Found this website http://www.channelbeat.com/products/. Seems like there are some clones and such, they look to only be Japan and Euro, plus hard to find even over there. The Um Jammer Lammy Guitar Freaks clone looks rad as hell though.

[NE146]

Do Samba De Amigo and Space Channel 5 count?

[Saikyo]

There is another dance game released called Dance:UK and as you can tell

from the title its exclusive to United Kingdom.

 

Its on both the Playstation and Playstation 2 and an add-on disc as recently

been released but only for the PS2 version.

 

It uses an 8-Way dance mat and the arrows come out from inside the screen,

its very confusing and not too good.

 

Also the songs are all licensed songs (As you can tell UK songs) its not too good

really IMO, you are not missing out on much!

[Saikyo]

OMG I just noticed that this is the coin-ops forum!

 

Well sorry I went off topic but its still about dance games right?, right?

 

{Saikyo is a }

 

Sorry, :sniff sniff cry: