beatmania THE FINAL Producer Interview

Published in Arcadia Issue 26 (July 1, 2002). Interview with beatmania series (as well as many other Bemani series) producer Yoshihiko Ota, in celebration of the recently released beatmania THE FINAL, the last entry in the 5-key beatmania series.

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The most gut-wrenching title for fans of the series makes an appearance! “beatmania THE FINAL” — just as the title says, beatmania has finally reached its last entry. The “FINAL” title serves to indicate a rite of passage through which beatmania can reach a new dimension. In order to end one era and call forth a new one, the biggest and best beatmania yet is here! In celebration of beatmania THE FINAL’s release, we talk with Yoshihiko Ota, the producer who has brought numerous Bemani series into the world!

A sudden encounter with 5 keys

– To start, can you give us a brief profile?

Ota: I’m Ota, working at Konami AM group as a producer. I produce the beatmania series, as well as other Bemani series like DanceDanceRevolution, GuitarFreaks, drummania, and pop’n music.

I joined Konami back in 1986. I was so moved by recently-released games like Gradius and Twinbee, I found myself knocking on Konami’s door.

– What kind of work were you originally hired for?

Ota: Programming and design. I was working on pixel art for old consumer magazines (laughs). We were working on MSX games like Penguin Adventure and Metal Gear around then.

– How did you end up moving over to working on arcade games?

Ota: I had been working on console games for a while, but there was a part of me that wanted to work on arcade games, where you can see the players’ faces. So starting with 1991’s Golfing Greats 2, I was involved in the arcade game division. It’s a world where ideas will make-or-break a game, and I’ve thrust myself into it with games like Teraburst and the Bishi Bashi Champ series.

– How did you get to the point where you’re managing the Bemani series?

Ota: I wasn’t actually involved at all with the first beatmania. I didn’t even know it was being worked on at the time. I first played it at the 1997 AM Show and was really surprised, like “what the heck is this? It’s super fun” (laughs).

Nothing else had ever had that kind of impact on me. From the time I joined Konami, my first encounter with beatmania was the biggest shock to my system. As much as I thought it was fun, in the bottom of my heart I was also insanely jealous.

Like, “man, this sucks!” (laughs).

– Starting with the DDR series, you then went on to work on all kinds of Bemani series. How did that happen?

Ota: Even though my encounter with beatmania was rough, it also served as a motivator. “Alright, I’m gonna make something even more fun than that!”. So, although I didn’t work on the first beatmania, in many ways it’s a game I have a deep attachment to.

The deduced meaning of “FINAL”

– Several years after your first encounter with beatmania, you were brought back to where it all started as the series producer. What was that like?

Ota: I started working on the series with beatmania 6thMIX. Though to tell you the truth, I feel like my influence on the series only really started with beatmania 7thMIX.

With 7thMIX, I tried delving into my own image of beatmania, and the desire for players to once again feel the same impact that I felt in my first experience with beatmania. I wanted them to experience sounds and atmosphere unlike anything they’ve ever felt before.

The way I see it, beatmania as a concept is about setting trends, not following them. It’s about constantly creating brand new types of sound, and instilling a sensation within players that they’ve never felt before.

– And then after 7thMIX comes beatmania THE FINAL. Why did you go with the “FINAL” name?

Ota: When I was considering what to do next once we had finished 7thMIX, I had the vague idea of having it be like a greatest hits-style product.

To be frank, I’ve been feeling like in many ways, it’s getting harder and harder to create a beatmania that’s exciting not just to hardcore players, but to more casual players as well. I was constantly thinking that I had to do something about it. I asked all kinds of people for their opinions, and did some research on places like online forums, and thought long and hard on it. The results of these efforts are this release, “beatmania THE FINAL”.

In order to make this a definitive version beyond anything else that’s been done before, declaring this as “final” was necessary.

– There have been other games in the series that could also be seen as “greatest hits”, such as “beatmania completeMIX”. Why go with “final” instead of “complete” this time?

Ota: We want people to understand the decisiveness of the game when they see the title. There’s also the feeling of “if you’re going to do it, do it definitively! No getting out of this one!”.

At first we were going to give it a title like “super complete” or “ultimate”, but in the end the name that would most honestly convey the staff’s feelings to players was “final”.

The passion loaded into “FINAL”

– As I understand it, this game is the biggest in series history?

Ota: It’s amazing (laughs). There’s over 40 new songs, and if you combine that with returning songs, there’s over 150 total. At its core, it’s an assortment that’s practically saying “if that’s not enough, how about this?”.

– When you combine the new songs with the returning ones, that’s gotta be a record amount of content.

Ota: It’s not just about sheer numerical volume; we thoroughly researched player requests, and packed the game with those, as well. There was no way we wanted to go out with something half-baked, so we wholeheartedly took on the challenge of delighting our players. Though to do it like this meant not considering profits… (laughs). Nah, we had to make sure it was viable from a business perspective.

– I see a lot of composers who are active in other Bemani series among the list of new songs.

Ota: You could say this game is like a jack-in-a-box, in a way. Our goal was to cover all the best parts of Bemani, and include songs from every popular artist.

We took artists who are active on other series… for example, NAOKI or dj TAKA, and the different types of appeal they bring to Bemani, and put them all together into this game.

We intentionally didn’t add any new modes this time. Rather than add something challenging to players at the very end, we thought it would be better to make a game that allows beatmania fans to fully enjoy themselves.

As I mentioned, the desires of our players were the main focus for us this time around. We went bigger and bigger, to cover as much as we could — this was the best option for us to truly feel like we’ve made an appropriate end to the series.

– Lastly, any final messages for players?

Ota: beatmania THE FINAL is our present to everyone who has shown love to the beatmania series to this day. I want nothing more than for players to enjoy it with every fiber of their being.

With this, we come to the end of beatmania. I can’t possibly thank everyone who has poured their love into the series enough. I want this to serve as a new beginning, for the movement that will come next. I hope everyone is looking forward to it.

(May 2002, at Konami)