Now it's Namco's turn...

[AlexMax]

The king of music/rythem games, Konami, has enjoyed success of its Bemani line of games ever since 1998. Games like Dance Dance Revolution, Beatmania IIDX and Guitar Freaks kept the series strong. But now in the arcades, they have some serious competition...

...from their old time rival, Namco.

Their newest offering, Taiko No Tatsujin (Drum Expert)...

http://ps2.ign.com/articles/363/363631p1.html?fromint=1

is now on PS2, and has had a fairly sucessful arcade run in Japan for the last eighteen months. In direct competition to DrumMania, this game involves you beating on a single drum (as opposed to many pieces of a drum set) in different locations. It's different, but in Japan already 500,000 PS2 units have sold, drum and all.

Keep an eye out for it if you're importing. And because it is by Namco, the poor suckers who live next to a Namco/Tilt/whatever the hell it is arcade (which typically only gets bootleg Dance Dance Revolution...if any bemani at all...) might see something other than bootleg DDR machines at their arcade if demand gets strong enough...

[MottZilla]

Bootlegs? There is a Tilt in my local mall which has DDRMAX2, and is an import, not likely a bootleg.

[KingArthur]

Heh... my japanese teacher picked up this game on the japan trip this year.. there are actually TWO VERSIONS out now on Ps2, one of them even has the Lupin the 3rd theme song.

[AlexMax]

Does the DDRMAX2 have memory card slots?

If it does = Real
If it doesn't = Bootleg

[KingArthur]

Actually, alot of arcades wouldnt bother getting a new cabinet for the new DDR, they'd just stick the new board in the old one, wich wouldnt have the slots for the memory card. I SUPPOSE this could be considered bootled, but it isnt what I'd call it.

[Thunderbird]

Alex, the presence of memory card slots just makes it clear where the machine is from. DDRUSA machines CAN be upgraded with legititmate kits. And they obviously don't have memory card slots ;). The key item to check for is whether or not the banner marquee has the Konami sticker on it. However, some legit machines have had their stickers removed by arcade patrons for some weird reason (the sticker itself is destroyed if removed).

99% of MAX2 machines in the US were bootleg though. Hell, the Illusionz arcade in my state had a bootleg MAX2, and the owner went well out of his way to try and get a legit upgrade, but couldn't.

Anyway, back on topic now :). I've seen mention of this game before, but never seen a machine.