beatmania IIDX 9th style © 2003 Konami Corp.
DJ simulation game from Konami's BEMANI series of games. Beatmania IIDX tasks the player with performing songs through a controller consisting of seven key buttons and a scratchable turntable. Hitting the notes with strong timing increases the score and groove gauge bar, allowing the player to finish the stage. Failing to do so depletes the gauge until it is empty, abruptly ending the song.
The core gameplay remains the same in 9th Style. 5-key mode has been removed and replaced by a separate 5-key modifier, which can be used on any song on any difficulty.
The game features over 50 new songs, some of which can be unlocked using Konami's e-Amusement platform – which made its official debut on 9th Style.
9th Style was the first version of Beatmania IIDX to use a new Windows XP PC-based platform nicknamed the Bemani PC instead of the PlayStation-based Bemani Twinkle hardware which had been used since the beginning of the series. The improved platform had its benefits, such as better graphics capabilities, network support through e-Amusement, larger storage, and background videos being stored on the hard drive along with the game data (dropping the need for a separate DVD player).
The new platform however, became blamed for a multitude of issues with 9th Style, such as longer load times and off-sync timing windows on some songs.
Released on June 25 2003 in Japan.
Konami Music Entertainment released a 2 CD limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (beatmania IIDX 9th style Original Soundtracks - KOLA-040~1) on 18/09/2003.