To the Beat

To the Beat is a series of rhythm games developed by Team Beats and published by ACS Softworks. The series began with the release of its first installment, To the Beat!, in 2001, and has since spawned a number of sequels. Originally for Arcades, the series has been released for various consoles, including the PlayStation 2, XBox, Nintendo Gamecube, PlayStation 3, XBox 360, Nintendo Wii and PlayStation Portable.

Gameplay
To the Beat uses a four-way dance panel consisting entirely of diagonals: up-left, up-right, down-left and down-right. In the console versions, the arrows are mapped to the controller’s shoulder buttons by default, but the player also the choice of using the face buttons instead.

Just like its cohorts, Konami's Dance Dance Revolution and Andamiro's Pump It Up, the game's objective is to hit as many of the ascending arrows that are in time with the music using the aforementioned dance pad. Each arrow corresponds to a certain panel in the dance pad, and the player must hit the ascending arrows by stepping on the corresponding arrow as it reaches the arrow icon on the top of the screen.

Stepcharts in To the Beat can sometimes contain three or four ascending arrows at the same time, which are meant to be achieved using the player’s hands, as well as “freeze arrows”, which are long arrows that must be stepped on until it ends. αlpha  adds in "roll arrows", which are freeze arrows that mist be stepped on repeatedly instead of being held down, while NEO adds in "traps" which act like the "mines" in Stepmania and In the Groove, in that they must not be steeped in, unless it deals damage to the Beat meter and resets the current combo, and are represented by a large X inside a circle. To the Beat is also notable for being one of the first dance pad games to feature real-time BPM changes, where charts can slow down or stop completely mid-song.

Each step is judged depending on the timing of the step and the arrow. These judges include, from highest to lowest, “Excellent”, “Perfect”, “Great”, “Good”, “Bad” and “Missed” (“Oops” in most English versions).

Each missed arrow will result in the player’s combo being reset, as well as deduction of the player’s Beat Meter. When the player’s Beat Meter is depleted to zero, it will cause a “Stege Break”, and as a result, the game will be over.

Upon completion of a song, the player is given a rank depending on how well the player performed. With F being the lowest rank, and S++ being the highest, only acheivable by performing an Excellent full combo in certain songs.

Songs in To the Beat each have four charts which also denote their difficulty: “Novice”, “Intermediate”, “Difficult” and “Expert”. 2nd Dance adds the option for “Beginner” charts, which are easier than Novice charts and are meant for beginners. Players can select their chart difficulty in the Song Select screen. To the Beat also features "speed modifiers", which double the speed of the chart, like the chart difficulty, can be selected in the main menu. By default, the chart speed is set in 1.0. 3rd Dance adds in a "modifier menu" that adds in more types of modifiers, and can be accesed by pressing the Start button on the machine upon prompted (usually after selecting a song).

Modes
A typical game of To The Beat begins with a timer waiting for another player. Players who are alone can cancel this timer and head straight to the game by pressing the Start button on the machine.

When the game is in one-player mode the game continues to the Pad Select screen, players are given a choice to play Single (use only one pad; four arrows) or Double (use two pads simultaneously; eight arrows). In a 2-player games, the choices are chaged instead to Versus (both players compete for the highest score) and Duet (both players must dance in unison). Challenge mode from 4th Dance onwards remains as a 1-player only mode.

The game then segues to the Mode Select screen. In the first To the Beat game, players have to choose whether to play “Easy”, “Normal”, “Hard” or “Special (SP) Mix” mode. Easy mode has Stage Break turned off by default, but only allows players to choose one song. Normal mode is the standard gameplay mode of To The Beat, featuring three stages to play, special “boss songs” that can only be played during the final stage, an “Extra Stage” that can be accessed when the player fulfills the right requirements, as well as Stage Break turned on. Hard mode plays similar to Normal, but with the added challenge of a much faster-draining Beat Meter, as well as a different songlist consisting of songs rated 5-stars or more. Lastly, Special Mix mode is a special mode that allows players to choose from eight “mixes” (nine when counting the Roulette Mix), each consisting of four songs, and dance nonstop until all four songs are finished. A quick code can be entered on the title screen to access “All Music”, which allows players to access the entire selection of songs (including the boss songs) in Easy, Normal and Hard modes.

4th Dance features significant changes to the single mode system. Easy mode has been renamed as “Quick Play”, the Normal and Hard modes were merged together into “Standard” mode, and a new “Challenge” mode has been added, featuring several themed challenges, usually harder version of songs with certain gimmicks, like alternate noteskins, and usage of unorthodox pad conditions. The SP Mix mode stays the same.

Song Levels
The difficulty of a song chart in To the Beat is measured by its rating, the more stars a song has, the harder it is. The rating system in To the Beat varies in each sub-series:

In the early To the Beat games, the charts’ ratings are measured in a star system. the number of stars is shown onscreen alongside a word.


 * Simplistic - *


 * Average - **


 * Conventional - ***


 * Tricky - ****


 * Ecstatic - *****


 * Bewildering - ******


 * Maniacal - *******


 * Disastrous - ********


 * Nightmarish - *********


 * Insurmountable - **********

3rd Dance uses the same star system as the early games, and also introduces three new star levels


 * Overwhelming - ***********


 * Unthinkable - ************


 * Pinnacle - *************

MAXIMUM features a reworked star system, with the idiosyncratic names removed. Each song is rated with a number of stars between 1 to 15, with 1 star being the easiest and 15 stars being the hardest. This was also the case with αlpha, which added star ratings of up to 18.

NEO is noted for being the first To the Beat game to not use the iconic star system. Instead, it uses a more clear-cut number rating system. Each chart is rated with a number between 1 to 20 this time around, with 1 being the easiest and 20 being the hardest.

FOREVER reworks the rating system into something more similar to the MAXIMUM rating system (1-15). The game also ditches the numbers in favor of a level meter system that works similar to the old star system, but without the descriptions.

Characters
Like Dance Dance Revolution, To the Beat features on-screen dancers that dance in time with the music. In the first game, the characters cannot be selected, and only appear when selecting certain songs that fit with their personality (for example, selecting "It's Gonna Be Me" by *NSYNC would yield MiU as the dancer by default, while selecting "INSOMNIA" an original song for the game created by 444, would yield Ban instead). 2nd Dance adds the option of a secret Character Select by entering a stepcode on the title screen, while 3rd Dance has Character Select on by default.

Starting with the console port of MAXIMUM, the game features a story mode in the form of “Dance Diary Mode” which fleshes out the characters more.

Introduced in To the Beat! (2001)

 * Banri “Ban” Matsuda

Age: Age: 17 (TTB!-αlpha3), 18 (NEO-present)

Most people know Banri Matsuda, also known as “Ban”, as that cocky, hot-tempered street dancer with the spiky, red-orange hair. Ban mostly spent his adolescence as a delinquent until he was taught to dance by his mentor Saki, who saved him from a rival gang attack one day. Since then, dancing has been Ban’s passion, and he has since been a freqent of Club Light, showing off his rad moves every night.


 * MiU

Age: Age: 15 (TTB!-αlpha3), 16 (NEO-present)

The name MiU belongs to that of one of Japan’s most famous teen idols. Starting out at a young age as a performer for Club Light, she quickly became a fan favorite for both her beautiful singing voice and her graceful dance steps. Time and time again, MiU sneaks in some of her time to visit Club Light, performing for her loyal fans in the club.


 * Larry Light

Age: 42 (TTB!-αlpha3), 43 (NEO-present)

Larry Light used to be a well-known dancer during the days of disco, before he eventually migrated to Japan. Nowadays, Larry, alongside his wife Lizzy, is the big-shot owner of Club Light, their own dance-themed night club, known for its nightly performances. Though sometimes, even Larry himself couldn’t resist the urge to put on his dancing shoes and get back to the dance floor again.


 * Elsa Reagan

Age: 19 (TTB!-αlpha3), 20 (NEO-present)

There are two things that Elsa Reagan really likes: parties and dancing. During a vacation trip to Japan, Elsa found out about Club Light and has since been hooked by its performances and combining of her two favorite things in the world. It didn’t take too long before Elsa started to join in the fun snd dance for the club as well.

Introduced in To the Beat! 2nd Dance (2002)

 * Saki Otonashi

Age: 23 (2nd-αlpha3), 24 (NEO-present)

Like her apprentice Ban, Saki Otonashi was once a notorious sukeban who got reformed and became a famous street dancer. She was the one who thought Ban about street dancing after saving him from an attack against some rival delinquent, and since then Ban looks uo to Saki as his “older sister” figure. After learning about Club Light from Ban, Saki became interested with the Club and decides to join Ban as well during his performances.


 * Lizzy Light

Age: 38 (2nd-αlpha3), 39 (NEO-present)

Lizzy Light is Larry’s beloved wife, whom he met sometime during his disco dancer days. After their marriage and migration to Japan, Lizzy and her husband Larry decided to form Club Light to attract a new generation of dancers. But like Larry, Lizzy would sometimes get on the dance floor herself and show that she still has some dance left in her.


 * Rodeo Joe Reagan

Age: 36 (2nd-αlpha3), 37 (NEO-present)

Before he went to Japan with his beloved daughter Elsa, Rodeo Joe Reagan spent most of his youth in Tenessee, fascinated with old Wild West culture, particularly square dancing. Joe learned about Club Light from his daughter, who loved to spend her nights in the club, which re-ignited his interest in dance. Thus, Rodeo Joe puts on his boots and shows the youngsters his moves.


 * Johnny “DJ Johnny A” Ayasaki

Age: 22 (2nd-αlpha3), 23 (NEO-present)

Half-Japanese, half-American Johnny Ayasaki is a DJ who frequently works in Club Light under the name DJ Johnny A. Before, Johnny A knew liitle to none about dancing, until he met his girlfriend Erina, who theached him how to dance. Since then, Johnny A has been honing his dance skills to please Erina, and find the right timing to propose to her.


 * Erina Miyahara

Age: 18 (2nd-αlpha3), 19 (NEO-present)

Despite being busy with her college studies, Erina Miyahara still finds time to visit her favorite nightclub, Club Light. There, Erina found her boyfriend in DJ Johnny A, a DJ from the club.

Soundtrack
To the Beat's selection of music primarily consists of J-pop and electronica tracks, but sometimes also makes use of other genres of music as well. To the Beat uses both licensed songs featuring artists from the Avex Trax record label (this also includes foreign acts whose albums are distributed through Avex, like *NSYNC), as well as exclusive songs created by ACS' in-house composers, usually under various pseudonyms.

Due to various government regulations regarding the usage of Japanese language in Korean products, the Korean versions of the To the Beat games are known for excluding songs with Japanese language by either replacing the song with a lyricless instrumental version, or excluding the song outright and replacing it with region-exclusive K-pop songs.

Starting To the Beat NEO, the game has also included crossover tracks from ACS' other franchises. Mostly remixes like Solidary Moon (Special Beat Mix) from FOREVER, a remix of Solidary Moon, Twilight's stage theme in the Crisis Moon games.

Titles

 * To the Beat! (2001; Arcade (System 200), PlayStation 2)


 * To the Beat! 2nd Dance (2002; Arcade (System 200), PlayStation 2)


 * To the Beat! 3rd Dance (2002; Arcade (System 200), PlayStation 2)


 * To the Beat! The Ultimate Dance (2002; XBox, Nintendo GameCube)


 * To the Beat! 4th Dance (2003; Arcade (System 200), PlayStation 2)


 * To the Beat! 5th Dance (2003; Arcade (System 200)


 * To the Beat! The 2nd Ultimate Dance (2003; XBox, Nintendo GameCube)


 * To the Beat MAXIMUM (2004; Arcade (System 201), PlayStation 2, XBox, Nintendo GameCube)


 * To the Beat MAXIMUM2 (2005; Arcade (System 201), PlayStation 2, XBox, Nintendo GameCube)


 * To the Beat αlpha (2007; Arcade (System 201++) PlayStation 2, Wii)


 * To the Beat αlpha2 (2008; Arcade (System 201++), PlayStation 2, Wii)


 * To the Beat αlpha3 (2009; Arcade (System 201++), PlayStation 2, Wii)


 * To the Beat SP (2009; PlayStation Portable)


 * To the Beat NEO (2011; Arcade (System 202: ENDYMION), PlayStation 3, Wii, XBox 360)


 * To the Beat NEO2 (2012; Arcade (System 202: ENDYMION)


 * To the Beat NEO3 (2013; Arcade (System 202: ENDYMION)


 * To the Beat FOREVER (2016; Arcade (System 203: ATLANTIS)

Trivia

 * Besides the aforementioned removal of songs, Korean versions of To the Beat are also known for removing any mention of the characters’ nationalities and surnames, since a lot of the characters are Japanese.
 * The step code for "All Music" in the earlier To the Beat games is: down-left, up-right, down-right, up-right, up-left, down-left, down-right, up-right, up-left, down-right and down-left. Spelling it out in letters would mean "ACS".


 * In 2002, Konami filed a lawsut against ACS Softworks for copyright infingement regarding its dance pad patent. However, like the lawsuit against Andamiro, the details were never released to the public up to this day.