NotCliche

The arcade version of DJMAX which is usually played on PSP with its arrow keys and buttons. Technika, however, offers a different gameplay. It uses an Ouendan playing style where whereby you hit a note when the timing is right.

However, like all other rhythm games out there, it’s not as simple as simply hitting several notes as Technika brings about a variety of notes to the game, in addition to what we know in the vanilla DJMax.

Truth be told, this game is awesome.

Currently, DJMax Technika stands as an arcade-only, seeing that the touchscreen feature isn’t exactly portable enough for anything else other than a Nintendo DS. Even then, a Nintendo DS would probably be unable to run a full-blown game of DJ Max, seeing that even the PSP has some trouble running it at times. This is also the first and only arcade game that Pentavision has made.

The machine itself would probably tell you how different it is from the PSP version…

Leaving that aside though, DJMax Technika is an extremely different game from what we know from the vanilla DJMax.

First of all, the touch screen is an obvious difference when it comes to gameplay. Instead of using arrow keys and other buttons which you can feel, DJMax Technika wants us to get up close and personal with the very screen we’re looking at.

All DJMax players would know that there are 3 kinds of notes to the vanilla game. A single note, a drag note, and a double note (used by the shoulder buttons in the PSP). However, DJMax Technika increases the amount of notes to a total of 5, and each one is highly different from each other. Also, instead of seeing a whole bunch of notes going down to a line (called a time-line in Technika), the time-line will progressively sweep between left and right of the screen. Each song will present a different BPM, and this will influence the sweep speed of the time-line.

How the spectator screen looks like. It’s the same as the game screen, just that you don’t play.

1. Basic note. Just simply hit the note and you’re done.
2. Hold note. Hold onto the note until the time-line is done with the whole line.
3. Drag note. Hold and drag the note along with the time-line in the specified route.
4. Tap note. Tap the notes on the same spot as the time-line gets to the other notes in the route.
5. Chain note. Hit all notes as the time-line passes them.

As always, DJMax players would also know that there are several difficulty levels in the vanilla game. However, since Technika doesn’t exactly deal with the number of buttons you can press, the game modes of Technika is thus separated into 4 different parts. All of the game modes have a Mixing suffix to it.

Lite Mixing — For beginners. Includes 3 songs and a tutorial. Not all the songs would be available in this mode.

Popular Mixing — Normal mode. Includes 3 songs and allows normal gameplay. Most of the songs are available.

Technical Mixing – Advance mode. Includes 4 songs, although the player must choose from a 3-song disk set and the playability of the 4th song depends on their performance for the 3-song disk set. Most songs are available.

Platinum Mixing — Requires players to have a Platinum ID card (something like a Data Card). This will unlock all the feature that Technika has in store, and will also require an internet connection at the arcade it is at. A variety of features such as leveling up are included.

Like the previous versions of DJMax, Technika features a huge array of songs to choose from. From the first DJMax up to the latest, you can expect Technika to be the host of quite an amazing amount of songs. All of the songs have a more difficult level to it, so if you’re looking for a challenge, you can simply increase the difficulty of the song itself.

If you’re interested in what songs are available for Technika, you can visit this link and check out the chart for yourself.

DJMax Techika is a pretty interesting arcade machine to say the least. The machine itself features 2 screens; a 22-inches screen for the player, and a 32-inches screen for the audience around the player. This way, both the audience and player can actually “take part” in the game itself and this brings about some sort of “DJ-ing” feeling. In addition to that, the stage where the game is played upon does vibrate and a variety of game-based lights are employed to make the atmosphere even better.

In all, DJMax Techika is a pretty interesting arcade game as it brings about some of the best elements of itself (huge variety of songs) and others (touch screen capabilities), and fuses it up into one big great game. While the touch screen functionality might turn some off, this game is definitely something you should not pass up on!

PS: The game card bought from arcades is not considered platinum crew…

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