# # ## ##### ##### # ## # ## ## # # # # # # # # # # ## # # # # # # # # # # # # ###### ##### # # ###### # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # ###### ##### ###### ## ##### # # # # # # ##### ##### # # # # # # ###### # # # # # # # ##### ###### # # # Copyright 2003 Calista Tait game: Martial Beat (for PSX) author: onetwolittleb version: 0.9 date: February 22, 2002 email: cat@mit.edu Version 0.9 0.9 March 8, 2003 -- Mostly complete, but there are a few details missing. --------------------- Contents --------------------- 0. Author's note 1. How to Play 1.1. Game Summary 1.2. Controller Setup 1.3. Main Menu 1.4. Profile Creation 1.5. Date Entry and Response Type 2. Game Modes 2.1. Practice 2.1.1. Song List 2.1.2. Mirror mode 2.2. Fitness 2.2.1. Routine List 2.3. Edit 2.4. Diary 2.5. Basic 2.6. Attack --------------------- 0. Author's note --------------------- I am writing this because there doesn't seem to be a complete general FAQ for this game. I read and understand very little Japanese, so this will mostly be based on what I have been able to figure out or what few translations from other people I have been able to acquire. It will be incomplete and potentially inaccurate in places, but I figured my best guess is better than nothing. Because this game is in Japanese I will explain some of the things the manual would tell you if it were in English. These are not translations of the manual, but summarizations of what you need to know to play the game. I have also never played the arcade game, so I cannot compare and contrast the differences between the home version and the arcade version. If you do have a better understanding of the game, please send corrections (or even feel welcome to write a better FAQ). Any help will be appreciated. --------------------- 1. How to Play --------------------- 1.1. Game Summary --------------------- Martial beat is essentially a set of martial-arts-based exercise videos with some visual feedback for when you punch and kick with the correct appendage in time with the music. When you follow the instructor correctly there will be a noise and/or visual effect on the screen, including fireballs, cartoon tigers and lightning storms. Unlike bemani games, you cannot sight-read a song; you must learn the routine and memorize it. Each routine is composed of several repeated sequences, so most can be learned fairly quickly. You should be wearing flexible clothing and have plenty of space to play in. The routines, if done correctly, will have you kicking in all directions and moving around. This game should not be played in a cramped or cluttered space. The game can only be played by a single player. --------------------- 1.2. Controller Setup --------------------- You can play the game with the specialized controller (recommended) or a playstation controller. The normal playstation controller acts as the following: O: right punch X: left punch square: right kick triangle: left kick The specialized controller consists of a base station, which is plugged into the playstation, and four sensors, one for each hand and foot. The base station should be plugged in to the player one slot (I'm not sure if it really matters). The round part should be pointed at the area you are planning to play in. The controller works via IR so you should make sure that there isn't anything obstructing the base station from the sensors. Each hand and foot sensor is marked on the back with Kanji (Japanese pictorial symbols embossed in the plastic) with which appendage they should go on. They also have arrows below the characters indicating left and right. This means left: ---|---- | / --- / | ----- (a T shape with an I shape underneath it) This means right: ---|---- | / ---- / | | ---- (a T shape with a box underneath it) This means hand: ___ __|__ ___|___ | / (three lines with a center line down the middle) And this means foot: ---- | | ---- | | |- / \|__ (a little guy-shape sitting on a chair like thing) Strap each sensor onto the appropriate appendage. The round part of the sensor should be pointed toward your foot or hand. Be sure to turn each one on before playing the game. There is a red LED to indicate that they are on and have battery power. Each sensor has its own batteries, so if they are not working correctly, you should make sure that all the batteries are fresh and working. Try to make sure that your clothing doesn't fall over the rounded part of the sensor. (Most clothing won't actually effect it, but some will.) The sensors detect when they are snapped or stopped quickly in the direction of the rounded part. Any quick motion will trigger them; stomping your foot will work just as well as a properly done kick. The sensors will not detect subtle movements or your position or distance from the base station. The game will respond to a normal controller plugged into the player two slot with the specialized base station plugged in. I recommend doing this, since it is easier to navigate the menus with a normal controller than it is with your hands and feet. Since the specialized controller will control menu navigation, be very careful when you walk around the room. The controls are: Right hand - cycle forward through the menu Left hand - cycle backward through the menu Right foot - select Left foot - cancel --------------------- 1.3. Main Menu --------------------- Data Load - Load an existing profile for game play. This is the option you will use most often once you have set up a profile. When you select this it will allow you to scroll through the profiles, displaying the names for each one. Select the desired one with O. New Game - Create a new profile. (see below for details.) Option - Change overall game options. The game will ask you about the "response type" option every time you play; the rest of the options are fine on their defaults. The menu items are: Sound - stereo or mono Voice - turns the instructor's voice on and off Response - controls the sensitivity of the sensors (see below) Controller - I don't know exactly what this does --------------------- 1.4. Profile Creation --------------------- Before you can play, you will have to create a profile. Select "New Game" from the main menu. It will then ask for some information; remember that O is select and X is cancel. You will now see a profile dialog. The first slot is for your name. Select this box with O and you will see a menu of characters with which to type your name. To the far right is a menu of alphabets and options. The second item on this menu is Roman (English) letters. The menu to the right will change once you have selected an alphabet, so the Roman alphabet will not always be the second item on the menu. The option third from the bottom is back space. The option second from the bottom is forward space. The bottom menu item will confirm the name and return you to the main profile screen. The next slot down in the main profile dialog is age. Select it and use left and right to increment or decrement the value. The slot to the right of that is gender. The character for male is the box with a plus in it and something that almost looks like an upside down 4 coming out of the bottom. The character for female looks like two overlapping arcs with a horizontal top line. The slot below and to the left is your height in centimeters (2.54 cm to the inch). The one to the right of that is your weight in kilograms (0.45 lb to the kg). When you are all done press O on the very bottom selection. It will then ask you for the date and response type (see next section). --------------------- 1.5. Date Entry and Response Type --------------------- Every time you play the game will ask for the date (it will default the last entered date). Select each field with O and use the controller to scroll to the correct date. The fields are year, month and day from left to right. When done, select the bottom option. The date feature allows you to keep your game diary accurate. The game will then ask for response type. This is controls how hard you have to snap them to make the sensors trigger. Type 1 is the easiest, most sensitive setting and is good for beginners. Type 3 is the hardest and is best if you want to make sure that you throw your punches and kicks hard. --------------------- 2. Game Modes --------------------- 2.1. Practice --------------------- This mode lets you select songs individually so that you can learn the routines. This is definitely the place to start unless you want to learn good form for individual moves first, in which case you should start with Basic (see below). Practice mode displays the title of the highlighted song as well as the parts of the body that the game thinks that song will exercise. (The left half of the person diagram are the muscles in the back and the right half is the front.) The songs are divided into easy, mid, and hard. The divisions seem to apply more to how much the routine works you and its speed rather than how hard it is to learn the routine. Select a song. The song will load (there should be spinning dots on the screen while it is loading) and the instructor will appear on the screen. Even though the music and video have started, the game may not respond to kicks and punches immediately, especially for songs like Boom Boom Dollar where there is a long warm up before they actually start sensing. The status icon at the top of the screen will start to flash when the game actually starts to notice the sensors. It flashes green when there is no movement required and red when you must perform a kick or punch, though there is no indication which movement is required, except from the instructor's movements. Follow the instructor as well as you are able. You should treat the screen like a mirror, so if the movement is with the instructor's right hand, you want to move your left. There is a little picture of the instructor's back in the corner. This is a guide as to what you should look like from the back. Sometimes this representation will also telegraph which side the next pattern will start on. It is sometimes easier to pay attention to corner image than to main instructor. When you do a correct move you will hear a striking sound and may see a fire ball or other visual effect. The more you do in a row, the bigger the effect becomes (note the combo gauge at the top of the screen), until it becomes as interesting as a large roaring cartoon tiger. Combos can only occur at specific times in each routine, so do not be frustrated if you do a whole sequence perfectly and don't get a spectacular combo out of it. These effects are your indication that you are doing the right thing at the right time. There are some moves which the controller cannot detect which the game always assumes that you have performed. The visual effect for getting these correct will always appear on the screen, no matter what you are doing. When the song ends you will be giving a grading screen and a diagram of the muscle groups the game thinks you have used as well as completely off-base estimations of equivalent measures of other exercises. Likely the only things you care about are the grade and the percentage of hit move. --------------------- 2.1.1. Song List --------------------- The following songs are included: HARD ---- Rhythm and Police Stomp to My Beat Ordinary World MID ---- Sky High That's the Way (I Like It) Romansu No Kami-Sama Hot Limit 17 Sai Tubthumping Lupin the 3rd '78 (unlocked by passing attack mode twice) Easy ---- Hero Boom Boom Dollar Dam Dariram Dub-I-Dub (unlocked by passing attack mode) --------------------- 2.1.2. Mirror Mode --------------------- Dub-I-Dub, once unlocked, will always be played in mirror mode, meaning that when you would normally punch or kick with your left, you should punch with your right. Your right hand should be used when the instructor uses their right hand. --------------------- 2.2. Fitness --------------------- Once you have learned the routines, or are at least familiar enough to not be frustrated by them, you should move on to fitness mode. This mode will give you a menu of assembled routines composed of the songs seen in practice. Once again it gives you a diagram of the muscle groups it thinks you will work with each routine. It will give you a good impression of how kick- or punch-heavy the routine is. The little symbols at the top indicate the songs, but it is hard to learn which icon matches which song. It will also display the calories it thinks you will use and the time the routine lasts. The second version of a routine is typically longer. --------------------- 2.2.1. Routine List --------------------- BurnOutBeat-1 --------------- Rhythm and Police Hot Limit Boom Boom Dollar BurnOutBeat-2 --------------- Boom Boom Dollar Rhythm and Police Hot Limit That's the Way (I Like It) Romansu no Kami-Sama UpperBodyBeat-1 --------------- Ordinary World Stomp to My Beat Dam Dariram UpperBodyBeat-2 --------------- Dam Dariram Stomp to My Beat Boom Boom Dollar Hot Limit Ordinary World BottomBodyBeat-1 ---------------- 17 Sai That's the Way (I Like It) Tubthumping BottomBodyBeat-2 ---------------- Tubthumping Hero That's the Way (I Like it) Romansu no Kami-sama Rhythm and Police 17 Sai RushBeat-1 ---------------- Boom Boom Dollar Romansu no Kami-sama RushBeat-2 ---------------- Hot Limit Stomp to My Beat Romansu no Kami-sama Boom Boom Dollar FunctionBeat-1 ---------------- Ordinary World Tubthumping FunctionBeat-2 ---------------- Tubthumping Dam Dariram 17 Sai Ordinary World CombinationBeat-1 ----------------- Hero Sky High CombinationBeat-2 ----------------- Sky High That's the Way (I Like It) Rhythm and Police Hero --------------------- 2.3. Edit --------------------- Here you can combine songs together to form your own custom routines. Here is where we all wish I knew Japanese better. The first option creates a new empty routine. It will assign a default name. The second option will let you edit the name of a routine. You will be presented with the same naming screen you used for setting up your profile name. See the section on creating a new profile for details on the naming-entering menu. The third option will let you add songs to your routine. Pressing O will let you navigate the sub menu. The first option in the sub menu will take you back to the previous menu. The second item allows you to add a song. The last menu item deletes the highlighted song. You can highlight a song after any action has been completed by moving the controller and highlighting the icon in the routine queue at the top of the screen. The last option in the main menu will let you delete an entire routine. Exiting will automatically save any changes that you have made to the routines. They will now be available to you in Fitness mode. --------------------- 2.4. Diary --------------------- If you have been entering the dates correctly, then this will display your totals for each day you have played. Use the control stick to navigate the months. Select a day to look at with O. Days when you played the game will be highlighted in blue. It will show you a summary of how many of each game mode (practice, fitness, attack, basic) you did that day. --------------------- 2.5. Basic --------------------- This is a collection of instructional videos that show you how to properly do the kicks and punches that make up each routine. They will show you how to perform the move, making sure to point out important aspects of the movement. For example, it shows you where the power should come from and the position a limb should be in when you successfully throw a kick. This is all in Japanese, but if you pay careful attention you can figure out what they are telling you to do such as keeping your elbows in or making sure your foot is oriented correctly. The illustration to the left of the main menu should give you an idea of what the video will be about. --------------------- 2.6. Attack --------------------- Don't try this mode until you know the routines fairly well. If you follow the routines correctly, you will survive against the lame cartoon foe; if not, the little guy with the punching gloves will take your health and you will fail. Your gauge is reset at the start of every song. After each song is completed you will get a grading screen which includes how many of your enemies you defeated out of the total number possible. Attack mode goes in the following order: Ordinary world Tubthumping Hero Hot Limit Dam Daridam Sky High 17 Sai Stomp to my Beat That's the Way (I Like it) Romansu no Kami-sama Boom Boom Dollar Rhythm and Police Dub-I-Dub (Mirror Mode) (only after it is unlocked) When you clear all songs in attack mode you will see credits for the game, which you can't quit out of. "Totally Cleared" will be marked in your diary. After you clear attack mode for the first time, the song Dub-I-Dub will be unlocked. After the second time, Lupin the 3rd '78 will be unlocked. If you just want to pass through this mode to unlock the songs, it is easily defeated by rhythmic button mashing on a standard controller.