Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA
| Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA | |
|---|---|
| File:Hatsune Miku Project DIVA Logo.png Official Logo for the series | |
| Genre(s) | Rhythm game |
| Developer(s) | Sega Crypton Future Media |
| Publisher(s) | Sega Dwango Music Entertainment |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, Nintendo 3DS, Sega RingEdge, iOS |
| First release | Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA July 2, 2009 |
| Latest release | Miku Flick March 9, 2012 |
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA (初音ミク -Project DIVA-) is a series of rhythm game created by Sega and Crypton Future Media. The games have appeared on the PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, Nintendo 3DS, iOS, Sega RingEdge platforms. The series currently consists of 4 main titles, 2 spin-offs and 1 upcoming game. The series primarily makes use of Vocaloids, a series of singing synthesizer softwares, and the songs created using these vocaloids most notably the virtual-diva Vocaloid Hatsune Miku. The game is the first video game to utilize the Vocaloid software developed by the Yamaha Corporation.
Gameplay
As the game is a rhythm game, players are allowed to choose from a wide variety of Vocaloid songs, original songs sang by vocaloids, including songs sang by Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin and Len. Players also can choose which character they wish to play in the game. Known as modules, these modules can be completely different characters or simply different costumes for the same characters. These modules, though not directly controlled by the player, will be the ones appearing in the music videos throughout the game including their specific costumes. For example, if the player chooses Kagamine Rin for their first character and Hatsune Miku for their second character, during solo songs only Kagamine Rin appears in the video but for duets both Hatsune Miku and Kagamine Rin will appear in the video. Each of the songs have their own difficulties which are Easy, Medium, Hard and Extreme. Initially both the Easy and Medium difficulties of a song are unlocked, upon clearing the Medium difficulty, the Hard difficulty will be unlocked and so forth. Players progress through the game by completing songs and unlocking more new songs until they eventually unlock all songs.[1][2][3]
Note the Circle and Square symbols floating as well as the "Cool" rating of the hit.
The game's gameplay is similar to that of other rhythm games in which players must press a series of buttons according to the sequence on the screen. The game primarily makes use of the 4 main symbols, cross, circle, square and triangle, which are the face buttons for the PlayStation Portable. Various floating gray buttons of those symbols will appear on the screen, and the colored version of those symbols will begin to float in from the various sides of the screen. The player is required to press the face button once the colored symbol lands on its grayed version and based on the player's timing their accuracy is rated. Accuracy is described with a word displayed in the bottom right corner of the screen, ranging from "cool" to "worst". The game is scored on accuracy and the player is awarded with a rank ranging from "Perfect" to "Mistake" (denoted by MissXTake). It also includes a chance mode whereby the combo system compounds points earned, for example one perfect note gives you 100 points, if you have a combo of 34 notes, the 34th note alone gives you an additional 3400 points.[1][3][4]
In addition to the game's standard rhythm game feature, is the ability for user-generated content in the game's Edit Mode. The Edit Mode allows users to create their own custom Promotional Video (PV) or Music Video, which either uses songs already in the game or any MP3 format music file from the player for the PV. Players can customize the video playing in the background, the various modules, backgrounds, costumes and even dance moves by the modules in the PV. Players can also modify the module's face to make the module appear to be singing so as to lip-sync the custom song to the video. Other than the Edit Mode, there is also a Diva's Room mode in which players can buy and obtain items throughout the game or from the in-game store to decorate their module's room with. Players can also take screenshots of their modules whilst they are playing in their room.[1][2][4]
Games
Main Games
- Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA
- Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA is the first game in the Project Diva series, first released on July 2, 2009 for the PlayStation Portable handheld. The game was later playable on the PlayStation 3 using a software known as Dreamy Theatre, which allowed connectivity between the PSP and the PS3.
- Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Arcade
- Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Arcade is the first arcade game in the Project Diva series, and featured many new features that were introduced to home players only when Project Diva 2nd was released. Though it was a port of the original Project Diva game, the Arcade version featured many new songs that were from the then unreleased Project Diva 2nd along with updated High Definition visuals akin to the Dreamy Theatre version of the first game.
- Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA 2nd
- Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA 2nd is the sequel to Project Diva and was released on July 29, 2010 for the PlayStation Portable handheld, almost exactly a year after the first game. Similar to the first game, Dreamy Theatre 2nd was also released, allowing players to play the game on the PlayStation 3 as well. The game also brought about a few new features though most of the gameplay widely remained the same, the new features included a new difficulty, duet songs and DIVA Room.
- Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Extend
- Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Extend is an expansion to Project Diva 2nd for the PlayStation Portable with the interface, graphics and gameplay being virtually the same as Project Diva 2nd. It was released on November 10, 2011 and featured a wide variety of new models and new songs. The game allowed players to import data from Project Diva 2nd into the game, including saves, songs, costumes and Downloadable Content. Similar to past games in the series, a companion game Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Dreamy Theater Extend will be released on the PlayStation 3 in summer 2012 with improved visuals and will also support stereoscopic 3D for the first time in the series.[5][6]
Spin-offs
- Hatsune Miku and Future Stars: Project Mirai
- Hatsune Miku and Future Stars: Project Mirai is a spin-off from the series, with a different art-style and gameplay from the series. It is also the first game in the series not to be released on the PlayStation series of gaming products, instead being released on the Nintendo 3DS. The game was released on March 8, 2012, and it added several new features to the series. The game had Augmented Reality features using cards to show 3D models on the 3DS Cameras, as well as the voice and lyrics in a song to change according to the selected Vocaloid. The game also used a Super deformed art style for characters in the game instead of their normal art.
- Miku Flick
- Miku Flick is a spin-off from the series, with a different gameplay from the series though featuring the same art style and PVs. The game was released on iOS in Japan on March 9, 2012 and internationally on April 9, 2012 making it the only game in the series to ever be localized into English. The game features a different gameplay whereby the player "flicks" the lyrics of the song in certain directions. The lyrics are placed on 10 separate tiles and players have to flick those tiles in the given direction.
Upcoming Games
- Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F
- Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F is the working title for the upcoming main entry in the Project Diva series that will make its debut on the PlayStation Vita and also appear on the PlayStation 3 as a full-fledged game rather than downloadable software like Dreamy Theatre. It is scheduled to be released in 2012 for the PlayStation Vita and 2013 for the PlayStation 3, though both are the same game. The PlayStation Vita will also have additional gameplay features such as "scratch" that make use of its touch-screen and touch-panel features.
Characters
(From Left to Right) KAITO, MEIKO, Kagamine Len, Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin, Megurine Luka
Characters in the series are known as modules and are all vocaloids. The current list of characters who have appeared in the series are:
| Character | Game | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project DIVA | Project DIVA Arcade | Project DIVA 2nd | Project DIVA Extend | Project Mirai | Miku Flick | Project DIVA F | |
| Hatsune Miku | Playable | ||||||
| Kagamine Rin | Playable | Playable | |||||
| Kagamine Len | Playable | Playable | |||||
| KAITO | Playable | Playable | |||||
| Megurine Luka | Playable | Playable | |||||
| MEIKO | Playable | Playable | |||||
| Sakine MEIKO | Playable | ||||||
| Akita Neru | Playable | ||||||
| Yowane Haku | Playable | ||||||
| Kasane Teto | DLC | ||||||
| Megpoid Gumi | Playable | ||||||
Reception
The series has been popular among fans in Japan, having sold over 1 million copies as of April 2012 in Japan alone.[7]
References
- ^ a b c Spencer (September 3, 2008). "Sega's Hatsune Miku game appears to be easy to play". Siliconera. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
- ^ a b Jenni (August 16, 2009). "Show Off Your Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Screenshots". Siliconera. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
- ^ a b Spencer (April 23, 2009). "Have Another Look At Hatsune Miku: Project Diva". Siliconera. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
- ^ a b Jenni (August 18, 2009). "The Magic of Hatsune Miku: Project Diva". Siliconera. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
- ^ Anoop Gantayat (May 30, 2012). "New PS3 Hatsune Miku Dreamy Theater Announced". Andriasang. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
- ^ Anoop Gantayat (May 31, 2012). "First Look: Hatsune Miku Project Diva Dreamy Theater Extend". Andriasang. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
- ^ Anime News Network Staff (April 12, 2012). "Hatsune Miku -Project Diva- Series Reaches 1 Million Units Shipped". Anime News Network. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
External links
- Official Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA website Template:Ja icon
- ProjectDIVA Wiki, a fanmade wiki
- ProjectDIVA.NET, a fan forum and news site
