Arcade Station Episode 6 (English Version)
Episode 06: Location Test… In Another City?! -Brain Power-
Brainpower, Let the bass kick,
O-oooooooooo AAAAE-A-A-I-A-U-
JO-oooooooooooo AAE-O-A-A-U-U-A-
E-eee-ee-eee AAAAE-A-E-I-E-A-
JO-ooo-oo-oo-oo EEEEO-A-AAA-AAAA
It’s official, Hans not only announced that Sound Voltex IV Heavenly Haven and Museca 1 ½ would be having their
location test in the town next door (city name censored), but he also shared
one of the most popular songs in BEMANI history only playable in those two
games, Brain Power by Noma.
Since Hans shared the song on the LINE group, everyone
quickly listened and it became an instant hit among the community. Without the
need of being ashamed, everyone shared the lyrics as well as the link of the
song. They even shamelessly sang the song in Arcade Station, while waiting for
their turn to play their favorite games.
Most notably, Hans, Ian, Don, Ed, Norcross, and several
other guys in the community sang the song out loud in front of Maimai cabinet, this led to the
annoyance of Xephyr, Amy, and Ward, who had just arrived in time as they sang
the chorus.
O-oooooooooo
AAAAE-A-A-I-A-U-
JO-oooooooooooo
AAE-O-A-A-U-U-A-
E-eee-ee-eee
AAAAE-A-E-I-E-A-
JO-ooo-oo-oo-oo
EEEEO-A-AAA-AAAA
O-oooooooooo
AAAAE-A-A-I-A-U-
JO-oooooooooooo
AAE-O-A-A-U-U-A-
E-eee-ee-eee
AAAAE-A-E-I-E-A-
JO-ooo-oo-oo-oo
EEEEO-A-AAA-AAAA-
O--------------------
“Ugh! Can you please stop singing that song?!” Xephyr got
annoyed.
“Damn it, is this really BEMANI song?” asked Ward.
Ian jokingly replied, “Yeah! Yeah! It’s the best BEMANI song
of all time!!”
“Too bad it’s only available on SDVX (Sound Voltex) and Museca,”
Don added.
“Yeah, that’s too bad, even though I’m hoping the song is
added to Maimai. It totally fits!”
Ward got annoyed. “Damn it, can you please just stop
talking about that song?! Why that song is strongly associated with SDVX on your mind?! There’s other songs
you can enjoy too, mostly Vocaloid and Touhou arrangements. Well, I like Touhou
arrangements a lot recently.”
Amy asked, “Don’t tell you’re leaving for the location test
too?”
“Yeah, Hans texted me if the location test ends up
successful, there’s a possibility that other BEMANI games will be coming to
this country soon, including DDR.”
Ward then shouted in joy. “Oh, thank God! DDR
is possibly coming back again!”
Ed said, “Okay, Brain
Power is like bread and butter of SDVX.
I believe in that song!”
“Uh…,” Amy sighed.
Xephyr asked, “So you’re all going for the location test?”
Ward, Hans, Ian, Don, Ed, and several other community
members answered with raising their right hand, while Amy, Norcross and the
others had decided not to, meaning they were not going for the location test.
“Good, I’m also going!” Xephyr said.
“You know, not cool, man. BEMANI is a very engrossing line
of rhythm games that has managed to compel and dispel the generational gap and
creatively inspired several rhythm game copycats across the world. But I almost
run out of money just because I bought too much credits in my game card.
Please, why now? The timing is not right, it’s already the end of the month!”
Norcross shouted.
“What the hell is wrong with this guy?” Dave arrived as he
angrily looked at his phone screen. “This is the stupidest comment that I’ve
ever had! Did the guy even read?! I’ve already explained in one paragraph of
the chapter!! Damn it! Ward, let me try!”
“Dave, what’s going on? You’re angry?” asked Ward.
“Ward, read the full first chapter of my story in Wattpad!
Here!” shouted Dave lending his phone to Ward.
Ward looked at the title of Dave’s web novel on Wattpad. “The Secret Magicians: Elements. Whoa,
sounds pretty cool, I really want to read it, but I don’t have an account yet.”
“Read it and tell me what do you think.”
“Okay. Alright. Here we go.” Ward started reading the first
chapter of Dave’s web novel on Wattpad.
Ed commented, “Um…, that’s why I don’t read many books,
especially novels. Too many same generic theme, romance, romance, romance.”
Xephyr said, “Someone also said to me that nerd girl bad boy and dirty CEO had been trending theme on
Wattpad. It’s pretty boring, where the hell is the variety, why everyone is
enjoying those exact same themed stories?”
“I know how you can get happy again. Brain Power!!” shouted Ian happily.
“No! Not Brain Power!!”
yelled Amy and Xephyr.
***
“Whoa…, this song is pretty cool, man!” Toshi heard Brain Power on his phone using earphone.
“That’s why everyone is talking about this one.”
Aishiro laughed right after he finished playing Danz Base, “Don’t you think it’s way too
much? They often shared the lyrics on the chat group. The lyrics are cute
enough, but the music… if you hear it too much, you’ll get annoyed with it.
Seriously.”
“Oh,
so this is the part everyone is screaming. Let
the bass kick, O-oooooooooo AAAAE-A-A-I-A-U-JO-oooooooooooo AAE-O-A-A-U-U-A.”
“The
hell? You know the lyrics?”
“I
actually read the lyrics on the comments section of the video.”
“Wanna
play together?” Aishiro offered to play Danz
Base.
“Nah,
later. I want to play solo first. Oh! Maybe, I’ll check out the gameplay of Sound Voltex, sounds pretty cool.”
Toshi
immediately typed “Sound Voltex” on
YouTube search bar to search the gameplay video. Unsurprisingly, Bad Apple!!, the most mainstream Touhou
arrangement song of all time, landed at the top spot of the search result. He
immediately picked that video, unfortunately, he picked the EXHAUST difficulty
gameplay.
Surprisingly,
Toshi got shocked upon finding out the true gameplay of Sound Voltex. For him…, the gameplay was too far for him. He was
confused how to turn the corresponding knob and hit the buttons at the same time.
The
gameplay of Sound Voltex was pretty
similar with Beatmania IIDX, GuitarFreaks, and DrumMania. In fact, it was a variation of Beatmania IIDX with pretty much identical gameplay. But instead of
the familiar piano keys, the game control consisted of four square buttons in a
row, accompanied by two larger “FX” buttons directly below them, along with
effector knobs on both sides which the player had to either slowly rotate in a
certain direction, or quickly slam between sides.
“Um…,
maybe I’m skipping this one. It’s damn too hard,” said Toshi.
“Let
me see the gameplay with Brain Power.”
Aishiro finally sat on the couch between the Danz Base and Dance Evolution
Arcade’s carpet.
“Alright!”
Toshi
immediately swiped down the currently playing Sound Voltex gameplay playing Bad
Apple!! EXHAUST before typing “Sound Voltex Brain Power” in the search bar.
He immediately tapped the top video to play it, he picked Brain Power with EXHAUST difficulty gameplay video.
Toshi
pulled his right earphone and lend it to Aishiro, who later put it on his left
ear, to hear the the gameplay together. As they heard the song, Toshi also
scrolled to take a closer look on the comments.
“Sounds
not pretty bad after all.”
“Wait…,
RIP Brain Power?” Toshi read one of
the comments. “What does it mean?”
“I
don’t know. Just ignore it.”
Ward
talked to Dave as he came, “Whoa, your story is awesome, truly awesome. But I
don’t really understand why someone like him commented your story like that for
no reason?”
“No
reason?! Absolutely! You agree with me that the guy had entered the stupidest
comment that I’ve ever had!”
“Just
let me see the comment.” Ward finally read the mentioned comment earlier, “The main protagonist is some kind of unfit
to the story and the setting, is he even from abroad?”
“YES!!
Is he even as a reader truly stupid?! I told him inside the story already! He’s
British! British!! I already told him in one of the dialogues of the story.
He’s a goddamn douche for being too lazy! And there’s more by him.”
Ward
read the next comment by the exact same user on Wattpad, “This first chapter is truly terrible because of this, the pace is too
rushed…, wait a sec, I thought this chapter is amazing, it’s not rushed at
all. The first chapter is indeed to introduce, right?”
Dave
said, “That’s why I disagree, totally disagree! I just want to reply his
comment with… It’s my story! Whether want it long or short, just whatever when I
like, you jackass!! Damn, I ended up ranting again.”
“Hi,
Onii-chan,” Toshi greeted. “Whoa,
calm down. It’s okay, dude.”
Ward
replied, “He’s angry just because someone told his story is bad for no reason.
I don’t think so.”
“Damn…,
that comment…,” said Aishiro.
“Just
the stupidest comment I’ve ever had,” Dave explained. “Why the hell is this guy
questioning the most obvious details of the storyline. Obviously, it was
answered in the previous paragraph!”
Ward
asked, “By the way, can I read it again? I’m addicted with The Secret Magicians!”
Aishiro
replied, “You can read on your phone and create your own Wattpad account,
dude.”
***
“Wait,
I don’t get it.” Norcross got confused after seeing the group’s chat log as
everyone sat down on the benches in front of both Maimai and Groove Coaster cabinet.
“After the location test, the game will be removed from the arcade. I don’t
really get it at all.”
“Seriously,
dude? But why?” Ian replied.
Hans
explained, “It’s called ‘location test’, so the developer of the game, for this
case, Konami; is looking for feedback and hype from local players in this
country, I mean in the location. The developer is waiting for the players’
feedback and enthusiasm for consideration whether they want to put their games
in the country.”
Don
concluded, “I see, Synchronica had a
location test there before. That’s why it was removed, maybe due to low hype.”
Xephyr
added, “So did Beatcraft Cyclon, even
though the game was made by former DJMAX staffs,
it’s a shame that the game never catch on.”
“Damn
it! Neon FM will be added to Arcade
Station permanently! Including this city!” Ian read the latest status on Arcade
Station’s official Facebook fanpage through his phone screen.
“What?!
Neon FM?!” shouted Amy.
“Museca actually copied from that game,
did it?” asked Ed.
Xephyr
answered, “Basically, yes, it did.”
“Maybe
the hype from our country on Neon FM is
so much. So, if we want Arcade Station to add Sound Voltex, Museca, and
other BEMANI games like DDR and IIDX (Beatmania IIDX) permanently, we need to generate more hype during
the location test to convince both Arcade Station and Konami,” Hans concluded.
“Hans!!”
Toshi excitedly came. “Thank you for the Brain
Power! I can’t stop listening to it! Even though I can’t go for the
location test.”
“Huh?!
Toshi, you too?!” asked Xephyr.
“I
thought you only like K-Pop and J-Pop! Well, at least you like anime songs too,”
Amy added.
“Oh,
thank God! You’re staying here too!” shouted Norcross.
“I
told you Brain Power is full of epic
awesomeness!” shouted Ed happily.
“Hell
yeah!” shouted Toshi before putting his earphone on his ears again.
“That’s
right! We need more Brain Power!”
shouted Ed playing the song on his phone once again.
Everybody,
except Amy and Xephyr, screamed the first verse of the song, “Are you ready.”
“Ugh!
Please stop singing that song!” shouted Xephyr in annoyance.
Toshi
later pulled out his earphone before finally decided to play Groove Coaster, he swiped his game card
and tapped his NESICA ID card on the one of the cabinets. Upon waiting for his
successful login to the game, he immediately browsed the comment section of Brain Power full version on YouTube.
Toshi
expressed his shock upon seeing one of the comments, “Huh?! What do you mean
with RIP Brain Power again? AH! Oh
no! Oh no! OH NOOO!!!” Then he immediately played Groove Coaster. “I need to finish this game three stages before
telling this to everyone.”
***
“Ugh!
Please, no more Brain Power!” shouted
Ward while looking at his phone screen while sitting in front of one of the
food court tables.
“Huh?
Wattpad notification?” Dave, who sat facing Ward, tapped the notification on
the phone screen before being dismayed. “Ugh! A READING REQUEST?! NO READING
REQUEST ALLOWED IN MY WALL!!”
“Ah!”
Aishiro freaked out. “Calm down, Dave. Calm down, okay? Perhaps, they need you
to read and comment to their stories.”
“But
it’s from the exact same user who gave the stupidest comment I’ve ever had!”
Dave showed his phone screen to Aishiro who sat next to him.
“Damn
it! That user again?”
Ward
quickly changed the topic, “Okay, calm down. So, you guys are going for the
location test? Sound Voltex and Museca. Hans said we need to generate
more hype if we want more BEMANI games coming to Arcade Station as soon as
possible.”
Aishiro
replied, “Nah, I can’t go. I want to, but…, family business.”
“Why
in the hell this guy shamelessly promotes his works while sending me the
stupidest comment that I’ve ever seen?!” complained Dave.
Ward
finally said, “Well, Dave, I’m gonna lie, being criticized is painful and
uncomfortable, but at least you need to say thanks to those I should say haters or anything for reading your
stories. On the bright side, you got an editor for free. Except for the plot,
which readers can’t request recklessly, the plot of the story depends on the author
too.”
Aishiro
added, “That user had failed to understand you as an author perhaps, people
have their own opinions, some will love or hate every single works, including
books, whether is in print or on the web.”
“Okay,
I’m done making my Wattpad account!” shouted Ward. “I’m going to add The Secret Magicians to your library.”
“Whoa,
I don’t know you also like to read, Ward.”
“Yup,
in fact I recently bought *book title censored* and *book title censored*, one
of them is even from Wattpad after being read million times in total! I hope
your stories on Wattpad will get published in print soon, Dave!”
Dave
happily said, “Thank you, Ward! Thank you! Make sure you read all episodes of The Secret Magicians: Elements! By the
way, the second season will be revised soon!” Then he revealed, “By the way, I’m
still trying to move on from that comment.”
***
Toshi
looked at the result of his third stage on Groove
Coaster, playing サドマミホリック (Sad Mami Holic) HARD level 9. He shook his head as he ended up
failing the stage and getting rank B.
“Damn, I can’t believe it’s still
difficult for me,” Toshi pressed one of two booster buttons on Groove Coaster cabinet. He realized that
he had forgotten something while playing Groove
Coaster. “Wait, what am I going to tell?”
Toshi quickly looked at his phone
screen to see the comment section of Brain
Power full song on YouTube. One of the comments quickly reminded what he
was going to tell everyone in Movement Rhythm Community.
“Toshi! You played Groove Coaster too?” Xephyr greeted
before Toshi even able to open his LINE app.
“I thought you only play Danz Base and Pump It Up, I didn’t know you also play Groove Coaster,” Amy, who arrived with Xephyr, added. “To be
honest, I’m so over with Brain Power.”
“Um, have you heard the news about Brain Power recently on the internet?”
asked Toshi.
“No. Why?” asked Amy and Xephyr simultaneously.
“It’s already removed from Sound Voltex and Museca!” Toshi revealed. “To be honest, Brain Power is way too much overrated and… they just… play it way
too much.”
***
Brainpower,
Let the bass kick,
O-oooooooooo
AAAAE-A-A-I-A-U-
JO-oooooooooooo
AAE-O-A-A-U-U-A-
E-eee-ee-eee
AAAAE-A-E-I-E-A-
JO-ooo-oo-oo-oo
EEEEO-A-AAA-AAAA
Hans, Ian, Norcross, Don, and Ed
were still addicted to Brain Power and
shamelessly sang it in front of everyone inside Arcade Station. Most of the
visitors who noticed them singing the annoyingly catchy song immediately walked
away from the arcade, annoyed with their loud singing.
Seeing an opportunity like that,
Xephyr finally decided that it was the time to tell the current state of Brain Power on both Sound Voltex and Museca,
at the same time she, along with Amy, was also annoyed with their singing.
“For God’s sake, guys! You’re kicking
the customers away, thanks to your Brain
Power…,” Xephyr told.
Ian told, “It’s catchy because it’s
epic!”
“You wanna know what happened with
that stupid song right now?” Xephyr finally revealed to everyone, “Firstly, Brain Power was already removed from Sound Voltex and Museca. Also, the reason behind the removal was NOMA’s decision not
to license the song to Konami anymore!”
“AH!!” Everyone screamed in dismay.
Ian shouted, “Prove it!”
“Done.” Toshi immediately sent an
evidence in form of a screenshot to the LINE group. “Look at the LINE group.”
Everyone immediately took their
phone and opened the LINE app. They quickly looked at Movement Rhythm Community’s
LINE group to look at the screenshot that Toshi had sent. Everybody expressed
their horror upon finding out that Brain
Power was already removed from Sound
Voltex and Museca.
“No! No! NOOOOO!!!” screamed Ian.
“Brain Power is removed…,” Don expressed in between shock and flat.
Hans later said, “Yup. I just got
some news from my friends, just before Toshi sent the screenshot. Brain Power was removed from Sound Voltex and Museca.”
“Why don’t you just tell us
earlier?” asked Norcross.
“Damn it, Sound Voltex! Just say no to Sound
Voltex IV,” Ed said.
Xephyr told, “C’mon, on the bright
side, you can still enjoy Touhou arrangement songs on both Sound Voltex and Museca,
right?”
Ian agreed, “Xephyr’s right! Let’s
just play Touhou songs instead!”
“No,” Ed disagreed. “They took the
soul of the game.”
“It’s like you take Scatman off
from Maimai. You take the meem (meme) out,” Norcross added.
“Toshi, is this true?” asked Dave
who finally came back to Arcade Station. “Brain
Power is already removed from Sound
Voltex?”
“I told you through the screenshot,
Onii-chan,” Toshi answered.
“Fine, at least we have Touhou
arrangements!”
“I agree,” Don added.
“Brain Power is the best osu! song
ever!” Ed replied.
Upon hearing osu!, which is actually a
freeware rhythm games which basically mimicked commercial titles such as Beatmania IIDX, Elite Beat Agents, and Taiko
no Tatsujin; one of the community members’ anger triggered, the dismay upon
the actual original rhythm games and osu might
led to a hardcore rhythm gamer anger.
“Whoa, yeah, it’s available on Osu! too, right?” Ian tried to change
the situation.
“Whatever happened to Brain Power, we still need to go for the
location test! To help spread our hype for BEMANI franchise to Arcade Station.
It’s the only thing we can do if we want one of those games like Sound Voltex and Museca is coming here permanently,” Hans also cheered everyone up.
“DDR is also possibly coming to Arcade Station if the location test
got successful too, right?!” Ward excitedly asked.
“Sure!”
“We need to bring DDR back in Arcade Station! Seriously!”
shouted Ian.
***
MOVEMENT
RHYTHM COMMUNITY (95)
Aishiro
Daichi
So, Brain Power had already been removed? (7:35 PM)
Norcross
Adamson
It’s true (7:37 PM)
Another memetic song gone (7:38 PM)
Hans
Taggart
Who’s going for the location test
tomorrow? (7:40 PM)
Ed will give us a ride (7:41 PM)
Ian
Hunter
Me! (7:41 PM)
Don
Parrish
Me (7:41 PM)
Xephyr
Me (7:42 PM)
But I ride my own ride 😊 (7:42 PM)
Dave
Scott
Me (7:42 PM)
(7:42 PM) I’m in! 😃
Toshiyuki
Ryuzaki
I can’t go T_T (7:43 PM)
Amy
Kavanagh
Me neither :’( (7:43 PM)
Norcross
Adamson
It’s a shame I can’t go ☹ (7:44 PM)
Hans
Taggart
Anyone else? (7:45 PM)
Alright, I’ll meet you all at 7 o’clock
(7:49 PM)
***
“Everything all set!” Ed turned his
car key to turn on his silver Honda CRV car engine after everyone entered the
car.
Hans, who sat next to Ed, said, “Next
destination, *city name censored*, for location test!”
Ian happily shouted, “Alright, let’s
go!”
“Here we go!” Ed started driving
his car leaving the gathering location right exact at 7 o’clock in the morning.
“Hey, we need some music!” Ian
immediately suggested as he connected his phone with an aux cable.
Ed suggested, “Please don’t Brain Power again, we need to move on
from that song.”
Ward happily cheered, “Ah! Thank
God!”
“I know what can replace Brain Power, I’m a SCATMAN!” shouted Ian before playing the song titled Scatman on his phone.
Since Ian’s phone was connected
with an aux cable to the car stereo, the song was played and heard across the
car speakers. Ward was not amused upon hearing the song out loud, especially
when Ian sang the lyrics out loud again.
I'm
the Scatman
Ski-Bi
dibby dib yo da dub dub
Yo
dab dub dub
Ski-Bi
dibby dib yo da dub dub
Yo
dab dub dub
B-B-B-Be
Bop a Bodda Bop
Bop
a Bodda Bop
Be
Bop a Bodda Bop
Bop
a Bodda Boop
“Dave, please, I want to use my
earphone!” said Ward upon seeing Dave was playing Cytus on his tablet.
“Hang on, I’m trying to have fun
after what I saw on Wattpad yesterday.” Dave was playing Otome by Suzumetune on Cytus with
HARD difficulty while listening using Ward’s earphone.
“Damn it…,” Ward expressed his
dismay after he was forced to hear one of his most hated songs other than Brain Power.
“Hey, it’s better than Brain Power at least!” shouted Ed.
“C’mon, let’s just sing together!”
shouted Ian.
I'm
the Scatman.
B-B-B-Be
Bop a Bodda Bop
Bop
a Bodda Bop
Be
Bop a Bodda Bop
Bop
a Bodda Boop
B-B-B-Be
Bop a Bodda Bop
Bop
a Bodda Boop
Be
Bop a Bodda Bop
Bop
a Bodda Bop
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