AKB48 Group Tsuini Koshiki-on Ge Demashita

Overview

AKB48 Group Tsuini Koshiki-on Ge Demashita (AKB48 Group Official Music Game) is a free-to-play rhythm game where players form a unit of their favorite members from the all-girl Japanese pop group AKB48. It was developed by S&P and released on the Japanese iOS and Android marketplaces on May 7, 2014.

The game originally released with only AKB48 and its concurrent members from the other groups. On December 8, 2014, a mode featuring only SKE48 and their songs was added to the game. On April 28, 2015, NMB48 and HKT48 modes were both added to the game. On August 23, 2016, the members and songs of Team 8 were added to the AKB48 mode.

Players will choose five of their favorite members to be part of a stage unit to perform songs. Depending on the ability of the members and how well the player performs in the song, a score and rank are given upon completing the song. As players complete and replay songs, they’ll unlock better members that can be swapped with the members in their unit.

Players will also earn experience points for completing songs which are needed to level up the player’s overall rank which unlocks new songs at different levels.

While the game is free to download and costs nothing to get the entire experience, it does have its share of microtransactions and “gacha” systems in place to give players easier/better access to unlocking better versions of the members they want to use.

Gameplay

LIVE MODE

The core of the game is “Live Mode” which involves playing a fairly simplistic rhythm game that uses two on-screen buttons and three different actions: tap, hold, and arrow-slides.

Rhythm icons will scroll towards the front of the screen and players will need to perform the appropriate action when the icons approach the two circle buttons in the bottom left corners of the screen. The icons that appear are as follows:

-Circles that need to be tapped.

-Circles with long trails that need to be held down and let go at the right time.

-Arrows that need to be swiped in the corresponding direction.

The timing of the actions will grant you point bonuses as indicated by the words: Excellent, Great, Good, Bad, Miss.

For all icons that are timed at “Great" or better, a combo is built up. Reaching specific combo thresholds will reward the player with a star icon that becomes a gift jar which unlocks new members.

For every “Bad” and “Miss” icon, the player’s mental bar is reduced, which is essentially the health bar. If the mental bar is depleted, the player fails the song. Upon failing the song, the player is given the option to either quit out and return to the menu or spend a sound gem and continue the song from the point that they failed at.

Additionally, bubble icons with members’ faces will appear and tapping them will trigger their special ability, such as a short score multiplier, or a temporary mental protection which prevents the player’s mental bar from draining if they miss.

To perform a song, the player needs to spend to Live Points (LP). A song can cost 10 LP to play on easy, 20 LP to play on normal, 30 LP to play on hard, 35 LP to play on the high speed version of hard, and 45 LP to play on expert. If the player wishes to participate in the daily special events, then the cost is 5 LP higher for each difficulty.

LP is replenished by one point every four minutes in real-world time, or completely refilled when the player levels up. The player can also spend a sound gem to refill their LP. Maximum LP is increased by one point each time the player levels up.

LESSON MODE

As players complete songs and collect members, they can train and level up their members in "Lesson Mode." There are two options in Lesson Mode: Normal Lesson (silver) and Individual Lesson (gold).

The normal lesson option is used for powering up members and improving their performance and mental stats. In normal lessons, players select the member they want to train and up to five other members to train with them. These assistant members, however, are essentially consumed by the main member and are no longer available in your roster of members. A member can be trained up until their “maturity gauge” has been filled to 100%.

In individual lessons, 100% matured members can be upgraded to a higher rank (from 3-star member to 4-star member, and so on.) To upgrade a member, they need a specific set of red tracksuit members that can only be obtained by playing the daily challenge songs in Live Mode. Like in the normal lessons, these other members are consumed and can’t be used again.

MEMBER MODE

In member mode, players can manage which members are in their main unit for performances. The number of members that players can keep at one time is limited. When the player exceeds the member limit, they are given the option to spend a sound gem to increase their member roster.

Players also have the option to retire unneeded members in exchange for hearts and tickets. Hearts are needed for lessons, and tickets can be exchanged for special members. Players can also mark members as locked so that they aren’t accidentally consumed or retired.

The album is also located in this mode where players can look at the different portraits of the members they collected and listen to member sound clips.

DASU MODE

The Dasu Mode is where players can buy or exchange the in-game currency--sound gems and tickets--for members, limited edition costumed members, photos, and more. Sound gems and tickets can be obtained over time by logging into the game each day and participating in special events.

The gem exchange lets you trade five gems for one member or 50 gems for 10 members.

The ticket exchanges come in different amounts and change depending on the current promotion.

Track List

Each group has their own list of songs. These songs include tracks from their singles, albums, theater performance setlists. Each mode will start with a small number of playable songs, but more are unlocked as players level up. The song lists are regularly updated as the groups release new singles and albums. Usually during the week of a new single, players can immediately play the new song for the promotional period before it is placed behind the level requirement gate. Here are the playable songs in each mode:

AKB48

• Heavy Rotation
• Suzukake Nanchara
• Koisuru Fortune Cookie
• Mashika Mukanee
• Kokoro no Placard
• Heart Ereki
• Labrador Retriever
• Everyday Kachuusha
• Kibouteki Refrain
• Manatsu no Sounds Good!
• 10nen Zakura
• Sayonara Crawl
• Hashire! Penguin
• Kuchibiru ni Be My Baby
• Seijun Philosophy
• Halloween Night
• Eien Pressure
• Oogoe Diamond
• AKB Festival
• Ponytail to Shushu
• GIVE ME FIVE
• First Rabbit
• Bokutachi wa Tatakawanai
• Heart Gata Virus
• Juuryoku Sympathy
• Kimi no Dai-ni Shou
• Sakura no Ki ni Narou
• Iiwake Maybe
• Kuchi Utsushi no Chocolate
• Sailor Zombi
• Aitakatta
• Flying Get
• Sakura no Hanabiratachi
• Kagami no Naka no Joan of Arc
• RIVER
• Kate wa Fuiteiru
• UZA
• Temodemo no Namida
• Junjou Shugi
• Chance no Junban
• Gingham Check
• Green Flash
• Beginner
• Dear My Teacher
• Kimi no Koto ga Suki Dakara
• 47 no Suteki na Machi e

Special Event/Daily Songs

• Pioneer
• Shamu Neko
• Shonichi
• LOVE Shugyou
• Shoujotachi Yo
• Namida Surprise!
• Anata to Christmas Eve
• Yoyaku Shita Christmas

SKE48

• Pareo wa Emerald
• Wimbledon e Tsureteitte
• Escape
• December Kangaroo
• Oki Doki
• Temodemo no Namida
• Maenomeri
• Cross
• Kagami no Naka no Joan of Arc
• Coquettish Juutai Chuu
• Koppu no Naka no Komorebi
• Kiss Datte Hidarikiki
• Utsukushii Inazuma
• Choco no Dorei
• Bukiyou Taiyou
• Katamoi Finally
• Ame no Pianist
• Junjou Shugi
• Mirai to Wa?
• Aishiteraburu
• Chicken LINE

NMB48

• Kamonegikkusu
• Don’t Look Back!
• Takane no Ringo
• Zetsumetsu Kurokami Shoujo
• Warukii
• Durian Shounen
• Rashikunai
• Ibiza Girl
• Bokura no Eureka
• Must Be Now
• Boku wa Inai
• Zipper
• Seishuun no Laptime

HKT48

• Melon Juice
• Wink wa Sankai
• 12 Byou
• Sakura, Minna de Tabeta
• Suki! Suki! Skip!
• Katamoi no Karaage
• Hikaeme I Love You!
• Otona Ressha
• Hatsukoi Butterfly
• Shekarashika

Events

Players can participate in a number special events that occur daily and weekly. Most commonly are the birthday events, where players can play the group’s birthday song “Namida Surprise.” The birthday events occur with the actual birthdays of the members in each group. Participating in the birthday events give players special birthday versions of the member who is celebrating their birthday.

There are also “Oshimen Contests” (oshimen is Japanese for one’s favorite member) where players can register their oshimen and play participating songs in an event to build up a score ranking. The top 100 players for each member will receive a special photo and/or costume of their oshimen for them to display on their home menu.

Online and Social

The game requires an online connection at all times, but features asynchronous multiplayer similar to Puzzle & Dragons. When selecting a song, players must choose a guest member from a pool of other players’ units. The guest member’s abilities and special skills will be combined with the player's unit for that song only. After finishing a song, players can choose to add that guest player to their friend’s list for easier access for future performances.

Friends can also be added by entering their ID number (similar to a Friend Code).

In addition to being able to call upon a friend’s guest member in performances, players can also compare scores for each song on the leaderboards.