Mad Maestro! (Game)

Mad Maestro!

GAME » on October 11, 2001

PlayStation 2 (Platform)PlayStation Network (PS3) (Platform)

A rhythm game for the PS2 that focuses entirely on classical music. Not content with just proper timing, the game makes use of the DualShock 2's pressure-sensitive buttons to gauge how hard you press them.

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Overview

Mad Maestro!, known in Japan as Bravo Music, is a rhythm game developed by Desert Productions and published by Sony Computer Entertainment (in Japan) and Eidos (outside of Japan, under their Fresh Games (Company) label) for the PlayStation 2 (Platform) in Japan on October 11, 2001, in North America on March 12, 2002), and in Europe on March 28, 2002.

Unlike most rhythm games of the era, Mad Maestro has players using timed button presses to help conduct a classical orchestra, with a soundtrack composed of entirely well-known classical music. It is notable for utilizing the pressure sensitivity of the DualShock 2 (Accessory) controller's buttons, with players not only required to press the correct button for each prompt, but also pressing the button in a specific "level" of pressure (blue for light presses, green for normal presses, and red for heavy presses).

The game's story is set in the modern town of Bravo Town and stars a young aspiring conductor named Takt. After learning from the fairy Symphony that the town's Concert Hall is being demolished, Takt sets out with his Bravo Youth Orchestra and uses his musical powers to recruit help from the town's citizens and save the Concert Hall.

The game later received a digital PS2 Classics (Concept) re-release for the PlayStation Network (Concept) in Japan on May 20, 2015. It also received multiple Japanese-only follow-ups, including two standalone expansions ("Christmas Edition" and "Chou Meikyokuban") and a full-fledged sequel.

Gameplay

In Mad Maestro you are presented the task of playing classical music. The beat is displated by four dots that show up in the middle of the screen and around the edges are colours. You are aiming to hit the glowing dot while it is directly in the middle of the coloured dots. The colours represent with how much pressure you are to press the buttons on the controller, or if you imported the baton attachment how hard you should move the baton. Blue is for pressing the button lightly, green is for medium, and red to for pressing it as hard as you can.

You get more points and a better upgrade to your meter if you press it just enough before it would count as another colour. So if you are pressing lightly for blue there are two bars on the trophy icon and if you hit the button so that both blue lines show up just before it would hit green then you will get maximum points.

As tempo changes in songs the distance between each dot will get bigger or smaller and this can get tricky in some songs since the tempo changes frequently. The bar at the right tells you how close you are to failing and how you are doing overall. When the bar fills up and turns gold that means you are doing very well but if you miss a couple of notes in a row or you are not hitting with the right pressure the bar will turn to black. While the bar is black/dark purple you have to hit a couple notes perfectly or very good in a row to get it back to gold. If you finish a song with a black/dark purple bar you will fail the song.

The background will change depending on the colour of the bar. When you first start off the song the background will be normal but when you get into gold it will change into a happier tone and it looks like everything is going to plan. When the bar is changed to black/dark purple then the background will changes to a much darker tone and everything will be in chaos in the background.

Stages & Tracks

Stage 1: Will the Couple do a "pas de deux"?

Main: Hungarian Dance No. 6 in D Major, Johannes Brahms
Medley: Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G Minor, Johannes Brahms
Bonus: Csikós Post, Hermann Necke

Stage 2: The Savior of the Run Down Circus

Main: Slavic Dance No. 7, Antonin Dvorak
Medley: Thunder and Lightning, Johannes Strauss II
Bonus: Toy Symphony, Leopold Mozart

Stage 3: Troubled Fashion Show

Main: Finale (from The Carnival of the Animals), Camille Saint-Seans
Medley: The Marriage of Figaro, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Bonus: Eine Keline Nacht Musik, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Stage 4: The Swan and the Boy

Main: Scene (from Swan Lake), Piotr Tchaikovsky
Medley: Toreador Song (from Carmen), George Bizet
Bonus: Dance of the Reed Flutes (from The Nutcracker), Piotr Tchaikovsky

Stage 5: UFO Night

Main: Ride of the Valkyries (from The Valkyrie), Richard Wagner
Medley: Night on Bare Mountain, Modeste Mussorgsky
Bonus: Algerian Suite (from French Military March Music), Camille Saint-Saens

Stage 6: You Too, Lionel?

Main: Marche Militaire, Franz Schubert
Medley: Entry of the Gladiators, Julius Fucik
Bonus: Flight of the Bumblebee, Nikolai-Rimsky Koraskov

Stage 7: Hannie's Feeling Down

Main: March (from The Nutcracker), Piotr Tchaikovsky
Medley: Trepak (from the Nutcracker), Piotr Tchaikovsky
Bonus: Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks (from Pictures at an Exhibition), Modeste Mussorgsky

Stage 8: How Proud is a Top Model?

Main: 40th Symphony, K. 550, 1st Movement, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Medley: Orpheus in the Underworld Overture, Jacques Offenbach
Bonus: Divertimento No. 1 in E Flat Major, K. 113, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Stage 9: Greetings From Mars

Main: Baba Yaga's Hut (from Pictures at an Exhibition), Modeste Mussorgsky
Medley: 4th Movement (from 9th Symphony), Ludwig van Beethoven
Bonus: L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2 from Farandole, Georges Bizet

Stage 10: The Secret of the Lake

Main: Dance of the Four Swans (from Swan Lake), Piotr Tchaikovsky
Medley: Morning (from Pier Gynt Suite), Edward Grieg
Bonus: In the Hall of the Mountain King (from Pier Gynt Suite), Edward Grieg

Concert Mode

This mode follows a set of multiple songs, ending with one of four bonus songs:

William Tell Overture, Gioachino Rossini
Rackozki March, Hecor Berlioz
1st Movement (from 5th Symphony), Ludwig van Beethoven
Radestky March, Johan Strauss I

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