Chardish's wonderful adventure setting up and playing ITG2

07-27-2005, 10:50 PM

As many of you know, my home base arcade is one of the coolest arcades in the country, GOM Arcade in Huber Heights, OH. It's a 40 minute drive from my house, but it's so worth it. 2 DDR machines, GF, DM, Beatmania. And the community is amazingly cool.

Well we just got one step sweeter...we got an ITG2 machine today. I found out about it at the arcade yesterday and decided to show up today and burn another $7 in gas - I wasn't going to miss out on this. I heard the machine was going to arrive in between noon and noon-thirty, so I showed up at noon-thirty.

Yes, it's coming.

After a game of Guitar Freaks, I hopped up on DDR. Halfway through Rain of Sorrow Heavy Doubles I heard someone shout that the machine had arrived. I stepped off the pad and sacrificed my DDR set to go check it out. Little did I know it would be the last time I stepped on DDR that day.

Pictures are huge, 56k gtfo. Make sure your browser auto-shrinks them

It was a rainy morning when the truck arrived, complete with the machine plastic-wrapped up to protect it from the elements.

Unloading the machine:
The truck
Getting it off the truck
Getting it in the door
Once in place, we start to unwrap it
Behold its screen-protected glory
Base of the machine
Wiping off the awesome flatscreen monitor
Slanker and SM with the marquee, bars, and pads
Bringing in the marquee

Hooking it up (this took a little more than an hour):
The machine, without marquee, pads, or anything
The pads come protected by this inisteel tape. We think "inisteel" might be an unlock code
Setting up
SM and me, with a bar. I may be rain-soaked and have a stupid expression on my face, but who cares. I'm about to play ITG2
The exposed 1P pad (there's still plastic film on it)
Everything spread out erratically
Slanker figures out how it works. (Note: that's the camera flash, the lights aren't on
Some assembly required
Unpacking the marquee
I'm reminded of the video from PSMO
The marquee connected
The bars go on
The machine
The back of the monitor
Fie works on the bars
No one really cares about any of these other games right now
Connecting the pads
Beautiful brand-new pads

Starting the machine:
The BIOS load screen
This stepchart is insane
And here we go...
The attract screen
The operator menu
DOUBLES FOR 1 CREDIT - best option ever

ITG2 in action:
This looks like a typo. ANCE NDOM
Java and Spicer play, Steve and Chandler watch
Gallop steps
We had to use a whiteboard for signups cause so many people wanted to play
Sarah and Laika play
Sarah, Slanker, Laika
Still beautiful pads

Anyway, now for my review of ITG2.

First of all, the cabinet is UNBELIEVABLY SEXY. So sexy that all those pictures I posted above probably count as pornography. The machine has a slightly rough finish to it that makes it look a lot more modern than DDR's shiny plastic everywhere. The blue plexiglas over the speakers is neat, the lights are smaller and a lot less intense than DDR's (as they should be).

But the screen is the big draw here. This is a 33" flatscreen monitor, and the resolution is fantastic. It's got to be running at at least 1280x1024, if not more. Lines are really smooth and there's practically no blurring of edges at all. ITG's interface is cool. I'm not much for the songwheel but the modifier screen and gameplay screens just ooze with production quality.

The sound is extremely impressive. There's very strong bass but no distortion at all, and highs and midranges aren't lost either. Not even IIDX has a cabinet this cool. This is DDR Deluxe, this is the cabinet we always wish we've had.

The pads are a lot nicer than DDR's. No more stomping around to try to get the arrows to register, no more misses since you hit only the corner of the arrow, and no more NGs because the pad stopped registering. The pad takes about as much force to register as a Drummania pad. This isn't much. This is a very, very good thing. You can trigger an arrow simply by putting your foot there.

This is also a very good thing for hands, also. You don't have to hurt your hand to get the hand steps to register, and freeze hands don't take a whole lot of effort to hold in place.

The songlist can best be described as "not DDR." There's great variety of music, and most of it is really good. It seemed like during this one day already some favorites were beginning to emerge from the regulars: stuff like Mellow, Bumble Bee, Which MC Was That, and Hardcore Symphony were quickly becoming crowd favorites. DDR songs are fun to us largely because they're familiar; for everyone there was a time when they saw a DDR songlist and thought "Huh? Give me something I know." In about a year I'm sure ITG will feel like a "classic" to our community. Certainly it already does to many others.

Mines are actually fun and they're a nice challenge. They kind of encourage you to keep your foot in the air during the mine rather than trying to relocate it somewhere else if there's not an obvious place for it. For that reason they're almost like "air holds". Play Destiny on Hard to see what I'm talking about here. There's a section that feels like eighth-note gallops because you have to jump so much where you wouldn't expect to.

Also, they can be employed to force a particular step pattern (to prevent whiteboying, for example.

The memory card features are insanely cool. It saves every one of your best scores (as well of a bunch of other cool stats), and you can even take screenshots easily just by hitting the red button at the results screen, like this:

Stupid stupid miss. Almost a AAA.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, I only played one game of DDR that day, and that was before the ITG2 machine came. The community was sweet tonight and it was really neat getting to see practically everyone I know from the Dayton area turn out for this. There were long lines the whole day except for the very end. We bought the whiteboard because it was impossible to manage otherwise (we hate coin lines with a passion. Put a coin on the machine at GOM and someone throws it.) I think at its peak the whiteboard had about 15 names on it, and most of those were for 2 player games.

I ended up staying at the arcade for 10 and a half hours...it's been one of the best days I've had in a long time.

ITG2 is awesome. This is the new DDR, and frankly, after seeing Konami's latest arcade offering (DS Fusion), I'm really hoping Konami loses the ITG lawsuit.

Go play this game immediately.

07-27-2005, 10:50 PM	#1
User6773 Guest Posts: n/a	Chardish's wonderful adventure setting up and playing ITG2 As many of you know, my home base arcade is one of the coolest arcades in the country, GOM Arcade in Huber Heights, OH. It's a 40 minute drive from my house, but it's so worth it. 2 DDR machines, GF, DM, Beatmania. And the community is amazingly cool. Well we just got one step sweeter...we got an ITG2 machine today. I found out about it at the arcade yesterday and decided to show up today and burn another $7 in gas - I wasn't going to miss out on this. I heard the machine was going to arrive in between noon and noon-thirty, so I showed up at noon-thirty. Yes, it's coming. After a game of Guitar Freaks, I hopped up on DDR. Halfway through Rain of Sorrow Heavy Doubles I heard someone shout that the machine had arrived. I stepped off the pad and sacrificed my DDR set to go check it out. Little did I know it would be the last time I stepped on DDR that day. Pictures are huge, 56k gtfo. Make sure your browser auto-shrinks them It was a rainy morning when the truck arrived, complete with the machine plastic-wrapped up to protect it from the elements. Unloading the machine: The truck Getting it off the truck Getting it in the door Once in place, we start to unwrap it Behold its screen-protected glory Base of the machine Wiping off the awesome flatscreen monitor Slanker and SM with the marquee, bars, and pads Bringing in the marquee Hooking it up (this took a little more than an hour): The machine, without marquee, pads, or anything The pads come protected by this inisteel tape. We think "inisteel" might be an unlock code Setting up SM and me, with a bar. I may be rain-soaked and have a stupid expression on my face, but who cares. I'm about to play ITG2 The exposed 1P pad (there's still plastic film on it) Everything spread out erratically Slanker figures out how it works. (Note: that's the camera flash, the lights aren't on Some assembly required Unpacking the marquee I'm reminded of the video from PSMO The marquee connected The bars go on The machine The back of the monitor Fie works on the bars No one really cares about any of these other games right now Connecting the pads Beautiful brand-new pads Starting the machine: The BIOS load screen This stepchart is insane And here we go... The attract screen The operator menu DOUBLES FOR 1 CREDIT - best option ever ITG2 in action: This looks like a typo. ANCE NDOM Java and Spicer play, Steve and Chandler watch Gallop steps We had to use a whiteboard for signups cause so many people wanted to play Sarah and Laika play Sarah, Slanker, Laika Still beautiful pads Anyway, now for my review of ITG2. First of all, the cabinet is UNBELIEVABLY SEXY. So sexy that all those pictures I posted above probably count as pornography. The machine has a slightly rough finish to it that makes it look a lot more modern than DDR's shiny plastic everywhere. The blue plexiglas over the speakers is neat, the lights are smaller and a lot less intense than DDR's (as they should be). But the screen is the big draw here. This is a 33" flatscreen monitor, and the resolution is fantastic. It's got to be running at at least 1280x1024, if not more. Lines are really smooth and there's practically no blurring of edges at all. ITG's interface is cool. I'm not much for the songwheel but the modifier screen and gameplay screens just ooze with production quality. The sound is extremely impressive. There's very strong bass but no distortion at all, and highs and midranges aren't lost either. Not even IIDX has a cabinet this cool. This is DDR Deluxe, this is the cabinet we always wish we've had. The pads are a lot nicer than DDR's. No more stomping around to try to get the arrows to register, no more misses since you hit only the corner of the arrow, and no more NGs because the pad stopped registering. The pad takes about as much force to register as a Drummania pad. This isn't much. This is a very, very good thing. You can trigger an arrow simply by putting your foot there. This is also a very good thing for hands, also. You don't have to hurt your hand to get the hand steps to register, and freeze hands don't take a whole lot of effort to hold in place. The songlist can best be described as "not DDR." There's great variety of music, and most of it is really good. It seemed like during this one day already some favorites were beginning to emerge from the regulars: stuff like Mellow, Bumble Bee, Which MC Was That, and Hardcore Symphony were quickly becoming crowd favorites. DDR songs are fun to us largely because they're familiar; for everyone there was a time when they saw a DDR songlist and thought "Huh? Give me something I know." In about a year I'm sure ITG will feel like a "classic" to our community. Certainly it already does to many others. Mines are actually fun and they're a nice challenge. They kind of encourage you to keep your foot in the air during the mine rather than trying to relocate it somewhere else if there's not an obvious place for it. For that reason they're almost like "air holds". Play Destiny on Hard to see what I'm talking about here. There's a section that feels like eighth-note gallops because you have to jump so much where you wouldn't expect to. Also, they can be employed to force a particular step pattern (to prevent whiteboying, for example. The memory card features are insanely cool. It saves every one of your best scores (as well of a bunch of other cool stats), and you can even take screenshots easily just by hitting the red button at the results screen, like this: Stupid stupid miss. Almost a AAA. Like I said at the beginning of this post, I only played one game of DDR that day, and that was before the ITG2 machine came. The community was sweet tonight and it was really neat getting to see practically everyone I know from the Dayton area turn out for this. There were long lines the whole day except for the very end. We bought the whiteboard because it was impossible to manage otherwise (we hate coin lines with a passion. Put a coin on the machine at GOM and someone throws it.) I think at its peak the whiteboard had about 15 names on it, and most of those were for 2 player games. I ended up staying at the arcade for 10 and a half hours...it's been one of the best days I've had in a long time. ITG2 is awesome. This is the new DDR, and frankly, after seeing Konami's latest arcade offering (DS Fusion), I'm really hoping Konami loses the ITG lawsuit. Go play this game immediately.

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