オンゲキ (Ongeki) arcade rhythm game overview, gameplay, cabinet hardware inspection

This is a really fun game; I wouldn't say it has the same universal draw as CHUNITHM, but it is REALLY attractive-looking, a lot of fun, and has enough uniqueness to it to make it interesting! There's nothing super complicated with how any of it works, but it's used very well to make a cohesive and fun game. Much like CHUNITHM, the gameplay is loose enough to allow you to cheese a lot, but that's what I love about it. That flexibility of how you play is really relaxing compared to games like IIDX. The cabinet also does an excellent job focusing the sound on the player with the built-in sound barriers. It's very well-designed to be played while sitting. Using the GP system from other gacha games also really helps to immerse a player and keep them from walking away, since you can just......keep playing. You can even spend GP for longer menu time. Gameplay, you have 3 buttons on each side, RGB, and you can use either side to hit the notes. You can mash all 3 without being penalized. Later charts will have you hit both at the same time, but otherwise it is very flexible. There's two side purple buttons, and the lever in the center to control your character. Your character must avoid the purple bullets, pick up yellow bells, swipe as needed, and stay within the course. Straying out of the course will cause all notes hit to be a miss. There is no traditional "clear" for each song, only a win/draw/lose against an enemy character for each song. Your victory/defeat is tied into your character type, skills, and levels. I'd consider an "S" score a traditional clear, much like CHUNITHM. Speaking of characters, characters! Unlocks! Waifu farming! I did a video earlier on CardMaker, so I recommend you go back to that if you haven't seen it for that part of the game. The cards are used to quick-load your characters. Each slot has a camera in it to read the QR code on the card. As you play various events, you can also unlock characters. There's so much to do besides playing songs, really gives you a lot to do! These are the things that turn even a midcore/hardcore rhythm gamer into a no-lifer. Did I mention there's a full visual novel in the game lol Really there's so much to talk about for this game. If you ever get the chance to try it, I highly recommend it! There aren't any publicly available in the West right now so it's only really accessible in Japan, but I'm hoping to add it to my convention lineup very soon! Hope to see you at cons trying this at one of our cons :)