THE iDOLM@STER SHINY FESTA

THE iDOLM@STER SHINY FESTA
Video Game Data
Platform: PSP, iOS Publisher: NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. Developer: NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. Selling Agency: NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. Release Date: October 25, 2012 (PSP) April 22, 2013 (iOS) Shutdown Date: March 15, 2016 (iOS) CERO Rating: B (target over the age of 12)

THE iDOLM@STER SHINY FESTA (Japanese: アイドルマスター シャイニーフェスタ, Aidorumasutaa Shainii Fesuta) is a spinoff series of games for the PlayStation Portable based on both THE iDOLM@STER 2 and THE iDOLM@STER (anime). It was later released for the iOS, and was made possible to buy in North America, France, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The game is arguably the first true rhythm game of the franchise (some may consider THE iDOLM@STER Live for You! to be the first). Three different versions, each with 4-5 different idols, exist with some shared songs as well as exclusive ones for each version. Each game also includes an Anime episode made specifically for the games with various changes in each version to reflect on the idols in that particular version.

Service for the iOS version of SHINY FESTA was discontinued on March 15, 2016. Although the games are still playable, they cannot be downloaded from the App Store and DLC is no longer available for download.

On October 2, 2013, the series was re-released on the PlayStation 3 for iM@S CHANNEL under the name THE iDOLM@STER Shiny TV.

Gameplay

Similar to the THE iDOLM@STER SP series, there are three games, Honey Sound (Japanese: ハニー サウンド, Hanii Saundo), Funky Note (Japanese: ファンキー ノート, Fankii Nooto), and Groovy Tune (Japanese: グルーヴィー チューン, Guruubii Chuun), with each one having different characters and songs.

The game consists of two main modes: Stage and Star of Festa (SOF). Stage can be considered a free mode to play songs. While the player only has access to Debut (Easy) and Regular difficulties in the beginning of the game, by beating the songs in the preceding difficulty the Pro and Master difficulties for songs can be unlocked. Memory boosts can also be obtained in this mode for use in SOF mode. SOF mode is essentially the story mode of the games, having 3 levels of difficulty. In this mode, a new point counter, the popularity gauge, is introduced. The player must gain 100,000 points of popularity within 5 in-game days to obtain the best ending. In the final stages of each day for SOF mode, the player can randomly go against a different idol and if the player wins, they gain a name card which will give a permanent increase in each day's popularity count. All of these will increase the Idol Rank of the group for that specific version up to SS.

The gameplay consists of lines of notes merging to a center point. When the note reaches the center point, the player must press either a button on the left side of the PSP (L trigger or D-Pad) and/or on the right side of the PSP (R trigger or shape buttons). There are also holds and special notes which will change the background video. In SOF mode, some notes will also turn into Memory notes to increase popularity count. Each song will have up to five that the player can press. There also exists a shop in-game which allows players to buy items and charms which will assist the player during songs. While not all the items are available from the beginning, more are unlocked as the player increases in Idol Rank.

Instead of using rendered characters on the screen like other games in the franchise, Shiny Festa instead has prerecorded videos in both the PS3/360 CG style as well as the Anime style. After beating a song, the player can freely view these as they please. The game also has a System Data save which saves the player's Producer name, money, name cards, and items to be shared between versions.

International Release

On April 22, 2013, SHINY FESTA was released onto iOS systems for North America, France, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. This became the series' first western game release. The titles of the game were changed for this release as follows:

• Honey Sound → Harmonic Score
• Funky Note → Rhythmic Record
• Groovy Tune → Melodic Disc

Small changes in content were made upon western release, such as the removal of swimsuit costumes (replaced by other costumes). Some errors in translation were found as well, such as "HOBBIES" on character cards being misspelled as "HOOBIES".

Songs

Solo Songs	Performers	Group Songs	Performers

Solo Songs	Performers	Group Songs	Performers

Solo Songs	Performers	Group Songs	Performers

Development

THE iDOLM@STER series producer Youzou Sakagami attributed the development of a rhythm game in the series to two reasons. Noting that songs have a strong meaning to the franchise, he had wanted to make the songs that were included in the series' albums but not in its video games to be accessible in that form. He also wanted to create an iDOLM@STER video game that, while maintaining a producer's viewpoint, has a lighter feel and would allow the player to hum along to the idols as they play. With the rhythm game genre falling in line with these two desires, development of SHINY FESTA had officially commenced. The team chose to develop for the PSP as it was simple to play on. At the same time, the team also wanted to create scenes where the series' thirteen idols would be able to appear together and chose pre-rendered videos to make this possible. The development team deliberately chose to use a gameplay system in which the note icons float toward the screen's center to attract the player to look at the videos in the background.

The games' anime episodes were directed by Atsushi Nishigori and produced by A-1 Pictures. According to Aniplex producer Yōsuke Toba, he was told about the plans of including anime material in SHINY FESTA during production of the TV anime's final episode, and he did not inform Nishigori until later on. Series director Akihiro Ishihara said that each anime episode was initially planned to be about ten minutes long, but Nishigori extended each episode to its current length, feeling that the episodes would not be fun if they were too short. Three teams were formed to create the three episodes, and Nishigori noted that this enticed each team to compete with each other during production.

Name Cards

Unlockable name cards are available whenever players defeat in game rivals. The following idols have collectible cards:

765 PRO Idols

• Haruka Amami
• Miki Hoshii
• Chihaya Kisaragi
• Yayoi Takatsuki
• Yukiho Hagiwara
• Makoto Kikuchi
• Mami Futami
• Takane Shijou
• Hibiki Ganaha
• Iori Minase
• Ami Futami
• Azusa Miura
• Ritsuko Akizuki

876 PRO Idols

• Ai Hidaka
• Eri Mizutani
• Ryo Akizuki

961 PRO Idols

• Touma Amagase
• Shouta Mitarai
• Hokuto Ijuuin

Cinderella Girls

• Uzuki Shimamura
• Mai Fukuyama
• Kanako Mimura
• Misato Manaka
• Miho Kohinata
• Miku Maekawa
• Frederica Miyamoto
• Sae Kobayakawa
• Kotoka Saionji
• Anzu Futaba
• Yao Fueifuei
• Sachiko Koshimizu
• Rin Shibuya
• Reiko Takahashi
• Mizuki Kawashima
• Nao Kamiya
• Hajime Fujiwara
• Kaede Takagaki
• Ranko Kanzaki
• Koume Shirasaka
• Haruna Kamijo
• Karen Hojo
• Riina Tada
• Miria Akagi
• Suzuho Ueda
• Shizuku Oikawa
• Mika Jougasaki
• Rika Jougasaki
• Kirari Moroboshi
• Natalia
• Takumi Mukai

OVA Episodes

Each game was bundled with an original anime episode, focusing on the idols featured in that edition. By default, the episode begins playing on first starting the game, but this can be skipped.

The episodes were included with subtitles for the international iOS versions.

• Honey Sound: Music in the world
• Funky Note: Music is a friend
• Groovy Tune: Music of love

Gallery

• 

  PSP IDOLM@STER Shiny Festa Honey Sound Front Cover

• 

  PSP IDOLM@STER Shiny Festa Honey Groovy Tune Front Cover

• 

  PSP IDOLM@STER Shiny Festa Funky Note Front Cover

Official Links

• Official Website