DJMAX Portable 2

Overview

DJ MAX Portable 2 is a music/rhythm game for the PSP, developed and published by Pentavision Entertainment / Neowiz Games. It released in South Korea on March 30, 2007. It is the sequel to the popular and heavily imported game, DJ MAX Portable. While the original Portable game had to wait roughly 8 months for a full english release, DJ MAX Portable 2 launched in South Korea with Korean, Japanese and English tracks available from the get-go. It adds new gameplay modes, an entirely new track list and gameplay enhancements that have been staples in the franchise since.

Gameplay

DJ MAX Portable 2 is a rhythm game akin to Konami’s Beatmania/Drummania/GuitarFreaks franchises. Notes scroll down on a vertical note chart and players must hit each note that crosses the score line to score points. DJ MAX works slightly differently than other games in the rhythm genre, however, as it focuses on a different kind of scoring technique. Instead of scoring the player’s performance with words like “Perfect” or “Great”, the player is judged on the hit accuracy. A percentage rating is displayed for each successful hit. The higher the percentage, the higher the score value for that note. As players successfully hit notes, a combo builds. Combos are not represented by multipliers but simply by a note streak. The higher the note streak, the higher the end-song score is.

Full Combos and high-combo marathon runs unlock extra content.

If players hit notes with a 100% accuracy rating, a meter, called “Fever”, builds up. The Fever meter is the DJ MAX series equivalent of Star Power/Overdrive. Triggering the meter once it’s full activates Fever Mode and a ‘x2’ multiplier is then applied to the score. When the multiplier is active, the meter can be re-filled and re-activated during Fever Mode to extend it and boost the multiplier up to ‘x3’. This can be continued to a maximum multiplier of ‘x5’. The higher the multiplier is, the shorter the timing window to activate Fever Mode is and the the faster the note chart’s scroll speed will be.

Button Modes

4 Button Mode

4 Button Mode’s controls use the Left button for the left-most note, up for the left-middle note, triangle for the right-middle note and circle for the right-most note. The analog stick is used for special “DJ” sections that require you to rotate the analog. The X button is used to activate “Fever” mode which acts as a score multiplier. The L and R buttons are used to speed up/slow down the speed of the notes.

5 Button Mode

5 Button Mode’s controls are like 4 Button Mode’s controls with the added 5th button. The right and square button (highlighted in yellow to the right) act as the 5th button, both assigned to the same note. The analog, X and L and R buttons have the same functions.

6 Button Mode

6 Button Mode’s controls are, again, similar to the 5 Button Mode controls with the exception of having both the right and square buttons assigned to their own notes instead of one. The L, R, analog stick and X button still have the same functions.

8 Button Mode

8 Button Mode is the unlockable mode in DJMAX Portable 2. It has the most difficult control scheme, being similar to the 6 Button Mode except the L and R shoulder buttons also have their own notes. They are red lines that cross the screen as opposed to the normal small white notes assigned to other keys. The X button and analog stick have the same function.

Equip Menu

New to DJ MAX Portable 2 is the Equip menu. Here, players can set a Character avatar to display in menus and in Multiplayer as well as change the looks of the Gear and Notes. The last 2 were also customizable in the original DJ MAX Portable, though they now have a greater importance in the Equip menu. Each Character, Gear and Note will have different effects on gameplay, either affecting your in-game performance or your ability to earn XP or Gold. Gold is currency you earn at the end of each song and it is used to purchase more Equips. XP is also earned at the end of each song, though this one is used to level up and earn new songs and unlockable rewards.

Combos

Combos have been a large part of DJ MAX games, going to lengths of having new tracks, images, music videos or OST tracks unlock as you hit a certain combo number. Combos carry over from song to song in regular gameplay modes that, in modes like Free Mode, can allow players to reach combos of 10,000, 80,000, 100,000 notes.

Game Modes

Portable Mode

• 4B Mode: 3 stage arcade mode using the 4 Button control scheme.
• 5B Mode: 3 stage arcade mode using the 5 Button control scheme.
• 6B Mode: 3 stage arcade mode using the 6 Button control scheme.
• 8B Mode: 3 stage arcade mode using the 8 Button control scheme.
• Free Style: An arcade mode with no stage limit, unlocking all songs and gives the player the ability to switch Button Mode at any time within the song select screen.
• Xtreme Challenge: A revamped version of DJ MAX Portable’s Club Mode. Challenges here are unlocked throughout playing the game either in XC mode or in the regular Arcade modes. Challenges will have set playlists and ask you to complete certain goals, like “Score over 800,000” or “BREAK (miss a note) less than 3 times”. Certain challenges will have more than one goal.
• Option: An option mode to tune settings.

Network Battle

DJ MAX Portable 2’s multiplayer component. It features ranked and player matchmaking, though it can only be played through local ad-hoc. Gold and XP earned here carries over to your offline profile.

Collection

Here you can view unlockables you’ve earned as well as access your password to enter your rankings onto Pentavision’s leaderboards online. Images earned here can be copied to the XMB/Memory Stick to export onto a computer.

Link Disc

This mode makes it’s first appearance in Portable 2 and is carried over into many of the game’s sequels as a prominent feature, hosting a multitude of special unlocks for players that use it. In DJ MAX Portable 2, it’s used to play songs from the original DJ MAX Portable game with DJ MAX Portable 2’s new features. There are very few unlocks to be had in DJ MAX Portable 2 with Link Disc, however. Gold can also be earned here, though not XP.

MV Edition

An area to view movies you’ve unlocked.

OST

The game’s music player. Here, you can listen to the game’s soundtrack. You can also unlock full version of certain songs within the game itself to be listened to here.

Song List

Limited Edition

A limited edition was also released. It contained the game, a box for the edition, a 64-page artbook, a 3-disc soundtrack, a bonus “Trance Mixes” audio CD, a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle and a set of 16 postcards.

All game data on this page is sourced via Giant Bomb.