THE iDOLM@STER (Xbox 360) (2025)

THE iDOLM@STER (アイドルマスター Aidorumasutaa) is a reissue of the 2005 arcade game and is a console music rhythm game and life simulation game for the Xbox 360. Being the second installment in THE iDOLM@STER franchise, it was released in Japan on January 25, 2007, and was published by Namco Bandai Games Inc. (later known as Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. since 2015) under the Namco brand. The game was also developed by the in-house Namco studio instead of Metro unlike the arcade game.

The game follows the career of a producer who works for the fictional 765 Production studio and has to work with a selection of ten prospective pop Japanese idols.

Gameplay

The Xbox 360 game tasks the player into the role of a producer who raises an idol from obscurity to stardom. Lessons, like the original arcade game, allow idols to have their statistics raised. During Auditions, players can compete their idol troupes against each other if they are connected to Xbox Live. They may also check leaderboards to see how they compare to different producers.

List of changes

There are a number of changes between the original arcade and Xbox 360 game.

• The player's Xbox Gamer Tag is used to keep track of idol data, while a memory unit or the hard drive of the Xbox 360 is used to save game data, such as replays, pictures, costumes, and accessories, in contrast to the arcade game, which uses a Producer Card and an Idol Card to keep track of a producer's data.
• The time limit for menus has been removed. Instead, the player now has unlimited time to select songs and/or costumes.
• The character models were remade from scratch, raising the polygon count and texture resolution to allow more detailed models than those of the arcade version.
• Miki Hoshii has been added as a playable character in the game.
• The game features additional content such as six new songs, as well as downloadable content in the form of additional costumes and Idol Dramas.

Gameplay changes

Several gameplay elements have been changed for the game:

• Messages from idols are received in game after certain events instead of being sent to the player's real life cellphone.
• Lessons have been reworked and now make use of the Xbox 360 controller to compensate the lack of a touch screen interface. Communications, however, remain entirely untouched.
• There is no longer a time limit within which you must raise your Idol Rank to prevent the retirement concert. A set time limit of 52 in-game weeks is presented in its place before your idol's contract expires.

Characters

Songs

Development

A console port of THE iDOLM@STER had been discussed as early as May 2005. Following the success of the arcade game, Namco went on to develop its Xbox 360 port starting in early 2006. Namco producer Youzou Sakagami was initially unsure if it would be suited for a video game console due to hardware and network limitations, but he felt that the Xbox 360 and its Xbox Live network could handle the game's specifications.^[1] This would also allow the developers to improve the game's quality and attract attention from those who never played the arcade game. Many people who were interested in the arcade game but never played it would tell Sakagami that this was either because their local arcade did not have THE iDOLM@STER, or because they were embarrassed to play it in public. According to Sakagami, to the development team of the port, there was a large significance in correcting these issues. Their other focus was on allowing players to comfortably play the game and enjoy its various scenarios without the rushed gameplay found in the arcade version. When developing the Xbox 360 port of THE iDOLM@STER, the characters had to be entirely redone, including the motion capture, which used the same actors as before. Further details were able to be added to the character designs because of the Xbox 360's improved, high-definition hardware.

With the home console port of THE iDOLM@STER, the development team wanted to create a new character that was unique to this version. Initially, Takane and Hibiki, who were once planned to appear in the arcade version, were considered to be included in the port, but they ultimately decided to create a completely original character, which became Miki Hoshii. They wanted her to stand out, so she was given blonde hair, wider poses, and was made to be an unmotivated genius. Since only one character would be added, they decided to give Miki more content than the other idols, such as a route where she cuts her hair.^[2] Six additional songs were included, and the amount of content of the Xbox 360 version is thought to be 1.5 times that of the arcade version.

Pre-release and unused content

In early screenshots, an updated online icon from the arcade version is shown on the bottom-left corner of the screen, which was removed in later builds and the final game. According to Hiroyuki Onoda, they felt having an online icon wasn't necessary to keep, so it was scrapped from the final version.

Weekly THE iDOLM@STER Magazine

Published by SoftBank Creative, this magazine style publication was a four-volume series of character fan books promoting the Xbox 360 version of THE iDOLM@STER. They were released from January 26, 2007 to February 16, 2007 and promoted different idols per volume. Volume 1 focused on Haruka Amami, Ritsuko Akizuki, and Yukiho Hagiwara, Volume 2 showed Chihaya Kisaragi, Ami and Mami Futami, and Azusa Miura, Volume 3 previewed Makoto Kikuchi, Iori Minase, and Yayoi Takatsuki, and Volume 4 gave details about the recently debuted idol Miki Hoshii and featured many staff interviews.

Reception

THE iDOLM@STER has been credited with making Japan's ratio of Xbox Live sign-ups to the number consoles sold the highest in the world. Over four times as many Microsoft points were sold on the date of THE iDOLM@STER 360 release as on the date before it.

For a limited time, themes and gamerpics were available from the North American Xbox Live Marketplace, but have since then been removed. Despite this, iDOLM@STER-related content has still managed to find its way into the Western releases of varying game media.

References

External Links

• Official Website
• THE IDOLM@STER 360 Interview
• A Japanese-English website with translated communication events

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