Sadly I can't make this one available for download. sorry.

It's been a while since I've done a BEMANI-themed pick, so I figured we were about due for another one. A collaborative effort between the two biggest musicians at Konami back in the day: Takayuki 'dj TAKA' Ishikawa, and Taku 'TaQ' Sakakibara, this was the first big collaboration between the two of then under the name 'Outphase'.

For me this was the 'gateway' song which lead me from the 'Beginner's' difficulty into the 'Light 7' (or 'Normal' in later games) difficulty. Up until recently I'd been sticking with the uber-easy 'Beginner's' mode, but had finally decided to try and make the jump to the main game, and this is the song that did it for me.

The song itself is pretty awesome. Starting off with a simple synth rhythm, it gradually builds up getting more and more intense along the way before finally coasting down to a calmed-down finish.

Incidentally the song was also ressurected for the 2003 arcade relase of DDR EXTREME, albeit in a slightly edited 'FOR EXTREME' version.