Special shout out to Nat8 who qualified despite there being ONE online DDR cabinet in all of Canada. yes, a single online cabinet for a geographical region of 10,000,000 KM squared.

As a non-Japanese who has *competed* in the 9th KAC albeit a different game (Dancerush), here's my experience to demonstrate how _internationally-inclusive_ KONAMI tried to be back then: - For the first (and only) time, 5 players from Southeast Asia were given slots to compete in 5 games at KAC. - Travel expense and accommodation: paid by KONAMI. - 2 "influencers", whose main content aren't even rhythm games, were hired to accompany us film and make vlogs. - 2 really capable translators were provided - IIRC, they also provided mini meal stipend It's debatable whether or not COVID's effects still hurt their business today, but to me, with BEMANI Asia (their Southeast Asia branch) closing down and BPL stuff, it seems as if their attitude is gradually shifting to "Why care about outsiders? Let's focus on ourselves and make it sustainable from within Japan!"

This also shows us that Konami monitors social networks. I think you’re all smart enough to realize what that implies for the other hot button issue in DDR lately.

From my perspective as a rhythm game enthusiastic, and a PIU player, the best competitive events are made for the players to the players. Take the example of B1G ONE, in every year the tournament are open to everyone who attends the place of the event, making it the most inclusive championship of PIU in the world. Hope the DDR community reach a really big competition event in the future. Greetings

This is why I think DDR being geared more and more towards “E-Sport” that give Japan players a major advantage will make DDR worse of a franchise in the long term. I’m for players to have competitive mindsets to the game, but everyone should have access to all things within the game so everyone can have fun with the game.

I want to make the point that Upbeat^^ has been a better representation of the world's top DDR players than KAC. Only 1 person dropped out and it's because of visa problems that prevented them from traveling to the US (this is what I remember anyways). Hoping that they get the support to host a second tournament.

#KonamiDoBetter Phenomenal video with stellar editing! Thank you for putting this together and summarizing everything in a digestible manner. I'm looking forward to Idola

Long term player here and I helped outline this video. Seriously, this whole thing was a huge spit in the face to overseas players everywhere. They wrongfully rejected world class talent here. Imagine if a major sports competition pulled some BS like this. The backlash would be catastrophic. This is nothing different and that’s what those 4 players just suffered and NO competitor from ANY game should ever go through what they just did. Quite honestly one of the most tragic moments in e-sports/video game history if you ask me. For fucking shame Konami

Great video. I feel that perhaps we need to shift our attention to the NA tournaments more than KAC. They have been incredible to watch and participate in. If we host more of them, and they continue to shine, then perhaps the Japanese players and Konami themselves will have no choice but to recognize us. The more our NA tournaments do well, the harder it would be for Konami to turn us away. Also, none of this would ever happen if non- Japanese accounts had access to all the extra features like GP packs, score share, paseli, etc.

Well said. It's really a shame how this was handled, given that participants were forced to either miss out on songs for a year or break the rules because of the nature of all of the Japan-only content in the game. I could even deal with Grand Prix being japan only technically, because I'm sure the licensing agreements for some of the songs do state they're for distribution specifically in Japan, but access to Basic Course, which no longer even requires Paseli explicitly and can be tied to a US credit card instead, NEEDS to be able to be used with a non Japan account for that to be considered a viable option for serious players. I sincerely hope that they will amend things next year to allow these passionate and skilled players to compete. I look forward to Project Idola - it was a lot of fun last time. Thank you for the video, and for organizing the event.

23:24 Just a little correction : They added "permanent ban" rule since The 9th KAC(2019) because of Drummania drama in The 8th KAC finals, not this year. (Also they added prohibitng multiple entry by same reason) Except that, this video is very good.

I would like to add another thing about the Bemani Pro League. An American did go to Japan to participate on the IIDX BPL Season 3. His name was PHN!X, but sadly, he wasn't drafted for the tournament. I admit that considering the popularity of DDR in the USA, it's very impressive that a guy went as far as to move from California to Japan to participate in an IIDX tournament. It's sad he didn't get drafted. But I hope that one day, DDR, SDVX, and IIDX Western players can participate in these tournaments.

I wish there was a KAC America. People from North, Central, and South America can compete with JP players as well Hell maybe have an internationals KAC

I think I saw this on the discord, but I believe homebrew tournaments may be the way to go after this fallout #KonamiDoBetter or rather: #KonmaiDoBetter

Great video Dr. D!! Thanks for offering such a clear explanation of the situation. Hope this can get resolved in the future 😔

良い動画です！今回の失格措置に対して、日本のBEMANIプレイヤーも問題があると感じており、KONAMIに対して不信感を抱いています。 一方で、日本では海賊版に対する嫌悪が非常に強い事も重要だと思います。日本人は海賊版の問題に対して、今回の失格措置と同じくらい深刻なものだと考えています。 (以下は私の推測ですが、海賊版の使用に対する直接的な証拠がなかったために、KONAMIは今回の様な馬鹿げた方法を取ったのかもしれません。すなわち、複数アカウントの問題はただの建前ではないかということです)

This is honestly one of the best videos you've made since your "Dr.D's Top 10 Hardest DDR Songs Singles (2016)" which I still hope you plan to update for 2023 or 2024 once Hou has been cleared, the chart was leaked in another video, but I'm sure you'll probably wait until it's been officially cleared. I also hope you make a follow up video to address what happened with Chris because a lot of us still don't understand why he is so hated. I don't know anything about "paying people to edit time windows" or why Chris would even do that when he's already good, but I think it would make for a great discussion.

FEFEMZ the realest G for dropping out.

As a yugioh player this is unfortunately unsurprising. Konami has quite the reputation for abusing the hell out of its western players and just generally making things very unfriendly and complicated for western customers and competitors. It's really a shame

16:15 Gold cabs are registered in Osaka because they're very explicitly NOT American licensed cabs. Konami never made US Gold Cabs. The reason why they're in the US is that Round1 has special permission from Konami to operate J region cabs in the US; they're marked as being in Osaka because they have to be *somewhere* in Japan and Osaka is where Round1's HQ is. While Konami's systems think the cabs are still in Japan, their KAC team almost certainly knows that Round1 USA is running import cabs and would treat that as US play, not Japanese play. (This is also why Round1's Gold cabs have eAmusement maintenance when their White cabs don't.) The reason why Round1 imported Gold Cabs was because of... Dave & Busters. The entire US e-Amusement region for DDR was a joint venture between Round1 and D&B because Konami wanted a larger minimum order quantity. This is also why DDR is exclusive to those arcades. As part of the negotiation for the cab order, D&B specifically wanted to be exempted from eAmusement Participation (i.e. the revshare Konami gets paid every time you insert a credit on a Japanese machine, and the reason why Konami games shut off if they're not always online). This would allow them to disconnect their cabs from e-Amusement and have them still work, but that also means no automatic updates. Instead they'd have to buy upgrade kits at a cost of thousands of dollars per cab for each new version of the game. Predictably, after A20 Plus, Dave & Busters stopped buying DDR upgrade kits. Apparently money is getting tight at D&B and management wants to cut costs. This caused a huge problem for Round1 because the entire US region for DDR was contingent upon both arcades paying for it - or, in other words, Konami wouldn't sell an upgrade kit to just Round1. Round1 worked around this by importing a bunch of Gold Cabs from Japan so that they could run A3, but their white cabs were still stuck on A20 Plus... until a few months ago. Apparently there was a Hawaiian arcade chain (Fun Factory?) that had bought US white cabs from Konami under an entirely *different deal* that included profit participation fees. Konami sold Round1 an upgrade kit that switched them over to that version of the game - literally, it's called the "DDR pp kit", as in "Profit Participation kit" - and that's what R1 white cabs run now.

I wondered why overseas competitors didn’t join kac 11th. but I can understand the truth at that time. In my opinion, players didn’t do that on purpose and there’s huge advantages between Japan and other countries. I hope Konami to close the gap so competitive scene is more enjoyable. Thank you for uploading this video.(sorry for poor English)

It sucks that Chris got the worst of it, especially as a former DDR world champion, and they treat him like that. Konami changes the rules from out of the blue, they fail to properly update everyone, and then they blame the players for it, typical behavior from a soulless corporation that hates their international audience. Kudos to Fefemz for standing by his morals.

bro the thumbnail of chris kills me 😂😂 amazing video d great job on addressing the kac incident

It's unfortunate but Konami is pretty strict, rigid, and by the book with their rules and policies. However more open communication and clarification on what they have established as rules would always help.

Nice vid ma . Now that Chris and other top players are banned from competition. Time to bust out the old Cobalt Flux and get into the scene again

super nice video and great analysis on the issue. although im more of a pump it up player, it’s tough hearing about the disqualifications for those who worked hard on securing the top spots. i hope konami can fix their dated rules and allow foreigners to compete again🤞

Thanks for the video, the subtitles, and good luck on project Idola

Great work, Doc! It'd be just a starting point, but I hope Konami can make Grand Prix more accessible worldwide. Because players like me don't have access to the arcades / don't go there often. Also, Obligatory #KonamiDoBetter.

Yet another reason not to trust Konmai. This is kind of situations are happening way to often, and its now spilling into DDR...

even though i don't play DDR, but i play other bemani games, i still find this video very interesting. good job on making it.

This is a good summary of the issue for someone who might not be following DDR. Have you been sending this to game journalism sites like Kotaku or Polygon?

❤ Only about 30 seconds in, but I'd heard about this and its good to get some context, as my kid and I are Pop'n Music players, but she's getting to pro status and was intently watching currents KAC streams, especially for the womens competition. I started taking it seriously enough to inquire about competing SOME DAY, when she feels ready. But, then i started hearing about Konami discouraging players outside Asia from competing. Korean players we also watch stream were there, maybe someone from China, but I didn't hear any Chinese language being spoken. It sucks, but she did her first competition at Magfest last week and loved it. I post her gameplay on my channel ❤

10:25 that rule applies to me and Sound Voltex as well. I created a Japanese Konami ID and tied my e-amuse card to it in order to play the konasute version. I am also a KAC rule breaker in that regard

thank you for this video i think you did a great job explaining everything!

AMAZING video, bro. i'd already known the context, but not the full story, behind the KAC DQ'ing. my GOD, the stuff non-Japanese players have to go through just to be able to play their game...Konami is even worse than i realized. oh my dear god, screw Konami. Why would they do that, is it just xenophobia for the sake of xenophobia?.. like wtf???

Honestly, the fact that I got into DDR because I was lucky enough to have the only D&B in Florida with an Ace cab within close distance back then, then suddenly I can’t get to play A3 just because the closest Round 1 is a 4 hour drive from me… That already felt like a giant slap in the face for me… But the fact that they showed that they don’t care about fucking their players over, especially with this whole KAC situation, is really messed up…

If anyone thought that Konami would do anything other than watch Chris and co like a hawk for violations after humiliating them with the indonesian VPN stuff I have a bridge to sell them. Half the JP player base wants Chris to be banned4life.

Honestly, KAC isn't even a "real" tournament. As the video mentions, the ruleset is weird and keeps changing every single year. Single-elimination? Players directly picking songs? Forcing endy CSP in grand finals? Playing two songs and then taking the total sum of EX score between them? It's not a tournament, it's more of an exhibition. And yeah, more and more Konmai is just making it harder for non-Asian players to compete, so why bother? We'll make our own KAC. With blackjack, and hookers.

I just don't understand why Konami are so determined to not make money internationally on Bemani in general

I hope someday we can compete in KAC, in all games.

Regarding the point you made about US Gold cabs being connected to the Osaka region, each cab also needs a shop name. Konami probably looked at the shop names for the Gold cabs that Marq played on and saw that they were US Round 1 stores.

just like you mentioned, my eamuse account is japanese and the name is random gibberish because that's what happens automatically if you scan your card to add paseli. you're also not told this happens at all. so even if you wanted to register an american account, it wouldn't work and you wouldn't know why.

I love this video really much,the jokes,the editing,is all top-notch. And Konami sucks.Fuck Konami.

I'm not too interested on the competitive scene as someone who plays CS games (not Grand Prix) and Stepmania more than visit the Arcade, but I hate how Konami screwed global players over with their rules thus making those players have to go through various loopholes. Even then, blocking said loopholes close to the competition. About the video, this was really put together and really put perspective into the whole story of the KAC drama. Keep it up. I really laughed at the Dairy Queen joke. OH! and one last thing. #KonamiDoBetter

I'm A Casual Player, So I Guess Having A Japanese Account For Everything? I'm New To These e-Amusement Things.

11:18 *that part* though... I had heard a similar explanation from someone else who knew this whole situation very well... and yeah it's kinda messed up. region locking songs I might get, licensing and all that, but interface *features*?! and yeah eliminating the moving accounts thing was incredibly stupid.

Konami dgafs about the competition, it's a vanity event. They'd pull a bunch of randoms from the local arcade the day of the event if they could get away with it.

I hope Konami really looks into all of this and fixes the mess they made. Specially DQ'ing runner ups because of the wrong account region, DQ'ing those that qualified with the wrong account region and so on. Was really looking forward to rooting for NAT8 as i am Canadian myself and i would have loved to root for a Canadian player.

Had casually followed the drama, but already had an idea of how Konami botched this and why. Great video summary 😊

A theory: I think KAC put strictly rules because 2022 - 2023 put the BPL in DDE and become a eSport, that BPL compete with different companies of stores who patronize the Bemani Games. And like a eSport, some companies nephew the main company with more inversion in trade for privileges, well.........

I am predicting that they will introduce a new rule for KAC12 that disqualifies players who have been known to use emulated e-amusement passes to log on. That said, I respect FEFEMZ's decision and wish him great success moving forward... starting with him clearing Hou CSP19 under EX conditions.

Thanks for this video, Derek. Such a clear explanation of the situation and so sad to see all these decisions by Konami. They deserve an opportunity! #KonamiDoBetter

We don't even have A3 in Canada T_T

Great video, I haven't been following the bemani community much in the recent years because of many other things happening, but it's really sad to hear how backwards the hospitality Konami had during 6th~9th KAC went.

KONAMI should takes notes from Andamiro

First of all, thanks for making this video. Regardless if anything good comes out of the future KACs, this should be made aware to everyone and they can make informed judgement and playstyle going forward. Makes me wonder what the companies big ideas are when they region-lock things [do they only want domestic sales??], or purposely organize a poorly put-together competition [do they actually want the unnecessary drama for attention for their event??] and whatnot. My heart breaks for the DDR scene watching this. All the best to the grassroots events!! Hope everyone can keep dancing happily~~

I really appropriate that you actually stand up , make an almost 30 minutes video with fully information to speaking up for our DDR Community outside Japan. I really disappointed about how Konami worked this year. I hope they will watch this video and have a better understanding to non-Japanese players outside of their country. #KonamiDoBetter

Just added Auto generated Japanese and Chinese subtitles, enjoy.

i guess KAC champ trophy walk away from japan is not good for commercial because they have BPL, they need donation, it's all about business! all we know if this 4 participle KAC and they will dominating all the Japanese players

From someone into Yu-Gi-Oh, I feel you.

I have been a part of the Northern California DDR scene since 2000 back when they imported machines. I've battled kay0ss - who ranked 41 on this discussion. Infamously lost to him on a ddr 3rd mix machine at one of our local tournaments back in the day. None the less - It's pretty weak that the rules prohibit players from getting the most out of the content they enjoy. The fact that we as non-japanese players, who have supported and championed for a Japanese game this long is astounding to its own. But to be told, that our best reps on the game - can not take part is a trade show event due to a rule set that is homer at best - is just weak and shows many emotions that are not in conjunction with the passion the american players kept throughout the dark times of ddr where there was no support. One can hope - world championships can be a thing. Instead of being a world title with just local players. It's like the Olympics only allowing players and contestants from the host country only. Yes #konamidobetter - as all companies need to realize that we want to party with them as well - in battle and in relaxing.

They've added an English caster and a commentator at BPL DDR, so i'm sure they acknowledge the foreign DDR playerbase and how compassionate the players are. And yet they make things so complicated for international players to properly engage in the game, the events, etc... Hopefully things can be better for the next KAC.

Cool. So you won KAC for DDR. Does it mean you're the best in the world? No it does not. It should mean that, but it's a hollow win because the scoreboard says someone else has the WRs. Now KAC is just another tournament. Anybody competing at a high level will know who the best is. Konami is basically invalidating their own tournament and devaluing the achievements of Japanese players too, all for eSports. Why wouldn't the best in Japan want to play the best in the world? Iron sharpens iron. Want to know who the actual best player in the world is at that point? Well it's not by winning KAC. Good on you for running your own thing.

While no longer a competitive player for DDR(Triple A days ended with my work at namco), but near the end, in that announcement, will that be for only DDR for now, and is there a chance others will be added? Looking for Pop'n Music. Thank you for the info.

It breaks my heart because all four of them were so deserving of an opportunity. #KonamiDoBetter

Great video! And props to you for saying #KonamiDoBetter instead calling for pitchforks. (Also yes, Konami do better.) At the beginning you mentioned a seemingly arbitrary "Japanese proficiency" rules requirement that was added and dropped. I don't think this signals malicious or xenophobic intent by a Konami employee to exclude western players. This is speculation on my part but I think they copy/pasted the BPL rules where Japanese proficiency is a fair requirement. Because if your team sponsor, coach, and teammates are all speaking Japanese for 2 or 3 months then you need to be as well. And that is also why they removed it. Because that rule is unnecessary for KAC which is essentially a high profile exhibition match played out in a single afternoon.

To think this all would've been avoided had Konami had better player support in western countries. It's just frustrating to see how much we're missing out on.

I feel so bad for NAT8 for being disqualified from KAC, he had to drive roughly four hours to R1 in Michigan from Canada

Sup Dr. D? Great vid, been thinking of trying to get my out of shape butt back into DDR but haven't really pulled the trigger on that. Also all I got to play is X3 still so I'm unsure. Help convince me!! Lol

I feel sorry for those 4 western players. 3 of them would have their first time to join KAC and Chris is known as a DDR champion in the west. All those things ruined by Konami. Probably explains Fefemz's actions after this controversy.

It figures Konami would have no vision and totally mess up like this. They have an American player who is one of the greatest rhythm game players ever and who ticks all of the social boxes people like to see these days and instead of using him to usher in a new era of bemani games in the US they ban him and everyone else who is great and helping keep the game alive outside of Japan. Such a shame that they are squandering what could be a great opportunity. Just look at the video Polygon put out about him winning the KAC. It wasn't even that well done and got over a million views. If Konami knew what they were doing they could get people in North America interested in DDR again. Even the home cab thing was bungled.,.. why would Konami care if their KAC champion had his own cabinet? They should have given him one with a lifetime eamuse hookup for winning, not gone after him when they found out he had it.

The only upside to this we now value grassroots tournaments even more than ever.

I hope Konami reconsiders because there may be an option for other regions to ban players from Japan and anyone working for them from being t their tournaments as a hard reaction. #konamiDOBETTER

is it just me or there's a unusual amount of indonesian references in this video lol from the DQ, to the region dropdown, and a few of the community gameplays 😂

konami doing konami things

When i seen Chri's post on X, i was literally without words. Couldn't even realize this mess. #KonamiDoBetter

"Konami tries to not be a shit company challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)"

A disqualification a day keeps the Dr. D away! :p Great video though, very comprehensive.

Konami can never be un-america'd. We all know who the best is and he's now dominating other konami bemani games. KAC has been a joke and this is just the nail in the coffin. Like the video said, the best tournaments are the ones we make and that goes for all rhythm games.

This documentary is well-composed. First off, my heart sympathizes with the Northern American community that don't deserve this terrible disqualification. The thing is as a global community, as you've stated yourself, is that we treat KAC like the actual world cup (or more so, the most superior tournament with a lot of prestige we give it off) when in reality, it's more of a show-off (the thing is that we as the players want to strive making a better or at most possibly a legit KAC world championships but Konami just always says otherwise). Especially with being NAT8's, HAMBONE's and MARQQQ's first time, it would be a different energy that the global community would've enjoyed. I wish Konami could follow strategies like other prominent tournaments developed in US, JP (non-Konami tournaments) or anywhere around the world starting to initiate tournaments for developing/assessing player's skillsets and making dedicated experiences for global DDR players to unite and connect physically/virtually. Personally, I have my different opinions now with the KAC as to with my past perceptions, especially you did emphasis on how constantly the rules keep changing each year. We need to give more of that "energy we treat KAC like a World Cup" towards tournaments that had pulled a better off job than KAC/Konami did themselves and there's a list that has proven that to be true. And this 2023, getting to see Krono's skill growth in this game (being that he's on the same boat with many other restricted countries for KAC), if he had the opportunity (like how up^^beat, MOTL had) to enter KAC preliminaries on with how up^^beat provided fair alternative routes to assist DDR countries (with scares resources/support) to compete, *that would've be magical* but honestly after Konami's email response, it's heartbreaking not just to qualified countries, for everyone. This KAC 2023 season has been the most vile one we've seen. I understand currently it's more of an East and West conversation regarding this current news but now, I find it flawed that we consider "East and West" to "classify" KAC as a world championship when half of the West part of the world and large portions of Eastern countries are excluded. However, I do agree that all 4 players definitely deserved the opportunity either way.

Definitely well said, #KonamiDOBetter

19:32 Sudden danooct1 cameo.

6th KAC was a very impressive competition. This case is a flaw in the rules, and it is wrong to use this as an excuse to disqualify participants from next year. I'm looking forward to KAC, where Japanese and foreign players can compete together.

I wish so much Konami would give a fuck but they really just wont. Ive only started playing again in the past 4 years and I wish our games didnt have to use a private server

Oh well

I wish I can go to KAC

Nice video tho, but yeah Data its a thing and the post of chris on Bemaniso paying to edit the timing window are... a good reason to stop letting foreigners.

Konami ruin PES, MGS and now DDR they definitely just care about pachinko

❤❤

it just makes me want Microsoft to buy Konami more and more lol Konami tryin' to pull a Activision Blizzard with tournaments 🤣

クリス以外の3人は参加できないことが非常に悲しい。 クリスは出場停止処分で当然だと思う。なぜなら違法DDRをプレーしていた過去があるからである。 これが多くの日本人の考えだということを理解してもらいたい。その上でもっと多くの外国人に参加の機会を与えて欲しい。

Wishing they allowed chris chike to the kac 11th. Konami should of made it more specific that its a japanese only tournament

when will konami learn that they can get more money by not hating foreigners

From the moment konami prohibited someone to own private machine i smell some BS companies trying to do their things. IYKYK

12:42 What is the name of that last level 19 song? I've never seen that one before.

I am DanceDanceRevolution… And I approve of this video. #KonamiDoBetter

I've been out of the loop regatding DDR for a good few years now & this is the news that captures my attention, welp... I guess Konami will somehow always find a way to stick their necks out as one of the worst gaming companies in the world eh?

Free *everyone* who was banned for having the rules broken by broken machines. At least we know what's going on, though... and we aren't just gonna sit here and take it. #DoBetter, Konami -- or we shall #DoBetter ourselves. Besides, even other video game companies have done a better job understanding what the phrase "world tournament" actually means.

KAC 11th is truly the worst.