History VideoGame / Maimai

*** [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] and PlayedForLaughs in the 2016 April Fools' song (and later, some UTAGE charts). It requires you to utilize buttons and touchscreens at the same time by throwing you hold notes followed by tap notes on the same position as the hold note while the hold note is still going.

** Along with the other two ''Performai'' games, the game did one with ''VideoGame/{{Arcaea}}'' in 2021.

* BaitAndSwitch: One occurs in the background video for "ULTRA SYNERGY MATRIX". At one point, the main character has his house destroyed by the [[AttackofThe50FootWhatever giant rampaging dinosaur]]. He's given a strange power that causes him to [[https://youtu.be/MwXdvTf64Is?t=65 transform]] into Milk, one of the ''maimai'' mascots...only for that to be a disguise that he sheds, revealing that he's simply a larger and more muscular version of himself.

* BaitAndSwitch: One occurs in the background video for "ULTRA SYNERGY MATRIX". At one point, the main character has his house destroyed by the [[AttackofThe50FootWhatever giant rampaging dinosaur]]. He's given a strange power that causes him to transform into Milk, one of the ''maimai'' mascots...only for that to be a disguise that he sheds, revealing that he's simply a larger and more muscular version of himself.

* AnimalMotifs: Milk and Shama, introduced in Oshawa Scramble in ORANGE PLUS, are based around cats. Otohime is partially inspired by fancy goldfish, and the navigators introduced in MiLK, Ras, Chiffon and Salt, have features of a rabbit, fox and cat respectively.

* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: Easy, Basic, Advanced, [[HarderThanHard Expert, and Master]]. Some songs have a "Re:Master" chart.

** ''Hoshi no Meguri, Hate no Kimi e'' Re:Master, introduced in ''Festival'', places a touch note at the end of one of the slow slide tracks to trick anyone who would usually move the track to the end and wait until the star reaches it.

** '''[[GenkiGirl Ras]]''' ([=MiLK=]-[=FiNALE=]): '''''ふえぇ!!!'''''

** '''[[GenkiGirl Ras]]''' (''MiLK''-''FiNALE''): '''''ふえぇ!!!'''''

** '''Ras''' (''MiLK''-''FiNALE''): '''''ふえぇ!!!'''''

** Single taps and holds are pink, single slides are blue, but when any of these notes are in an Each (two notes at once, it's called Both outside Japan), they are coloured yellow. Breaks are always colored orange.

* KaizoTrap: Some songs will throw you notes after you think they have ended. Notably:
** ''Life Feels Good'' has 2 more notes after the song apparently ends.
** A few Master charts, including ''Orpheus'', ''Contrapasso -paradiso-'', ''Kusare gedou to chocolate'' and ''gensounosateraito'', appear to end with a slow, long circle slide... which is immediately followed up by a very fast slide.
** ''Caliburne ~Story of the Legendary Sword~'', already a longer-than-average boss song itself, ends with an epic finale... followed by the song's real ending.
** ''[=VERTeX=]'' kinds fits into this trope. It seemingly stops at around the first minute mark, but it '''continues''' (First-timers be aware).
** ''Aiolos'' sets up a nasty one. In the middle of the song, there is a pair of slow q-shaped slides (slide from the start point, loop 360° around the middle, and then to the end point), marking a break in the middle. Near the end, it appears that an exactly identical pair of slides is coming up to end the song, but these are ''fast U-shaped slides'', displayed exactly the same graphically, leading into the real ending!
** A rather cruel one appears in ''larva'' Master. After playing through a grueling chart with the highest note count in the game, the song winds down with 5 full seconds without notes... and then the very last sound in the song corresponds to a final Break note.

** The Master chart for the song ''Unclosed Human'' by Kaja (which itself is a {{Main/Homage}} to the late {{Creator/Wowaka}}'s music) has a few sections ripped straight from or similar to the Master charts of Wowaka's featured songs: the first verse being exactly the same pattern as the first verse during the Re:Master chart for ''World's End Dancehall'', alongside the arc and PP knot slide near the end referencing the Master chart for ''Unknown Mother Goose'' during the line “あなたは僕が見えるか” (Can you see me?).

** The Master chart for the song ''Unclosed Human'' by Kaja (which itself is a {{Main/Homage}} to the late {{Creator/Wowaka}}'s music) has a few sections ripped straight from or similar to the Master charts of Wowaka's featured songs: the first verse being exactly from ''World's End Dancehall'' Re:Master,, alongside the PP knot slide near the end referencing the Master chart for ''Unknown Mother Goose'' during the line “あなたは僕が見えるか” (Can you see me?).

** The Master chart for the song ''Unclosed Human'' by Kaja (which itself is a Homage to the late [[Creator/Wowaka Wowaka]]'s music) has a few sections ripped straight from or similar to the Master charts of his featured songs: the first verse being exactly from ''World's End Dancehall'' Re:Master,, alongside the PP knot slide near the end referencing the Master chart for ''Unknown Mother Goose'' during the line “あなたは僕が見えるか”.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: The music video for "[=MopeMope=]", which features [[spoiler:[[SurpriseCreepy some absolutely horrific imagery]] like the flowers turning/distorting into {{Botanical Abomination}}s with human arms for petals and chattering lips]], had its video revised to [[spoiler:use pixelation effects, before completely replacing the visuals with a [[RelaxOVision peaceful video of a boat sailing across the sea]], which seems to be a reference to [[VisualNovel/SchoolDays "Nice Boat"]]]]. The censorship is done by [[https://twitter.com/Optie_f/status/1372513861694148608?s=19 Optie]], the same person who did the original background animation for "[=MopeMope=]". [[spoiler:However, the uncensored version is in ''VideoGame/{{Wacca}}'' instead. That is because ''WACCA'' has a special feature for turning off the music [=BGAs=].]]

** ''maimai でらっくす Festival PLUS'' (likely 2023)

* ''maimai でらっくす Festival'' (2022 Japan, likely 2023 International)

There have been ten main versions of ''maimai'', each with an associated [[UpdatedRerelease "plus"]] version with the exception of ''maimai [=FiNALE=]''. All ''maimai'' games are exclusive to Japan, Australia and select parts of Eastern and Southeastern Asia. U.S. location tests were held for ''[=PiNK=] PLUS'' in 2016 and 2017, and ''maimai [=FiNALE=]'' cabinets without online functions were distributed to select Round 1 locations in the U.S. starting in late 2019.

*** Songs with almost entirely slide notes. Special mention goes to the Re:Master version of ''hiiro no dance'', which takes this UpToEleven with a whopping ''229'' slides.

There have been nine main versions of ''maimai'', each with an associated [[UpdatedRerelease "plus"]] version with the exception of ''maimai [=FiNALE=]''. All ''maimai'' games are exclusive to Japan, Australia and select parts of Eastern and Southeastern Asia. U.S. location tests were held for ''[=PiNK=] PLUS'' in 2016 and 2017, and ''maimai [=FiNALE=]'' cabinets without online functions were distributed to select Round 1 locations in the U.S. starting in late 2019.

* LuckBasedMission: The first three songs in [=MiLK=]'s Survival Courses are randomly chosen from a pool of songs matching the theme of the course, changing with every attempt. There is usually a significant spread of difficulties within the Master charts of the songs in the pool, often with a number of level 13s in there. The songs the game puts in your Course can easily make or break that attempt.

** Survival Course, the new type of course that comes with the release of [=MiLK=], eventually averts this trope. In this course, you are given a limited number of lives (50) for the entire course and 4 songs to play. For any "Good" judgement, you lose 1 life, and for any "Miss" judgement, you lose ''5 lives.'' The number lives remaining after the end of a song is carried over to the next song, and if you run out of lives, the game immediately ends. So, specifically for this course, it's possible for the game to end without you being able to play the maximum number of songs.

** The international version of ''Deluxe'' had the duration of its ''Touhou'' limited-time area extended by two months (now ending in June 2020 rather than April) due to the [[UsefulNotes/CoronavirusDisease2019Pandemic coronavirus pandemic]] and the arcade closures that ensued. New content additions were also delayed until further notice.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: [[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} ナイト・オブ・ナイツ]], due to there not being a specific single way of reading the title (the artist accepts multiple ways of writing it in English), is shown as "Night of Knights / Knight of Nights" in the English version.

* NintendoHard: ''maimai'' can seem like a "casual" rhythm game at first thanks to the large number of licensed songs -- Music/{{VOCALOID}}, ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'', and anime songs in particular -- but it can get to be very challenging at the higher levels thanks to a combination of a radial/"polar" note scrolling style (as opposed to the more traditional "falling" notes of games such as ''IIDX'' and ''Sound Voltex'') and slide notes that not only make confusing patterns that must be quickly slid ''while'' doing other notes, but can also ''hurt your hands'' unless you wear gloves.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: The music video for "[=MopeMope=]", which features [[spoiler:[[SurpriseCreepy some absolutely horrific imagery]] like the flowers turning/distorting into {{Botanical Abomination}}s with human arms for petals and chattering lips]], had its video revised to [[spoiler:use pixelation effects, before completely replacing the visuals with a [[RelaxOVision peaceful video of a boat sailing across the sea]], which seems to be a reference to [[VisualNovel/SchoolDays "Nice Boat"]]]]. The censorship is done by [[https://twitter.com/Optie_f/status/1372513861694148608?s=19 Optie]], the same person who did the original background animation for "[=MopeMope=]". [[spoiler:However, the uncensored version is in ''VideoGame/{{Wacca}}'' instead. That is because ''Wacca'' has a special feature for turning off the music [=BGAs=].]]