Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA

The Project DIVA series logo

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA, also known as SEGA feat. Hatsune Miku Project, is a music/rhythm video game series created by Sega and Crypton Future Media. The main Project DIVA series of these games appeared on the PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch while spin-off games were released on the Nintendo 3DS and smartphone mobile platforms. The series makes use of VOCALOIDs, a series of singing synthesiser software and the songs created by producers that use these VOCALOIDs, the most notable among them being the titular virtual idol Hatsune Miku.

Gameplay

Players start by choosing one of the many VOCALOID songs sung originally by Virtual Singers including Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin, Kagamine Len, Megurine Luka, KAITO and MEIKO. The player can then choose which of the characters and costumes they wear (called "Modules") they would like to see in the promotional videos ("PV") that accompanies the chosen song for the rhythm game.

The gameplay of Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA is mainly centered around the rhythm game where players press a series of buttons according to the sequence displayed on the screen in order to progress. The game uses four types of buttons called "Melody Icons" (or "notes") which correspond to the four PlayStation action buttons (Cross, Circle, Triangle and Square) on the PlayStation consoles. Various grey floating notes appear on-screen with an arrow that moves clockwise representing a timer while a coloured note will begin to appear from various sides of the screen and travel towards its respective gray notes. The player must press the corresponding button at the moment the coloured note fully overlaps with the gray button (which the latter has its arrow pointing upwards). Based on the timing and accuracy of the press, the player is rated a comment on the bottom corner of the screen (from lowest to highest, the comments are Worst, Sad, Safe, Fine and Cool). In addition, points are awarded based on the rating and the player's amount of energy in the player's "Life" gauge on the bottom-left corner of the screen will change. Notes rated Cool and Fine will start and accumulate a combo of "successful notes" while increasing the life gauge. Notes rated Safe, Sad and Worst will break the combo though the latter two ratings will decrease the life energy (in addition, notes rated Worst will not award any points. Once the song ends, the player is graded according to the points they have accumulated (from lowest to highest the grades are Cheap, Standard, Great and Perfect). If during the rhythm game the life gauge depletes before the song ends, the rhythm game will stop, and the player will be rated a Mistake (displayed as MissXTake), indicating the player has failed the rhythm game.

Each song usually has their own different rhythm game difficulties (usually consisting of Easy, Normal, Hard and Extreme). The player will only have access to Easy and Normal for the first time they play each particular song but Hard and Extreme difficulties can be unlocked once the player is able to "Clear" that song's rhythm game in the lower difficulty level (by achieving a "Great" or higher). Each difficulty of a song dictates the number and types of notes the player will hit: Easy contains the fewest number of notes and are usually only one type of notes appear (typically the Circle Button), Normal contains more notes and only appear in two types (typically both the Circle and Cross buttons), Hard will use all four types of notes available and may contain more notes than Normal, and Extreme has the highest number of notes and usually consist of notes in difficult or unusual patterns.

Players progress by clearing songs to unlock other songs until eventually all of the songs are unlocked. Throughout their progress players can unlock additional Modules for a character to wear in song PVs by completing certain achievements. In addition to the standard rhythm game feature, the game also features an "Edit Mode" which players can create their own custom PVs and/or rhythm games and can use any MP3 file-formatted songs aside from the ones provided by the game. Players can customise the video playing in the background, the various Modules, backgrounds, and even dance moves by the Modules in the PV. Other than the Edit Mode, there is also a "DIVA Room" in which players can obtain items throughout the standard rhythm game to decorate their character's room with. Players can also take screenshots of their character whilst they are playing in their room.

Games

Project DIVA

• Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA is the first game in the Project Diva series, first released on 2 July 2009 for the PlayStation Portable handheld console. The game was later playable on the PlayStation 3 under the name Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Dreamy Theater released on 23 June 2010 which involved using software known as Dreamy Theater, which allowed connectivity between the PSP and the PS3. The PS3 version was essentially identical to the PSP version but featured updated high-definition visuals.

• Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Arcade

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Arcade is an arcade game which featured similar gameplay to the first Project DIVA game but had its own exclusive gameplay mechanics which differed from the home console games released after it. The first version of Project DIVA Arcade was released on 23 June 2010. While it had featured its own songs, it also comprised of nearly every song featured in the future main home console Project DIVA games over time as well as those from the Project Mirai series. It had updated high-definition visuals akin to Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Dreamy Theater. An updated version of the arcade game titled Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Arcade Future Tone brought new gameplay mechanics in addition to that of Project DIVA Arcade. It was announced on 22 May 2013, and later released on 21 November 2013.

Arcade Future Tone was also ported to the PlayStation 4 initially as a digital download-only title under the name Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Future Tone. It was released as a base game titled "Prelude which served as a demo while the song tracks of Arcade Future Tone were distributed as two groups of paid game add-on "song packs" titled Future Sound and Colorful Tone. The game and its two add-on packs were released in Asia on 23 June 2016. A Western-localised version of Future Tone was teased on November 2016 and was released on 10 January 2017. Sega released additional songs and rhythm game charts to keep the port up-to-date with Arcade Future Tone in the form of Additional Song/Encore Packs throughout 2016 and 2017. On June 2017, a physical retail version titled Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Future Tone DX was announced for release in November in the same year while also announcing that the additional features found in Future Tone DX would be released as an Extra Encore Pack add-on later on December 2017.

• Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA 2nd

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA 2nd is the sequel to the first Project DIVA game and was released on 29 July 2010 for the PlayStation Portable, over a year after the first game's release. Aside from the addition of new songs and new Modules, Project DIVA 2nd introduced new gameplay features in addition to the existing gameplay from the first game that carried over to future titles of the series; most notably being able to use the directional buttons in the rhythm games, included the new difficulty called Extreme, featured duet songs, an expanded Edit Mode and DIVA Room.

Similar to the first game, Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Dreamy Theater 2nd was also released in 2011, allowing players to play Project DIVA 2nd on the PlayStation 3 with high-definition visuals and had stereoscopic 3D support for viewing song PVs.

• Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Extend

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Extend is essentially an expansion to Project Diva 2nd for the PlayStation Portable, with the interface, graphics and gameplay being virtually the same as Project Diva 2nd. It was released on 10 November 2011 and featured a wide variety of new Modules and new songs. The game allowed players to import data from Project Diva 2nd into the game, including saves, songs, costumes and downloadable content. Similar to past games in the series, a companion game Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Dreamy Theater Extend was released on the PlayStation 3 on 13 September 2012 that allows Project DIVA Extend to be played on the PS3 with improved visuals and support for stereoscopic 3D. Dreamy Theater Extend also featured a Live Mode, which enabled players to watch virtual concert performances of songs with adjustable viewing positions like in the real world Vocaloid concerts.

• Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA ƒ/F is the next main entry in the Project DIVA series for the PlayStation Vita and the PlayStation 3 respectively. It was the first entry in the series for the PS Vita and as a full-fledged standalone game for the PS3 (as opposed to the three Dreamy Theater titles which were companion downloadable software for their respective handheld games). It was released on 30 August 2012 for the PS Vita and on 7 March 2013 for the PS3 in Japan. Though both versions are essentially the same, the PS3 version includes additional songs and costumes which were later released as downloadable content for the PlayStation Vita version. The PlayStation Vita had additional gameplay features such as "scratch" that make use of its touch-screen and touch-panel features and AR features using the front and back camera.

Following a teaser by Sega posted on their Facebook page, Western versions of Project DIVA ƒ and F were announced, becoming the first games in the series to be released for Western countries. The PS3 version was released in US on 27 August 2013 and 3 September 2013 in Europe while the PS Vita version was released on March 2014.

• Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd is a direct sequel to Project DIVA F, and was also available on PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 3. It featured new gameplay mechanics built upon to that of Project DIVA F while showcasing a new list of songs and Modules which included those from the past PlayStation Portable titles in the series. It was released on 27 March 2014 in Japan while the Western versions were released on 18 November 2014 in the US and 21 November 2014 in Europe.

• Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X was announced on the eighth anniversary of Hatsune Miku (31 August 2015). In addition to a newly arranged list of new songs and Modules, Project DIVA X included an entirely new gameplay mode called "Live Quest" in addition to the standard rhythm gameplay in the other titles of the series. It was released in Japan on 24 March 2016 for the PlayStation Vita and on 25 August 2016 for the PlayStation 4 (under the name Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X HD for Japanese version). Both the PS4 and PS Vita versions of Project DIVA X were released on 30 August 2016 in North America and Europe.

• Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA MegaMix

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA MegaMix was announced on June 2019 and is the 10th anniversary game for Project DIVA. This is the first Project DIVA game to be released on a non-PlayStation console, as well as the Nintendo Switch. It has a total of 101 songs in the base game (141 songs with DLC), with 10 new songs added. It also has an entirely new game mode called "Mix Mode" which uses motion controls with the Joycons to play the songs. The game was released on 13 February 2020 in Japan, Korea, and China. Later on, it was released in western regions on 15 May 2020.

• Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA MegaMix+

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA MegaMix+ (初音ミク -Project DIVA- Mega 39's+) is the digital re-release of Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA MegaMix for Steam. It was announced and released on 26 May 2022.

Project Mirai series

• Hatsune Miku and Future Stars: Project Mirai

Hatsune Miku and Future Stars: Project Mirai is a spin-off from the series, with a different art-style and gameplay from the series. It is also the first game in the series not to be released on the Sony consoles of gaming products, instead being released on the Nintendo 3DS. The game was released on 8 March 2012 in Japan only, and it added several new features to the series. The game had Augmented Reality features using cards to show 3D models on the 3DS Cameras, as well as the voice and lyrics in a song to change according to the selected Vocaloid. The game also used the Nendoroid art style.

• Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai 2

Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai 2 is a direct sequel to Hatsune Miku and Future Stars: Project Mirai and the second game to be released for the Nintendo 3DS. It was released on 28 November 2013 in Japan. The game makes use of the touch screen, circle pad, and directional pad. It also makes use of the Internet Co., Ltd. VOCALOID Megpoid (also known as GUMI).

• Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX

Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX is an updated version of Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai 2. It adding one new song, new videos, a new chart, and a new higher difficulty option. It was the first (and only) Project Mirai game to be released outside of Japan on the Nintendo 3DS. The game was released on 28 May 2015 in Japan, 8 September 2015 in the US, and on 11 September 2015 in Europe.

Spin-offs

• Miku Flick

Miku Flick is a spin-off from the series, with a different gameplay from the series though featuring the same art style and PVs. The game was released on iOS in Japan on March 9, 2012 and internationally on April 9, 2012 making it the first game in the series to ever be localized into English. The game features a different gameplay whereby the player "flicks" the lyrics of the song in certain directions. The lyrics are placed on 10 separate tiles and players have to flick those tiles in the given direction.

• Miku Flick/02

Miku Flick 02 is a spin-off in the Project Diva series and a sequel to Miku Flick. The game is the second to be released on the iOS platform and the second game to be released in English. In addition, the game features Kagamine Rin, Kagamine Len and Megurine Luka as playable characters whilst the first game only featured Hatsune Miku. The game also adds other gameplay options, and support for new songs and new costumes as downloadable content.

• Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live with Project DIVA

A simulation virtual-reality title for the PlayStation 4 that exclusively uses the PlayStation VR headset, it is a spin-off to Project DIVA which takes players into a virtual concert. Players interact by moving their controllers to the beat while playing songs as well as saying voice commands. The game was released on 13 October 2016 internationally.

External Links

• Official Japanese website
• Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA at Wikipedia.

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA series games

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA characters