Beat ‘n Groovy characters look strangely disgruntle

Eddie over at Bemanistyle dropped us a line (thanks!!) since an informant came forward with a few screenshots from Konami’s Xbox Live Arcade music game. After seeing the gameplay screenshot Beat’n Groovy is really Pop’n Music USA sans the special controller. The five button layout has been remapped for a standard Xbox 360 gamepad, but something seems out of place. No, it’s not the song list. Beat’n Groovy contains actual Pop’n Music songs such as We Two Are One, Moon, 100 sec. Kitchen Battle, and Starmine (pop’n mixx).

It’s the artwork. Nyami, the happy looking rabbit, is gone and has been replaced with urban youth. The hip characters and their sly smiles are a contrast to the kid-friendly original artwork. Somehow the game still has a rabbit, but he looks like an Evel Knievel copycat. Bizarre.

Images courtesy of Bemanistyle.