THE iDOLM@STER SideM
| THE iDOLM@STER SideM | ||||||||||
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THE iDOLM@STER SideM (アイドルマスター サイドエム Aidorumasutaa Saido Emu) is a game that features the recruitment of soon to be idols at 315 Production and the idols within the unit Jupiter (who have now defected to 315PRO). Like THE iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls, it is a social media game hosted by Mobage.
The game's main theme is job change. All of the idols have had jobs, and for various reasons they decide to switch and become an idol. The player is the producer, who helps them achieve their dreams. There are 46 voiced idols, divided into 15 units to chose from.
Initially starting on February 7, 2014, SideM was quickly shut down due to server issues and placed on indefinite maintenance. On July 17, 2014, the game officially went back online. Voices for idols were implemented into the game on March 15, 2015.
Once again, players can vote on their favorite idol every year to see who's the most popular idol of that year. However, this practice stopped after Year 2. However a yearly vote for a given event's sequel has happened instead.
In celebration for the game's 1st Anniversary, a new mini game called "SideMini" was announced. It is released on August 31st, 2015.
At the 2nd Live concert, another mobile game was announced, THE iDOLM@STER SideM LIVE ON ST@GE!, as well as an anime adaptation of the series. The former was released in 2017, while the latter was released in the Winter 2018 anime season.
Contents
System and Gameplay
The game has similar gameplay to Cinderella Girls and Million Live! in that the basics of the game revolves around regenerating stamina and social elements. Idols in SideM are represented by trading cards of three different rarities; Normal (N), Rare (R), and Super Rare (SR), each with a Unchanged and Changed (+) version. Like the other iDOLM@STER series, each idol has their own stats, and there are three main attribute types: Physical (red), Intelligent (blue), or Mental (yellow).
Upon beginning the game, you will be guided by your assistant, Ken Yamamura, through a tutorial in which you will be able to choose one of the three DRAMATIC STARS members as your starting R+ idol. Whether you pick Teru Tendo (physical), Kaoru Sakuraba (intelligent), or Tsubasa Kashiwagi (mental) does not affect your future in the gameplay, as it will be fairly easily to attain the cards of the other idols through points scouting.
Business
The core of SideM lies in business (営業). There are eight locations with four stages, each with five levels within them, and more locations can be unlocked as you progress with the game. To conduct business, you simply have to tap the screen until the level is complete or until you run out of stamina. Various events can occur during business, including Lives, Audition Battles, and card scouting. At the end of each stage, there is also a 'boss battle'.
Lives
Lives randomly occur through conducting business. To do a Live, you use your live unit to make an appeal of a certain amount (voltage). You can control how much appeal is used by selecting the star with the corresponding amount of appeal points (in sets of 20, up to 100). Do so to make sure that you don't use an unnecessary amount of appeal points. You can replenish appeal points through AP bars.
Audition Battles
Audition Battles are the other random event that occur in business. Unlike Lives, they do not use AP. Your cards will be pitted against another user's cards in a battle of strength in either vocal, dance, or visual categories. If 3 or more of your cards win, you win the battle. If 3 or more of your opponent's cards win, they win the battle.
Lessons
Lessons (レッスン) is the way to improve a card's stats and skill level. This is necessary for Lives, where the higher a card's stats, the more appeal points it will give. Lessons can be conducted by either selecting auto lesson (おまかせレッスン) or manually picking cards to 'feed' to the card you wish to improve. Once the lesson is over, the cards that were 'fed' will no longer exist, so take care in choosing which ones to use. It is most efficient to use Ken Yamamura N/R cards for lessons, as they cost less G to use and give more EXP.
Change!
Change! (チェンジ！) a card to convert it from an unchanged version to a + version. This will improve the stats and change the card artwork. To change a card, you must have duplicates of it. Select a base card to change, then a second copy. Note that level will reset to 1 if you change a card, though it is recommended that you maximize the level before changing a card, as it will give stat bonuses. Some cards, such as promo cards and Ken Yamamura cards, are unable to be changed.
Scout Gacha
Scout Gacha (スカウトガシャ) is one of the main ways to obtain cards in SideM. There are four types of gacha— Limited, Contest, Ticket, and Point. Limited Gacha is a paid gacha that is only available for a short period of time, generally the same as the current event. As well, Limited Gacha will often follow the same theme and story of the event. Contest Gacha is the other paid gacha type. Ticket Gacha has three subtypes: Platinum Scout, Live Scout, and event gacha. Platinum Scout guarantees cards of at least R rarity, with a small chance of the permanent DRAMATIC STARS and FRAME SRs. Live Scout tickets are obtainable through business, and hold cards of all rarities. Event gacha, not to be confused with Limited Gacha, is obtainable in certain events. Event gacha generally gives the same cards as Live Scout would— however, event gacha also offers a small chance at getting the event's ranking R or SR card. There are also % Event SR tickets, which can be obtained through reaching a certain rank in events. These tickets give a 0.3% to 20% chance of getting the event SR the ticket was obtained from. Finally, Point Gacha is the main free gacha. Cards of all rarities are offered in Points Gacha, but there are many cards that are rarer to find.
Events
Events (イベント) are the other way to obtain new cards. Each week or so, a new event begins, usually focused on two of the units (though it may also be focused on various members of different units, or singular units in cases of High×Joker or Café Parade. Event cards are split between cards obtainable in the event, and cards that must be scouted for in Limited Gacha. There are two SRs for each event: one available through scouting, and the other obtainable through reaching a certain rank in the event. Each event has a different theme (such as ghost story or butler), and there are four event types. Each event type also has a set of panel missions, which give cards and 315 Seals (that can be traded for items). There are also event stories, which show special dialogue between the characters, and event manga, which correspond with the event cards. Previews for the next in-game event usually show up in the game's notices 3-4 days before the current event ends.
Live
Marathon
Marathon events progress similarly to normal business. However, instead of Lives and Audition Battles, Appeal Chance will occur instead, in which you can choose to make a megaphone appeal (red), 50 appeal (green), or appeal (blue). There are three types of appeals- Normal, Good, and Perfect. Generally, blue appeal, which requires no AP, will give Normal, but can sometimes give Good or even Perfect appeals. Green appeal, which uses 50 AP, will always give Good or higher. Red appeal requires megaphones, which can be bought, traded for 315 Seals, or obtained throughout the event. They will always result in Perfect appeals, and can be stacked up to three times for a 3.6% bonus. Sometimes, there will be more than one character on screen during the Appeal Chance. This can either double or triple the number of points obtained, depending on whether or not the character is in their + form. It is recommended that you use red appeal only when you have a triple bonus and when you're able to use three megaphones at a time. In Marathon events, there are 6 different areas, each with 3 steps, which each contain 5 stages. At the end of each step, you'll be challenged to an Appeal Battle by a one of the units in the game. These are basically the same as Audition Battles. It is possible to switch between the areas at any time once you have cleared them.
Marathon events have a unique feature called Event Reports. You can collect Event Reports through playing the event, and trade them for a chance at a special gacha, which has a possibility of getting the ranking SR, as well as the ranking R, points R, and many other items.
Bingo
Team
Other Gameplay Mechanics
Teams
Joining a team (チーム) is optional, but provides many benefits, such as extra items and events. As well, Live events are easier to participate in with the help of a team, and Team events require a team to join.
SideMini
SideMini is a small minigame which takes place in the production's office. It is possible to call on miniature versions of the idols through souvenirs, which are obtainable through Lives and events. There are three main sizes of souvenirs, and each will bring one to three idols at once. As well, there are also special unit souvenirs, which will bring only that specific unit. For example, the rice cracker souvenirs will bring the unit Shinsoku Ikkon to the office. The idols will bring items such as AP bars or Jelly, and the quantity of the item depends on how many idols appear.
Magazine Publications
The magazine publications are manga that the idols appear in. These serve to introduce the idols, and can be unlocked with Memory Notes. There are also manga for each card in events.
Characters
Idol Units
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New Idol Discovery Audition
| New Idol Discovery Audition Candidates | |||||
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| Takeshi Mimasaka | Goro Sanjo | Shinobu Kazama | |||
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| Eru Shiraishi | Sora Kitamura | Amehiko Kuzunoha | |||
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| Reo Igari | Mario Ando | Chris Koron | |||
Official Links
Unofficial Links
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