BanG Dream! Girls Band Party!

"Let's start our band life!"


 * Looking for a related Girls Band Party! article? See list here.

 is a rhythm game released for iOS and Android, based on the BanG Dream! franchise. It was published by Bushiroad and Craft Egg and was released on March 16th, 2017 for iOS and Android devices in Japan.

A Taiwanese version of the game was released on September 26, 2017. A Korean version of the game was released on February 6, 2018. An English version of the game was announced in September of 2017, and was released on April 4, 2018 with an early release in Singapore on March 29, 2018. A Chinese version of the game was released on May 30, 2019 for Android users and on June 5, 2019 for iOS users.

A Nintendo Switch version is scheduled to be released on September 16, 2021.

Development and History
The BanG Dream! Project's concept of voice actresses capable of playing their own musical instruments started on 2014 when Kidani Takaaki saw Aimi's live performance at "THE IDOLM＠STER M＠STERS OF IDOL WORLD!!2014" where she played the guitar. Bushiroad then reached out to CyberAgent, parent company of Craft Egg, who agreed to develop a BanG Dream! game. After initially considering a simulation or a puzzle game, they settled for a rhythm game. But to differentiate it from games of the same genre, Craft Egg included cover songs which was inspired by Poppin'Party's covering other artists' songs in their concerts. From then on, the game development's path was "a free rhythm game where you can play cover songs." And though Nakamura Kou wrote the original storyline for BanG Dream!, he had no involvement in writing the game's storyline.

The development of the game was announced on September 15, 2016 at Tokyo Game Show 2016 (TGS2016) with a planned release in spring of 2017. Roselia, as a group, debuted at said event on September 17, 2016. The other three vocalists and their voice actresses were revealed on December 7, 2016 and the remaining characters for the three bands were revealed daily starting from December 8, 2016. The cast for Afterglow were revealed during the month and the remaining casts were revealed on February 24, 2017.

Pre-registration for the game started on January 1, 2017 and the number of pre-registration reached 560,000 by the game's official launch on March 16, 2017. A closed beta test was also held from February 17-20, 2017.

Gameplay
BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! is a free to play rhythm game which features two modes, Story mode and Live mode, and the members of the seven main bands: Poppin'Party, Roselia, Morfonica, RAISE A SUILEN, Afterglow, Pastel*Palettes, and Hello, Happy World!.

Lives
There are two types of Live modes for players to choose from: Free Live and Multi Live. There are a total of seven note types: Simply tapping the icon, tapping and holding down the icon, flicking a note in any direction, tapping two icons simultaneously, tapping and sliding a certain direction, and tapping a golden note which will activate one of your member's skill. The players are tasked to tap circles properly according to the rhythm and type of note in order to receive score. When you miss a lot of them, the game will fail, and you will not receive rewards. Depending on the player's results, they will be able to receive rewards like practice tickets or gems to use for training and reading cards.

Free Live
In Free Live, players are free to choose to play songs from the current discography without the limit of an in-game regenerating energy system, although the game does have in-game regenerating boosts.

Multi Live
In Multi Live, players are put in teams with other randomly chosen players in real time where they play a Live together for the highest possible score. Instead of only getting your score, the total of all scores are put together. To join a Multi Live, you can either create your own or enter someone else's room. There are four options for rooms: Anyone, Regular, Veteran, Master and Grand. Regular requires a minimum of 70,000 Band Power. Veteran requires a minimum of 120,000 Band Power. Master requires a minimum of 180,000 Band Power. Grand requires a minimum of 250,000 Band Power.

Once you are in a room and the team is completed, all five players will vote on the song. The song won’t be chosen based on number of votes; the song candidates will be chosen completely randomly. You can also hit the button next to Select, “”Random””. If everyone abstains, the game chooses a random song for you. After the song has been chosen, everyone selects their difficulty and the game will start. The Live will follow like a Free Live, except with the addition of other player's main member's skills activating and the Fever Bar and not being able to pause. Unlike in Free Live, players can still continue playing even when their life bar reaches zero, although it will significantly reduce their score per tap.

Fever Bar
The Fever Bar is a bar that triggers at a certain point of the song you're playing and if every player fills up their Fever Bar, the time that the Fever lasts will give 200% bonus points for every note hit.

When the Live ends, you'll see the separate scores earned by each player and the total score you achieved together. Playing in Multi Live mode will help grant more higher level item drops and more EXP points, although this depends on which type of room you join.

Live Boosts
The game features a Live Boost system instead of an energy system that multiples all of your rewards by 5, which includes the amount of coins, items, Event Points and EXP. One Boost will be recovered every 30 minutes to a maximum of 10 Boosts, previously only 3 Boosts, but you can use Stars to regenerate whenever you need them and the Boosts recover whenever you level up “once you are past a certain level.” You can use 50 Stars to regenerate 3 Boosts, or 100 Stars to regenerate 10 Boosts. The maximum of Boosts you can have are 10+99. 

Attributes
Each card is one of four available attributes: The attributes don't make a difference in the score you get in Live, but they are used for Event bonuses if you use a certain type and specific shards of the attribute are required to Train your members.
 * Powerful
 * Cool
 * Pure
 * Happy

Stories
There are three types of stories: the Main Story, the Band Stories, and the Event Stories.

Main Story
The main story has the player, as a New Staff, work at the Live House CiRCLE, a newly formed live house, trying to find girl bands to perform there for a special event. The player and CiRCLE staff Tsukishima Marina first meet Poppin'Party and Marina asks for them to help you find the other bands, specifically the four main she's had her eye on: Afterglow, Pastel*Palettes, Roselia, and Hello, Happy World!

Throughout the story, the player and the members of Poppin'Party will try to recruit the bands. Each chapter is fully voiced, and in order to unlock new chapters the player must either rank up or wait for new chapters to be released. There are currently two main stories: Season 1, which is 27 chapters long, and Season 2, which started after the 2nd Anniversary and is 23 chapters long.

The main story continues from the end of the first season of the anime BanG Dream! The Dream Festival cards also feature stories of the girls planning out the joint event.

Band Stories
Each band has separate stories that has no relation to the main story.
 * For Poppin'Party's band stories, see here.
 * For Afterglow's band stories, see here.
 * For Pastel*Palettes' band stories, see here.
 * For Roselia's band stories, see here.
 * For Hello, Happy World!'s band stories, see here.
 * For Morfonica's band stories, see here.
 * For RAISE A SUILEN's band stories, see here.

Event Stories

 * For Event Stories, see here.

With every event, there is a story to accompany it. Each story is composed of an opening, five chapters, and an ending.

Band Edit
The Band Edit screen allows you to make teams to use during Lives. Here you can:
 * Switch out members of pre-existing teams.
 * Create new teams.
 * Rename your teams.
 * See how much health they provide.
 * View their current Band Power, Performance, Technique, and Visuals.
 * The option to have the game automatically make teams for you either based on the Band, attribute, both, or based on just card stats.
 * The option to clear the entire team to make it a blank slate.

Costume
In the costume screen, you can change the costumes the girls wear in their Live2D Models, and they will also show on the chibis during Lives. You unlock a new costume with every 2★, 3★ and 4★ card you get of a character; there are also special non-card costumes that you can either get through certain collaborations, log-in bonuses, or get them from the Michelle Exchange Store.

Practice
In the practice screen, you can level up your cards either using single tickets, double tickets, triple tickets and premium tickets that provide different levels of EXP for the card. Premium Tickets are available as event ranking rewards or through Exchange using Michelle Stickers. Each card has a max level cap, and when untrained 3★ and 4★ cards reach their cap they have the ability to be trained and unlock 10 more levels.

Training
In order to use the training function, you must have a 3★ or 4★ card that is max leveled and a specific number of shards that belong to the same attribute of the card you wish to train along with a specific number of miracle crystals.

After training, the card will receive a +10 level cap limit and increased stats.

Skill Practice
Here, you can increase the Skill level of a card. Increasing the Skill level will increase the duration of the Skill (Scorers and Note Lockers) or increase the amount of health that you'll gain (Healers). You can use any duplicate cards to level up the cards you want, but using a duplicate of the specific card will give more EXP. You can also use Skill Tickets which you get from Event rewards and ranking prices, as well as buy Triple Skill Tickets from the Exchange Store for 30 Michelle Stickers.

Member List
Aside from the basic function of letting you see what cards you have, in the member list you can also view the two episodes that each card has, switch between the untrained and trained art of a card, and view the card art without the stats. You can also sort the members (such as by attribute, whether you've read their stories or not, etc.)

To view the episodes, you must tap on the card whose episode you wish to view and click one of the two buttons on the bottom. Through unlocking each episode and reading it, you can earn more Stars and also increase the card's stats. The amount and type of shards you'll need will vary by the card's rarity and attribute.

Exchange

 * For more information regarding Michelle Sticker Exchange, see Michelle Sticker Exchange.

In the exchange, you can purchase items using Michelle Stickers that you receive from trading in duplicate cards. There are a variety of items you can buy using Stickers, such as practice tickets, shards, miracle crystals, coins, or a Golden Ticket. You receive more Stickers with higher rarity cards. It's important to note that every week there is a limit of how many of an item you can buy, and each week the limit resets on Monday.

Gacha
The gacha is used to scout for and obtain cards using Stars as currency. The gacha features cards of the 2★, 3★, and 4★ rarities. Gaining higher rarity cards help increase your score and event point gain.

To reach the gacha page, swipe through the rotating banners until you see the featured gacha banner or tap on the gacha button next to the band and story buttons. When you reach the page, the game will show you the main gacha banner.

Head Start Gacha

 * Beginners only, available for one week after starting the game.
 * Features 2★ and higher members.
 * Get a guaranteed 4★ with one 10 Play.
 * Gacha rates are same as main gacha rates.

Main Gacha
The main gacha contains the 2★ and higher members with the rate-up members having higher drop rates. You need Stars for the gacha, or 1-play Star Tickets (which are gained rarely). There are three options to choose from: The percentage rates for the rarities are: And as of 10th of March 2018 the percentage rates changes to:
 * The first one costs 2500 Stars and you play for 10 cards in the current gacha. In this option, there is always guaranteed 3★.
 * The second option costs 250 Stars and you play for 1 card. In this option, there is no guaranteed rarity card.
 * The third option cost 60 paid Stars and you play for 1 card. In this option, there is no guaranteed rarity. You can only do this once a day.

Type Gacha
This gacha features 2★ and higher members of the specified type only. It is usually made available mid-events to end (or close to the end) of events.

It was previously called Type Drop Boost Gacha where the featured type members only got a rate up. It differed from Type Gacha in the sense that pool still includes other types.

★3+ Ticket Gacha
The ★3+ Ticket Gacha contains only 3★ and 4★ cards. To scout, you'll have to use Golden Tickets which can only be bought through the Exchange using Michelle Stickers. Using these tickets you have the options of using one ticket for a single play or using 10 tickets for 10 play. The 3★+ Ticket Gacha has its own rarity percentage rate:

Special Set Gacha
In the Special Set Gacha, you can scout for 5 or 10 members, depending on the event gacha. You have to use 1000 free stars for the 5-member gacha for 3 times, but 1500 paid stars for the 10-member gacha for 2 times. In both gachas, you will receive either 2x Big Boost Drinks or 1 Triple Skill Practice Ticket. Both of these have a guaranteed 3★. There is also a gacha that lets you use 500 Stars for 3 members and play it 5 times, but there is no guaranteed 3★.

Dream Festival Gacha

 * For more information, see Dream Festival.

4★ Guaranteed Gacha
In this gacha, you have to use 2500 paid stars to do one 10 Play with a guaranteed 4★. These scouts usually appear at X Million Player Celebrations.

Miracle Ticket Gacha
In this gacha, you have to use 2500 paid stars to do a normal 10 Play. Through this, you can acquire a 4★ Miracle Ticket that can be exchanged for a Permanent 4★ of your choice. It is said to come back every time the game celebrates its anniversary.

Characters
The game features a total of 35 characters from the seven bands in game.

Songs

 * See here for complete list of songs available in Girls Band Party!

General Elections

 * See here for complete list of General Elections held for the game.

World Items and Miscellaneous Items

 * For complete list of items, please refer here.

Buying and Changing Band Equipment
At the Edogawa Music Store, you can purchase band-specific equipment to place inside of CiRCLE to boost their member's strength. Specific equipment will work only on specific bands and only one of each type can be equipped at any time. The equipment can be leveled up.

Buying Flyers, Posters, and Cover Songs
At CiRCLE, you can buy the cover songs released in-game along with the band flyers and posters you unlock after reading their respective chapter in their story. You buy the cover songs using earned through reading stories, you can buy the flyers and posters using  and shards. Like the equipment, you can level up the posters and flyers to have an increase to the stats of the band's members.

Buying Food Items
At the Cafeteria, you have the option to purchase food items. Each item provides a boost to a single attribute, and leveling up the food increases the boost.

Using Michelle Monaka To Buy Decorations
At Arisa's home (Ryuseido), you can buy more items to increase stats of specific attributes. However, instead of food, you can purchase decorations to place in the Cafeteria. Like the food and equipment, levelling the decorations will increase the boost.

Limited Time Items
When important events occur for the franchise or during holidays, in-game rewards will be released to celebrate. These are only released during a certain time and will never come back, so it's best to get them while they're available.

How To Switch Out Items
Switching out items is fairly simple. To switch, simply press this button and scroll through the type of item you wish to replace. This where you can switch out the items that were there by default to the ones you had bought.

Titles
Titles are tags that you can place on yourself to show who you are in small little ways. Titles show up when you match up with others during Multi Lives. They also show up in the event's leaderboard. Try titles The following are the available titles:

Band Rank 30 Titles
These are achieved by reaching Rank 30 for each of the bands.

Event Titles
They are acquired by finishing at a certain rank or within a certain rank range for the said event.

Try Titles
They are acquired by finishing all normal goals (for Normal Goal Title). EX Goal Title is acquired by finishing the 5 extra goals.

Character Titles
These titles are acquired by collecting a certain amount of character's cards. The first title is unlocked after having 5 untrained card images, the second title is unlocked after 10 untrained card images, and the third title is unlocked after collecting 15 untrained card images.

Poppin'Party=

Events

 * For list of all events, go here. Alternatively, you can also go here.
 * For a timeline of all events in all server, go here.
 * For list of normal/regular events, go here.

To access the Event page, swipe through the rotating banners in lower left side of the main screen to find the event banner or underneath the Multi Live button on the Live page. Each event generally has the same mechanics, where you earn points by playing Live which lets you unlock the event rewards and places you in the even rankings.

From the event rewards, the cards available to unlock will be the event's 2★ and 3★ event cards, Stars, shards, and Michelle Monaka.

Badges can be earned by playing lives, you can exchange those badges for items such as Shards, EXP tickets, Coins and Michelle Monaka which is located at the left side of the event screen next to the event story or the exchange option in the Band screen.

There are three main ways to increase events points: It's important to note that you must meet certain requirements to gain any event points, and if you don't then no event points will rewarded to you.
 * Getting a high score and combo will slightly increase your points.
 * Each event has a featured attribute and featured members, and if you make a team that contains these featured attribute and members there will be an increase in points. If you use the featured attribute, there will a 20% increase with each card with the attribute in your team. If you use the featured members, there will be a 10% increase in each card with the member in your team.
 * Using Live Boosts can also help increase the points you earn per song, and up to three boosts can be used per songs. Using one boost can multiple your points by 5 times then your normal points, two boosts can multiple your points by 10 times than your normal points, and three boosts can multiple your points by 15 times than your normal points.

Challenge Lives

 * For list of challenge live events, go here.

This event type was introduced in the "When the Flowers Bloom" event, where Challenge Points and Challenge Lives are introduced.

While the player can still earn points through normal Lives, the player also gains Challenge Points (CP). You use them to play in Challenge Live, where you can play one the three designated challenge songs for score ranking on that event. It uses the following amount of CP: 200 CP for the normal amount points, 400 CP for twice the amount of points, 800 CP for four times the amount of normal points. In Challenge Live, the player will be able to pick between three songs to play, with at least one new song in the list. The new song will only be available in Free/Multi-lives after the event ended.

Maximum band power during Challenge Live includes the overall stats of the card plus area item bonuses plus band bonuses. Band bonus is a +20% to overall stats of the card if it matches the attribute and another +10% if it matches a boost member.

A new parameter for maximum band power during Challenge Live was introduced during the Growing Up Sisters! event. If a card matches the member and the attribute, it will get +50% to a certain stat (either Performance, Visual, or Technique).

VS Lives

 * For list of VS Live events, go here.

This event type was introduced in the "Always Halloween For Kokoro!" event, with a twist on Multi-Lives.

In VS Lives, the player joins either of the following rooms: Event Music Room or the Free Music Room. In the Select Music Room, it follows like a normal Multi-Live, except the players are competing against one another for the amount of event points and the amount of Medals earned. With the Event Music Room, it follows the Select Music Room, except the song is always the new event song, and the player's score in this room will calculate their Score Ranking for the event.

With the Medals earned from the VS Lives, they can be used in the Marina's Gacha where players can earn Live Boost Drinks, Skill Tickets, and other rewards. However, Medals from each event don't carry over to the next one.

Live Goals

 * For list of live goals events, go here.

This event type was introduced in the "Neo Fantasy Online -Journey-" event, with the addition of Goals.

The player proceeds with the event as normal, however they can earn more points by completing Goals. Each Goal follows one of the five categories: Score, Energy, Note Accuracy, Combo, and Multi. Each category has fifteen different Goals, with ten in the normal and five for the Expert Goals.

The Goals vary for each event differ, but some Goals require specific requirements such as a song being a certain level or the amount of Perfects the player gets in a Live.

Mission Live

 * For list of mission live events, go here.

This event type was introduced in the "Wholehearted Song for Me" event, with the addition of event-type missions in the mission list and "Event Support Band".

Similar to normal live events, you earned event points from free live and multi live, and multi live provides more event points due to fever bonus. Also, there are also bonuses from the event support band which are selected from your list of owned cards.

Support band provides event points other in addition to the event points gained from your main band. The members of event support band are selected from the cards that are not put in the main band. The 5 cards that have the top 5 highest card power which are not put in the main band will be selected and cards that have both attribute and character boost will be prioritized.

Version History

 * See here.

Gallery

 * For a list of cards, go here.
 * For more galleries, see here.