Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Mega Mix+ is here! The franchise’s debut on PC, the shadowdropped Mega Mix+ iterates on the series’ more recent entries. Interested? We’ve spent some time with it and can tell you what you need to know.
What’s Project Diva Mega Mix?
If you’re a PC-only player, you may need a quick primer on Project Diva as a whole! And we’re happy to help. Starring Hatsune Miku and her Vocaloid pals, Diva is about hitting D-pad directions and face buttons at precise times. Rather than sticking to a line, the prompts can show up all over the place, and when the symbols line up, hit the button. This all shows up over cool and fun music videos, which you’re too distracted to watch while you’re playing.
Originally released on the Nintendo Switch, Mega Mix bundled a heck of a lot of songs from the franchise’s arcade releases into one package. Like PlayStation 4 release Future Tone before it, this approach goes for quantity of content over a console-like structure.
There’s no narrative! Instead, the focus is on options. Costumes! Button prompts and sounds! Whatever can keep you going through the 170-plus included songs. (A DLC pack adds another 72.)
What’s different in this new Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Mega Mix+ PC version?
Well… it’s on PC? That may sound like a cop-out, but it’s important in a number of ways. First: content-wise, it’s very similar to the Switch release. If you’ve played and enjoyed that one, there’s not a heck of a lot here for you; it’s really trying to reach a new audience with the same game. A few little extras here and there might be of interest to super-fans, like being able to play songs in both Mega Mix and Future Tone visual modes. The poppy Mega Mix look was designed to look nice with the lower visual fidelity of the Switch, while Future Tone uses more realistic lighting.
Still, being on PC has consequences! You can use all sorts of controllers and play at higher resolutions, given patience for a bit of configuration that comes with most PC titles. Our first play using a DualShock 4 loaded up an incorrect button layout and didn’t default to PlayStation icons, so that was a fun few minutes! And lag will vary, depending on your setup. (It’s probably why we’ve loved this series most on the handheld Vita and Switch, since that’s not an issue.)
We’d definitely recommend using some sort of controller, despite the game’s theoretical keyboard support. After all, Project Diva is designed specifically with four buttons in a diamond shape for each hand! It can be sort of clunky to play any other way, even if it’s doable.
This freedom also comes with benefits. We’re for sure going to see expert play on some truly weird control setups. The modding community will likely jump at the opportunity to mess with an entry in the series for the first time. New costumes and songs? They might have something to say about that.
Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Mega Mix+ is available now on PC via Steam. The original Mega Mix can be found on the Nintendo Switch eShop.
