I fell in love with MyGO!!!!! in BanG Dream! Our Notes, and you will too

The next chapter of the Bandori story is unfolding, as the BanG Dream! Our Notes closed beta test just concluded. I was lucky enough to get in and test the game out, and I’m so glad that I did, because this might just be my most anticipated mobile game of 2026.

The BanG Dream! project, otherwise known as Bandori, has been around since 2015, with its first mobile game, Girls Band Party, launching in 2017 to great success. As a fan of idol culture, anime, and rhythm games, Bandori has always appealed to me, but it felt too late to jump in. I hoped that Our Notes would provide an opportunity for new fans like myself to get involved with Bandori, and based on my experience with the closed beta, it does exactly that.

Instead of continuing the stories of the Girls Band Party groups, Our Notes focuses on five lesser-known bands from the franchise. Ave Mujica and MyGO!!!!! are the most well-known, with their own anime seasons and the latter’s inclusion in Girls Band Party. Then we have Mugendai MewType, who also have an anime but are less prolific as they don’t do live performances. Finally, Our Notes introduces two brand-new bands to the franchise: millsage and Ikka Dumb Rock!

Like many mobile rhythm games, Our Notes tells the bands’ stories through animated visual novel sections using Live2D models. These are fantastically rigged, accompanying the characters’ adorable designs and voice acting that’s filled with personality. My closest comparison point is Project Sekai, and these story segments feel much more alive than those in the Miku game. Our Notes also uses the Live2D models during rhythm gameplay, which is much less resource-intensive than the usual standard 3D music videos.

Our Notes’ bread and butter is rhythm gameplay, and it excels at this too. The beatmaps and mechanics are familiar yet fresh, adding some new tricks and techniques to the now-standard piano-style gameplay. A good rhythm game doesn’t have to reinvent the genre – as much as I agree that the “Project Sekai-ification” of rhythm games is a real phenomenon – it just has to be fun. Unsurprisingly, Our Notes’ selection of music is phenomenal. Each of the bands has a unique sound, and seemingly every track in the game is a banger. I’m not surprised, as Bushiroad has been doing this for over a decade, but it’s still worth noting that the discography is already big enough for these five bands to produce this game without relying on covers.

Performance-wise, Our Notes ran pretty much without issue on my phone. I experienced a crash after a decently long gameplay session, but my iPhone 13 does that when I play other games, and my device doesn’t meet the recommended requirements for the game anyway. A much larger issue with rhythm games is input lag, and I can safely say that I didn’t experience any at all. As I previously mentioned, you can switch the rhythm game sections to Lite or Live2D performances to make the game run smoother on your device (and reduce distractions from your full combos).

Now, while the core rhythm game aspect was on full display during the Our Notes beta test, a lot of the other features were limited. I only got to experience Ave Mujica and MyGO!!!!!’s stories, which was a shame as I was looking forward to getting to know Mewgendia MewType. It makes sense, as Tomori and Sakiko’s history and journeys have a lot of crossover, and the test only ran for a week, but I was still hoping to get to know the other girls.

The other major restriction was around the gacha mechanic. My CBT account was loaded with currency and a set of character cards to level up, and the gacha section was entirely disabled. This meant it was hard to get an idea of how easy character collection and leveling up will be in the full game. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Overall, the BanG Dream! Our Notes CBT has left me excited for the game’s full launch. Pre-registration is still open on the App Store, Google Play, and the official website, with more rewards dropping all the time, so make sure to sign up before its release. Let me know in the Pocket Tactics Discord server if you plan to jump into Our Notes when it launches, and check out our list of the best gacha games while you’re here.