Konami quietly announced a new Bemani music/rhythm game earlier this month, although we didn’t know how the new arcade cabinet would function – until now.

The location tests for the recently named “Museca” have gone underway, and many Japanese users are already comparing the game to an American music/rhythm game known as Neon FM. We’ve covered that game, and the similarities are arguably striking. (Thanks, Deckenkatze!)

First, compare the actual controls for each game, with Museca first, and Neon FM second:

The button layout is simply reversed. One key difference, however, is the buttons on Museca are called “spinners,” and they can be rotated as well as hit. Museca also has a foot pedal, which lets you activate “gifts” while playing a song.

It’s very interesting to see Konami, a publisher notorious for handing out lawsuits to competitors who also make music/rhythm games, take part in the very same thing we saw them fighting competitors over. Pentavision, the creators of DJMAX, were affected by this.

You can view a side-by-side comparison of both cabinets here, via Twitter user SoInLove:

How do you guys feel about this? Is it wrong for competitors to make arcade cabinets/games that are highly similar to each other?