As a celebration to Space Invaders 40th Anniversary, the Steam version of Groove Coaster is based on Groove Coaster 3 in the arcades in terms of the interface and stuff. You get Linka/Linker the only navigator so far ever since her debut in Groove Coaster 3 in the arcades as well as the initial songlist which is quite good with paid DLCs songs to follow in a similar vein to Groove Coaster Zero and 2 on mobile.
There are tons of differences between the Steam and arcade versions. Firstly, the game supports multiple aspect ratios in addition to the aspect ratio that matches the arcade version although this is one game that isn't anything intensive whatsoever since it's arcade version runs on the machine with 1-cored Intel Atom CPU with the NVIDIA branded modern graphics card with 1GB of system RAM. Not to mention that the game uses simple graphics and even the FMV for some Groove Coaster games in the arcades runs smoothly as well. Indeed, there is an FMV video for Groove Coaster EX which is processed without any lag. The second thing is, the theme music is changed for Steam version along with the Credits music which still uses the original Groove Coaster credits music, not the one from Groove Coaster 3 since that song is counted as one of the songs from the initial song list. The third difference is the interface design difference as well as the fact that you can turn off/on the navigator and switch the navigator voice if you'll like.
One thing to take note is that the English version of Groove Coaster 3 and later for arcades has the English voice acting for one of the characters only. The other characters don't have the English voice acting whatsoever.
Like some other rhythm games that were ported to PC from the arcades like Beatmania IIDX Infinitas and Sound Voltex III with the former being the spinoff, not from the arcades although it has the elements from the arcade version of Beatmania IIDX series, Groove Coaster on Steam has both controller and keyboard support although the Steam controller is used for reference when it comes to controller tutorial dialog box, not the gameplay tutorial. As of this time, it appears that Sound Voltex III E-Amusement Cloud is linkable to Sound Voltex IV in the arcades but not Groove Coaster Steam Edition for whatever reason. To offer Nesica support for Groove Coaster on Steam and mobile so that it can be linked to Groove Coaster in the arcades is one silly idea as the control method of playing it is already different in the first place even if there's an unofficial Groove Coaster arcade-style controller.
In a sea of Groove Coaster games on consumer systems in the series, this is more or less Groove Coaster 3 on consumer systems after Groove Coaster 0, 1 and 2 on mobile and the game's interface is based on Groove Coaster 3 in the arcades.
