Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, Dance Dance Revolution is the pioneering series of the rhythm and dance genre in video games. Players stand on a "dance platform" or stage and hit colored arrows laid out in a cross with their feet to musical and visual cues. Players are judged by how well they time their dance to the patterns presented to them and are allowed to choose more music to play to if they receive a passing score.
Dance Dance Revolution has been met with critical acclaim for its originality and stamina in the video game market, as well as popularizing the use of videogames as a medium for fitness and exercise. There have been dozens of arcade-based releases across several countries and hundreds of home video game console releases, promoting a music library of original songs produced by Konami's in-house artists and an eclectic set of licensed music from many different genres. The game is also known for its passionate fanbase, as well as its growing competitive tournament scene. The DDR series has also inspired similar games such as Pump it Up by Andamiro and In the Groove by Roxor Games.
The series' current arcade version is Dance Dance Revolution World, released on June 12, 2024.
Gameplay
The core game involves the player stepping their feet to correspond with the arrows that appear on the screen and the beat of the song playing. During normal gameplay, arrows scroll upwards from the bottom of the screen and pass over a set of stationary arrows near the top. When the scrolling arrows overlap the stationary ones, the player must step on the corresponding arrows on the dance platform. Upon doing so, they are given a judgement for their accuracy of every streaked note.Additional arrow types were added in later mixes. Freeze Arrows, introduced in MAX, are long green arrows that must be held down until they completely travel through the Step Zone. Each of these arrows awards an "O.K.!" if successfully pressed or an "N.G." when the arrow is released too quickly. An "N.G." decreases the life bar and, starting with X, also breaks any existing combo. X also introduced Shock Arrows, walls of arrows with lightning effects that must be avoided, which will award an "O.K.!" if successfully avoided or an "N.G." if any of the dancer's panels are stepped on. An "N.G." for shock arrows has the same consequences found with freeze arrows, but hitting a shock arrow additionally hides future steps for a short period.
Successfully hitting the arrows in time with the music fills the "Dance Gauge", or life bar, while failure to do so drains it. If the Dance Gauge is fully exhausted during gameplay, the player will fail the song, and the game will be over. Otherwise, the player is taken to the Results Screen, which rates the player's performance with a letter grade and a numerical score, among other statistics. The player may then be given a chance to play again, depending on the settings of the particular machine. The default limit is three songs, though operators can set the limit between one and five.
Aside from play style Single, Dance Dance Revolution provides two other play styles: Versus, where two players can play Single simultaneously, and Double, where one player uses all eight panels. Before the 2013 release of Dance Dance Revolution, some games offer additional modes, such as Course mode and Battle mode. Earlier versions also have Couple/Unison Mode, where two players must cooperate to play the song. Course Mode was reintroduced to the series starting with A20.
Difficulty
Depending on the edition of the game, dance steps are broken into various levels of difficulty, often by color. The difficulty is separated into two to five categories, depending on the game:The first release of Dance Dance Revolution established two difficulties: Basic for Single and Double modes, and Another for Single mode only. Each chart is rated with a level from 1 to 7, and every release through 3rdMix Plus also attributed a title to each level number. The Internet Ranking Version added Another for Double mode, and a new higher difficulty of Maniac for Single mode only, along with several level 8 charts, titled Exorbitant. 2ndMix Club Version 2 introduced several level 9 charts, titled Catastrophic until 3rdMix Plus and Evolutionary in X3 vs. 2ndMix. The Maniac difficulty was renamed SSR and expanded to Double mode for new songs in 3rdMix, with the name reverting to Maniac in 3rdMix Plus. Beginning with 4thMix, all songs featured the Maniac difficulty in Single and Double mode. Also, Another was renamed to Trick. 4thMix Plus introduced new Maniac charts for 16 songs, while the original Maniac charts were labelled Maniac-S and Maniac-D in this game, with only the new charts remaining in 5thMix.
DDRMAX introduced the "Groove Radar", showing how difficult a particular sequence was in various categories, such as the maximum density of steps. This release removed the level numbers, and among the 42 songs, two have never received any level numbers due to being DDRMAX exclusives. Additionally, DDRMAX changed the difficulty names to Light, Standard, and Heavy. Beginning with DDRMAX2, level numbers were reintroduced, along with a level 10 for "MAX 300" and "MAXX Unlimited". Level 10 was titled Revolutionary in X3 vs. 2ndMix. DDRMAX2 also introduced the Challenge difficulty with "Kakumei" on One More Extra Stage, and in Nonstop Challenge Mode songs. Extreme introduced the Beginner difficulty, which premiered in Dancing Stage EuroMix, as the game's easiest difficulty. It is only available in Single mode, except in the DDR Universe series for the Xbox 360, which offers Beginner difficulty in Single and Double modes. Extreme features a total of 37 songs with the Challenge difficulty. Exclusive to Extreme were "flashing 10s" that are harder than regular 10s.
SuperNOVA standardizes the naming of difficulty to the Beginner, Basic, Difficult, Expert, and Challenge respectively.
Due to the old system not going past level 10 and other outdated reasonings, X overhauls the numbering system, now extending the scale of 1–20. All songs from previous versions were re-rated on the new scale, roughly multiplying the old number to 1.4x. Even though the rating can go up to 20, no song has reached that level. The highest rated song on X is 18. X2 introduced the first 19: "Valkyrie dimension" Challenge. Although the new rating system is an improvement from the old system, it is common for each sequel to re-rate charts to reflect the proper difficulty, such as "POSSESSION" Double Challenge being re-rated from 18 to 19 on both DDR II and X3 vs. 2ndMix.
Starting from A, the difficulty is now displayed during gameplay.
Groove Radar
The foot-rating system was completely removed for the 6th Mix, and replaced by the Groove Radar. The Groove Radar is a graphical representation of the difficulty of a song based in five different areas: Stream, Voltage, Air, Chaos, and Freeze.- Stream – Indicates the overall density of the steps of the song. A high number of steps is a factor too, but not necessary for a high stream measurement.
- Voltage – Indicates the peak density of the steps. Songs with a high BPM usually have a high voltage measurement, since it allows more steps to appear in increasingly halved beats, though songs with lower BPM can have a high voltage, even if the halved beats usually cap at 32nd beat.
- Chaos – Indicates "off-beat" steps; those that do not occur in 4th or 8th beats.
- Air – Indicates the number of double steps and shock arrows within the song.
- Freeze – Indicates the number of freeze arrows within the song
As of DDR 2014, the groove radar also employs a numerical measurement in addition to a graphical representation. Before the update, the radar did not disclose the number by default, though it could be shown by holding the SELECT button while heading to the song select screen.
The Groove Radar was not very popular among seasoned DDR veterans. The foot-rating system was restored to work with the Groove Radar in the North American home version of the game and the next arcade version, MAX2, and almost all future versions. All of the MAX songs on MAX2 received foot-ratings, excluding songs that were removed.
SuperNOVA 2 featured special edits of songs specifically meant to max out specific categories on the radar, culminating with "DEAD END ", maxing out all five categories. While not related, SuperNOVA 2 also featured a variation known as "My Groove Radar" as part of e-Amusement, which was also divided into five categories, though it was meant to measure the player's stats on songs rather than showing the song's difficulty.
This feature is now removed in DDR WORLD.
Extra Stage system
The Extra Stage, originally introduced in 1stMIX and reintroduced in MAX, rewards a player for clearing three songs, either with a high enough grade on the final stage or by fulfilling specific play requirements. The player receives the opportunity to play a free extra song, which often defaults to a very difficult song with forced modifiers and LIFE4 since DDR X2, a life bar identical to the battery bar similar to Challenge mode with 1–4 lives depending on their score in the final stage in SuperNOVA 2 and X, or a non-regaining life bar before SuperNOVA 2. Beginning on SuperNOVA 2, players may be able to access the modifier menu and the forced modifiers are no longer used. However, the Replicant-D Action event in X2 and since DDR 2014 did not allow players to select modifiers for its Encore Extra Stage.Before EXTREME, the Extra Stage song was predetermined. Afterward, any song can be played for the Extra Stage, although there is still a song designated as the Extra Stage. A player who attains a grade of "AA" on the Extra Stage is invited to play an additional stage, "One More Extra Stage", with another special song option, played in RISKY, in which any combo-breaking step or missed freeze will cause an instant failure. Since X3 VS 2ndMIX, some Encore Extra Stage songs are marked as "ATTACK PERFECT FULL COMBO", where any judgment less than Perfect will cause the player to fail the song, or "ATTACK FLARE GAUGE EX" in DDR A3 where any Perfect or minor judgements will drain the LIFE GAUGE very faster. Unlike Extra Stages, the song for Encore Extra Stages remains predetermined, the only exceptions were SuperNOVA 2 and X, which allowed players to play any song for their Encore Extra Stage. Usually, if this final boss is beaten, a special credits sequence is played.
With the implementation of e-Amusement in DDR, mixes after SuperNOVA have contained multiple songs as extra stages, often based on specific conditions, such as playing specific difficulties or songs.
From MAX2 onward, the BPM of Extra Stage songs is displayed as a random, changing number, instead of the song's true BPM to hide it from players, also when KAKUMEI was played as an Encore Extra Stage, its Groove Radar data is hidden by continually animating through random songs' ratings. The random BPM display is replaced with the normal BPM display in the next mix, and as of X, after the said song has been unlocked for both normal and match play.