This article is about the Dance Dance Revolution series in general. For information about the specific game released under this title, see Dance Dance Revolution (1stMIX).

Dance Dance Revolution, or DDR for short, is a video game controlled mainly by the player's feet. It was first introduced by Konami as an arcade game in Japan in 1998, and many variations have been produced, some even for home use. Dance Dance Revolution is one of several music games in Konami's Bemani series. It has been released under the title Dancing Stage in Europe.

In the arcade, the game appears as a tall cabinet with unusually large speakers and flashing lights. On the floor in front of this cabinet is a raised dance platform with square panels. The more common two-player machines provide each player with nine 11-inch squares in a 3×3 matrix to stand on: four colored arrows (up, down, left, and right), and five neutral metal squares. One-player "Solo" machines have only one 3×3 matrix, with two extra arrows in the upper left and upper right spots. A metal bar is mounted to the pad behind each player, and is commonly used to assist in balance, redistribute weight, aid in "freestyling", or just as something to rest against between songs. Some players, especially in the United States, look down upon "excessive" bar usage during gameplay, referring to it as "bar hugging" or "bar raping".

Gameplay

Players select one of a variety of songs, which typically have a well-defined beat. While the game is in play, there are four stationary arrows at the top of the screen (unless removed through use of modifiers) called Guide Arrows. Arrows will scroll up from the bottom of the screen and pass over the stationary arrows. When the scrolling arrows overlap the stationary ones (as the right illustration shows the Up arrow is about to), the player must step on the corresponding arrow panel on the dance platform. A "jump" (referred to in-game as Air) step will involve pressing two arrows simultaneously. In this way, the game encourages the player to dance a pre-choreographed series of steps to the music. Each step is given a judgment that indicates how synchronized the player is with the steps. From best to worst, these ratings are PERFECT, GREAT, GOOD, BOO, and MISS. Newer mixes, starting with Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME, have introduced MARVELOUS judgment, which requires even stricter timing than PERFECT, but is only used in Oni and Nonstop mode. Several American releases have also changed the text for BOO and MISS, usually ALMOST and BOO, respectively. It sounds complicated, but once the player has learned to respond to the arrows, there is some freedom in style and balance which better players exploit, to the entertainment of other players and passersby. Some players prefer Doubles Mode (usually costing twice as much, unless set to Joint Premium), where both sets of panels are used by one player; this is generally considered more challenging.

At the end of each song (assuming the player has completed the song without failing), players receive a final score and a letter grade from "AAA" to "E" based on the accuracy of each of their steps. Explanation of the scoring system found at #Score/Grade.

Songs and levels

Most songs are licensed from Toshiba EMI's Dancemania collections, imported from other Bemani titles or created for the game by Konami artists such as Naoki, the main music producer for the DDR series.

Music in DDR may be fast or slow, and may even change tempo. It is a common mistake to assume that slower songs must be easier; often, the exact opposite is true, as reading fast-scrolling and thus widely spaced arrows is often easier than reading lots of dense, slow-scrolling arrows.

Each song has multiple step patterns associated with it, rated in difficulty with 1 to 10 foot icons. The 1-3 foot step patterns are recommended for beginners, and 4-8 are of intermediate difficulty. Nine foot songs, commonly referred to as "catas" (short for "catastrophic", the label given to this difficulty of steps on 3rd Mix and USA Mix) generally require high levels of mastery of one of more specific DDR skills (such as stamina, rhythm recognition or special techniques such as "spins", "crossovers", or "gallops"), and being able to pass these songs is widely regarded as the mark of a proficient player. Last are the songs with 10 foot step patterns. There are very few of these, and the steps for all but one proceed at an incredible speed; runs containing 10 arrows per second are not uncommon. Extreme demands are placed on a player's physical endurance, as well as arrow reading and balancing capability; only a small percentage of players can pass these songs with ease.

The newest version of DDR have the following difficulties:

• Beginner Mode: Most songs in this mode have a one-foot rating. All arrows are on beat, making it an ideal mode for those who haven't played before. The background shows an animated dancer playing the game, helping newcomers learn how the game works. However, by following the dancer players will learn to go back to the middle of the pad after every step. The problem is that this playing style only works well on the easiest of songs and is therefore heavily frowned upon by more experienced players.
• Light Mode: Also known as Basic in older versions. Most songs in this mode have a 2 to 4 foot rating. In most songs, the arrows tend to stay on the beat. It is a good difficulty for inexperienced players or for more proficient players who need a change of pace.
• Standard Mode: Also known as Trick or Another in older versions. In this mode, songs usually have a rating of 4 to 7 feet. At this point, arrows that are not on the beat are more common. This mode is made for intermediate players and for some proficient players who want to do a unique routine without the demands of Heavy mode.
• Heavy Mode: Also known as SSR (Step Step Revolution) or Maniac in older versions, heavy mode is the difficulty most proficient players dance to most. Songs here generally have 7 to 9 foot ratings, as well as some 10-footers, and feature complex dancing patterns.
• Challenge/Oni: A special difficulty that is similar to Heavy, but is more focused on skill, putting an emphasis on each step. It is made for Challenge Mode (see below) and only available for some songs. Some songs are only available in the Oni difficulty. The only way to select this difficulty is to change the difficulty in the song selection (by pressing down-down).

Higher foot ratings generally bring more and more arrows in more elaborate and difficult arrangements, Freeze Arrows which require the foot to remain on the appropriate square, and syncopation. Sometimes the scrolling arrows will stop completely to match a gap in the music, and resume unexpectedly. Players may also introduce modifiers, such as distorting the patterns of the steps and changing the scroll speed of the arrows. This is done in newer versions by holding down the start button for a few seconds when choosing the song (as opposed to just tapping the button).

Nonstop and Challenge/Oni Mode

Newer DDR games feature one or both of these special modes. In both modes, the dancer chooses a course which consists of four or more pre-determined songs, and then plays them all in order without any breaks between songs. When playing at the arcade, these courses often give the player more songs than a normal game would.

In Nonstop mode, introduced in the arcade version of Dance Dance Revolution 3rd Mix, courses are normally made of 4 songs (some home versions feature courses with more songs). Each song in each course has given difficulty of either Light or Standard. Players can choose to up the difficulty so Light songs become Standard and Standard songs become Heavy. Play procedes as normal, with each of the four songs being played one after another. Modifiers can be added to the course by holding the start button when selecting the course.

Challenge/Oni Mode, however, is much harder. Introduced in DDRMAX2 (7th Mix), players choose a course with 5-10 songs (some home versions feature more or less). Each song in each course is again designated a difficulty, usually Heavy. Unlike Nonstop Mode, the difficulty for a course cannot be changed. Players must then play through the course with only four lives. Judgments of GOOD or worse will result in the loss of a life, as well an N.G. for not holding a Freeze Arrow. The Life Bar is replenished upon successful completion of each song, but the amount of lives given back is predetermined and depends on the course. Losing all four lives life results in immediate failure, and any unplayed songs in the course are forfeited. Unlike Nonstop mode, modifiers cannot be added to the course whatsoever. There are, however, courses with pre-selected modifiers per song. (NOTE: In the United States, Challenge Mode appears in the home version of DDRMAX, but that version was actually developed after the arcade version of DDRMAX2.)

• Getting a MISS on the beginning of a Freeze Arrow only causes one life to be lost; this is because N.G.s are only given if the Freeze Arrow is attempted in the first place. However, a Freeze Arrow can be considered attempted if it is stepped with a BOO or higher. Thus, getting a BOO or GOOD on the Freeze Arrow, and then continuing to get an N.G. will result in two lives lost, not one.

Endless Mode

Featured in the newer home versions of DDR, Endless mode lets the player select a song playlist, modifiers, and difficulty (or a random difficulty for each song), and keep playing random songs until the player runs out of energy.

Score/Grade

DDR games award players a score, usually in the millions of points, and a letter grade, from "E" (fail) to "AAA" (all PERFECT and/or MARVELOUS).

In later releases, the score system is weighted towards steps later in the song, so a PERFECT near the end is worth many times more than one at the beginning. The intention is to give a losing player a chance of a comeback all the way to the last step. However, serious players are often upset to see a clearly superior overall performance outscored by someone lucky enough to make more of their mistakes early on. These players usually prefer to determine the winner by whoever scores more PERFECT steps (this is know as "Perfect Attack", or PA).

The "MAX" scoring system is the most popular system for grading, due to it being the newest, and most innovatively organized. The grades, in order from best to worst, are: "AAA", "AA", "A", "B", "C", "D", and "E" (failing). In order to obtain these grades, you must obtain, respectively, 100%, 93%, 80%, 65%, 45%, or less than 45% total Dance Points. Dance Points are earned as followed: PERFECT: +2 GREAT: +1 GOOD: 0 BOO: -5 MISS: -8 O.K.: +6 N.G.: 0

"AA" (pronounced "double A") is a popular target, partly because getting a "AA" on a heavy song, final stage, triggers the message, "TryExtraStage!".

Dancers can also try to get the highest Max Combo possible. A combo is accumulated by getting consecutive GREAT or higher ratings on steps, and broken by getting anything lower. A combo is displayed on screen when a player gets a combo of 4 or more.

Reference and information on earlier scoring systems: AaroninJapan.com (http://www.aaroninjapan.com/taren/scoring/ddrscoreframe.html)

Arcades, home consoles, and clones

Screenshot of Stepmania, an open-source DDR simulator for personal computers

There are over 1400 arcade style DDR machines in the USA. The game first caught the interest of players in Asian American communities in California, and even today more than 25% of DDR machines in the United States are in that state.

DDR can also be played at home using the Sega Dreamcast, Sony PlayStation, PlayStation 2 or Microsoft's Xbox consoles (There is also a version in the works for the Nintendo GameCube, to be released in Japan in Summer 2005). They use a dance mat, a novel input device that looks like the mat from the game Twister or the Power Pad from the Nintendo Entertainment System. More durable metal dance platforms, such as those sold by Cobalt Flux, are also available. Alternatively, several manufacturers such as RedOctane (http://www.redoctane.com) sell mats similar to the plastic mats but containing a foam rubber insert. Some dance pads connect directly to a television, and carry a limited number of songs in their internal memory.

There are several clones of DDR available for personal computers. These games use their own music and step files, and a variety of both are widely available. Clones include Dance With Intensity for Microsoft Windows; StepMania for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X; the Macromedia Flash-based Flash Flash Revolution; and the cross-platform pydance, which runs in a Python environment on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux among others. A particularly novel DDR simulator called Text Text Revolution can be displayed on text-only terminals. An official, Konami-made version of DDR exists for the PC as well. It has the interface of 4th Mix, and contains a comparatively small number of songs from 1st Mix through 6th Mix. Some feel, however, that it does not compare to the console editions. Most PlayStation and Xbox dance mats can be used via USB controller adapter; however, only some of the adapters are compatible with dance mats, as the rest cannot handle the simultaneous presses of Left + Right that the game requires. The StepMania web site contains a list of compatible adapters. In addition, some companies, such as LevelSix, sell dance pads that connect directly into a USB port.

The DDR phenomenon

Many players would tell you that playing at home is an excellent way to practice, and it saves money in the long run compared to playing in the arcade. However, many would also say that a large part of DDR is the experience of dancing in public. DDR is a social game. Two players can dance together side-by-side in friendship, the better player offering encouragement to the lesser, or in competition. Crowds may gather while the dance is in progress and become involved. Some players enjoy showing off by looking away from the screen, dropping to the floor to press arrows with their hands, as well as other distractions.

DDR is also a phenomenon, around which subcultures of fans and enthusiasts have gathered. Tournaments are held worldwide, with participants usually competing for higher scores or number of PERFECTs (referred to as "Perfect Attack" tournaments). Less common are "freestyle" tournaments, where players develop actual dance routines to perform while following the steps in the game. One of the largest examples of this is the European Cup (held by DDR Europe (http://www.ddreurope.com/)), gathering players from all over Europe.

Often, DDR and players of DDR are initially eschewed as odd or worse by many people; however, after playing the game, many of these people come to understand why DDR is so popular and entertaining. This only contributes to the phenomenon that is DDR.

Playing DDR can be good aerobic exercise; some regular players have reported weight loss of 10-50 pounds. One player reports that including DDR in their day-to-day life resulted in a loss of 95 pounds. It is argued however that the cases of significant weight loss have all been stories where a significantly overweight player loses a few pounds, and then becomes motivated to take action to lose weight, including dieting, and regular gym attendance. Although reports of weight loss have not been scientifically measured, a handful of schools use DDR as a physical education activity, and in Norway, DDR has even been registered as an official sport.

Notable songs

• DROP OUT was the first song to go higher than 200 BPM, and debuted on DDR Solo 2000. The steps run at 260 BPM, twice the speed of the actual music. The main problem areas on Heavy difficulty are the two sets of 1/4th jumps near the beginning of the song, and the long stream of 1/8th notes near the end. The low framerate of earlier mixes made this song especially difficult to sight-read.
• MAX 300, introduced in DDRMAX (6th Mix), surpassed DROP OUT by reaching 300 BPM. It is considered to be the first 10-footer, even though it wasn't given a foot rating until MAX2. The step patterns in the song are fairly simple, but the incredible speed (10 steps a second in the densest sections) makes balancing difficult, and takes a severe hit on stamina. The steps briefly pause a minute into the song, offering a slight rest, but they quickly start up again with increased difficulty. MAX 300‘s maximum combo is 573, a number often used in Konami games for its loose Japanese pronunciation ("go-na-mi"). The Double stepset is much less dense than Single (only 496 combo), but makes up for it with an insane six-measure 1/8th note run at the end.
• MAXX UNLIMITED appeared on DDRMAX2 (7th Mix), and exceeded MAX 300‘s difficulty in several areas. It has the same total number of steps (555), but the combo has been increased to 600 with the inclusion of several painfully-placed jumps. The rhythms are more complex, and the gratuitous use of BPM changes and freeze arrows are designed to throw the player off. The last third of the song plays at a blazing 320 BPM, becoming progressively harder as the song nears its end. MAXX UNLIMITED‘s Double steps follow its Single steps much closer than MAX 300‘s.
• The legend of MAX is DDR Extreme's addition to the Max(x) line of songs, and most of the song runs at 333 BPM. It briefly accelerates to 666 BPM, technically making it the fastest-scrolling song in the game, but it's purely cosmetic and no steps are hit during the speed-up. It also has a slow section at 83.25 BPM, but other than that, LOM's difficulty comes purely from its speed.
• PARANOIA survivor MAX also appears in DDR Extreme, and its Oni/Challenge stepset is widely considered to be the hardest pattern in all of DDR. With a combo of 655 (613 steps total, on Single and Double), PSMO is a relentless barrage of 1/8th notes at 290 BPM. Turns and jumps are thrown in everywhere, and a few slowdowns only add confusion. Failure is usually inevitable when one reaches the infamous "death runs" -- four 1/8th note groups that consist of highly complex turns, similar to those in RHYTHM & POLICE or exotic ethnic (except at 290 BPM!).
• bag was the first truly slow song to be labeled a 10-footer, going at a snail's pace of 65 BPM. The challenge lies mainly in reading the arrows, which appear in extremely dense clusters of 1/24th notes. Many players do not consider bag to be a 10-footer at speed modifiers higher than the default "x1". Regardless of the scroll speed, bag also has notoriously difficult timing, caused by the game engine's inability to properly space triplet-based notes (it rounds them to 1/64ths). This also affects songs such as Burning Heat! and AFRONOVA, but the problem is amplified in bag due to its slow BPM.
• MAX. (period) appears on the Japanese home version of DDR EXTREME, and is noted for the last 12 or so seconds of the song, with a nonstop run of 1/4th notes. This wouldn't be a problem except that this section runs at 600 BPM, making it nearly impossible to sight-read. Other than that, however, it is really a modified version of MAX 300, with lots of 1/4th note jump sections.
• Butterfly was released on the first arcade release, and has been on many arcade releases since. Despite its relatively easy difficulty, it is still considered to be a favorite among DDR fans, due to its catchy lyrics. This song has never been released on a US console due to licensing issues.

Releases

This list does not cover games from the Dancing Stage series.

See also

• Category:Dance Dance Revolution series
• Category:Bemani video games
• List of dance games
• Dance mat
• DDR Freak

External links

• Konami's Official Dance Dance Revolution Arcade website (http://www.konami.co.jp/am/ddr/) (Japanese)
• Konami's Official Dance Dance Revolution Home Version website (http://www.konamityo.co.jp/bemani/) (Japanese)
• Dance Dance Revolution's entry (http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=7489) on The KLOV, with links to their entries for most of the rest of the series
• DDR Freak (http://www.ddrfreak.com/)
• Category at ODP (http://dmoz.org/Games/Video_Games/Music_and_Dance/Dance_Dance_Revolution_Series/)
• German Dance Dance Revolution community (http://www.vierpfeile.de/) (German)

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