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DDR_4th_Mix.png
The logo for Dance Dance Revolution 4thMIX made for StepMania
Dance Dance Revolution 4thMIX, or DDR 4th Mix, is the fourth game in the Dance Dance Revolution series of music video games. It was released in the arcades by Konami on August 24, 2000. Although only officially released in Japan, units exist worldwide. DDR 4th Mix featured 136 songs, 12 of which were hidden. 42 of those songs were new to Dance Dance Revolution in that mix. Unique to any other version, the songs were arranged in several groups. You could choose to have all songs available as well.
The interface of DDR 4th Mix was seriously revamped. The song selection screen was a series of seven song banners. If you scrolled off to one side, the banners of the next seven songs in order in that direction would drop in. You could modify how the arrow arrangement and how they appear on the screen with various step codes when you selected a song. After you selected the song, a menu would appear allowing a player to select between the three difficulty levels: Basic, Trick and Maniac. The labels for the foot ratings were eliminated in this mix. As with DDR 3rd Mix, each player can choose a different difficulty level if they desire.
How To Play
The general premise of DDR 4th Mix is the same as the previous Dance Dance Revolution games. One player can play using one dance pad (Single play style), Two players can play using one dance pad each (Versus play style), or One player can play using both dance pads (Double play style).
A player must step to the beat, matching the beat to the arrows presented to them on screen by stepping on arrows on a metal-and-plexiglass dance stage. Depending on the timing of each step, the step is scored "PERFECT," "GREAT," "GOOD," "BOO" or "MISS." A health bar is on the screen, and starts half-way at the beginning of the routine. PERFECT and GREAT steps increase the health bar until it is full. BOO and MISS steps diminish it. GOOD steps have no effect either way. If a player accumulates too many BOOs or MISSes in rapid succession, and the health bar fully diminishes, then they fail the song and the game ends.
A player may play anywhere from three to seven songs (not including extra stages), depending on how many the arcade owner sets the machine to play each game. At the end of each song, the player sees their accumulated points, bonus points, and how many of each kind of step they stepped. They also get a letter grade, ranging from E (only seen in two player modes when one player fails but the other passes) to AA (all steps PERFECT), solely determined by the kind of steps they make. At the end of the game, they get a cumulative score based on the last three songs they played.
The scoring system is unchanged from previous versions of Dance Dance Revolution, though the comparison to the grades is tweaked, making it much harder to get even a grade of an A.
Dancing Characters
Just like previous versions, 3D-rendered dancing characters appear in the background of each song. Unlike DDR 3rd Mix, you cannot select the character. The character that appears is dependent on the Song Group that is chosen.
Nonstop Mode
Nonstop Mode, a feature from 3rd Mix, allows the player to play one of several set courses without stopping.
DDR 4th Mix Plus
Dance Dance Revolution 4thMIX PLUS was a re-issue of DDR 4th Mix released on December 28, 2000. It added twelve more songs, all of which were new to DDR. Some songs were also given a special "Maniac-S" step set, much harder than your typical "Maniac" steps. This would become the precursor for the "Challenge" or "Oni" difficulty which would next appear in DDRMAX2.
Home Version
The home version of DDR 4th Mix was released in Japan on March 15, 2001, for the Sony PlayStation (or PSone) video game console. It contained 54 songs, including six hidden songs: five that appeared as a preview to the next arcade version, DDR 5th Mix, and one from DDR 4th Mix Plus.
The game engine and menus were used for Dance Dance Revolution KONAMIX for the Sony PlayStation in the U.S. Some of the songs included in DDR KONAMIX were from this mix, 3rd mix, and 5th mix.
Soundtrack
The Original Soundtrack for DDR 4th Mix was produced by Toshiba-EMI under their Dancemania dance music brand. It contained all 42 new tracks from the arcade version, the seven songs that were new in DDR 3rd Mix Plus, four songs from the home version of DDR 4th Mix, three songs from the arcade version of DDR 5th Mix, and one from DDR 4th Mix Plus. It was also released on March 15, 2001.
External links
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