(thing) by UPC747 Wed Mar 06 2002 at 2:05:16
DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION

Dance Dance Revolution



Dance Dance Revolution aka DDR isn't your normal arcade game. DDR is a Bemani or Music based arcade game by KOJ (Konami of Japan). It is only supposed to be played and used in Japan (the arcade machines that is). So for it to be possible for others to play it, it is illegally imported into the United States and Europe. The point of the game is to try to get a perfect score of AAA in the stage. To see the formulas for scoring in the various versions of the game go to www.aaroninjapan.com. The game itself doesn't really relate to real dancing unless you call dancing steping contious on arrows. To play this game one must hit one of four arrows,up,down,left,right. While doing this you acquire combos based on the number of steps you get in a row correct.
The ranking for steps goes as follows:



While playing the game, a health bar is shown at the top of the screen (bottom if one is playing reverse) that shows how well one is doing. If the health bar is at full, or on fire the player is doing an excellent job, if the health bar is low or nothing, the player is doing a bad job and failing their song. The more steps in a row one gets, the more the health bar will go up and just the opposite for missing steps. One must hit steps in sucession in a row to "pass" the song. If one does not hit the steps, or misses (boo,almost, and misses make you fail) so many of them in a row, you fail the song. After the song you get a ranking based on one's proformance.

The rankings are as follows:
(Note any ranking with an "S" in it can only be achieved in mixes 3rd Plus and below, where the rankings of "A","AA", and "AAA" do not exist.)

  • AAA or SSS (equal to mastering the song or getting a perfect on every step)
  • AA or SS
    • (equivilant to a AAA on DDR USA or DDR Konamix)
  • S
    • (Im putting this above the A because, one must full combo their song to achieve this ranking and usually one does not do that with an "A" ranking)
  • A
    • (requires a FC in DDR Konamix)
  • B
  • C
  • D
  • E (equal to failing the song)


Everytime one plays the game they have a choice of certain game modes. 

Single-one player (all mixes)
Vs.-two player  (all mixes)
Solo-one player uses 6 panels (solo machines, Konamix,DDR MAX)
Double-one player both pads (all mixes)
Nonstop-4 songs in a row (1st-4th mix,8th mix, DDR USA)
Oni-different courses of songs varying in difficultly. (6th-8th mix,DDR MAX)
Unison-two players hit the arrows in unison (3rd mix,DDR USA)
Battle-two players hit the arrows that fly to their side of the screen 
       (4th plus, 5th mix, Konamix)

And there are also some sub modes: easy,normal,nonstop,and SSR. Easy (3-5 songs depending on machine) makes the all the songs simplified so newbies can get the hang of the game. Normal (3-5 songs depending on machine) is the regular mode that one usually plays at. Nonstop (4-5 songs depending on machine) is a a selected mix on the machine that adds another song to your game. And SSR (3 songs) is all the songs made really difficult to challenge more experienced players. Song "foot ratings" go from 1 to 10 , 10 being the hardest.
  1. - 1 Simple
  2. - 2 Moderate
  3. - 3 Ordinary
  4. - 4 Superior
  5. - 5 Marvelous
  6. - 6 Genuine
  7. - 7 Paramount
  8. - 8 Exorbitant
  9. - 9 Catastrophic
  10. - 10 Catastrophic+
  11. - 10+ Flashing 10


Along with this there is also some modifiers that affect how you play 
Hidden- makes the arrow disappear before you hit it
Sudden- the arrow appears just in time to hit it
Stealth- the arrows are invisible
mirror- flips all the steps around
right- turns all steps 90° to the right
left- turns all steps 90° to the left
shuffle- randomly switches steps
flat- turns off vivid (it's on automatically in some versions)
little- makes songs easier by removing all inbetween and offbeat steps.
vivid- turns on the colored arrows for 1/4 steps etc.

note: the following modes are only in 6th,7th, and 8th mix

dark- hides the where the arrows should hit.
reverse- the arrows scroll from the top of the screen instead of the bottom. 
boost- speeds arrows up just before they reach the top.
1.5x,2x,3x,4x,5x,8x- makes the arrows move that many times faster.


Dance Dance Revolution is a fun game to play by oneself or with others.
The current versions out are:

I like it! 2 C!s