Engine Custom Series Dance Dance Revolution Platforms PlayStation, Arcade game | Cabinet Custom Publisher Konami | |
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Release date(s) Arcade
JP: September 1998
JP: November 18, 1998 (Internet Ranking Version)
NA: March 1999
EU: March 9, 1999
PlayStation
JP: April 10, 1999 Mode(s) Single-player, Multiplayer Arcade system Bemani System 573 Analog CPU R3000A 32 bit RISC processor (33.8 MHz) Designer Konami Game Music Division Developers Konami, Konami Game Music Division Genres Music video game, Exergaming Similar Dance Dance Revolution games, Music video games, Other games | ||
Dance Dance Revolution (ダンスダンスレボリューション, Dansu Dansu Reboryūshon), abbreviated DDR, is a game that was released in arcades by Konami on November 21, 1998 in Japan. Dance Dance Revolution is a unique music video game involving dance and rhythm that defined the genre. The game involves timing and balance by having players use their feet instead of their hands like typical video games. In March 1999, the game was released to the North American arcade audiences. It was also released to the European arcade audience under the name Dancing Stage. Players and game critics were caught off-guard by the game's addictive qualities winning the new franchise many merits to its design.
Contents
- Gameplay
- Interface and graphics
- Home Version
- Soundtrack
- Dance Dance Revolution 2ndMix
- Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMix
- Dance Dance Revolution 4thMix
- Reception
- References
On April 10, 1999, Dance Dance Revolution was released on the Japanese PlayStation, adding new music and gameplay elements. A console release was not made for any other region. Despite the global popularity of DDR, the series remained obscure outside Japan and few official additional arcade releases of DDR were made elsewhere until the multi-regional release of Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova in 2006.
In order to differentiate this arcade edition from the other arcade edition wherein both of them uses the same title, this will be referred to as DDR 1st, while the other one will be referred to as DDR (2013 or 2014 edition). There are also video game console editions using the same title; they will be referred to as DDR 1st for the original PlayStation edition and DDR (2010) for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii edition.
Gameplay
The objective of Dance Dance Revolution is to move one's feet to a set pattern. One player can play using one dance pad (Single mode), two players can play using one dance pad each (Versus mode), or one player can play using both dance pads (Doubles mode).
Players must step to the beat, matching their beat to the arrows presented to them on screen by stepping on arrows on a dance stage. A judgment is displayed for each step, depending on the player's timing; Perfect!!, Great!, Good, Boo or Miss.... An on-screen life meter, known as the Dance Gauge, begins halfway full at the start of each song. Perfect and Great steps slowly fill the Gauge, while Boo and Miss steps quickly deplete it. Good steps have no effect either way. If a player accumulates too many Boos or Misses, and the Dance Gauge becomes empty, the song fails and the game ends.
Players may play anywhere from one to five songs, depending on how many the arcade operator sets the machine to play each game. At the end of each song, players see their accumulated points, bonus points, and how many of each kind of step they made. They also get a letter grade that is dependent on the judgments received during play, ranging from SS, all steps Perfect, to E, failure, which is only seen in Versus mode when the other player passes. If players manage to pass all their songs a cumulative results screen is given, totaling the stats from all played stages.
Interface and graphics
The song selection interface of Dance Dance Revolution is a jukebox-like menu of CDs that represent the available songs. On this screen, various step codes can be entered on the dance stage to modify the arrangement and appearance of arrows during gameplay. On the arcade version of Dance Dance Revolution step codes must be entered to switch between difficulty levels.
During gameplay, 3D dancing characters appear in the background of each song. Different characters can be selected at the main title screen by standing on either the left or right arrow panels while pressing the select button.
Home Version
The home version was released in Japan on April 10, 1999 for Sony PlayStation. It includes all 11 songs from the original arcade version along with 5 new songs, three of which are from the arcade version of Dance Dance Revolution 2ndMIX and the rest being console-exclusive songs (which would be added in DDR 2ndMIX Link Version) for a total of 16 songs. It also includes Edit Mode (for editing stepcharts) and Arrange Mode (a mode where if the player step on direction the arrows not meant to appear, they will get a miss).
Soundtrack
The 1st mix songs are in DDR 2ndMix soundtrack.
Dance Dance Revolution 2ndMix
Dance Dance Revolution 2ndMix (ダンスダンスレボリューションセカンドミックス, Dansu Dansu Reboryūshon SekandoMikkusu), sometimes abbreviated as 2ndMix (セカンドミックス, SecandoMikkusu), is the second game in the Dance Dance Revolution series of music video games. It was released as an arcade game by Konami on January 29, 1999. Although only officially released in Japan, arcade units exist worldwide. It has a total of 36 songs: ten from the original Dance Dance Revolution arcade game and 26 all-new songs.
Dance Dance Revolution 2ndMix Link Version (ダンスダンスレボリューションセカンドミックスリンクバージョン, Dansu Dansu Reboryūshon SecandoMikkusu Rinku Bājon), released on April 21, 1999, introduced the ability for players to save high scores and play custom step edits using their PlayStation memory cards. A player would first need to format the memory card with "Link Data" using the home version of 2ndMix, and then insert the card into one of two slots on the front of the arcade cabinet. Link Version includes 5 new songs, in addition to the full 2ndMix song list. After the release of Link Version, Link Data features had been implemented in every future DDR version until Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA (which was originally said to contain support for PlayStation 2 memory cards, but the functionality was removed), which has new network support over e-Amusement for saving statistics and unlocks.
Dance Dance Revolution 2ndReMix (ダンスダンスレボリューションセカンドリミックス, Dansu Dansu Reboryūshon SekandoRiMikkusu), the home version of 2ndMix, was released in Japan on September 30, 1999, for the Sony PlayStation. It includes 34 songs, seven of which are new to this version and are hidden and unlockable. Two of the hidden songs were previews of the next arcade version, Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMix and can only be played on Basic difficulty.
The home version has the ability to Disc Change to 1st and Append Club Version. It also allows to unlock features in previous mixes such as the Nonstop Ranking from 3rd Mix. The interface is still the same as the one used in 2ndMix.
On February 17, 2000, Konami released a version of Dance Dance Revolution 2ndMix for the Dreamcast console. It features 43 songs, seven of which are hidden and unlockable. The song list includes seven songs from Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMix.
Most of the songs in 2ndMix (with the exception of "BAD GIRLS", "BOYS", "HERO", "stomp to my beat", and "MAKE IT BETTER (So-REAL Mix)") were included in the North American version of Dance Dance Revolution for the PlayStation.
Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMix
Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMix (ダンスダンスレボリューションサードミックス, Dansu Dansu Reboryūshon SādoMikkusu), sometimes abbreviated as 3rdMix (サードミックス, SādoMikkusu), is the 3rd game in the Dance Dance Revolution series of music video games. It was released in the arcades by Konami on October 30, 1999. It has a total of 68 songs, 35 of which were new to Dance Dance Revolution.
A version of Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMix was released elsewhere in the Orient, except for South Korea. It is missing a few songs, and has a bug when trying to enter the step code for the Shuffle modification. Two versions of the game (댄스 댄스 레볼루션 세번째 믹스 daenseu daenseu Lebollusyeon sebeonjjae migseu) were released in South Korea in March 2000. It is exactly like the original version of 3rdMix, except that it fixes the Shuffle bug and adds seven Korean pop songs and one from the original to 3rdMix and SSR modes. An update to this version, Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMix verKorea2 was also released in South Korea in March 2000, adding 9 more K-Pop songs. The songs missing in the Asian version is still absent in this game, however.
Worldwide variants include Dance Dance Revolution USA, released in North America in October 2000 for arcades and March 6, 2001 for PlayStation, and Dancing Stage EuroMix, released in Europe on May 4, 1999 for arcades and June 1, 2001 for PlayStation. The song list is reduced to 26 songs in USA and 28 songs in EuroMix. Both versions share 14 songs in common with 3rdMix: seven new Konami originals, three returning Konami originals, two new licenses and two returning licences. USA adds another ten Konami originals (including "Love This Feelin'", absent from 3rdMix) and two returning licenses. EuroMix adds 14 licenses, five which are also found in 3rdMix and nine exclusives from Universal Music Group.
Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMix Plus (ダンスダンスレボリューションサードミックスプラス, Dansu Dansu Reboryūshon SādoMikkusu Purasu) is a re-issue of 3rdMix released on June 21, 2000 exclusively in Japan. It does away with SSR mode and allows the player to select Maniac difficulty in 3rdMix mode. It also adds 23 songs: 14 brand-new songs, the seven new songs added to verKorea1, and two more carryovers from 2ndMix and a few songs from DDR Solo 2000.
Dance Dance Revolution 4thMix
Dance Dance Revolution 4thMix (ダンスダンスレボリューションフォースミックス, Dansu Dansu Reboryūshon Fōsu Mikkusu), or 4thMix (フォースミックス, Fōsu Mikkusu), is the 4th game in the main Dance Dance Revolution series of music video games. It was released as an arcade game by Konami on August 24, 2000. 4thMix features 136 songs, 49 of which are new to this mix. Twelve of the songs are initially hidden and must be unlocked by the arcade operator. 12 songs are unlockable in 4th Mix Plus, giving them 150 songs in total. In DDR 4th Mix, new songs that first appears in DDR 3rd Mix Plus, DDR 3rd Mix Korea and DDR Solo appears in this mix.
Reception
On release, Famitsu magazine scored the PlayStation version of the game a 31 out of 40, and the Dreamcast version a 30 out of 40.
Reception
On release, Famitsu magazine scored the game a 34 out of 40. The successful DDR series began with the 1998/1999 release of this game, and its popularity can be attributed to the innovative connection between a dancing stage and the need for the player to move their body to match the instructions on the screen.