Dance Dance Revolution A

Development

The game was first announced during the Grand Final of the Konami Arcade Championship (KAC) 2016, which was held on the final day of the Japanese Amusement Expo (JAEPO) 2016 event, February 20, 2016.

Features

The game features a handful of overhauls to the existing system used by previous games. The most significant change is made towards the song selection screen. While the previous game, DDR 2014, still uses an interface that resembles the Cover Flow system introduced in DDR X2, DDR A changes it into a Sound Voltex-like pagelist giving the illusion of a touchable interface, although selection is still made using buttons below the monitor. Nine song choices, organized in three rows, are in clear view of the player at any time; scrolling past them will reveal additional row of songs, somewhat like the one used in DDR 4thMix. For the first time, selection can be done using the up and down buttons to skip a row of songs (in previous games, these buttons are exclusively used for e-Amusement services and certain modifiers). While highlighting a song is needed to display their detailed information, all of the visible song choices always display their song title and the current difficulty level selected, reducing the time needed to browse through them.

The Groove Radar, previously fixed for each chart, now behaves accordingly whether the player sets options that eliminate arrows (e.g. activating "Freeze: Off" causes the Freeze portion of the radar to disappear) or not. Meanwhile, the scoring system is made more lenient, unlike the previous DDR games, the "GOOD" judgment does not stop the combos, only the "ALMOST" and "MISS" judgments. The grading system also includes "+" and "-" levels for all grades except for AAA and E (though D does not have a "-" level). There are also aesthetic changes. If the player's dance meter is depleted down to the red level, a "danger overlay" will be added behind the player's arrow zone and the DDR X's speakers will turn red. The in-game characters now have the dance routines of the Supernova era (which in turn are based on those from the Ultramix series), though premade routines are retained. Some options have also been removed or changed to fit better with the gameplay.

Extra Stage

The Extra Stage system retains the star requirement introduced in DDR X3 vs 2ndMix. The player is required to obtain 9 stars in a round to be allowed an extra song, the number of stars of which is determined by the player's grade. However, the game also introduces the concept of "Extra Level" which becomes an additional equation to the number of stars attainable. Once again, Extra Stages can only be obtained in Premium Mode, and for Japan only, PASELI users must choice PASELI-Premium instead of PASELI-Standard due to renewal pay method.

"Extra Level", introduced on June 13, 2016, rewards the player who plays the game multiple times with an increased chance to gain an extra stage. Each player starts at Level 1 at the start of a day. By completing three rounds, they are promoted to Level 2, which adds an additional 3 stars for every round the player completes afterward. Completing four more rounds promotes the player to Level 3, which nets the player a free access to Extra Stage for every round afterward. The promotion is applicable for a day, however; the level will be demoted back to 1 the next day.

Before June 13, 2016, DDR A used the traditional Extra Stage system of previous games, which after the update was refitted into the Extra Exclusive folder. The exclusive song added during this period was "New Century".

Extra Savior

Introduced on June 13, 2016, Extra Savior allows the player to unlock hidden songs by playing them in Extra Stage. These not only include new additions for this game, but also some hidden songs yet to be unlocked for the general public from previous games. Extra Level impacts the unlock system; if the player is in Level 1 or 2, they must clear the song to unlock them, while being in Level 3 unlocks them regardless if the player clears the stage or not. Also, unlocking a song's difficulty automatically unlocks all difficulties below them, e.g. unlocking the song's Difficult stepchart unlocks the Beginner and Basic difficulties as well.

On October 6, 2016, six Extra Savior songs were added which have an additional unlock requirement before the player can access them in the folder called New Generation Natsu no Ryuusei Festa 2016 (New Generation 夏の流星フェスタ2016). The player needs to play a round of either of the following three Bemani games: beatmania IIDX 23 copula, jubeat Qubell, or SOUND VOLTEX III GRAVITY WARS. As promotion, clearing one of the songs added, "Triple Counter", unlocks an alternate skin for one of three characters depending on the chart completed. Clearing its Basic chart unlocks "Emi (JOMANDA)", Difficult nets "Alice (VALLIS-NERIA)", and Expert unlocks "Rinon (Lisa-RICCIA)". However, New Generation 夏の流星フェスタ2016 was not available in North America until December 1, 2016.

Currently, there are 18 new songs available for unlock in this event.

Extra Exclusive

Introduced also on June 13, 2016, this folder is essentially a replacement for the traditional Extra Stage system of the previous games: the songs in this folder can only be played in Extra Stage. The player's current Extra Level determines the number of songs available inside the folder. Some of them have recently been made available in Final Stage, allowing those without PREMIUM MODE to access them. There are 2 songs exclusive in this folder at any given time.

Baby-Lon's Adventure

Started on August 8, 2016, this event is centered on the character Baby-Lon. At the end of each stage, the player will be given a short cinematic of Baby-Lon climbing stairs, the number of which depends on the player's grade. Once reaching a certain number, the player earns a new song, after which Baby-Lon is sent back down again for another climb. Steps gained are not cumulative as each climb is done separately (gaining 10 steps when the player only needs 2 more means that the remaining 8 steps are lost). There are a total of 6 songs available for unlock in this event.

Music

Currently, there are 67 new songs of 726 total. Three of them were available for play within a limited time period in DanceDanceRevolution 2014 as promotion. The promotional teaser for the game confirmed the following artists who composed the game's music: U1-ASAMi, Captain KING, DJ TOTTO, Musical Cosmology, Sota F., L.E.D.-G, Zodiac Fall, TAG, 猫叉Master, and CLUB SPICE. All Dancemania licenses have been removed on May 30, 2016, two months after the installation, making DanceDanceRevolution A the first core arcade DanceDanceRevoution title to have no traditional Dancemania licenses in it.

8 new licensed songs were added on July 7, 2016 to coincide with the game's release in North American arcades. The majority of these songs appear via a licensing agreement with Universal Music, supplanting the previous partnership with Toshiba-EMI (now a part of the Universal Music Group family) and the Dancemania compilation series. This is also the first arcade appearance of Billboard Hot 100 songs since DanceDanceRevolution X2. This game also continues the previous licensing partnerships with EXIT TUNES and Team Shanghai Alice, although due to regional licensing restrictions, a few songs are not playable in the North American release of the game.