Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME (North America)
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- This article is about the North American version of the game. For the Japanese version, see Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME.
| Dance Dance Revolution Extreme | |
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| Developer(s) | Konami |
| Publisher(s) | Konami |
| Designer(s) | Konami |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) |
| Release date(s) | September 21, 2004 |
| Genre(s) | Music |
| Mode(s) | Single player, local multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E)- Mild Lyrics, Suggestive Themes |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 |
| Media | DVD |
| Input | Dance Pad Controller |
Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME is the seventh home version of Dance Dance Revolution to be released in the United States. It was released by Konami on September 21, 2004 for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console. DDR EXTREME contains a total of 70 songs, 26 of which are hidden and unlockable. Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME is also the winner of the Video Music Awards in 2005 on MTV for * Best Video Game Soundtrack.
For a list of songs, please see the Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME (North America) song list.
The interface is considerably revamped, and is reminiscent of the jukebox-style interface from the first three DDR arcade games. The names of the difficulty modes are "Light," Standard," and "Heavy," and "Beginner" and "Challenge" difficulties are now available. You cannot select difficulty before the song selection. By pressing the Start button, you can change the sorting method from the default (alphabetical order) to a second alphabetical order which places all the letters into different "folders", a sort by song speed in BPM, and a sort by popularity.
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[edit] Gameplay
The general premise of DDR EXTREME 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 dance stage. Depending on the timing of each step, the step is scored "PERFECT," "GREAT," "GOOD," "Almost" or "Boo". A health bar is on the screen, and starts half-full at the beginning of the routine. PERFECT and GREAT steps increase the health bar until it is full. Almost and Boo steps diminish it. GOOD steps have no effect either way. If a player accumulates too many Almosts or Boos in rapid succession, and the health bar drops to zero, then the song is failed and the game usually ends.
Freeze Arrows, introduced in DDRMAX, have returned. They appear on the screen as long green arrows, and require the player to hold the corresponding arrow on the dance stage as long as the arrow remains on the screen (instead of just stepping on the arrow). A player who hits the arrow and keeps it held until the arrow disappears from the screen scores an "OK", which increases the health bar. A player who hits the arrow but does not hold it long enough scores an "NG", which decreases the health bar.
A player may play anywhere from one to five songs in one game (not including extra stages); the maximum number of songs can be changed in a game menu. At the end of each song, the game displays a Results Screen, which shows the score, the total number of PERFECTs, GREATs, GOODs, Almosts, Boos and OKs, as well as a letter grade, for each player. The letter grade ranges from E (which means that the player failed due to a depleted life bar) to AAA (all steps PERFECT). At the end of the game, the game displays each player's score, step breakdown and letter grade based on all stages, including Extra Stage.
Each player's base score is displayed while the song is being played. The score increases for each Perfect, Great and OK, and the maximum base score is 7,000,000 (which requires all Perfects and OKs). On the Results Screen, each player is given a Bonus. The maximum Bonus is 3,000,000 (which again requires all Perfects and OKs). The maximum score for a song is therefore 10 million points.
For the first time in the history of DDR, the letter grade is (almost) entirely determined by the player's score. The best grade, AAA, requires a perfect score of 10,000,000 points; the next grade, AA, is awarded for a score greater than 9,200,000 points. The grades A, B, C require at least 7.5 million, 6 million and 5 million points respectively. The grade of D is given when a player has fewer than 5 million points without failing a song, and the lowest grade, E, represents failure. The cumulative letter grade at the end of the game is an average of the letter grades for each song.
A full combo (all steps Perfect or Great) rewards a player with a star that appears next to the letter grade. It should be noted that if a player does not achieve a full combo, the Bonus will be at most 2,200,000 points, and the total score will be at most 9,200,000, making the grade AA impossible to achieve, thus, a player needs BOTH a full combo and an adequate Perfect:Great ratio to get a AA grade.
If the first song is in Beginner or Light mode, then the game will allow a player to fail that song and continue, but will fail the player out if they fail a second song. In Beginner mode, it will fail only at the end of a song. In Light mode, it will fail as soon as the life bar is depleted.
[edit] FMV Backgrounds
The arrows scroll over clips of full motion video. The screen refreshes at a full speed of 60 frames per second.
Dancing characters are back, and now can be selected before the song selection screen. Like DDRMAX 2 US, the characters are rendered using cel-shaded animation. Some songs, which utilize full-length music videos instead of short clips, will not show the dancing characters regardless of the game settings. There are two players available initially, but 16 more can be unlocked.
[edit] Foot-Rating System
The Groove Radar has been eliminated in the US version of DDR EXTREME. The foot-rating system of measuring song difficulty is used exclusively, but The legend of MAX Heavy is listed simply as 10-foot difficulty. It does not show flashing-10 on the main screen for song selection. However, in Nonstop or Challenge Mode course selection, The legend of MAX, when on Heavy difficulty, does flash slowly on that screen.
[edit] Modifiers
Modifiers are changes that can be made to modify the step routine. A menu is available to make these modifications easily. This menu can be accessed by holding the X or Circle button when you choose your song.
Some of the available modifiers include the following:
- Speed mods change the speed at which the arrows scroll on the screen. You can increase it to multipliers of x1.5, x2, x3, x5 or x8. The default is "x1".
- Boost, when turned on, causes the arrows to accelerate as they near the step zone. The default is "Off."
- Appearance mods change how the arrows appear on the screen. The default is "Visible." "Hidden" makes the arrow fade out halfway up the screen. "Sudden" makes the arrow fade in halfway up the screen. "Stealth" means the arrows are not visible at all.
- Turn mods affect the pattern of the arrows themselves. The default is "Off." "Left" turns all the arrows 90 degrees left. "Right" turns all the arrows 90 degrees right. "Mirror" flips the step pattern so that all left and right arrows swap, and all up and down arrows swap. "Shuffle" creates a random swap of the arrows, and can vary from turn to turn.
- Other mods affect the difficulty of the step routine. The default is "Off." "Little" eliminates all steps that are more frequent than standard 1/4 steps. "Flat" makes all the arrows appear the same, regardless of their step fraction. "Solo" changes the colors of the arrows to the colors used in DDR Solo 2000. "Dark" removes the "step zone," forcing the player to rely solely on the beat to determine when to step.
- Scroll mods affect the direction in which arrows scroll. The default is "Normal." "Reverse" makes the arrows scroll from top to bottom instead of bottom to top. The health bar is also moved to the bottom.
- Freeze can turn the Freeze Arrows on or off. The default is "On."
- Step is the last chance to change the difficulty of the song. The default is whichever difficulty you selected before choosing the song.
[edit] Extra Stage
Extra Stage is back, but DDR EXTREME only plays one. The rule is slightly changed as well.
If, on the final stage, you get a grade of AA or better on any song at least 8-foot difficulty, the game gives the message "EXTRA STAGE UNLOCKED". You are forced to play a song on Heavy steps in a Reverse Scroll modifier and a 1.5x Speed modifier. On top of all that, Extra Stage is played in "Pressure" mode, which means the health bar starts full and does not regenerate if it depletes with missed steps.
Initially, the Extra Stage is TRIP MACHINE Survivor. When it is unlocked to play normally, the Extra Stage changes to The legend of MAX.
[edit] Nonstop Mode and Challenge/Oni Mode
Just like the Japanese versions, DDR EXTREME has both Nonstop Mode and Challenge, or Oni, Mode. MARVELOUS step timing is implemented. Unlike the Japanese versions, you have to select the modes in the Song Select screen.
Nonstop Mode allows the player to play one of several set courses without stopping. It is selectable when you are selecting the difficulty for the song. Its scoring is the same as a normal game.
Challenge Mode, also referred to as Oni Mode, requires you to complete a set course of songs, with difficulties set and, in some cases, different mods. You cannot mod any songs in Oni Mode, and must play them all at native scroll and whatever mod the machine deems is part of the course. Unlike Nonstop Mode, you have to be perfect with your steps. The life bar is replaced with a battery. If you get a GOOD, BOO, MISS or NG up to four times in any one song, it fails you out and the game ends.
Unlike the Challenge mode of DDRMAX (and the Japanese versions of DDRMAX2 and DDR EXTREME), you will always receive full health at the end of each song. In those games, you would only receive one life typically, more than that before certain songs.
Your score is derived from the dance point system, and is the number of possible dance points you earned. BOOs and MISSes do not take away from your dance points.
[edit] Workout Mode
Workout Mode is a special American-oriented mode where you can play songs and have the game keep track of your exercise performance, such as calories burned. It has been redesigned so you can now use Workout Mode in the normal gaming system. All one must do is turn it on from its selection in the main menu and change the settings there.
[edit] Party Mode
Several special mini-games are compiled in Party Mode. The games require the Eye Toy camera peripheral, unless otherwise noted:
Hyper Dash does not require Eye Toy. It is reminiscent of NES Power Pad games, and requires the player to rapidly step on the left and right arrows on their pad to move their character in the game. They can also use power-ups to assist them or block the other player.
Feeding Time is a kid-oriented mini-game not requiring the Eye Toy. It requires the player to use the dance pad to feed the different animals their proper food.
Watch Me Dance simply puts the Eye Toy image in the background of the game, and you dance as normal.
Clean the Screen requires you to move your arms as you dance to 'wipe off' the mess that accumulates on the screen and blocks the arrows from being seen.
Hands and Feet adds to the original game places where you must wave your hands to the song. Each song has only one "hand chart", though any of the original step charts for that song (Beginner, Light, Standard, Heavy, Challenge) can be played, as well as a special one made specifically for Hands and Feet, which has a foot-rating of 1 for every song.
Magical Ball does not require the dance pad, and is played much the same way as Arkanoid.
Coconut Panic does not require the dance pad, and is played by moving your hands to shake some palm trees and catch the falling coconuts.
[edit] Endless Mode
Endless Mode returns in DDR EXTREME. You can dance nonstop until you deplete your lifebar and, thus, fail. You can use a default song order, or adjust the song difficulty, song order and modifiers for the game, as well as how often the game allows you to take a break.
[edit] Other Versions
The interface to the North American version of DDR EXTREME was used in DDR FESTIVAL: Dance Dance Revolution in Japan and Dancing Stage Fusion in Europe. Each had different song lineups. DDR FESTIVAL also included all the new and song pack songs from Dance Dance Revolution ULTRAMIX.
[edit] Dance Play
One controversy of this game is that the options menu did not include an option to turn off "Dance Play" mode. When the mode is on, face buttons of the PS2 controller (X, Square, Circle, Triangle) can be used instead of directional buttons. Unfortunately, dance pads have these buttons on the corners of the pad, and can be accidentally triggered, possibly resulting in poor judgement.
[edit] Memories
From the day Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME was released, hacking the game disc led to the discovery of an "extra song" on the game that was not available through the conventional method of playing through the game in order to unlock songs- and was thus thought to be completely unavailable in the game unless players used a special game decoding device. The song in question was "Memories", a Trance/Eurobeat song by the team of Naoki Maeda and Paula Terry (the same group responsible for popular Dance Dance Revolution songs such as "Broken My Heart", "Love Again Tonight (MELISSA MIX)", and "Destiny".) However, as of December 3, 2006, a promotion was held by Burger King fast food Restaurants and Konami Corporations of America where Dance Dance Revolution themed toys were available, and by passing a type of mini-game on the Burger King website's Dance Dance Revolution section, a special unlock code for officially unlocking "Memories" was revealed.
The Code To Unlocking Memories:
On the main menu, Enter the code below with the player 2 controller:
Press Left four times
Press Up three times
Press square one time
Press right two times
Press down three times
Press square two times
Press select one time.
You will hear a swish sound upon correct entry.
[edit] External links
- Konami (US Home Page), makers of DDR.
| Japan/Asia: | 1stMIX - 2ndMIX - 3rdMIX - 4thMIX - 5thMIX - MAX (6thMIX) - MAX2 (7thMIX) - EXTREME - Best Hits - Extra Mix - Party Col. - FESTIVAL - Mario Mix - STR!KE - SuperNOVA - Universe - Hottest Party - SuperNOVA 2 |
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| North America: | DDR - DDR USA - Konamix - MAX - MAX2 - ULTRAMIX - EXTREME - ULTRAMIX 2 - EXTREME 2 - ULTRAMIX 3 - Mario Mix - SuperNOVA - ULTRAMIX 4 - Universe - Hottest Party |
| Europe/Australia: | Dancing Stage EuroMIX - PARTY EDiTiON - Disney Mix - MegaMiX - Fever - Unleashed - Fusion - Unleashed 2 - Mario Mix - Max - Unleashed 3 |
| See also: | Dancing Stage - Disney versions - Game Boy versions - DDR Solo - List of DDR games |
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Notable Dance Dance Revolution songs
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| Songs: | MAX series - PARANOiA series |
| Artists: | BeForU - Takayuki Ishikawa - Naoki Maeda - Taku Sakakibara - List of Bemani musicians |
