DDRMAX2: Dance Dance Revolution 7thMIX

This article is about the Japanese version of the game. For the North American version, see DDRMAX2: Dance Dance Revolution.

DDRMAX2: Dance Dance Revolution 7thMIX is the seventh game in the Dance Dance Revolution series of music video games. It was released in the arcades by Konami on April 17, 2002. Although only officially released in Japan, units exist worldwide. DDRMAX2 contains a total of 116 songs that are playable in normal gameplay, 34 of which are new to Dance Dance Revolution. 20 of these songs are hidden and unlockable.

For a complete list of songs, please refer to the DDRMAX2: Dance Dance Revolution 7thMIX song list.

The interface used is a recoloring and smoothing of the song wheel interface first introduced in DDR 5thMIX. The names of the difficulty modes are "Light," Standard," and "Heavy," just as they were in DDRMAX. The difficulties also still have their Japanese names: 楽 (raku), 踊 (gyou), and 激 (geki), respectively. By pressing the two arrow buttons on the machine simultaneously, you can change the sorting method from the default (New songs first, then returning songs, then unlocked songs) to an alphabetical sort, a sort by song speed in BPM, and a sort by popularity.

Gameplay

The general premise of DDRMAX2 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.

Freeze Arrows, introduced in DDRMAX, have returned. Instead of just stepping on the arrow, you have to hold it for as long as the green arrow line remains on the screen. If you hit the arrow and keep it held, you score an "OK," which scores six dance points. If you do not succeed, it scores an "NG," which is worth nothing when your dance points and grade are calculated. OKs help build up the health bar, and NGs diminish it. You get extra base score points for successfully holding a freeze arrow.

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 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 AAA (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 plus Extra Stages, if obtained (read on about the Extra Stages).

There are two scoring systems: the long-score system used to determine rankings, and an independent dance point system used to determine the grade.

The long-score system has been completely revamped from the last game. Bonus points have been eliminated, and the maximum score for a song is the foot-rating for that routine multiplied by 10 million. The highest number of points possible for a single song is 100 million points for a 10-foot song.

The dance-point system uses raw step values to determine the grade. It goes by the following formula: A 'PERFECT' step adds two points, a 'GREAT' step adds one point, a 'GOOD' step is worth nothing, a 'BOO' step takes away four points, and a 'MISS' step takes away eight points. An 'OK' freeze adds six points, and an 'NG' freeze is worth nothing. The dance points are also tied to the life bar. As always, if a player take too many bad steps and depletes the life bar, they will fail, and the game will end immediately. If the first song is in Light mode, then the game will allow a player to fail that song and continue, but will fail the player out of the game if they fail a second song. In two-player games, if one player fails, they can continue dancing, but it ceases to accumulate dance points for the failed player, accumulates score points at only 10 points per step, and automatically gives the failed player an 'E' for the song.

The grade is dependent on the number of dance points you accumulate: 100% dance points is 'AAA', at least 93% is 'AA', at least 80% is 'A', at least 65% is 'B', at least 45% is 'C' and anything below 45% is a 'D'. If you manage to get a net dance-point total of zero without depleting the life bar and, thus, failing, you get an 'E'. The final grade for the entire game is an average of the grades from the last three songs and not derived from the actual dance points scored.

FMV Backgrounds

The arrows scroll over clips of full motion video. The screen refreshes at a full speed of 60 frames per second.

Groove Radar

The Groove Radar is a graphical representation of the difficulty of a song based in five different areas. The five areas are as follows:
Stream is the overall density of the steps in the song.
Voltage is the measure of the peak density of the steps, essentially showing how hard the hardest part of the song is.
Air represents the amount of jump steps within the song. When jump steps appear, two arrows are present, requiring you to jump in order to hit them both successfully.
Freeze represents the number of freezes (requiring the player to hold a note after it has been pressed initially) in the song. It does NOT represent the length.
Chaos tells the player the number of notes in the song that don't happen on 4th or 8th notes.

The Groove Radar displays up to two graphs, one for each player, depending on the difficulty they select.

The foot-rating system of measuring song difficulty, missing from DDRMAX, returns in DDRMAX2 and co-exists with the groove radar system introduced in DDRMAX. Due to the advent of harder songs such as MAX 300, the foot-rating system, originally a scale of eight and raised to nine in DDR 3rd Mix, has been raised to a scale of ten. Because naming of the foot ratings ceased after DDR 3rd Mix, there is no special name for a 10-foot song. However, it is believed that 10-foot songs are given the title of "Apocalyptic." In DDR Ultramix 3, the mission mode has 10 levels, the first nine of which are named after the foot ratings for 1-9 feet songs. The 10th level is named "Apocalyptic", hence, the name could be applied to 10-foot songs.

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 Green select button when you choose your song.

Some of the available modifiers include:
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", a new modifier in DDRMAX2, 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.

Extra stages

The Extra Stages are back. Another Extra Stage is renamed One More Extra Stage.

If, on the final stage, you get a grade of AA or better on any Heavy step routine, the game gives the message "Try Extra Stage." The Song Wheel is locked on a song called MAXX UNLIMITED and cannot be changed. You are forced to play its extremely difficult Heavy steps, rated 10 feet, in a Reverse Scroll modifier and a x1.5 Speed modifier, in Dark mode. 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.

If a dancer scores a grade of AA or better on the Extra Stage, then they are forced to play "One More Extra Stage." This time, the Song Wheel is locked on 革命 (KAKUMEI). The player is forced to play its Oni steps in a Reverse Scroll modifier and a x3 Speed modifier, on Dark Mode. One More Extra Stage is played in Sudden Death mode, which means that just one Good, Boo, Miss, or NG instantly fails the stage.

Nonstop Challenge, also known as Oni Mode

The Nonstop Challenge, also referred to as Oni Mode, is a feature new to DDRMAX2. It was officially renamed Challenge Mode in DDR EXTREME to avoid confusion with Nonstop Mode. It can be selected when you select difficulty before choosing your first song. You have to complete a set course of anywhere from five to ten songs, with set difficulties and, in some cases, set modifiers. You cannot pick your own modifiers in Oni Mode; in particular, you must play all songs at default speed. The life bar is replaced with a battery, and you have four "lives". Any GOOD, BOO, MISS or NG costs you one life, and the game ends if you lose all four. A preset number of lives (anywhere from 0 to 3) can be recovered at the end of each song.

In Challenge mode, the dance point system is slightly modified (PERFECTs and OKs are worth 2 points and GREATs are worth 1, everything else is worth 0), and your score is displayed as a percentage of the maximum possible dance points. The courses Naoki Standard, Nearly = 130, and Paranoia Brothers are used for rankings. Players are ranked first by how long they lasted, and then, in case of a tie, by percentage score.

Oni mode courses in DDRMAX2 sometimes have special song remixes that have a special difficulty, referred to as the Challenge difficulty and color-coded navy blue. The fan name of the mode comes from the Japanese name for the difficulty, 鬼 (oni). There are nineteen of these songs, and they are not available in the regular game mode in the arcade version of DDRMAX2.

Link data

Some machines have the ports to insert PlayStation memory cards. Such memory cards have to be PlayStation 1 (not PlayStation 2) memory cards with Link Data from the home version of DDR 5th Mix or earlier (the home version of DDRMAX2 cannot create arcade-compatible Link Data, but can read it). It can exchange data with DDRMAX2, as well as any earlier version that has songs that are in DDRMAX2. It can also use Edit Data, custom steps made on the home version.

Home versions

The home version of DDRMAX2: Dance Dance Revolution 7thMIX was released in Japan on April 24th, 2003, for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console. It has 74 songs, including most of the new songs from the arcade version, eight new home-exclusive songs, and two songs that are a preview to the next arcade version, DDR EXTREME. All the Challenge-difficulty songs from the arcade version are available for play on the home version, most of them hidden and unlockable. There are a total of 32 hidden songs. Dancing characters are made available in the home version, taking advantage of the PS2's superior computing power over the arcade hardware.

DDRMAX2: Dance Dance Revolution, with the mix number omitted, is the home version released in North America for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console. The North American version is considerably different from the Japanese version.

Music

Notable songs from this version include:
*MAXX UNLIMITED: The successor to "MAX 300", expanding upon its difficulty in many ways. It has the same number of steps (555), but the maximum possible combo has been increased to 600 with the inclusion of numerous jumps. The rhythms are more complex, and the gratuitous use of BPM changes and Freeze arrows are designed to throw the player off. The last third of the song plays at 320 BPM, becoming progressively harder as the song nears its end. MAXX UNLIMITED's Double steps follow its Single steps much closer than MAX 300's do. Many players actually find this song to be less tiring than MAX 300, despite being harder overall in other ways. This MAX song is more trance-like and melodic than MAX 300 (which was more of a hardcore techno song).
*TSUGARU: One of the first songs to feature 1/32nd steps, TSUGARU is considered a classic 9-footer due to a rather long series of gallops that begins at about 1/4th of the way through the song.
*BURNING HEAT (3-Option Mix): Aside from being one of the most difficult 9-foot songs on Heavy, the entire song and its Heavy steps are composed of triplets (1/12th notes). The song itself is a remix of the Gradius II first stage music, and a part of the song toward the end plays the exact same music as the NES version of Gradius II. This song is extremely dynamic because aside from its speed, there are many groupings of triplets, sometimes in awkward, unintuitive patterns that are very difficult to perform.
*ever snow: The first single by the oldest member of BeForU, Yoma Komatsu, featuring her extremely quiet vocals.
*Dive to the Night: This song is a single by Riyu Kosaka, a member of BeForU. It is almost as hard as the original DIVE in steps. Many players who enjoy J-Pop enjoy this song a lot.

Soundtrack

The Original Soundtrack for DDRMAX2 was produced by Toshiba-EMI under their Dancemania dance music brand. It contains all 31 normally selectable new songs, all 18 Challenge remix songs, and one preview track from DDR EXTREME. It was released on May 29th, 2002.

External links

*Konami (US Home Page), makers of DDR.
*Konami (Japanese Home Page)
*Official DDRMAX2 website, from Konami. (In Japanese)
*Dancemania (In Japanese)