DDRMAX -Dance Dance Revolution 6thMIX-

DDRMAX -Dance Dance Revolution 6thMIX-
Developer	Konami
Publisher	Konami
Release Date	Arcade: (JP) October 19, 2001 PlayStation 2: (JP) May 16, 2002 (NA) October 28, 2002
Genre	Music & Exercise
Series	Dance Dance Revolution
Platforms	Arcade PlayStation 2
Modes	Single player, Multiplayer
Ratings	CERO: A (PlayStation 2)

DDRMAX -Dance Dance Revolution 6thMIX- is the 6th game in the Dance Dance Revolution series of music video games. It was released in the arcades by Konami on October 19, 2001. Although only officially released in Japan, units exist worldwide. 6thMix contains a total of 42 songs, 36 of which are new to Dance Dance Revolution. It was the first in the series to feature Freeze Arrows. In the proto version of this game, it has some songs from DDR 1st-5th Mix.

The interface used is a recoloring and smoothing of the song wheel interface first introduced in Dance Dance Revolution 5thMix, with the addition of changeable sort settings and a longer time limit.

6thMix was intended to be the Next Generation of Dance Dance Revolution. As such, there are many changes. First, the difficulty levels were renamed. Basic' was renamed 'Light', 'Trick' was named 'Standard', and 'Maniac' was named 'Heavy'. They are also given Japanese difficulty names in conjunction: 楽 (raku), 踊 (you), and 激 (geki), respectively. Their color codes—orange, fuchsia and green, respectively—remain the same. Also, all songs from previous versions have been scrapped (the prototype version has few previous songs), intending the game to start from scratch. Most of them do return on future releases, however.

General Information / Changes

• DDRMAX introduced/changed a lot of things in the arcade Dance Dance Revolution series, including:
  • An in-game options menu, which you can choose before any stage by holding down the Start button before a song.
  • Introduction of Freeze Arrows, long, green arrows you must hold for the duration of its appearance; failure to do so will not dock Dance Points or break combo, but will result in a significant loss of the Dance Meter.
    • A screen demonstrating the usage of Freeze Arrows is shown if LIGHT or STANDARD difficulty is selected.
  • A new announcer, Londell "Taz" Hicks, who would be used until SuperNOVA2.
  • Scores now having a fixed maximum amount of points, regardless of step count: 50,000,000 points. Points increase as a song nears its end.
  • Jumps now adding two to your combo (but count as only one step for all other purposes). Jumps would go back to counting as one step in SuperNOVA.
  • The return of EXTRA STAGE, this time with exclusive songs playable through it.
  • BASIC, TRICK, and MANIAC difficulties being renamed to LIGHT, STANDARD, and HEAVY, respectively.
  • Difficulty ratings being removed, making DDRMAX the only Dance Dance Revolution arcade game in any region without difficulty ratings. Ratings would return in the next game.
    • FOLLOW ME and FLASH IN THE NIGHT have never received difficulty ratings, as they never appeared on any other Dance Dance Revolution games.
  • Introduction of the GROOVE RADAR, which shows five attributes for a song: STREAM, VOLTAGE, CHAOS, AIR, and FREEZE.
    • Unlike subsequent Dance Dance Revolution titles, it has numbers next to the attributes, but only when pressing down the Start button before the GROOVE RADAR is displayed. The number listing wouldn't appear again until Dance Dance Revolution (2014).
• All songs that were present in 5thMIX were removed.
• The KONAMI original REMIX CD Title has been renamed to just KONAMI original.
• The default arrow design has been slightly modified, with a rounded tip rather than a V-shaped cut on the tail end, known as NORMAL in the special arrow options. The original arrow design would be revived in Dance Dance Revolution X as the CLASSIC arrow option.
• In-game options menu introduces eight new modifiers to the mainline arcade series:
  • Speed modifiers of x1.5, x2, x3, x5, and x8, in which the speed of arrows scrolling and spacing of arrows match.
  • REVERSE, in which the scroll direction of the arrows is reversed, descending towards the target arrows at the bottom of the screen.
  • SOLO, which replicates the arrow color scheme used in the Solo sub-series. It was renamed to RAINBOW in Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA.
    • Until SuperNOVA, this modifier was forced to both sides, even if only one player selected it.
  • BOOST, in which each arrow increases its speed as it reaches the stepping zone.
• Unlike 5thMIX, the sort order can now be changed by simply pressing both the left and right selection buttons without having to press the start button afterwards.
• First Dance Dance Revolution game with Premium Mode.
  • Double Premium allows you to play either Single or Double mode for only one credit, while Joint Premium lets you play any mode for one credit.
• First Dance Dance Revolution game to show a screen indicating the current stage (e.g., 1st STAGE, FINAL STAGE) before the song starts.
• Although NORI NORI NORI and The Centre Of The Heart (STONEBRIDGE CLUBMIX) received new LIGHT charts, their old BASIC charts from Dance Dance Revolution 5thMIX CS are still playable as EDIT DATA.
  • These edits were not kept in DDRMAX2 -Dance Dance Revolution 7thMIX-.
  • As a result, DDRMAX is the last game in the series to feature pre-installed EDIT DATA.
• Color labeling on the songwheel has changed:
  • Green for normal songs.
  • Red for EXTRA STAGE and ONE MORE EXTRA STAGE songs.
  • Purple for hidden song true...(Trance Sunrise Mix).
• Licenses are used as name entry music after getting a high score:
  • 1st: WWW.BLONDE GIRL(MOMO MIX)
  • 2nd: FLASH IN THE NIGHT
  • 3rd: WITCH DOCTOR(GIANTS TOONS VERSION)
  • 4th: BYE BYE BABY BALLOON
  • 5th: HIGHS OFF U(Scorccio XY Mix)
• Total songs: 42

Gameplay

Main article: Gameplay of Dance Dance Revolution

Core gameplay remained mostly the same on 6thMix, with the addition of Freeze Arrows and a new scoring system:

Freeze Arrows appear as green arrows with a long extension. If they are held for the entire length successfully, a O.K. is scored. If it is not held down for the entire length, a N.G. (no good) is scored. Freezes affect the life bar. Scores are calculated with 2 distinct scoring systems, the long-score system used to determine rankings, and an independent dance point system now used to determine the grade.

All songs have a long-score ceiling of 50 million points, and a bonus score is tacked onto it based on the difficulty of the song and other factors. Rankings are given for the highest long-score accumulations a round. If a player plays more than three songs, then it only counts the last three played. If a song is played repeatedly among the three songs used for ranking, then the repeated songs carry no bonus score.

The dance-point system uses raw step values to determine the grade. 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 'O.K.' freeze adds six points, and an 'N.G.' freeze is worth nothing. The dance points are also tied to the life bar. As always, if a player takes 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 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 accumulated: 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 a net dance-point total of zero is obtained without depleting the life bar and, thus, failing, an 'E' is awarded. 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.

Interface & graphics

Dancing characters have been removed in 6thMix. Instead, the arrows scroll over clips of full motion video, hence the game does not render any polygons. The screen refreshes at a full speed of 60 frames per second. In addition, the arrows themselves have been tweaked too, now having a rounded edge on their outer tip rather than the V-shaped cut used in all previous games.

6thMix retains the Song Wheel interface introduced in 5thMix, but adds an easier method to enter modifiers. In previous versions, modifiers like "Sudden" or "Shuffle" required a combination of dance steps. Beginning in 6thMix, a player only needs to hold the Start button when they select a song to bring up a full menu of available modifiers, including the ability to speed up or slow down the scrolling of arrows, and a final chance to select the song difficulty they wish to play.

Groove Radar

The "foot rating" system used in previous versions to identify a song's difficulty has been replaced in DDRMAX by the Groove Radar. The Groove Radar is a graphical representation of the difficulty of a song which debuted on DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution 6thMix which exclusively used the system to represent difficulty instead of foot ratings, the only version to do this. Due to this, the only songs that have no known foot ratings are "Follow Me" and "Flash in the Night", because both songs have yet to appear on a different mix.

The radar uses 5 categories to represent the difficulty:

• Stream - the overall density of the steps in the song.
• Voltage - the measure of the peak density of the steps (the highest density of arrows that ever appear on the screen at once).
• Air - the amount of jump steps within the song
• Freeze - the number of freezes (requiring the player to hold a note after it has been pressed initially) in the song.
• Chaos - the number of steps in the song that don't occur on quarter or eighth notes.

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

Modifiers

Template:See also

A new options menu accessed by holding down the start button when selecting a song debuted on 6thMix, and is retained on future mixes.

Some of the available modifiers include Speed mods, which change the arrow speed. Boost, which causes the arrows to accelerate as they near the step zone, Appearance, which changes the appearance of the arrows. Turn mods modify the stepchart itself, Other affects the difficulty of the steps, Scroll changes the scroll direction of the arrows, and Freeze Arrows can also be turned off.

Extra Stage

New to 6thMix is the "Extra Stage", where players are rewarded for meeting conditions set by the game. If a AA is scored on the final stage on Heavy mode, a message inviting the player to "Try Extra Stage" is shown instead of the Cleared graphic. For the Extra Stage, the song wheel is locked on "MAX 300", and the song is played with several forced modifiers, including 1.5x speed and Reverse. The song is also played in Pressure mode, where the dance gauge starts filled, and can only go down.

If the player scores a AA or higher on the Extra Stage the game again rewards them with "One More Extra Stage". This time, the song wheel is locked to "CANDY☆", an easier song but with more difficult Modifiers. The exact same modifiers are used, but the song is played in Sudden Death mode, where any step judgment which breaks a combo immediately ends the game. If the player clears the song with a full combo (which is the only way to do so in Sudden Death mode), a special credits movie is shown. When this second Boss Song is passed for the first time it too will be unlocked for normal play, also displayed on the Song Wheel in red.

Link data

Some machines have the ports to insert PlayStation memory cards. Such memory cards have to be PlayStation (not PS2) memory cards with Link Data from the home version of DDR 5th Mix (the home version of 6thMix cannot create arcade-compatible Link Data). 5thMix can create two different kinds of arcade link data; the Link Data file for 6thMix is known as "New Version" Link Data and is forward-compatible with 7thMix arcade machines as well. Link Data serves two primary purposes: Score-saving and Internet Ranking. The user can save his or her scores from arcade performances, and whenever the game is played in the future, the arcade game will load the scores for each user and show them on the song-selection screen to show the player's best performances. These scores can also be viewed at home with 5thMix. 6thMix also provides Internet Ranking codes based on the user's performance in a given set of songs. As with all of Konami's Internet Ranking events, the website for the game would allow users to enter in a generated password which contains their initials and scores for that session, and the website would display the rankings for those who have submitted codes. Link Data saves these passwords so that they may be entered much more conveniently.

The arcade game can exchange custom stepchart data with 6thMix, as well as any earlier version that has songs that are in 6thMix, though this requires special steps to be taken in 6thMix to write a PlayStation-formatted save file, which must then be copied to the PlayStation memory card by the user.

Home versions

The home version of DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution 6thMix was released in Japan on May 16, 2002, for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console. It featured all 42 songs from the arcade version as well as two additional console-exclusive songs "Kind Lady" and "So In Love". 6thMix's hidden songs can be unlocked automatically, without additional play, by accessing its save data on home versions of DDRMAX2 Dance Dance Revolution 7thMix or Dance Dance Revolution Extreme.

DDRMAX -Dance Dance Revolution-, with the mix number omitted, is the home version released in North America for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The North American version is considerably different from the Japanese version. It displays song difficulties using the traditional foot-rating system and the Groove Radar in tandem.

General Information / Changes

JP version

• First Dance Dance Revolution title released on the PlayStation 2.
• A direct port of the original arcade game, with two new CS songs.
  • One of the only two CD-based PlayStation 2 Japanese Dance Dance Revolution games, along with Dance Dance Revolution Party Collection.
• First Japanese CS Dance Dance Revolution game in the main series that does not have song previews for the next installment in the series.
• First CS Dance Dance Revolution game in any region to not have numerical difficulty ratings for its charts. (Its North American counterpart, however, does have ratings.)
• Total songs: 44

NA version

• First North American Dance Dance Revolution title released on the PlayStation 2.
• First North American Dance Dance Revolution title with exclusive licenses, CS originals (new remixes by Sota Fujimori), and BEMANI crossovers.
• Unlike the original arcade version and its Japanese home release, the North American CS DDRMAX release has foot ratings for songs.
  • It also has the ONI Mode introduced in DDRMAX2, making its first appearance in a CS Dance Dance Revolution title in any region. The original DDRMAX did not feature any courses or modes.
• Songs no longer have music labels on their banners, unlike in the arcade version.
• First North American Dance Dance Revolution title with INFORMATION MODE, which tells you information about songs, courses, and certain challenges in the game that have been completed.
• Only PlayStation 2 North American Dance Dance Revolution title with no playable dancers in the backgrounds.
• Only PlayStation 2 North American Dance Dance Revolution title with a high scores display in the game's attract mode.
• Only PlayStation 2 North American Dance Dance Revolution title to not mention Dance Dance Revolution CS (America) in Information Mode in regards to songs that debuted in that game (AM-3P and BRILLIANT 2U(Orchestra-Groove))
• Only PlayStation 2 North American Dance Dance Revolution title to use KONAMI's 1998-2003 logo.
• gentle stress (AMD SEXUAL MIX) was renamed to gentle stress SENSUAL MIX due to censorship.
• MATSURI JAPAN's banner is the only banner containing Japanese text without romanization of any kind.
• CUTIE CHASER MORNING MIX does not have individual charts on DOUBLE. All three DOUBLE charts are the same.
  • The Dance Dance Revolution 2ndMIX CLUB VERSiON 1 and CLUB VERSiON 2 songs have the same charts on DOUBLE STANDARD and HEAVY as well.
• Videos for older Dance Dance Revolution songs that were in DDRMAX2 have their videos based on that game.
  • The background videos for songs that did not exist on DDRMAX or DDRMAX2 are direct rips of other songs in DDRMAX2. This includes positions where the videos change from one another, with some alterations depending on the song.
  • Two of these animations were accidentally switched-off in the game. These includes the yellow and pink swirling hearts and the rainbow swirling star.
    • This glitch eventually appeared on the Japanese and American DDRMAX2 as well as Dancing Stage MegaMiX & Fever (PlayStation 2), until it was fixed in Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME CS.
• Some songs have incorrect Groove Radars (i.e. BABY BABY GIMME YOUR LOVE on both STANDARD and HEAVY difficulties).
• At the time of its release, DDRMAX -Dance Dance Revolution- had the most songs of any CS Dance Dance Revolution game in any region with 71 songs.
  • This short-lived record would be broken six months later by DDRMAX2 -Dance Dance Revolution 7thMIX-'s Japanese CS release's 74.
• The grading system is identical to that of its arcade and Japanese CS counterparts, with one exception: achieving a FULL COMBO will yield a AA rank, regardless of Dance Points.
• KONAMI original songs are used as name entry music after getting a high score.
• Total songs: 71

Music

Main article: DDRMAX -Dance Dance Revolution 6thMIX-/Songs

Gallery

External links

• DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution 6thMix official website
• Dancemania

Sources

• https://remywiki.com/AC_DDRMAX
• https://remywiki.com/CS_DDRMAX_JP
• https://remywiki.com/CS_DDRMAX_NA