Dance Dance Revolution Euromix
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Dancing Stage EuroMIX is the 2nd release in the Dancing Stage series, the European version of Dance Dance Revolution series of music video games by Konami. The arcade version was released in 1999, followed by the Sony PlayStation version in 2001. An updated "Internet Ranking" version of the arcade machine was released later on, containing 6 new tracks (as advertised by a sticker on the game's name banner).
The core gameplay of Euromix is the same as the previous Dancing Stage games. Euromix featured a brand new scoring system, instead of being heavily combo-based like the last two mixes, combos are of virtually no importance. The maximum score for each song is 10,000,000 (all Perfects). Perfects are worth twice as many points as Greats, and steps toward the end are worth progressively higher points than steps toward the beginning. In nonstop mode, a 2x, 3x and 4x multiplier apply to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th songs respectively, making a perfect nonstop worth 100,000,000 points.
Konami released an upgrade to the Dancing Stage EuroMIX arcade cabinet known as the "Internet Ranking" version, though the name is slightly ambiguous since the machine itself does not possess the ability to connect to the internet. An interesting feature of this machine is that it contained 6 more songs than the original arcade version, as advertised by a sticker on the arcade machine's marquee. The 6 additional songs were all production's by Konami's own music composers.
The Internet Ranking version of the game added an extra option to the song selection wheel which had similar functionality to the built-in nonstop mode, except the player must play a selection of songs which have already been chosen. The selection of songs on an Internet Ranking machine changes depending on the current month.
Upon completing an Internet Ranking nonstop course, the machine would display the player's final score along with a code consisting of numbers and letters, which could be submitted to Konami's website as part of a Europe-wide ranking chart. The overall highest ranking players were awarded prizes by Konami for their achievements.
The game is based on the same interface as the Japanese game Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMix, except with a songlist that is a cut-down hybrid of Dance Dance Revolution 2ndMix and Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMix's songlists, with the addition of 8 European-exclusive songs. Unlike Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMix, the home version of Dancing Stage EuroMIX does not feature "Edit Mode", a feature in which the player can create their own custom routines to songs featured in the game. This also means that the arcade version does not feature PlayStation-compatible memory card slots.
One of the downsides of the home version of this game is that it has no unlockable features. For some video game players this dramatically reduced the lifespan of the game, since there is no incentive to play the game for long periods of time except for the player's possible desire to improve their own scores.
There is however the hidden feature of Double Mode, in which the user must perform a routine spanning both player's dance pads. This is selectable by holding the O or X buttons on the home version, or by holding down both yellow arrow buttons before pressing the green decide button after inserting a credit on the arcade version.
The music in the different versions of these games come from three different sources. All versions of the game contain 8 specially licensed tracks from Universal Music Group. These songs are signified by having similar graphics in the song selection wheel and by displaying the Universal logo at the bottom of the screen.[1]
In the arcade version of the game, there are also 10 tracks licensed from EMI Group plc, which previously appeared in Japanese versions of the game. All of these songs can be found on CDs belonging to Toshiba-EMI's (the Japanese division, a joint venture with Toshiba) compilation series Dancemania. Despite some of these licenses (most notably songs such as "Captain Jack (Grandale Mix)") being very popular with players of the arcade game, they did not appear in the home version of the game. It is likely that the songs were omitted from the home version of the game because they would have been too expensive to license for this format additionally.
The remainder of the songlists of each version consist of songs composed and produced by Konami's inhouse music composers - primarily Naoki Maeda and Yuuichi Asami though under the guise of several different pseudonyms.
Dance Dance Revolution[a] (DDR) is a music video game, developed by Konami, released in arcades on September 11, 1998, in Japan. Dance Dance Revolution is a unique game involving dance and rhythm that defined the genre. It 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 for North American arcades, and for European arcades 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.
On Saturday, April 10, 1999, Dance Dance Revolution was released for the Japanese PlayStation, adding new music and gameplay elements. A console release was not made for any other region until 2001.
The objective of Dance Dance Revolution is to move one's feet to a set pattern. Players must step to the beat, matching their beat to the arrows presented to them on screen by stepping on arrows on a dance pad. Arrows come from the bottom to the top towards a set of stationary arrows known as the "Step Zone". If they reach it, players step on the pad and the game will then judge the accuracy of the timing, ranging from "Perfect", "Great", "Good", "Boo", to "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. The game also tracks a combo tally from 4 combos upward, which will break if players score Good or lower.
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 Couple 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.
The game offers three different play styles: Single (one player plays on a single dance pad), Couple (two players play with a unified stepchart spread over two separate dance pads), and Double (one player plays on two dance pads, stepcharts are different compared to Single), the last of which requires a step code to be entered. After selecting a play style, players will be prompted to select a game mode out of three: Easy, Normal, and Hard. Normal and Hard are the main bulk of the game and offer different set of songs. Easy, which has the same song selection as Normal, limits players to one stage but enables them to play to the end of the song even if the dance meter is completely depleted.
After choosing a mode, players will be taken to the song selection, which takes the form of 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 adjust the game. Single Play offers two different difficulty levels per song. These levels, known as "Basic" and "Another", may be set while selecting play style or by entering step codes during the song selection. Each difficulty is rated on a scale of 1 to 7, each labeled with a name: Simple (1), Average (2), Novice (3), Expert (4), Professional (5), Genuine (6), and Hero (7). Another step code enables the "Mirror" option, which rotates each arrows to their opposite directions. Players may play anywhere from one to five songs, depending on how many the arcade operator sets the machine to play each game. Players start with 6 song options and cannot choose the same song twice within the same credit. If they manage to fill the dance meter to maximum in Final Stage while playing Basic difficulty in Single Play, players will be granted access to Extra Stage, where they may choose another song set to Another difficulty. A new song will also be added, which varies depending on whether players selected Normal or Hard modes.
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.
An update, titled "Internet Ranking Version" and popularly known as "DDR 1.5", was released on November 18, 1998 and is by far the most common version of the game. As the name suggests, the game's main purpose is to rank scores online. After a playthrough ends, the game gives a code which can be inputted to the official website for high score purposes.
The game also adds two new songs and numerous different changes to the gameplay. A new addition is Versus Play, which requires two credits and a step code to activate. It is a two-player mode, similar to Couple, but rather than playing on a unified stepchart, each player plays their own stepchart, though they still have to select the same difficulty level. Two difficulty levels are added: "Maniac" for Single Play and "Another" for Double Play. It is possible to access Extra Stage by clearing Final Stage on Single Another or Double Basic, which will lead Extra Stage to be played on Single Maniac and Double Another, respectively. The difficulty scale is increased to 8, labeled "Exorbitant", and some of the other labels are renamed; Moderate (2), Ordinary (3), Superior (4), Marvelous (5), and Paramount (7). Finally, arrows now disappear within the Step Zone if players score Perfect or Great (the original version made no distinction regardless of timing), which has since become a staple in the series.
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