NESpresso: Game Reviews \ PS1 \ Dance Dance Revolution: Konamix

Game Stats
System: Playstation
Genre: Rhythm & Dance
Players: 1-2 Simultaneously
Memory used: 1 Block min.
Playtime: 00:10 / --:--
ESRB Rating: Everybody (+6)

Note: Dance Pads are required for maximum enjoyment!

From the hottest dance game in Japan gets remixed for the US audiences. Featuring 52 songs from the KCET's BEMANI staff, including 2 US exclusives & a new interface. For those who just got into the DDR scene should have this mix in their collection.

If you haven't played or seen the game, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? For those who've been living in a cave, here's a run-through of the game. You're pretty much a dancer on the stage & you dance to the songs. The arrows scroll across the screen & you step on them when they hit the stationary arrows (called the step zone) in order to play. Songs generally last about a minute or two, but the selection of songs can vary from nice & slow to a fast-paced rave. All the songs featured in the game are normally upbeat & can be surprisingly easy to dance to. Like other musical games, accuracy is a key issue, but you'll find that DDR is more forgiving.

When Dance Dance Revolution (US version) was released for the PS1, Konami of America (KOA) was keeping tabs on the sales figures to see if DDR could thrive in the US. To their pleasant surprise, DDR (US) was a cult hit & Jason Enos, Product Marketing Manager of KOA & US Project Director for DDR, started pushing for a new US Mix & DDR: Konamix was in the works. To speed up the production time, KCET decided to remain in-house & save money on royalty fees.

Like other DDR mixes, graphics usually aren't award-winning, but are colorful enough to suit their purpose. This time, they moved to the 4th Mix style interface, which give a little more style from it's US predecessor. One downside to this interface is the small text & some high-res graphics being used on a low-res screen. The small text is hard to read on medium-sized TV's (approx. 19-inches) & some of the banner art has a flickering feel. These are still fairly minor compared to the true nature of the game: Dancing.

One potential problem you may see with this mix is that it's hard to see some of the step arrows on the fast songs. This is, however, a system-related problem since the PS1 hardware can only run at 30 frames per second. Compared to the fastest song on this mix, that comes down to around 6 frames (or about 0.2 seconds) per quarter step & only 3 frames (0.1 seconds) per 1/8th step.

Unlike other DDR mixes, Konami decided to stay in-house instead of checking with previous DDR artists for US releases. Songs from artists like Bambee, Smile.dk & Captain Jack get shelved for another mix. However, Konami has released 2 US-exclusives.

DDR 102: Song Artists

One thing that you'll notice is that different artists have different styles, but how many artists could be using different names? One name you will know is Naoki Maeda, because is one of the driving forces of DDR! Naoki has over 25 Artists Names to his list & is the producer/manager for BeForU, a "Girl Band" music group in Japan.

Naoki's renouned songs in DDR: Konamix are: B4U, Paranoia, Dive (by BeForU), Healing Vision, Higher & Hysteria.

For those who have picked up DDR (US version) already, you will probably will see some familiar songs like Dynamite Rave & Paranoia as well as the most despised song in the US: Let Them Move. Besides these songs, all the songs released are new for the in-home audience while arcade players will see a good cross section of songs from the first five mixes.

The two US exclusives have been labeled a let down by the DDR community because one song was just a censored version & the other exclusive was mediocre remix. However, if you're new to the scene, you probably wouldn't have noticed, but these US exclusives are After the Game (Uncensored version: After the Game of Love) & AM-3P Bass Mix. The main reason why After the Game of Love was censored because the lyrics of the song would be considered unsuitable for younger players (& for good reason), so After the Game is pure music.

The cross sample of songs vary from a relaxing 90 bpm (1-1/2 steps per second) to a staggering 260 bpm (4-1/3 steps per second). However, one thing you will notice in some of the songs is that the tempo will change in mid-song. this does add some variety & keeps you on your toes

If you've played the other DDR games, you already know the controls & they can jump right in. For those who are new to the game, you will need to pick up a few dance pads (this will cost you around $20 each for basic soft pads) to fully enjoy this game because using the controller REALLY, REALLY sucks the life out of this game. The idea is like "Simon Says" where you step on the arrows that you see.

For Gameplay, the game still has the same strong feel. One change in this mix is the 4th Mix engine, which give you an easier selection, so you don't have to worry about hitting a specific button for certain options. Again, the game works on a 5-point accuracy scale (Perfect, Great, Good, Boo, Miss) so you don't have to worry too much about nailing the steps exactly.

A new thing that was included to Konamix are locked songs, where only 32 songs are originally available & a new song is unlocked after successfully completing 5 songs. This is to reward the dedicated player who keep playing, no matter how many times they stumble. Another addition is Solo Mode, which is a specially designed 1-player / 1-pad mode. The main feature of Solo Mode is the 6-panel mode where it adds the upper-left & upper-right arrows, which can increase OR decrease the difficulty of the song

The songs are grouped by style / genre so you have a choice on playing the genre(s) you like OR if you turn on all-music mode (which I suggest), you don't have to choose the genre. However, for those who prefer the genre selection, here's the list:

One thing that was definately noticable is that Konamix uses the compressed scoring scale. Instead of getting rated from AAA (perfect) to E (failed), it's just A to D so it's a little harder to know exactly how good you are compared to the rest. Other noticable things are actually flaws in the engine are that the "Boos" & "Misses" are mixed up & the word combo is spelled "conbo", but these are superficial.

DDR Konamix has everything that DDR (US) has in it & MORE! There's more customizational options, including a step editor where you can make your own steps to the songs & even make your own non-stop mixes. The only downside here is that your edited steps will take 1 block per custom step pattern. If you're planning on using your edited steps in the arcades, don't bother! You can only use the Japanese home versions of that specific mix at the arcade.

Unless you've been importing the Japanese mixes, this is the perfect one to start with.