Dance Dance Revolution 2nd Mix Dreamcast FAQ March 15th 2000, Revision 0.9 Written By : Crono E-mail : crono@tows.org Real Name : Justin Strauss Home Page : www.tows.org This document is the intellectual property of the author. It is intended to provide help, to fellow gamers, on a title that is both entertaining and difficult at various times. Please do not copy or distribute this file in any format without consent of the author. This means: on other web pages, as part of another FAQ, in any written or electronic publication, etc. And, to be crystal clear, this document is legally copyrighted through two or more means. This is including a publishing firm clause, as well as various websites' legal setups (such as the one found on GameFAQs). If you have any new tips or info you want us to hear, just drop an e-mail. And, just in case this comes up, neither Game Cave nor anyone else may not distribute this to those who purchase this title or who are somehow bringing profit to said party. Dance Dance Revolution 2nd Mix is a trademark of Konami Computer Entertainment, Inc. Copyright 1999-2000 by Konami Computer Entertainment, Inc. Copyright Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, Inc. All related names fall under the same applicable laws. All rights reserved. You can find the newest version of this FAQ only at the following sites. If you find it anywhere else, please let me know as soon as possible. It should not be posted anywhere else but at the following sites: Game FAQs Videogame Strategies http://www.gamefaqs.com/ http://vgstrategies.about.com/ Table of Contents: -------------------------------------- 0.0 Revision History 1.0 General Description 2.0 Options Menu 3.0 Arcade Mode 4.0 Song List and Info 4.1 Bonus Track 4.2 SSR Bonus Track 4.3 Extra Track 5.0 Training Mode 6.0 Records List 7.0 Edit Mode 8.0 Event Mode 8.1 Endless Mode 9.0 Information Screen 10.0 Game Secrets and Hidden Options 11.0 Contributions and Thank-You's 0.0 Revision History -------------------------------------- V0.9 - 03/15/00 - Initial Release! Expect typos or grammar problems from it. - The secrets area will have some incorrect remnants from PSX until I can confirm small bits from Konami themselves. V1.0 - 03/??/00 - Coming Soon! Will add things, including: - Fix any apparent typos and missing bits. - Polish up some sentences and areas. Coming Soon: -more detailed music listings. -more secrets and hidden things. -whatever might be left out. 1.0 General Description -------------------------------------- Dance Dance Revolution has grown to become my favorite series in Konami's entire "Bemani" line of musical games. This genre of Konami games started with "Beatmania" and grew to contain "DDR," as well as "Pop 'n Music" and realistic games for the Guitar, Drums, and Keyboards. However, this series holds a special place in my heart. Not only does it have the most recognizable and catchy music (especially for an English-speaking audience) but it also has an amazing ability to combine the worlds of video-gaming and dancing into one incredible genre. This game has music and visuals to keep you entertained forever, but it is the true interactive nature of the game that makes it so fun. The basic gameplay is simple to learn, but insanely tough to master. The game is played with four primary buttons, one being for each direction on a control pad (up, down, left, and right). On your side of the game screen, you will see these four directions indicated at the top section. During gameplay, flashing arrows will move slowly from the bottom of that "column" up to the top where your arrows are. The basic premise is to hit the correct direction's button whenever the flashing arrows meet with the arrows at the top. You hafta listen to the rhythm of the song as well, because the simple "sight" of the arrows can't always tell you exactly when to hit the arrows. You have a "dance meter" which increases as you do well and decreases as you miss. If it empties, you lose. Each time you press a directional button, the game will keep track of how close to the exact beat you were. You can "Miss" or get a "Boo" if you do it poorly. A "Good" means you did it fairly well, while a "Great" or "Perfect" is right on the money. Each of these five possibilities yields more points than the one before it. Also, the game keeps track of a "combo" for you. A combo is how many "greats" or "perfects" you have gotten in a row. If you get a "good" or worse for any arrow... the combo ends. You receive a score at the end of the level, depending on how well you did (from "E" to "A" and then to "S." You get an "SS" if you did a combo for the entire level, from start to finish). It takes coordination as well as a sense of rhythm to play this game well, especially for the later levels. This also gives an incentive to play again, to earn an "SS" on every level variant. This aspect alone makes the game incredibly fun to play with a standard control pad. However, this is not the true nature of the game. If you purchase the special Dance Dance Revolution Controller from Konami, you can experience the Arcade game's true play style (the one that proves to combine the gaming world with the world of dance). With this "dance mat" set up, you use your feet and dancing skill to play the game. The dance mat (as with the arcade machine) has four large arrows on it (set up like a giant version of the directional pad you're used to). With this, you must "step" to the beat properly, and this adds much more challenge and appeal to the game. In fact, only those with true dancing skills and coordination have ever been able to beat the toughest levels with the dance mat. Songs that you play in DDR are amazingly catchy and well done. Aside from the "Konami Original" songs that you'll find in the game, all the songs that you play are taken from the "Dancemania" compilation series in Japan. This series of mix-CD's is released by Toshiba-EMI in Japan, and is composed of dance hits from around the world (mainly Europe). And, aside from the specialty DDR games, all of the songs in Dance Dance Revolution are in full English. So yes, every song that you hear in this game is from a REAL artist or group that has released their own CD in the past. Names like Chumbawamba, Olivia Newton John, EPMD, The Specials, Me&My, Captain Jack, and many others are well-known in America and worldwide. Either way, this game is truly one of the most well-conceived titles to come out of the gaming industry. When you get into it, it becomes very addictive. There are different dancers that you can choose to play on-screen, and songs that will easily make you want to go out and buy the artists' full CD's (because the songs are so great) ^_^ And besides, the game is universally appealing and simple enough for anyone to wanna try. Men, women, kids, adults... all of them will like the songs and the ability to "show off their moves" on the miniature dance floor. It is truly a series in which the term "video game" barely seems acceptable. I'd rather say "interactive experience." But even then, descriptions can't do the game justice. Give it a try, it's all I can say. 2.0 Options Menu -------------------------------------- The Options Menu in Dance Dance Revolution is completely in English, and therefore it should be self-explanatory in most any case. However, certain options may be earned through fulfilling certain objectives or might be difficult to understand. Various options will change the way that the gameplay operates, while others will be cosmetic changes. Any option choices that show up in a shade of Green are the "default" setting, while any other choices will show up in White just like the options themselves. The full set of menu options is as follows: -Memory Card -Save -Want to Save: Yes/No -Overwrite Old Data: Yes/No -Load -Want to Load: Yes/No -Auto Save: On/Off -Edit Play: On/Off -Exit -Sound: Stereo/Monaural -Vibration: Button/Miss/No Use -Double Play: On/Off -Key Config -Double Mode Setting -Type: I-III -Exit -Dance Play Setting -Controller 1: On/Off -Controller 2: On/Off -Exit -Game Level: 1-8 -Max Stage -Easy: 1-5 -Normal: 1-5 -Hard: 1-5 -Time Limit: Arcade/Off -Game Over: Arcade/Off -BG Effect: Arcade/Effect A/Effect B/Off -Ending: Arcade/Dreamcast/Off -DC Edit Data: On/Off -Exit 3.0 Arcade Mode -------------------------------------- This is the primary mode of the game, and it's the place where you will spend most of your time. To choose the "Play Option" (how many players will play the game) you must hold down the "B" button while you press a button to select Arcade mode at the title screen's main menu. You then must choose the game's "difficulty" (which really just determines which set of levels you will play). You can also choose which "variant" of the levels you will play. And finally, you can decide which "effects" you want to take place on the level. The variant can be chosen on the difficulty screen. Press the "down" button twice to change Basic to Another. Press it twice again to move to Maniac (the variant level will be indicated on the bottom of the screen). In this game, however, you must input a few codes in order to choose the effects you want (see the tricks section). After doing so, you can choose the effects that you wish to use by pressing the "analog" stick in any direction at the screen where you choose the stage to play. This takes you to the "Effects Menu" where you input the codes and exit the menu in here by pressing "start." This menu also lets you change the variant at any point before you choose a stage (and better yet, when playing a 2-player game, both people can choose different sets of variants and effects for themselves). -Play Option: Four choices "Single," "Couple," "Versus," or "Double." Single mode is the standard one-player game. Couple mode lets two players join the game, but they are working together to beat levels and set high scores. Versus mode is where the two players compete to earn the highest score (and become winner through that). Double mode is described below, and has two difficulties on which it can be played (rather than three, as there is no Double Maniac). -Difficulty: Three choices "Easy," "Normal," or "Hard." Normal mode has the first set of the game's levels, while Hard mode has the other half of the levels (the tougher ones). You play a set of Three stages in whichever you choose, and you choose which song you will play for each new stage. All of the game's songs/levels are found within these two main modes. If you choose Easy mode, you will play One stage (chosen from an assortment of levels from both Normal and Hard). On Easy mode, you can not lose the stage, no matter how low your dance meter goes. Easy mode is just for practice, and does not let you set records or progress farther. -Variant: Five choices "Basic," "Another," "Maniac," "Double Basic," or "Double Another." Basic is the default set of steps (arrows) for a level. This is the easiest choice of the bunch. Another is a bit harder and has more steps in it. Maniac is the hardest and has the most steps of all. Think of those as the easy, medium, and hard variants of each level. Double mode lets one person play with both controllers (yes, so they have to do double duty, worrying about eight arrows). Another Double is the harder version of Double, with more steps in the song. The last two variants are available with the "Double" Play Option, while the first three are used for "Single," "Couple," or "Versus" modes. -Effects: Six choices "Little," "Left," "Right," "Mirror," "Shuffle," or "Hidden." Little mode and Hidden mode are separate and can be turned "On or Off." The other four options fall under the category of "Turn" and you can only have one of them on at a time (selected from the same part of the menu. Or, Turn can be set to "Off"). For all of the Turn choices, this will change the directions of all the "steps" (flashing arrows that come from the bottom) in the level. The gameplay remains unchannged. In Mirror mode, the steps in the level will be reversed to their opposite. In other words, for the arrows, left and right get switched, and up and down will get reversed as well. Left mode will rotate the position of the arrows 90 Degrees counter-clockwise (for the arrows, left becomes down, down becomes right, up becomes left, and right becomes up). Right mode will rotate the position of the arrows 90 Degrees clockwise (for the arrows, left becomes up, down becomes left, up becomes right, and right becomes down). Shuffle mode will randomly change all the steps in the level to a different direction. Little mode eliminates any steps that make a half-beat or smaller (in other words, the level will only have single-beat steps and therefore be much easier. However, this also obviously lowers the maximum score that you can get). Hidden mode will cause the arrows to slowly disappear once they reach the top half of the screen (so you must follow the lower part, as well as the beat, to stay alive). Also, as a note, neither the Left, Right, or Shuffle modes can be used with "Double." Important info. Each song in the game has a difficulty level associated with it, and each song has a different difficulty for each of its variants. You can see the difficulty level below each song disc that you can select. The difficulty level itself is indicated by how many "feet" markers you will see, as well as a title (each level of difficulty has a title that indicates how tough it is). These difficulty levels are in relation to the other levels in the particular game. A specific level's difficulty number can always change if it appears again in a later DDR game. These difficulty titles are listed in the table below, along with how many "footmarks" each represents... Also, there is the list of each step rank you can get while playing the game (along with the colors that represent them). This comes into play during the level, to tell how close you were to hitting a step (arrow) at the correct time. They are listed in order from best to worst. "Perfect" is right on the beat, and "Great" is extremely close. "Good" is close to the beat, and "Boo" is far off. "Miss" is what you get when you totally miss the beat or just don't even input anything at all for it. Your "combo" is counting how many Perfects or Greats you can get in a row. Your "Grade" at the end of the level depends on how well you did with the steps. If you keep a combo going for every beat of the stage (start to finish) you will receive an "SS" rank. Here are the tables of important info: Song Difficulty Step Rank Level Grade 1: Simple Perfect : Yellow E: Terrible 2: Moderate Great : Green D: Poor 3: Ordinary Good : Blue C: Fair 4: Superior Boo : Pink B: Good 5: Marvelous Miss : Red A: Great 6: Genuine S: Perfect 7: Paramount SS: Flawless 8: Exorbitant 9: Catastrophic 4.0 Song List and Info -------------------------------------- Song Title Artist Difficulties Have You Never Been Mellow The Olivia Project B/ 1 A/ 2 M/ 4 D/ 2 AD/ 3 That's the Way (I Like It) KC & The Sunshine Band B/ 1 A/ 3 M/ 4 D/ 2 AD/ 4 Kung Fu Fighting Bus Stop feat. Carl Douglas B/ 2 A/ 3 M/ 4 D/ 3 AD/ 4 Boom Boom Dollar King Kong & D. Jungle Girls B/ 2 A/ 5 M/ 6 D/ 3 AD/ 5 Bad Girls Juliet Roberts B/ 2 A/ 4 M/ 5 D/ 3 AD/ 4 Let's Get Down JT Playaz B/ 3 A/ 4 M/ 5 D/ 4 AD/ 4 Boys Smile.dk B/ 3 A/ 4 M/ 7 D/ 4 AD/ 5 Butterfly Smile.dk B/ 3 A/ 4 M/ 5 D/ 4 AD/ 5 Smoke Mr. Ed Jumps the Gun B/ 3 A/ 4 M/ 6 D/ 4 AD/ 5 My Fire X-Treme B/ 4 A/ 5 M/ 6 D/ 4 AD/ 5 Little Bitch The Specials B/ 4 A/ 5 M/ 6 D/ 5 AD/ 6 Hero Papaya B/ 4 A/ 5 M/ 6 D/ 5 AD/ 6 Dub I Dub Me & My B/ 4 A/ 6 M/ 8 D/ 5 AD/ 7 Stomp to My Beat JS16 B/ 5 A/ 6 M/ 7 D/ 5 AD/ 6 Get Up 'N Move S&K B/ 5 A/ 7 M/ 8 D/ 6 AD/ 7 If You Were Here Jennifer B/ 5 A/ 6 M/ 7 D/ 6 AD/ 7 I Believe in Miracles Hi-Rise B/ 5 A/ 6 M/ 8 D/ 6 AD/ 7 Love Sonic Dream B/ 3 A/ 5 M/ 7 D/ 3 AD/ 5 Tubthumping Chumbawamba B/ 4 A/ 5 M/ 6 D/ 4 AD/ 6 El Ritmo Tropical Dixies Gang B/ 2 A/ 6 M/ 7 D/ 4 AD/ 5 Paranoia 180 B/ 6 A/ 7 M/ 8 D/ 7 AD/ 8 Paranoia MAX ~dirty mix~ 190 B/ 6 A/ 8 M/ 8 D/ 7 AD/ 8 Paranoia KCET ~clean mix~ 2MB B/ 6 A/ 7 M/ 8 D/ 7 AD/ 8 Trip Machine De-Sire B/ 6 A/ 7 M/ 8 D/ 7 AD/ 8 SP-Trip Machine ~Jungle Mix~ De-Sire B/ 6 A/ 7 M/ 8 D/ 7 AD/ 8 Make it Better mitsu-O! B/ 4 A/ 5 M/ 7 D/ 5 AD/ 7 Make it Better (So-Real Mix) mitsu-O! Summer B/ 5 A/ 6 M/ 8 D/ 5 AD/ 7 Make a Jam! U1 B/ 3 A/ 5 M/ 7 D/ 3 AD/ 5 Put Your Faith in Me Uzi-Lay B/ 3 A/ 4 M/ 6 D/ 4 AD/ 5 Put Your Faith in Me (Jazzy Groove) Uzi-Lay B/ 4 A/ 5 M/ 6 D/ 5 AD/ 6 Brilliant 2U Naoki B/ 4 A/ 5 M/ 6 D/ 4 AD/ 5 Brilliant 2U (Orchestra-Groove) Naoki B/ 5 A/ 6 M/ 7 D/ 4 AD/ 5 AM-3P kTz B/ 5 A/ 6 M/ 8 D/ 5 AD/ 6 Step Battle #1 Keep on Movin' N.M.R. B/ ? A/ ? M/ ? D/ ? AD/ ? Step Battle #2 Let Them Move N.M.R. B/ ? A/ ? M/ ? D/ ? AD/ ? Step Battle #3 20, November N.M.R. feat. DJ Nagureo B/ ? A/ ? M/ ? D/ ? AD/ ? Trip Machine ~luv mix~ 2MB B/ 6 A/ 7 M/ 8 D/ 7 AD/ 8 Think ya Better D sAmi B/ 3 A/ 4 M/ 5 D/ 3 AD/ 4 Love This Feelin' Chang Ma B/ 6 A/ 7 M/ 8 D/ 7 AD/ 8 Keep on Movin' N.M.R. B/ 3 A/ 4 M/ 5 D/ 3 AD/ 4 Let Them Move N.M.R. B/ 1 A/ 2 M/ 4 D/ 2 AD/ 3 20, November -DDR Version- N.M.R. feat. DJ Nagureo B/ 1 A/ 3 M/ 4 D/ 2 AD/ 4 Paranoia MAX in Roulette 190 B/ 6 A/ 7 M/ 8 D/ 7 AD/ 8 4.1 Bonus Track -------------------------------------- When you press the button to begin this mode (from the main menu) you will automatically be able to choose your "Play Option" (no special command is required as was in "Arcade" mode). There is no choice for "Couple" mode, though. You can also choose you level variant and effects from the "Effects Menu," which is accessed in the same manner as it was in "Arcade" mode. After you play each stage, you will be prompted to "Press 'A' to continue playing, or 'B' to exit." The "Bonus Tracks" are additional songs that are previews of things to come (in this case, they are songs from DDR 3rd Mix). In this game, you can not play these songs on "Maniac" variant at first because you must access the "SSR Bonus Track" to play them on their third and hardest variant. Additionally, there is a spot in the "Records" list for your scores on these tracks. You can also play these songs in "Training," "Edit," and "Endless" modes. The bonus songs are as follows: Song Title Artist Difficulties Keep on Movin' N.M.R. B/ 4 A/ 5 M/ X D/ 4 AD/ 6 Let Them Move N.M.R. B/ 3 A/ 6 M/ X D/ 3 AD/ 6 20, Novenber -DDR Version- N.M.R. feat. DJ Nagureo B/ 3 A/ 5 M/ X D/ 3 AD/ 5 The Race Captain Jack B/ 3 A/ 5 M/ X D/ 4 AD/ 6 In the Navy '99 (XXL Disaster Remix) Captain Jack B/ 4 A/ 6 M/ X D/ 4 AD/ 5 Captain Jack (Grandale Remix) Captain Jack B/ 4 A/ 7 M/ X D/ 5 AD/ 7 Dynamite Rave Naoki B/ 5 A/ 7 M/ X D/ 5 AD/ 6 4.2 SSR Bonus Track -------------------------------------- This mode appears as an alternate mode in the same spot as "Bonus Track." To make it appear, press the "analog" stick in any direction at the title screen's main menu. This will cause the words "SSR Bonus Track" to replace "Bonus Track" (you can reverse this process by pressing "analog" again). See the tricks section to find out how to access this ability. When you press the button to begin this mode (from the main menu) you will automatically be able to choose your "Play Option" (no special command is required as was in "Arcade" mode). There is no choice for "Couple" mode, though. You can also choose your effects from the "Effects Menu," which is accessed in the same manner as it was in "Arcade" mode. After you play each stage, you will be prompted to "Press 'A' to continue playing, or 'B' to exit." This is the mode for the third and hardest variant for the "Bonus Tracks" called "Step Step Revolution." In DDR 3rd Mix, this variant is the equivalent of "Maniac" (it replaces it, and is much harder). You can either play these under "Basic" or "Double" variants (which is equivalent to "Maniac" and "Double Maniac" if they were in DDR 2nd Mix). Additionally, there is a spot in the "Records" list for your scores on these tracks under SSR and Double SSR variant. You can also play these songs in "Training," "Edit," and "Endless" modes. The SSR bonus songs are as follows: Song Title Artist Difficulties Keep on Movin' N.M.R. B/ 6 A/ X M/ X D/ 7 AD/ X Let Them Move N.M.R. B/ 7 A/ X M/ X D/ 7 AD/ X 20, Novenber -DDR Version- N.M.R. feat. DJ Nagureo B/ 7 A/ X M/ X D/ 7 AD/ X The Race Captain Jack B/ 7 A/ X M/ X D/ 7 AD/ X In the Navy '99 (XXL Disaster Remix) Captain Jack B/ 8 A/ X M/ X D/ 8 AD/ X Captain Jack (Grandale Remix) Captain Jack B/ 9 A/ X M/ X D/ 9 AD/ X Dynamite Rave Naoki B/ 9 A/ X M/ X D/ 8 AD/ X 4.3 Extra Track -------------------------------------- This mode appears as an alternate mode in the same spot as "Bonus Track." To make it appear, press the "analog" stick in any direction at the title screen's main menu. This will cause the words "Extra Track" to replace "Bonus Track" (you can reverse this process by pressing "analog" again). See the tricks section to find out how to access this ability. Anyhow, this is the same song that you play during the secret "Ending" for "Dreamcast." By default, you will play the "one- player" version of this level. To play the "two-player" version of this level, you must hold down the "B" button while you press a button to select Extra Track at the title screen's main menu. 5.0 Training Mode -------------------------------------- "Training" mode is the place to sharpen your skills on any level that you have accessed, without fear of losing. At any time in the menu, you may press the "start" button to begin the song you selected. And, after each level you play, you get a choice of "Press 'A' for menu, or 'B' to exit." In the menu, you can choose from: "Check/Again/Return." The "Check" option lets you review the song you just played, bar by bar, and shows you how well you did for each step (arrow-press) in the level. Each arrow will be colored in a specific shade to indicate how each was ranked (yellow=perfect, green=great, blue=good, pink=boo, red=miss). "Again" lets you repeat the level, and "Return" takes you back to the main menu. The menu options are as follows: -Music Select -Player: Single/Couple/Versus/Double -Level: Basic/Another/Maniac/SSR -Little: On/Off -Turn: Left/Right/Mirror/Shuffle/Off -Hidden: On/Off -Guide: Assist/Click/Click2/Mix/Mix2/Off -Speed: 1-5 -Bar Start: 01-70 -Bar End: 02-71 -Edit -Exit The option for "Guide" has a special feature which must be explained further. The "Assist" option will make a clapping sound for every step (arrow) that you are supposed to press, whether or not you sucessfully hit the step. This can help a lot to keep you hitting the beats on the spot. "Click" will make a click sound for every "beat" that goes by (there are four beats per "bar"). The first of each four beats will be a different click sound than the rest are, to remind you when bars start. "Click2" does the same thing, except that it removes the audio of the song altogether (you'll only hear clicks). "Mix" makes it so that you hear both the claps and the clicks from the previous modes together. "Mix2" does the same thing, except that it removes the audio of the song altogether. 6.0 Records List -------------------------------------- This menu keeps a list of your high scores for all of the game's stages (Music High Score). You can view high scores for each variant of each song (five variants per song). It keeps track of your letter and number high score for each one, as well as your maximum combo achieved while earning that score. In this game, your highest overall scores (Total Ranking) may be viewed during the "demo reel" that runs from the main menu (whenever a button is not being pressed). At any time during the below menus, you may press the "start" button to "change" the pictures to plain text. On Endless, pressing "left" or "right" on the directional pad will switch between "Stage Ranking" and "Score Ranking." The menu options are as follows: -2nd Mix -Endless -Stage Ranking -Score Ranking -Bonus Track -SSR Bonus Track -Exit 7.0 Edit Mode -------------------------------------- This mode is one of the cooler features of the game, as it lets you create your own sets of steps for any of the game's levels. From here, you create your steps and then save them to a memory card. At any time in the process, if you attempt to start a "new data" or "load" data without having "saved" your current data, the game will ask you "Do you wish to continue without saving: Yes/No." The menu options are as follows: -New Data -Choose Song -Player: Single/Couple/Double -Load Official Data: Yes/No -Basic/Another/Maniac/SSR -Directionl Pad: move one beat distance up/down -Circle: create/delete right arrow -Triangle: create/delete up arrow -X button: create/delete down arrow -Square: create/delete left arrow -L: change beat distance (Full/Half/Fourth/Flat View) -R: hold down and press up/down to move in full bars -Analog: create an area (press once for start, once for end) -Start: Area Menu (effects contents of created area) -Copy -Paste -Cut -Delete -Exit -Memory Card -Save -Load -Rename -Exit -Player -Single/Couple/Double -Test Play -Start: 01-70 -End: 02-71 -Guide -Exit 8.0 Event Mode -------------------------------------- When you press the button to begin this mode (from the main menu) you will automatically be able to choose your "Play Option" (no special command is required as was in "Arcade" mode). In "Event Mode," you can play any of the game's songs as many times as you wish. Additionally, you will not lose a stage when your dance meter is empty (as with "Easy" difficulty). You can also choose your level variant and effects from the "Effects Menu," which is accessed in the same manner as it was in Arcade mode. After you play each stage, you will be prompted to "Press 'A' to continue playing, or 'B' to exit." 8.1 Endless Mode -------------------------------------- This mode lives up to its name, as it can tend to last forever. You play a constant streak of levels, randomly chosen, until your dance meter empties and you lose (you will not repeat any songs until you have played each song once, and then it starts another random loop). However, you will get a "Break" after every Five levels you play. It will ask you "Take a Break?" and give you choices of: "1 Minute/3 Minutes/5 Minutes/Continue." You have Ten seconds to decide whether you take a Break or you continue playing. You can end a Break at any time by pressing the "start" button. During gameplay, your "combo" can carry over from one stage to another (so your combo can go up to any number, not just up to 999 like usual). Your score and stage can also go on infinitely, only limited by how long you can make yourself play. In the lower-right corner of the menu is the highest "Score," "Stage," and "Combo" you have been able to reach in Endless mode. The menu options are as follows: -Player: Single/Double/Random -Level: Basic/Another/Maniac/Random -Turn: Left/Right/Mirror/Shuffle/Random/Off -Hidden: On/Random/Off -Little: On/Random/Off -Bright: 25%/50%/75%/100% -Start -Exit 9.0 Information Screen -------------------------------------- This screen keeps track of how far you've progressed in the overall game. The first pieces of info on this screen are of general information or about new features that are present in this version of DDR. Whenever you earn a secret song or mode, you will get some new pieces of information on this screen to let you know (and describe it). Also, you can get congratulatory messages for fulfilling certain goals. In the upper-right corner of the menu, you can see how many total information pages you have earned (you start out with about Four, but will end up with over Fifty). 10.0 Game Secrets and Hidden Options -------------------------------------- -Experience. Whenever you complete a stage in the game, it will add (or subtract) a certain number of "experience points" from your overall amount. The game keeps track of these internally, and you can not view your points at any time. Additionally, the game keeps track of how many "footmarks" you have accumulated. What this means, is that the "difficulty level" number from each level you play (in range from 1-8) is added to the total amount of footmarks. And, to note, the difficulty level (footmark number) of each stage you complete, along with the "variant" level of that stage, will determine how many experience points are earned for it. The purpose of these experience points and footmarks is to earn various "secret songs" and "special modes." When playing modes other than standard "Arcade," the amount of experience gained will be multiplied by a various value (listed under the table below). The experience gained when playing is as follows: Number of Footmarks Played Game Mode 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Basic 100 70 50 20 15 10 7 3 Another/Basic Double 20 10 5 0 -5 -10 -20 -40 Maniac/Another Double -20 -40 -60 -80 -100 -120 -170 -200 -Easy Mode -Positive experience: multiplied by 1.2 -Negative experience: multiplied by 0.8 -All Music Mode -Positive experience: multiplied by 0.9 -Negative experience: multiplied by 0.6 -Two Player Mode -Both players get the higher experience of the two -Event Mode -No experience is added -Special Levels. When you first have access to "All Music Mode" or "Event Mode" you will be unable to play the "special levels" on them (do not confuse these with the "secret songs"). These levels are as follows, and must be played the proper amount of times in "Arcade" mode before they can be played in these above modes: -Step Battle: play Step Battle more than 10 times -Random Disc: play Random Disc more than 20 times -Special Options. Some choices in the game's main "Option" menu are not accessible from the start. They get unlocked at various points in your playing experience. The Ending option for "2nd ReMIX" becomes avavilable once you open up "Think ya Better D." The character option for "Model 3 and 4" becomes available once you open up "Event Mode." -Effects. In this game, you can not choose the level "effects" by default (see above for what they are). When you play any standard game mode, and are choosing your next stage to play, you can access the "Effects Menu." This menu starts out empty, and you must input the following codes (on the directional pad, while in the special menu) to fill it in with these choices. The "Information Screen" will tell you about these codes at various points in your playing experience, but they can be done from the start anyhow: -Little: L, D, R, D, L, D, R, D, U -Left: L, L, L, L, L, L, L, L -Right: R, R, R, R, R, R, R, R -Mirror: L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R -Shuffle: U, D, L, R, D, U, R, L -Hidden: U, D, U, D, U, D, U, D -All Music Mode. When you select the difficulty level in "Arcade" mode, highlight the option for "Hard," and then press "right" four times on the directional pad. Each time you press it, a small arrow will disappear from over the Hard circle. When the words "All Music" appear, hit the button and begin the game. In this mode, you will play a default of Three stages (same setting and style as Hard mode is set to). You can play any song in the game for any of the Three stages, and you can even repeat the same song if you want (though the "secret songs" will not be available until they are unlocked elsewhere). -Extra Track. This mode is not accessible from the start of the game. To open it up, you must get an "SS" score when you play the special "Ending" for "2nd ReMIX" at the end of "Arcade" mode (get a "Perfect" or "Great" for every step). You will hear a special sound at the end of the game's Ending if you got the "SS" score. From this point on, you can access the Extra Track. -Event Mode. This mode is not accessible from the start of the game. To open it up, you must meet one of the following requirements. As long as you fulfill one of these requirements, you do not need to fulfill the rest in order to access it: -clear All Music mode more than 15 times -Endless Mode. This mode is not accessible from the start of the game. To open it up, you must meet all of the following requirements. Once they are all fulfilled, complete the Arcade mode once to open up Endless mode: -open up all the Secret Songs -open up Event Mode -Select Characters. There are more characters to play as in this game (other than the primary man and woman character). Both Player 1 and Player 2 have Three different character models for Arcade mode (or any other mode where you can view a character). By holding either "left" or "right" on the directional pad, and then pressing the button to select Arcade mode (or the other modes) you will select the alternate character models. By pressing the button without holding either direction ("neutral" on the directional pad) you will get the standard character for that mode. Additionally, there are Four different "Model Sets" that you can choose in the game's "Options Menu." The characters you can select are as follows: Model Player 1 Player 2 -Model 1 : Dred Janet -Model 2 : Janet 2 Dred 2 -Model 3 : Plug 2 Plug -Model 4 : Afro 3 Afro 4 -Model 5 : Lady 2 Lady -Model 6 : Bunny Bunny 2 -Model 7 : Alien Bug -Model 8 : Cow Cat -Model 9 : Mars Venus -Model 10 : Afro Afro 2 -Model 11 : Girl 2 Girl -Model 12 : Exclaim Question 11.0 Contributions and Thank-You's -------------------------------------- An extra-special thanks goes out to the DDRers' Stompin' Ground. Their site provided me with the info on the "experience points" and "footmark total" that are calculated to earn various secret songs and modes. Their site is a very incredible source of information, and everyone should check it out. You can find info on the home or arcade games, as well as a terrific message board. They can also keep you up-to-date on the latest releases in the DDR world. I thank them very much, and suggest that everyone check them out. GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com) for hosting this FAQ, along with more great gaming info than most any site out there. Keep up the good work, man. Without GameFAQs... where would we all go for detailed game help? Sure, lotsa places have great code archives, and some TRY to keep all the best FAQs. But who succeeds? Only one, my friend ^_^ Jeff "CJayC" Veasey does an astounding, daily job of organizing these entries (and he writes his own wonderful FAQs). I must also give a hearty thanks to Al Amaloo, the maintainer of Videogame Strategies (vgstrategies.about.com). He has completed perhaps the best and most extensive archive of codes and tricks (www.gamewinners.com) and written extensive guides for games that would go otherwise un-covered. And what makes these two men (Jeff Veasey and Al Amaloo) so special... is that they provide an invaluable service to the gaming community out of the goodness of their heart. They work hard, every day, without the help of any major affiliate. Bravo to both of you! The wonderful patrons of my own message board, the OtherWorlds Shrine (www.tows.org) which is sometimes the only refuge for the true gamer. Along with my friend SineSwiper, we keep the shrine alive as a place for gamers to respectfully speak and get together while online. The friends that I have made there have meant the world to me, despite how my "real life" sometimes drags me offline for days at a time. Either way, here's to ya'll... and I won't mention any names (as there are too many of you to possibly remember them all now. And you'll kill me if I miss any, hehe). The place has been around for years, and I guarantee that it will always exist as long as there is an Internet. The select few of my real-life friends who love gaming almost as much as myself, and keep me inspired to keep on playing. Tacchi, you're as obsessed over games as me. We've been gaming for well near two decades. We're getting old, dude. And Crystal, well you can kick most of our sorry arses ^_^ Steffannee... you introduced me to Will in Rival Schools! Scott, you've been a pal through it all, despite how you suck at games ^_^ Kathryn, your love and understanding will always be cherished (yes, call me sappy). And Alex, you've been there since we were infants, when the NES was only a dream in the semi-near future. Chris, you're one of my dearest friends (as well as one of the most eerily unique). Your love for the Butterfly song and the goofy dance you do... will always bring a smile to my face. And of course, thanks go out to Lynn and Donna! You two are a few of the only people who love Pop 'n Music (and Bust a Move of course) as much as I do. Every time we meet is a cherished moment. And, speaking of music games, I owe a world of thanks to Malcolm. His friendship has meant a ton to me, and he's one of those few folks who plays and works hard at ALL the music game series just like I do (Beatmania, Dance Dance Revolution, Pop 'n Music, Bust a Move, and the countless other Bemani titles as well). Matt, you're the only true Gas-o, and a dear dear friend (I know, I use that phrase so often, but it's true!) And finally, Freddy-kun, you love H-anime more than any other Shorty I've ever known ^_^;; Konami, Sony, Sega, and all the great companies and people who made the game possible. Without them, we'd never have been introduced to this wonderous world, beautiful characters, and a style of gaming that changed our lives. These Bemani games, like Dance Dance Revolution, are perhaps my favorite genre out there right now. It gives those folks with a "rhythmical sense" a way to convey that sense through gaming. And besides, it beats having another cookie-cutter RPG or fighter to deal with. ~End of File~