DDRMAX2 Dance Dance Revolution FAQ 1.1 10/27/2003 By Shin Pinoy and C-SPAM i. Foreword ------------ This is an FAQ not created for telling you how and which songs are to be unlocked, but rather to provide tips and information about each song. I've been playing DDR long enough to find patterns in the steps for each song, but not long enough for Double steps. We will, however, accept user-submitted strategies for Double steps. ii. Table of Contents ------------ i. Foreword (look up) ii. Table of Contents iii. Changelog 01. How To Play 02. Game Mode 03. Techniques 04. Songs 05. Nonstop Mode 06. Workout Mode 07. Lesson Mode 08. Training Mode 09. Edit Mode 10. Options 11. Records 12. Information 13. Endless Mode 14. Other Useless Crap iii. Changelog ------------ 1.0 10/03/2003 - First release. 1.1 10/27/2003 - Added more songs. This FAQ is now available for use on Cheat Code Central (see note on bottom) 01. How To Play ------------ Your feet will be used to play this game. A set of gray arrows called the Step Zone in the order left, down, up, right is at the top of the screen. Your standing on a pad called the Dance Dance Revolution controller with four panels with arrows in each cardinal direction pointing outward. Colored arrows scroll toward the Step Zone as the background music plays. When the colored arrows align with the Step Zone, step on the corresponding arrow on the Dance Dance Revolution controller. The arrows match the beats of the music and do this repetitively until the song ends. For every step correctly timed and executed, the dance gauge at the top of the screen (your "life bar", if you will) increases. This is known as getting a combo. The main idea is to get a full combo (i.e., correctly time every step). The larger the combo, the more points subsequent steps are worth. For every step missed, the dance gauge decreases and the combo stops. When the dance gauge decreases completely, the game ends. Depending on your settings, game over occurs at the moment your dance gauge bottoms out, at the end of the song if you bottomed out, or not at all. DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution introduced freeze arrows. Freeze arrows are green and yellow arrows that extend from one point to the other. The player is expected to time a freeze arrow like he/she would a normal arrow and hold the step until the freeze arrow ends and "O.K.!" is displayed. If the player releases before the freeze arrow ends, "N.G." is displayed and the dance gauge decreases. Getting "N.G." will not stop a combo, but will cause considerable damage to the dance gauge. Having said that, just reading this explanation is not enough. In order to pass a song, many advanced techniques must be applied to step to each song. This includes twisting, "galloping", and reading arrows packed close together in a short amount of time. To get a hold of the experience, start by playing in Lesson Mode or in the Beginner difficulty. 02. Game Mode ----------- The heart of Dance Dance Revolution. After the warning screen that tells you to be careful when playing and to keep it down if you have neighbors that would hear you stomping all over the floor, three modes of normal play are shown. These are Single play, Versus play, and Double play (not covered in this guide). Single play is for one player using one four-panel Dance Dance Revolution controller. Versus play is for two players each using one four-panel Dance Dance Revolution controller. Double play is for one player using two four-panel Dance Dance Revolution controllers placed side-by-side. As stated before, this will not be covered in this guide, as this is a mode hardly for those new to Dance Dance Revolution. In Single and Versus play, one of four difficulties are chosen by each player. These difficulties, in order of easiest to hardest, are Beginner, Light, Standard, and Heavy. Pressing Right at the Heavy difficulty gives access to Nonstop mode. The difficulty for Nonstop mode varies, and will be covered later. After selecting difficulties, the game begins. Players then choose a song. Introduced in DDRMAX is the Groove Radar. This measures five aspects of difficulty and plots them on a five-pointed graph. The larger the area of the graph, the harder the song. Five degrees of difficulty are as follows: Stream - average density of arrows in relation to the length and speed of the song. Voltage - density of arrows in relation to the length and speed of the song. Air - amount of jumps (2-panel steps) and complexity of the pattern of jumps. Freeze - amount and length of freeze arrows in the song. Chaos - amount of irregular patterns in the song (non-1/8th arrows, arrow streams ending on a 1/8th beat instead of a 1/4th beat, etc.) in relation to the length of the song. 03. Techniques ----------- The methods for the techniques listed here are the ones I use. There may be several ways to perform them, but this is my FAQ and my word on them. Illustrations for common patterns look like this: 1/4 Scale, each arrow is _/___ of a beat long L A left arrow D A down arrow U An up arrow R A right arrow ¡ The beginning of a freeze arrow | Length of a freeze arrow ! End of a freeze arrow Butterfly turn This very common set of arrows first appeared in the song "butterfly" in Japanese versions of Dance Dance Revolution. It looks like this: 1/4 1/4 L R D U U D R L Alternate feet between each step in butterfly turns. Step in the order L,R, L,R for butterfly turns that start with L and R,L,R,L for butterfly turns that start with R. Do this quickly for 1/8 butterfly turns. Twisting steps Twisting steps are commonly three or five steps long. Variations include: 1/8 1/8 1/8 1/8 1/8 L R L R L D D D D D R L R L U D D D L R L These variations of twisting steps are simple. Turn sideways, preferably to the left, and put one foot on the second arrow (in these cases, this is D) and start with the other foot. Commonly used for down is the right foot, so step on the first arrow with the left foot in the order L,R,L,R,L. Twist along with the steps and try to get used to it. Other variations mirror this one and they look like this: 1/8 1/8 1/8 L L R U U U R R L U U L R For this start with the right foot and place your left on U. Step in the order R,L,R,L,R. For all cases, switching feet for starting a twist is common as well, especially with songs that chain many twisting steps together. 1/8 D L D U D R D L D R For twisting steps like these, don't switch feet until the constant arrow (the one that appears in a straight line downward) changes. These are called pivoting steps. Galloping Galloping steps are pairs of 1/16 arrows placed one 1/4 or 1/8 note apart. It looks like this: 1/16 1/16 L R D U \ \ / / \ \ D U L R After stepping on the first arrow, quickly step on the next. Galloping steps usually come in successions, so prepare to do this a lot. For closely packed galloping steps, you'll need to do it much faster. 1/16 L D \ / \ D L If I missed anything, describe it to me. See the contact list on the bottom for more details. 04. Songs ----------- Song list taken from http://www.ddrfreak.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=74003 because I was too lazy not to make one myself. The strategies for each song listed, provided it has one, apply to the Single Heavy and Challenge steps only. To master Light and Standard, playing them over and over is the only way to make it to the Heavy ranking players. They should also read the above mentioned notes on common dance patterns. I can't really write strategies for songs without complex patterns anyway. If you have your own tips, describe it to me. See the contact list on the bottom for more details. A Little Bit of Ecstasy - Jocelyn Enriquez Passing this song requires you to really listen closely to the beats in the background. When the song slows down, speed up a little on the clusters of 1/16 steps. AFRONOVA - RE-VENGE This song is notorious for its unrelenting streams of 1/8 arrows. You'll need to twist several times in a row twice after the beginning fragments of 1/8 arrow triplets. Then comes the four streams of jumps, which isn't hard to read. After that, whatever stamina's left is the only thing that can save you in the next strings of 1/8 arrows. Jump as quickly as possible for the ending 1/12 jumps. AM-3P - KTz An excellent warm-up song, as this song has the works: a long string of pivoting arrows, a bit of galloping, irregular beats and techniques with jumps. Learn the patterns and techniques of mastering each segment separately. AM-3P (AM East Mix) - KTz The more challenging version of the original AM-3P. Stepped up 10 bpm and with more beats than its predecessor, this song has more chaos, which is distributed evenly throughout the song, with the bias after the beginning. A bit hard to follow at parts, get the pattern of the beginning of each irregular stream and follow it until the end. If you lose focus, you'll most likely end up lost. Bad Routine - DJ Spunga The two stops in this song can throw you off if you're not paying attention, so pay attention. After the apparent gap in the music, wait one beat before starting again and you'll be fine. BREAK DOWN! - Be for U Much circling and twisting is incorporated into these steps. A good deal of stamina is required to pass too. Stay away from this one for a while until you get a good hold of both. Burning Heat! (3 Option Mix) - Mr.T with Motoaki F. There are no 1/8 arrows or 1/16 arrows in this song. It is comprised entirely of 1/12 arrows. Faster than 1/8 arrows but slower than 1/16 arrows, 1/12 arrows in large groups very stamina depleting. The arrows don't always follow the beat completely, so play in 1.5x to make them appear as 1/8 arrows until you can clearly see the pattern in the steps. Busy Child - The Crystal Method Probably the longest song in DDRMAX2. Note that certain repeated sounds are stepped to differently, particularly in the end. Can't Stop Fallin' In Love - Naoki A little chaos and an above-average amount of stream is in this song. Just be careful in the beginning and the end. Celebrate Nite - N.M.R A bit hard for a 7-foot song. If you're careful, the only things to worry about are the clusters of 1/16 arrows throughout the song, which are few and far between. Celebrate Nite (Euro Trance Style) - N.M.R. More chaotic than the original. The beats in this song allow for more 1/16 arrows throughout the song. This is, after all, the nature of trance music. Conga Feeling - Vivian D2R - Naoki Days Go By - Dirty Vegas Destiny - Naoki feat. Paula Terry Dive (More And Deeper Style) - BeForU Do It Right - SOTA feat. Ebony Fay Do It Right (80's Electro Mix) - SOTA feat. Ebony Fay Don't Stop (AMD 2nd Mix) - Dr. Vibe feat. JP Miles Dream a Dream - Captain Jack An easy 7-foot song. Lots of marching (repetitve patterns of two alternating arrows). Nothing much more to worry about. Drifting Away - Lange feat. Skye The latter half of this song has an unrelenting, but repetitive, galloping pattern. Learn it and base your steps on it until the ending 1/8 arrows. End Of The Century - No. 9 The bulk of the difficulty of this song comes from its long and hard to follow streams of 1/8 arrows. Don't lose your focus on the jumps that come afterward. Feeling Of Love - Youhei Shimizu Forever Sunshine - Chel Y. Get Down Tonight - K.C. & The Sunshine Band Ghosts (Vincent De Moor Remix) - Tenth Planet Another song with an irregular pattern. Again, listen closely to the music and you'll be fine. Try not to be distracted with the video. Groove - Sho-T feat. Brenda Heaven - DJ Sammy & Yanou featuring DO Hysteria - Naoki 190 The only hard part of this song is the interesting thing they did with the jumps. You won't break your combo if you gallop on the up and down steps after a left-right jump, but do it as quickly as possible after the jump. Hysteria 2001 - NM Stay alert. The steps begin very early. They did interesting things using freeze arrows. In my opinion this is the only reason it's harder than the original. i feel... - Akira Yamaoka The only reason this song is considered a 9-foot song is the hard to read pattern. It does, however, follow the music, so try hard to read it. Feel free to speed it up. I Need You - Supa Fova (Feat. Jenny F.) I Was the One - good-cool This song offers streams of 1/8 arrows that end on 1/8 beats rather than on 1/4 beats. The arrows follow the vocals. In the Navy '99 (XXL Disaster Remix) - Captain Jack A large amount of galloping in the beginning and the end of the song. The verse is the easiest part. Jam & Marmalade - Final Offset Kakumei - dj TAKA feat. Naoki This song has pairs of galloping steps throughout the song. The Challenge steps have more complicated galloping patterns and less stream. Keep on Liftin' - DJ Nagureo Kind Lady - Okuyatos Just listen to the vocals. The steps follow the vocals closely in the beginning. Kind Lady (Interlude) - Okuyatos This remix has more stream than the original. Other than that, it's a bit shorter than its predecessor. Hang in there to survive. MaxX Unlimited - Z The fastest song in American Dance Dance Revolution to date. Faster and more complex than MAX 300, the pattern is very hard to read and should be avoided unless you feel you're ready for a challenge at 320 bpm. Let's Groove - Tips & Tricks Vs Wisdome Not very hard, but the beginning and end of the 35 bpm section can be hard to predict. At that time, watch your timing until the string of 1/16 steps, when it ends. Then it's a walk in the park from there. Long Train Runnin' - Bus Stop The difficulty in this song lies in the clusters of 4 1/16 arrows throughout the song. Time them correctly and the song appears easier than it looks. Love at First Sight - Kylie Minogue Lovin' You (Rob Searle Club Mix) - Vinyl Baby Packs of 5 1/16th steps are plenty in this song. Work on stepping speed to pass. Paranoia KCET (Clean Mix) - 2MB more deep (ver 2.1) - Togo Project feat. Sana Just watch out in the middle where 1/16th steps are packed together in galloping patterns. Put Your Faith In Me - Uzi-Lay Radical Faith - TaQ Rain of Sorrow - NM feat. Ebony Fay Secret Rendezvous - DIVAS A slow song with packs of 1/16 steps that follow the vocals most of the time. Near the end, all you can do is watch the arrows to get them right. Silent Hill - THOMAS HOWARD Silent Hill (3rd Christmas Mix) - THOMAS HOWARD SO DEEP (PERFECT SPHERE REMIX) - SILVERTEAR One of the most feared songs, the beat is all fast-paced galloping. The pattern adds beats at times, so you may want to speed it up by at least x2. SP-Trip Machine (Jungle Mix) - DE-SIRE Beat patterns repeat in the beginning and the end, but the steps are presented differently. Get used to stepping early. Spin the disc - good-cool Still in My Heart - Naoki Super Star - DJ Rich feat. Tail Bros. This song is very repetitive, especially in the middle. Get a hold of the movement of the pattern and continue until the pattern shows an apparent change. The cluster of 1/16th steps, since this song is only 128 bpm, isn't a thing to worry about if you did well so far. Super Star (from nonstop megamix) - DJ Rich feat. Tail Bros. Take Me Away (Into the Night) (radio vocal) - 4 Strings The Shining Polaris - L.E.D. feat. Sana The Whistle Song (Blow My Whistle Baby) - DJ Aligator Project The stop near the end of the song can stop a good combo if you're not focused. Try hard to follow the galloping in the middle of the song. think ya better D - sAmi Tomorrow Perfume - dj TAKA Try 2 Luv. U - S.F.M.P. Tsugaru - RevenG vs De-Sire Twilight Zone (R-C Extended Club MIX) - 2 Unlimited Vanity Angel - Fixx Will I? - Ian Van Dahl Xenon - Mr. T Pivoting steps start the song off, then it's all chaos from then on. All I can say is listen carefully. 05. Nonstop Mode ----------- Can you keep dancing until the end? Nonstop Mode's difficulty lies in the song courses it offers. The length of each course ranges from 3-12 songs and has two difficulties each, Normal and Difficult. Nonstop courses can be played in Single, Versus and Double play. Also included are 3 Orders, which are user-defined courses up to 20 stages long. Difficulty and modifiers can be set individually. 06. Workout Mode ------------ Nothing much to say here. This is a modified version of Game Mode that calculates score in calories rather than points and records progress. 07. Lesson Mode ------------ If you've never played Dance Dance Revolution before start with this lesson! The Lesson Mode is separated into 3 lessons of 8 sections each. In each lesson, the first 7 lessons introduce a basic of play. The eighth lesson is a test of the previous lessons and can only be accessed by passing the first seven lessons. After passing lesson 3, play with the Beginner difficulty. 08. Training Mode ------------ Remember to use training mode for songs that are difficult. The training mode simulates normal game play, but with more features for the purpose of improving on a specific song. Options include: Difficulty - Choose from the difficulties available for each song. Player - Choose from Single, Versus, and Double. Assist - Toggle the music, assist tick (makes a noise on each step), metronome, a combination of two, or all three. Music Speed - Slow the music down from 1-5, 1 being the slowest and 5 being normal speed. Options - Use modifiers available in normal play. First Bar - Specify the beginning of the music to be played. Last Bar - Specify the end of the music to be played. Edit Data - Select edit data to be used. 09. Edit Mode ----------- 10. Options ----------- Sound Options --- Sound - Stereo or Mono. Voice - All - All remarks are played during play. No Booing - All negative remarks are not played during play. Off - No remarks are made during play. Timing - Offset between arrows and music in 1/32 beat increments. +16 moves arrows 1/16 ahead of music and -16 moves arrows arrows 1/16 behind music. Controller Options --- Vibration - Off - Do not vibrate controller during play. Miss - Controller vibrates on each missed arrow. Only affects Controllers that support vibration. Button - Controller vibrates when buttons are pressed. Only affects controllers that support vibration. Double Play - Only available when Vibration is set to Miss or Button. Toggles vibration during Double play. Double Mode Setting - Submenu for changing Double play controls. Blue arrows control 1P side and red arrows control 2P side. Controller Options - Submenu for allowing non-arrow buttons during play. Set this option individually for each player. Save/Load --- Save - Saves system data. Load - Loads system data. Auto Save - Automatically save system data after exiting Game Mode, Workout Mode, Lesson Mode, Records, Options, Information or Endless Mode, given data has changed within. Edit Folder Load - Loads Edit Folder 1 at startup. Will slow down load time, so only use this if you have Edit Data in Edit Folder 1. Game Options --- Difficulty - Set between 1-8. Higher values will cause the dance gauge to increase slower and decrease faster. Max Stage - Set between 1-5. Game Over - Change to Arcade or End of Song. If all players' Dance Gauges bottoms out during play, Arcade will end the game immediately, End of Song will end the game at the end of the song. This setting Is irrelevant in Game Mode if Event Mode is on. Event Mode - Set to on or off. If this option is on, the Select Music, Select Course, or Endless Mode Settings screen is displayed at the end of a game, depending on the mode. Default Difficulty - Set to Beginner, Light, Standard, Heavy, or Nonstop. This controls what the difficulty select screen starts on. Graphics Options --- Movie - Set to on or off. Toggles the background movies for each song. Turning this option off also disables Danger. Danger - Set to Blink, Still or off. Danger screen will be shown continuously when Dance Gauge is at a dangerously low level when set to Still, alternates between movie and Danger screen regularly when set to Blink and will not be shown at all when set to off. BG Brightness - Set to 25%-100% in increments of 5%. Turn this option down if you have trouble seeing the arrows. Position - Press X to move the screen. Use the directional buttons to move the screen position. Use the corner brackets as a guide to center the screen. Press X to accept, Start or O to return to default, and Select or Triangle to discard changes. Step Mark Color - Set to Type1 or Type2. Type1 is the normal vivid colors and Type2 colors each note clearly. 1/4th notes are colored red, 1/8th notes are colored blue, 1/16th notes are colored yellow and 1/12th notes are colored green. Flicker Free - Set to on or off. Toggles anti-alias to smooth edges. Turning this option off can make edges look sharper but makes some edges close together flicker on some screens. Workout Options --- Measurement - Set to Free or Regulation. Free will count calories for the duration of the song and Regulation will count calories between the first and last steps. Calorie Display - Set to Calories or Score. Calories will show calories burned in place of the score and Score will show the score. Calorie Unit - Set to pounds or kilograms. Set unit to count weight lost. Dancer Options --- Dancer Display - Set to on or off. The following four options will be disabled When this option is off. Turning this option on allows dancers (i.e, characters) to be displayed over the movie. Dancers will not be displayed on the following songs if the background movies are on: CONGA FEELING DAYS GO BY DREAM A DREAM IN THE NAVY '99 (XXL Disaster Remix) Love At First Sight THE WHISTLE SONG (Blow My Whistle Baby) Extra Character - Set to off, 1 or 2. This allows extra characters to be displayed during gameplay. When set to 1, on Single Play the non-participating player's character is used and on Versus Play the Extra Character is used. When set to 2, on Single Play the Extra Character is used. This has no effect on Versus Play. 1P Character - Set to Random Male, Random Female, Random All, or a specific character. 2P Character - Set to Random Male, Random Female, Random All, or a specific character. Extra Character - Set to Random Male, Random Female, Random All, or a specific character. This only has an effect if Extra Character is enabled. 11. Information ------------ This screen shows information about songs you unlocked or played, new modes you've unlocked, how to use certain features, and tips for gameplay. Nothing much to say about it. 12. Endless Mode ------------ 13. Other Useless Crap ------------ This section contains other statements about Dance Dance Revolution and this FAQ. If you want to amend to this FAQ, send all of your information to my servant C-SPAM (not a member at GameFAQs) at cm555@cox.net. Put a meaningful subject in your message or C-SPAM will delete it, along with the other 100 messages of spam he gets a day. You will be fully credited without fail. If you feel that you haven't, tell C-SPAM about and he will check his archive of messages pertaining to FAQs and verify. My e-mail is strictly reserved for a select group of users. This FAQ is (c)2003 Shin Pinoy and C-SPAM. We have spent a good amount of time writing this FAQ, time we could have otherwise spent improving. The following websites have full permission to use this FAQ in full, all others have used this work without permission and can expect legal action from the author(s) of this FAQ: GameFAQs - http://www.gamefaqs.com Cheat Code Central - http://www.cheatcc.com