Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA 2

"DDRSuperNOVA 2 (Japanese Version)"

Welcome back to the world of Dance Dance Revolution! The dance simulation game series that started it all. This time, the game has been revamped again! This review will be based on the Japanese PS2 version of Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA2, which was released around 5 months after the American PS2 version.

Now for the review!



Graphics - 10/10
The graphics of DDRSuperNOVA2 look really nice; the overall graphics and presentation have improved over DDRSuperNOVA. DDRSuperNOVA2 has it's own intro movie, which was pretty traditional in the early DDR games. The intro movie is nice enough, but nothing spectacular. The graphics look even more sleek, clean, and colorful than DDRSuperNOVA's. On the song selection screen, there is a rotating crystal in the background instead of the looping wire frames that were in DDRSuperNOVA. I personally like both types. Characters look the same, however, a few new characters make their debut on this game including one of my all time favorites types--Konsento type! This is a different Konsento design though, so I'm guessing that's the reason why they spelled it as "Consento" for this one. Fonts have changed in DDRSuperNOVA2 to even cooler variations; lettering for stages like "1st Stage", "2nd Stage", etc. have been revamped into lightning-glistening cool font. Another addition added is in-game character portrait displays that appear when your combo increments to certain amounts, which is a lovely addition to the game. The only graphical aspect that DDRSuperNOVA has over DDRSuperNOVA2 is Stellar Master Mode. Overall, the graphical improvements are clear on DDRSuperNOVA2.



Gameplay - 9/10
The DDR series has always been given high marks in terms of gameplay, and it still holds true for this game. The game is easy to play, infact, there's even a long, rigorous Tutorial/Beginner Mode that ensures that the player understands how to play the game. Regular gameplay is just the same as before--Up, Down, Left, Right, and Freeze arrow mechanics are the same except for getting the AA grade...you need 950000+ score for it. Also, MARVELOUS has been permanently added to regular gameplay. Another change was the reduction of requirements needed to get a AAA; unlike ALL previous DDR games, DDRSuperNOVA2 allows the player to get a grade AAA if a score of 990000+ is achieved. The Groove Radar is still in the game. DDRSuperNOVA2 also introduces new modes such as Advanced Mode and Hyper Master Mode. Advanced Mode has extra things for players to do such as Battle, Courses, Endless, etc. Hyper Master Mode, however, is the main gateway to unlocking new things, which can be purchased in the Shop, which is another new addition. The Shop is where you can use your points (which are accumulated by playing songs in just about any mode) to buy new things like songs, modes, courses, etc. DDRSuperNOVA2's Hyper Master Mode is MUCH easier to complete than DDRSuperNOVA's Stellar Master Mode! I finished HMM in one day; I finished SMM in 3~4 days. Hyper Master Mode consists of up to 8 Area songs + 1 Area Boss song; the requirements are much simpler than Stellar Master Mode's. The player must clear around 80% of the Area songs + Area boss song in order to progress to (unlock) the next Area. This time around, there are customizing options that you use to help/challenge you on your endeavors throughout the Areas...it's really neat and it can make really tough tasks much easier. There are many customizing options to choose from, but you would buy most of them in the shop. Just like DDRSuperNOVA, as you play through these modes, you unlock stuff in the shop, only THIS time, if an item appears in the shop, it's PURCHASABLE on the spot. The Japanese version courses are different from the American version courses due to the radical songlist difference. The overall fun of the game is still high; even a bit higher than DDRSuperNOVA's. My only gripe is the idea of the EXTRA STAGE requirements and fulfillments. The player is required to get a grade of AA or higher on your FINAL stage, which has to be a RED colored song + on Expert difficulty. In this game, it appears that Unreal is the easiest red song to AA on Expert, and it's VERY difficult. There's no other way to get the Extra Stage. As for the One More Extra Stage, you can forget it; unless you're YASU or Aaron In Japan's cousin, you won't be getting it anytime soon. 1~3 misses (depending on how well you did on the FINAL STAGE), and you're dead....if you can pretty much consistently full combo the end of PARANOiA Survivor MAX (Expert/Challenge), then you have a good chance of passing the EXTRA STAGE.....but don't forget that you need to get a grade of AA or higher as well in order to get the One More Extra Stage! There are also 'Groove Radar' songs, which can range from Fun -> INSANE/JOKE.



Sound/Music - 10/10
Ahhh! What's a music game without music? Now we talk about the musical/sound aspects of DDRSuperNOVA2. Well, first off, the game is wonderfully presented in Dolby Pro Logic II, so the sound is nice enhanced especially if you have the right speaker system setup. Go buy a cheap speaker system from your local department store, lol. Regular TV speakers are lame unless you got one of those futuristic TVs with interesting sound capabilities. Anyways, there are some new sounds and music in DDRSuperNOVA2. Starting with game mode, you are treated to the same theme as DDRSuperNOVA2 (ArCade). Scrolling through DDRSuperNOVA2's songlist is a much cleaner and satisfying experience than DDRSuperNOVA's grinding granite stone scrolling sound, which can be vexing. DDRSuperNOVA was mostly lead by Konami of America while DDRSuperNOVA2 was lead by Konami of Japan, as the machine derived from each side respectively, however, Konami of America released the US version of DDRSuperNOVA2 (PS2) even before DDRSuperNOVA (AC) was fully released, causing the interface to be the same, but the songlist being radically different from the arcade machine. Around five months later, when DDRSuperNOVA2 (AC) was fairly released in Japan, Konami of Japan finally released the Japanese version of DDRSuperNOVA2 (PS2), which was designed to be an arcade port...as always.

I must say that the music on DDRSuperNOVA2 has brought my spirits up because the DDR series had been going into a downward path as of late. It appears that Dancemania covers have been lacking starting with DDREXTREME, thus later, the acquiring of "other" crappier licensed songs have been happening over the later home releases including DDRSuperNOVA. In DDRSuperNOVA2, everything has improved musically!! Konami got more artists working on DDRSuperNOVA2's songlist while at the same time, cutting back on BEMANI crossovers by alot, which is a GREAT thing! This is how DDR used to thrive at its peak! This time, there's around 10% BEMANI crossovers and 90% DDR content! Thank you Konami!! There are so many awesome songs on this game; DDRSN2 (JP) literally blows DDRSN (JP) out of the water, but of course DDRSN (JP) is still good. The licenses on DDRSuperNOVA2 (JP) are really really great and were mostly ported from the the arcade machine. The new songs are also very awesome! In this version, we get just about all of the new songs from the arcade machine...one set of songs in particular that the US version didn't get-----the 'signature' planet songs: Venus (from GuitarFreaks & Drummania V3), MARS WAR 3 (from pop'n music 13, but sounds better on DDR), MOKUSEI ~Kumikyoku [wakusei]~yori (JUPITER), Saturn, Uranus, Poseidon (Neptune?), Pluto, and Pluto Relinquish. There are quite a few old school revival songs, but it's tolerable, especially since a DDR6thMIX song (candy *) also shows up. The overall songlist is very great!!



Overall - 10/10
Overall, DDRSuperNOVA2 is what needed to happen. This game revives some of the lost glory of the DDR series. More DDR artists is the best incentive for Konami if DDR is to progress back into full glory. The licenses have improved despite the lack of Dancemania, and the new Konami Original songs are fresh and awesome at the same time. The Hyper Master Mode is MUCH faster and easier than DDRSuperNOVA's Stellar Master Mode, which is another plus for players. This time around, the shop has around x1.5~x2.0 times more stuff than DDRSuperNOVA had, and accumulating the points will take a while. Many items are quite expensive this time around, so replay value shoots up to the roof. I must say that I'm really impressed with this game....unfortunately, the US version got shafted pretty bad due to Konami of America's "clever" marketing strategies---more money could be made if consumers would always anticipate missing content from the arcade release to appear on the next home release.




BUY OR RENT
I recommend that you buy this game, as renting will do you no good if you have to bring the game back after you've JUST finished unlocking and clearing a whole bunch of songs and features.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/17/08

Game Release: Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA 2 (JP, 02/21/08)