DDRMAX: Dance Dance Revolution

"Not perfect, but great nonetheless. Best mix yet. Get it now you haven't already."

DDRMAX (USA), although not perfect, or as good as it could have been (IMO), is the best home version of Dance Dance Revolution out, as of now. I’ve been playing this game for the past month, and I absolutely love it. But I can’t help thinking that the game could have been much better than it is.

The most disappointing aspect of the game is that Konami of America did not include many of the really good songs that were in the Japanese DDRMAX, songs such as So Deep, Ghosts, Bye Bye Baby Balloon, and Cowgirl. When I first heard that KOA was gong to release “DDRMAX” in America, I was expecting to be able to finally play these songs at home, when the game was released. It’s really unfortunate that these songs aren’t in the game (supposedly because of licensing issues). I hope they’re in the next domestic DDR release.

They added many new songs (some come from other Bemani games, some are licensed, and some are new remixes of old songs), all of which sound great (with the exception of I Like to Move it, IMO), but none of them are nine-footers, and the steps, overall, are kind of boring, and nothing special. The new songs could have had some great steps. Of course, there’s Edit Mode, but that takes time, effort, and skill.

Another complaint of mine is that KOA could have included Endless Mode, but did not. They didn’t even include “consecutive play.” I liked playing lots of songs back to back with no rest, and so I’m not happy with this. Endless mode wasn’t in Konamix, DDRMAX (JPN), or 5th Mix, either, though. It should have been.

The regular nonstop mode is also missing (it was in Konamix). When I played Konamix, I really enjoyed making my own playlists for nonstop mode.

Oni Mode is in the game, which is good, but there are only six courses. It’s great that they took the time to put in Oni Mode, but I don’t think the courses are as well designed as in the arcade, and, as I said, there are only six courses. Still great fun, nonetheless.

Edit Mode returns in DDRMAX, much improved, and more user-friendly. And since the game is on PS2, you can now have way more than fifteen edits per memory card. Edit Mode, while not for everyone, is great fun. You could spend hours trying to make the perfect edit for that one particular song you really like.

Many of the songs, and all but the first Oni course, are not available when you first play--you need to unlock them. In Konamix, all you had to do to unlock songs was play Game Mode over and over again (getting one new song for every five songs passed). Methods for unlocking songs and Oni courses are much more varied creative, this time around. Songs aren’t unlocked just by passing songs. Also, it will be a while before you unlock all the songs. All this makes the game really fun and interesting the first few days or weeks you play.

When you unlock a new song, the new Information Mode will tell you so. This is a feature that Konamix should have had, but didn’t. On the main screen, when there is something new in Information Mode, the word “New” will flash next to where Information Mode is. Information Mode not only tells you whether you have unlocked new songs, but also tells you stuff about everything in the game, such as Extra Stage, Oni Mode, and Edit Mode. Additionally, there are descriptions for each song.

DDRMAX is much improved graphically over Konamix. The game runs in high resolution, and at 60 FPS, which is much easier on the eyes than was Konamix’s 320x240, 30 FPS frame rate. The interface is much better also, and the game has the new Groove Radar difficulty rating system. The Groove Radar gives information on a song’s number of freeze arrows, overall step density, etc. The Groove Radar was first introduced in the Japanese DDRMAX. The home version of the Japanese DDRMAX had the Groove Radar but did no longer had foot ratings. DDRMAX (USA) has foot ratings, in addition to the Groove Radar. Both are useful.

DDRMAX has lightning quick loading times. You’ll notice the load times in Konamix or DDRMAX (JPN), if you’ve played DDRMAX (USA) for a while.

As I said previously, Oni Mode is in the game. I didn’t think this was going to be in the game, because Oni Mode was first introduced in the arcade DDRMAX2, but it is. Oni Mode is really challenging and a lot of people will have fun with it, as I have. It’s really frustrating to play Oni Mode on a broken pad though, so make sure you have a good, working pad before playing Oni.

The most important part of a DDR game is its song list, and it is in DDRMAX’s songlist that you’ll find the reasoning behind my calling it the best home version yet. DDRMAX has a total of seventy-one songs, which is more than any other DDR home version to date. And most of those seventy-one songs are great songs, too (too bad Celebrate and Rugged Ash are included). KOA put together a bunch of the best songs from the Japanese DDRMAX (Ordinary World, Orion.78 (Civilization Mix), Candy), the best songs from the previous Japanese DDR games (Stomp to My Beat, Synchronized Love, Paranoia Evolution, Rhythm and Police), and some completely new songs (Sandstorm, Dark Black Forest, Take it to the Morning Light), which are great. The ratio good songs to bad songs in DDRMAX (USA) is definitely much higher than in DDRMAX (JPN), Konamix, 5th Mix, etc.

In the end, that’s what's most important--good songs. And DDRMAX has a lot. DDRMAX is a great game, with a great interface, great features, and great songs, so buy it now!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/30/02, Updated 11/30/02