Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA

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Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA
Developer(s)	Konami
Publisher(s)	Betson Enterprises (US) Konami (JAP)
Designer(s)	Konami
Release date(s)	May 15, sep for PS2 version 2006 July 12, 2006
Genre(s)	Music
Mode(s)	Single, Versus, Double, Battle
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone 10+ (E10+)
Platform(s)	Arcade, PlayStation 2
Input	Dance Pad Controller

Dancing Stage SuperNOVA
Developer(s)	Konami
Publisher(s)	Konami
Designer(s)	Konami
Release date(s)	April 28, 2006
Genre(s)	Music
Mode(s)	Single, Versus, Double
Platform(s)	Arcade
Input	Dance Pad Controller

Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA (Dancing Stage SuperNOVA in Europe) is the latest arcade game in the Dance Dance Revolution series of music video games. It was produced by Konami and released through Betson Enterprises. The game was released in Europe on April 28, 2006, followed shortly by the North American release on May 15. Unlike previous DDR arcade releases, the versions for Japan, North America and Europe will have the same features and song list.

The Japanese version is its ninth traditional arcade release, and the first since Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME in 2002. The North American version is its third arcade release, and the first since Dance Dance Revolution USA in 2000. The European version is its fifth arcade release, and the first since Dancing Stage Fusion in 2004.

The release contains 301 songs. Of those, 64 are completely new to DDR (including three Extra Stage songs and a One More Extra Stage), and a total of 57 songs are from home versions of DDR and are appearing on an arcade machine for the first time. Of the songs that are new to DDR, 19 are licensed. More are expected to be hidden and unlockable; though no unlocks have been revealed yet, there is a section of the Japanese DDR SuperNOVA website labeled "Secret", suggesting that unlocks may be made available soon. For more information on songs, please see the Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA song list.

Contents 1 Game Features 1.1 Gameplay 1.2 FMV Backgrounds 1.3 Groove Radar 1.4 Foot Rankings 1.5 Modifiers 1.6 Extra Stage 1.7 One More Extra Stage 1.8 Other Modes 2 Home Versions 3 Leadup 4 Criticism 5 Release information 6 External links

[edit] Game Features

The game was initially released in an updated cabinet with a new CPU core and a 32-inch high-definition CRT. The new dedicated cabinets are considerably less deep than their predecessors. An upgrade to current JAMMA DDR cabinets were made available in October 2006.

The CPU core is actually a modified Sony PlayStation 2 with a hard drive upgrade and modified graphics processor to permit the HD signal display. One of the criticisms about the arcade port of Dancing Stage Fusion was that it was essentially the home version game with only very slight modification played in an actual PS2. DDR SuperNOVA, however, is a whole new game made specifically for the arcade powered on a modified PS2. It has, however, been ported to a home version, though the home version and arcade versions have slightly different songlists (the main difference being different licensed songs for the arcade and home versions).

The game's user interface is inspired by Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME 2, the Japanese counterpart Dance Dance Revolution STR!KE and its European counterpart, Dancing Stage MAX. The background of the selection screens rotate colors between red, blue and green, and has a wireframe motif. The three main difficulties of normal gameplay--Light, Standard and Heavy--have been renamed Basic, Difficult and Expert. Beginner and Challenge difficulties are the same.

[edit] Gameplay

The general premise of DDR SuperNOVA is the same as the previous Dance Dance Revolution games. There are four game modes in SuperNOVA: Single (one player, using one platform), Versus (two players, each using one platform), Double (one player, using two platforms), and Battle (two players, each using one platform). The Battle mode is similar to that which previously appeared in Dancing Stage featuring Disney's Rave, as well as that of In the Groove.

The player must step to the beat, matching the beat to the arrows presented to them on screen by stepping on arrows on a dance stage. Depending on the timing of each step, the step is scored "PERFECT," "GREAT," "GOOD," "ALMOST" or "BOO". A health bar is on the screen, and starts half-full at the beginning of the routine. PERFECT and GREAT steps increase the health bar until it is full. Almost and Boo steps diminish it. GOOD steps have no effect either way. If a player accumulates too many Almosts or Boos in rapid succession, and the health bar drops to zero, then the song is failed and the game ends. If one player depletes their life bar in a two-player game, they can continue playing if the other player passes.

Freeze Arrows appear on the screen as long green arrows, and require the player to hold the corresponding arrow on the dance stage as long as the arrow remains on the screen (instead of just stepping on the arrow). A player who hits the arrow and keeps it held until the arrow disappears from the screen scores an "OK", which increases the health bar. A player who hits the arrow but does not hold it long enough scores an "NG", which decreases the health bar.

A player may play anywhere from one to five songs in one game (not including extra stages); the maximum number of songs can be changed by the machine's owner/operator. The default setting is three songs. At the end of each song, the game displays a Results Screen, which shows the score, the total number of PERFECTs, GREATs, GOODs, ALMOSTs, BOOs and OKs, as well as a letter grade, for each player. The letter grade ranges from E (which means that the player failed due to a depleted life bar) to AAA (all steps PERFECT). At the end of the game, the game displays each player's score, step breakdown and letter grade based on all stages, including Extra Stage.

SuperNOVA's scoring system has been greatly simplified from prior DDR versions. As in In the Groove, all steps in the song are now valued equally; no longer will later steps in the song be worth more than earlier steps. All songs are worth a maximum of 10,000,000 points. Each Perfect step is worth 10M/n (where n is the number of steps plus three times of number of freezes in the song), and each Great is worth 10M/2n. Unlike DDRMAX through EXTREME, double steps ("jumps") only add 1 to the combo counter instead of 2. Songs are also scored invisibly to the player by "Dance Points," which determine which letter grade is given to the player; each Perfect step is worth 2 Dance Points, a Great step is worth 1 Dance Point, and an OK on a Freeze Arrow is worth 6 Dance Points. Goods, Almosts, Boos, and NGs are worth 0 dance points; unlike DDRMAX through EXTREME, they do not subtract from your Dance Point total. The maximum Dance Point score is therefore equal to double the number of steps plus six times of number of freezes in the song. Due to how SuperNOVA's score is calculated, it is possible to determine your Dance Point percentage by dividing your song score by 100,000. You can obtain an estimate of your dance points by dividing the score by 10,000,000 then multiplying the sum of twice of the number of steps and six times of the number of freezes in the song. Also worth noting is that each individual song has its own high score, which is briefly displayed when the song is selected, but before it loads.

[edit] FMV Backgrounds

The screen refreshes at a full speed of 60 frames per second. Unlike previous recent games, only previous songs from other mixes will have full motion video backgrounds. New songs will, instead, have live-rendered backgrounds with dancing characters, but are disabled if a song features an exclusive video. They are featured in an arcade mix for the first time since Dance Dance Revolution 5thMIX; Dancing Stage Fever (AC) in European countries. A selection of one out of eight different characters (six returning characters with two new dancers(Emi, Rage, Jenny, Disco, Baby-Lon, Robo-Zukin, Gus, Ruby)) can be selected by the player(s). A selection of crossover songs from the Beatmania IIDX series feature their original movies from their originating Styles (although the movie would be cut if the song itself was cut).

[edit] Groove Radar

The Groove Radar, originally debuting in DDRMAX: Dance Dance Revolution 6thMIX as the new system for identifying a song's difficulty, is a graphical representation of how difficult a song is, based upon five different key aspects of a step pattern:

• Stream represents the average step density of the step pattern.

• Voltage represents the maximum combo of the song.

• Chaos tells the general unpredictability of the song, such as speed changes, stops, odd quantizes, etc.

• Air represents the amount of jump-steps within the song. Jump-steps are when two arrows are present, requiring you to jump in order to hit them both successfully.

• Freeze represents the number of freezes (requiring the player to hold a note after it has been pressed initially) in the song. Length does not change this.

The Groove Radar displays up to two graphs, one for each player, depending on the difficulty they select.

[edit] Foot Rankings

Debuting in the original Dance Dance Revolution, foot rankings have been the staple indicator for a songs difficulty. Originally on a scale of one to eight "feet," it has since then been expanded to a scale of one to ten, with flashing ten footers being used to indicate songs that are more difficult than can be displayed on the one to ten scale. SuperNOVA uses a mixed Difficulty Display which combines the Groove Radar, with the Foot Ranking display of that from Dance Dance Revolution 5th Mix, which shows all available step chart and rankings, instead of displaying the rankings one at a time, ala the DDRMAX-generation of games. However, the Groove Radar only displays graphical representations of the currently selected difficulty for each player.

[edit] Modifiers

Modifiers are changes that can be made to modify the step routine. A menu is available to make these modifications easily, and is accessed by holding the start button when selecting your song. Some of the modifiers are: Speed mods, visibility mods, boost mods, and difficulty.

[edit] Extra Stage

If the player receives an AA or better grade (a score of 9,500,000 or higher, and thus 95% or more of the total Dance Points possible) on their final stage playing on Expert difficulty, an Extra Stage is earned. Any song may be chosen for the Extra Stage, although depending on the game mode chosen at the beginning of the game, an additional song which is not normally available is added to the song list. The Extra Stage may only be played on Expert difficulty. The song modifiers are pre-set and may not be changed. Finally, the Extra Stage's life meter follows different rules; instead of starting half-full and (re)filling as the player hits steps accurately, the life meter starts completely filled, but cannot recover.

If the starting game mode was Easy or Medium, the Extra Stage song is Healing-D-Vision by De-Strad, a 9-foot difficulty song with a BPM of 180 which speeds up to 360 near the end. If the starting game mode was Hard or All Music, the Extra Stage song is Fascination MAXX by 100-200-400, a flashing-10-foot difficulty song with a BPM which shifts between 100, 200, and 400. The patch for DDR SuperNOVA, released in mid-September of 2006, also added another challenging song selectable only as an Extra Stage song. Fascination ~eternal love mix~ by 2MB is a remix of Fascination MAXX that also has a shifting BPM, but it adds stops. The steps are simpler, but still difficult. In any case, the forced modifiers are 1.5x, Rainbow, and Reverse.

[edit] One More Extra Stage

The 'One More Extra Stage', also known as the Encore Extra Stage, was introduced in DDRMAX and is always a fixed song to play, with a set of predetermined modifiers. One More Extra Stage uses a "Sudden Death" life bar; the player automatically fails if they get any Good, Almost, Boo, or NG steps. In SuperNOVA, it is obtained by passing Healing-D-Vision or getting at least an A grade on Fascination MAXX or fascination ~eternal love mix~ during the first Extra Stage.

In SuperNOVA, the designated song for the One More Extra Stage is CHAOS by DE-SIRE retunes, a mid-tempo to moderately fast song with an unusual rhythm and erratic stops in the beat -- at least 43 of them -- making it very difficult to follow. It is the first One More Extra Stage to have a foot rating of 10. The predetermined modifiers for CHAOS are actually none at all - the song must be played at the default settings all around.

[edit] Other Modes

In addition to the four basic difficulty levels of Easy, Medium, Hard, and All Music, the following selections are available:

Tutorial Mode is the same as EXTREME's Beginner Mode. This time, songs selected in Beginner in normal gameplay do not show the background of a character on a DDR pad showing how to step. This is moved to, and exclusive to, Tutorial Mode in this game.

Nonstop Mode allows the player to play one of several set courses without stopping. It is selectable when you are selecting the difficulty for the song. Its scoring is the same as a normal game.

Challenge Mode, also referred to as Oni Mode, requires you to complete a set course of songs, with difficulties set and, in some cases, different mods. You cannot mod any songs in Oni Mode, and must play them all at native scroll and whatever mod the machine deems is part of the course. Unlike Nonstop Mode, you have to be perfect with your steps. The life bar is replaced with a battery. If you get a GOOD, ALMOST, BOO or NG up to four times in any one song, it fails you out and the game ends. Life recovery is much more strict than prior versions -- you can only earn one life back every two songs. Your score is derived from the dance point system, and is the number of possible dance points you earned. ALMOSTs and BOOs do not take away from your dance points.

[edit] Home Versions

The American home version of Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA was released on September 26, 2006. The European and Japanese releases of the game (Dancing Stage SuperNOVA and Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA respectively) will both be released in Spring 2007, albeit at different times.

The American release has 29 songs in its default songlist, although up to 45 additional songs can be unlocked for a total of 74. Hidden songs are made available generally through the completion of tasks in the Stellar Master Mode, and then can be purchased with accumulated points in a Shop just like EXTREME 2/STR!KE/DS MAX. Also, 5 additional songs in the game may only be played in the game's online mode. The American songlist contains licensed songs by artists such as Fall Out Boy, Cyndi Lauper, Kelly Clarkson and The Buggles.

The home version divides its song list into Easy, Medium, Hard and All Music groups as well when played in Game Mode. Each one makes a different song available when Extra Stage is earned: MAX 300 Super-Max-Me Mix for Easy, Healing-D-Vision for Medium, Fascination MAXX for Hard and Fascination ~eternal love mix~ for All Music. Unlike DDR EXTREME 2, Game Mode does play like in the Arcades in groups of one to five songs per game, though All Music is like Event Mode where, after a game is done, it goes back to the song wheel and immediately begins a new game.

[edit] Leadup

Prior to its announcement, it was believed that due to Konami closing their Arcade division (in the United States) in 2001 and the loss over United States distribution rights to the arcade games as a result of the Konami vs. Andamiro lawsuit, that the series was to be relegated to the home console market. New releases to arcades had been limited to bootlegs of previous releases. Dancing Stage Fusion, released in Europe in 2004, was little more than the PS2 version of the game in an arcade cabinet. New arcade releases had become popular April Fool's Day jokes on DDR fan websites; Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME 2 started out as one, though it would later become an official North American home version game.

DDR SuperNOVA first became serious speculation when the DDR Freak website revealed a trademark application filed by Konami in the United States Patent and Trademark Office on December 12, 2005. Konami officials that work with the site confirmed the new version shortly thereafter. A preview machine for the European version, purported to be 75% complete, premiered at the Amusement Trade Exhibition International (ATEI) in London, England January 24, 2006. The next day, January 25, Konami officially announced the North American version at their Gamers' Day in San Francisco, California. Its first location test occurred at the Boomers Arcade in Irvine, California, on the weekend of January 28, 2006.

Existence of DDR Supernova in Japan was finally confirmed when Konami announced that it would make an appearance at the All Nippon Amusement Machine Operators Union (Japanese equivialent to the Amusement Machine Operators of America) Expo in Tokyo on February 18, 2006.

[edit] Criticism

Recently, several beta versions of this game were released to select arcades throughout the world. A major complaint has arisen among players, in which many feel the machines have poor step detection and serious timing issues, as they are scoring lower on songs where they used to easily score a rank of AA on other versions. This complaint has been expressed mostly by North American and Japanese players.

At the Beta Test Location in Irvine, and then later again at the ASI game conference, experienced players noted sharply widened timing windows. Since this would dramatically decrease the overall difficulty of the game, this addition has drawn sharp criticism. Others simply argue that the majority of previous mixes were synced incorrectly (too early), and that SuperNOVA, with properly synced timing windows, only feels as if the windows are wider than before.

However, this might not be such a recent change, as the timing values have started to decrease shortly after the first Dance Dance Revolution game made specifically for the home market, Dance Dance Revolution ULTRAMIX, was released. This may also be a simple matter of perception, as the home versions have had wider timing windows than their corresponding arcade versions since 5th Mix and possibly earlier^{[citation needed]}, and those who have gotten accustomed to the home versions' timing windows will most likely notice a difference in the arcade.

Later versions of the game after the beta brought a new surge of complaints, this time that the timing windows were too narrow. Players also noted that some songs seemed to have inconsistent syncing, and would be synced one time they were played, but off the next, or even synced at the beginning of the song and progressively more off at the end; additionally, some songs were noted to be consistently off. In mid-September 2006, Betson Enterprises sent out update discs to owners of the affected arcade games which fix most timing issues, as well as making two new songs available for play: Flow (True Style), briefly a Japanese exclusive song, and Fascination ~eternal love mix~.

Upgrade kits for owners of existing Dance Dance Revolution machines are scheduled to become available in mid-October 2006, and will have the timing fixes incorporated into it.

An additional criticism of the game comes in the face of one of its competitors, In The Groove, which features a different variety of songs, support for USB thumbdrives for a variety of functions, and various difficulty and gameplay enhancements. Some players felt that SuperNOVA was not enough of an improvement of the game, having had no significant arcade releases since December 2002, and others criticized the timeframe in which it took Betson Enterprises to fix the reported issues with the game. Roxor Games, the developers of In The Groove, are able to directly release fixes in as little as a week's time, taking advantage of the machine's ability to be updated via thumbdrive; SuperNOVA's updates must be pressed onto CDs by Konami, given to the distributors, and subsequently mailed to arcade owners.

Also, one of SuperNOVA's stated features is "linking with home versions", a feature which has been present in the series for a long time (though few arcades in America own DDR machines which have the hardware necessary to do so.) Recently, Betson Enterprises has announced that SuperNOVA will not support the linking feature, due to supply issues concerning hardware components. It should be noted, however, that nearly all pre-SuperNOVA cabinets in existence outside of Japan were designed with domestic mixes in mind and were never intended to utilize the link feature.

[edit] Release information

Dancing Stage SuperNOVA was officially released in the UK on the 28th of April 2006 as reported by DDRUK and Konami. The first machines appeared at The Trocadero - London, Hollywood Bowl - Stevenage, Megabowl - Feltham, The Forum - Bridlington, Cains Amusements - Leysdown and Cains Amusements - Herne Bay, Namco Station - Trafford Centre, Manchester.

The Dancing Stage version of the game was released before the American and Japanese counterparts. The American version was released on May 15, with the first confirmed sighting at Disneyland in Anaheim, California at the Tomorrowland Starcade. The Japanese version was delayed slightly so that the game software could be updated to fix the reported timing issues, and was later released with an extra song (the aforementioned remix of Flow) in late July 2006.

The game recieved a widespread US release at the end of June 2006, as final SuperNOVA machines started popping up throughout the country.

Dancing Stage SuperNOVA began appearing in Timezone Amusement in the Philippines in August 2006. The said Amusement center has 10 Arcade Machines.

[edit] External links

• Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA DDR SuperNOVA Gateway in 3 Versions (Japanese,American and Europe)
• Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA section of the Konami America website
• Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA Introductory Press Release, from Konami America

Games from the Dance Dance Revolution series
Japan / Asia:	1stMIX - 2ndMIX - 3rdMIX - 4thMIX - 5thMIX - MAX (6thMIX) - MAX2 (7thMIX) - EXTREME - Best Hits - Extra Mix - Party Col. - FESTIVAL - Mario Mix - STR!KE - SuperNOVA - Universe
North America:	DDR - DDR USA - Konamix - MAX - MAX2 - Ultramix - EXTREME - Ultramix 2 - Extreme 2 - Ultramix 3 - SuperNOVA - Ultramix 4 - Universe
Europe:	Dancing Stage EuroMIX - PARTY EDiTiON - Disney Mix - MegaMiX - Fever - Unleashed - Fusion - Unleashed 2 - Mario Mix - Max - Unleashed 3
See also:	Dancing Stage - Disney versions - Game Boy versions - DDR Solo - List of DDR games
Related topics
Notable songs:	MAX series
Notable artists:	BeForU  - Takayuki Ishikawa  - Naoki Maeda  - Taku Sakakibara  - List of Bemani musicians