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''DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution 6thMix'' is the 6th game in the ''
Dance Dance Revolution (''DDR'') is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, ''Dance Dance Revolution'' is the pioneering series of the rhythm and dance ...
'' series of
music video game A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs. Music video games may take a ...
s. It was released in the arcades by ''
Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...
'' in 2001 and for the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
on May 16, 2002, in Japan. ''6thMix'' contains a total of 42 songs, all which made their first arcade appearance on this release. 11 of these songs debuted in various console releases prior to ''6thMix''. All arcade songs from ''
Dance Dance Revolution (''DDR'') is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, ''Dance Dance Revolution'' is the pioneering series of the rhythm and dance ...
'' to ''
Dance Dance Revolution 5thMix ''Dance Dance Revolution 4thMix'' is the fourth game in the main ''Dance Dance Revolution'' series of music video games. It was released as an arcade game by Konami on August 24, 2000, in Japan. ''4thMix'' features 136 songs, of which 37 are new ...
'' were removed in ''6thMix'', although many of the Konami originals from those games would later be revived in future arcade releases.


Gameplay

The interface used is a recoloring and smoothing of the song wheel interface first introduced in ''
Dance Dance Revolution 5thMix ''Dance Dance Revolution 4thMix'' is the fourth game in the main ''Dance Dance Revolution'' series of music video games. It was released as an arcade game by Konami on August 24, 2000, in Japan. ''4thMix'' features 136 songs, of which 37 are new ...
'', with the addition of changeable sort settings and a longer time limit. Core gameplay remained mostly the same on ''6thMix'' and ''7thMix'', with the addition of Freeze Arrows and a new scoring system: Freeze Arrows appear as green arrows with a long extension. If they are held for the entire length successfully, a ''O.K.'' is scored. If it is not held down for the entire length, a ''N.G.'' (no good) is scored. Freezes affect the life bar. Scores are calculated with 2 distinct scoring systems, the long-score system used to determine rankings, and an independent dance point system (known on later games as EX SCORE) now used to determine the grade. All songs have a long-score ceiling of 50 million points, and a bonus score is tacked onto it based on the difficulty of the song and other factors. Rankings are given for the highest long-score accumulations a round. If a player plays more than three songs, then it only counts the last three played. If a song is played repeatedly among the three songs used for ranking, then the repeated songs carry no bonus score. The dance-point system uses raw step values to determine the grade. A 'perfect' step adds two points, a 'great' step adds one point, a 'good' step is worth nothing, a 'boo' step takes away four points, and a 'miss' step takes away eight points. An 'O.K.' freeze adds six points, and an 'N.G.' freeze is worth nothing. The dance points are also tied to the life bar. As always, if a player takes too many bad steps and depletes the life bar, they will fail, and the game will end immediately. If the first song is in Light mode, then the game will allow a player to fail that song and continue, but will fail the player out if they fail a second song. In two-player games, if one player fails, they can continue dancing, but it ceases to accumulate dance points for the failed player, accumulates score points at only 10 points per step, and automatically gives the failed player an 'E' for the song. The grade is dependent on the number of dance points accumulated: 100% dance points is 'AAA', at least 93% is 'AA', at least 80% is 'A', at least 65% is 'B', at least 45% is 'C' and anything below 45% is a 'D'. If a net dance-point total of zero is obtained without depleting the life bar and, thus, failing, an 'E' is awarded. The final grade for the entire game is an average of the grades from the last three songs and not derived from the actual dance points scored. This 2-tiered scoring system is still utilized on DDRMax2, though the long-score system is reformed. For the long-score system in DDRMax2, it now has a maximum for each song of 10,000,000 multiplied by the foot rating for the routine. Maximum scores can range from 10 million to 100 million for individual songs. Bonus scores are abolished, though the new long-score system tends to be weighted so that errors early in a routine are not as costly as errors late. The dance point system, which determines grade, remains unchanged. This scoring system would be kept for
Dance Dance Revolution Extreme is a music video game by Konami and is the eighth release in the main ''Dance Dance Revolution'' (''DDR'') series. It was released on December 25, 2002, for Japanese arcades, on October 9, 2003, for the Japanese PlayStation 2, and on Septembe ...
. ''6thMix'' was intended to be the Next Generation of Dance Dance Revolution. As such, there are many changes. First, the difficulty levels were renamed. 'Basic' was renamed 'Light', 'Trick' was named 'Standard', and 'Maniac' was named 'Heavy'. They are also given Japanese difficulty names in conjunction: 楽 (''raku''), 踊 (''you''), and 激 (''geki''), respectively. Their color codes—orange, fuchsia and green, respectively—remain the same. Also, all songs from previous versions have been removed in 6thMix (although the prototype version of this game had some songs from previous DDR versions), intending the game to start from scratch. Many past songs do return on 7thMix and later releases, however.


Interface and graphics

Dancing characters have been removed in 6thMix, 7thMix and Extreme. Instead, the arrows scroll over clips of
full motion video Full-motion video (FMV) is a video game narration technique that relies upon pre-recorded video files (rather than Sprite (computer graphics), sprites, vector graphics, vectors, or 3D models) to display action in the game. While many games featur ...
, hence the game does not render any polygons. The screen refreshes at a full speed of 60 frames per second. In addition, the arrows themselves have been tweaked too, now having a rounded edge on their outer tip rather than the V-shaped cut used in all previous games. These games retain the Song Wheel interface introduced in 5thMix, but add an easier method to enter modifiers. In previous versions, modifiers like "Sudden" or "Shuffle" required a combination of dance steps. Beginning in 6thMix, a player only needs to hold the Start button when they select a song to bring up a full menu of available modifiers, including the ability to speed up or slow down the scrolling of arrows, and a final chance to select the song difficulty they wish to play.


Modifiers

A new options menu accessed by holding down the Start button when selecting a song debuted on 6thMix, and is retained on future mixes. Some of the available modifiers include Speed mods, which change the arrow speed. Boost, which causes the arrows to accelerate as they near the step zone, Appearance, which changes the appearance of the arrows. Turn mods modify the stepchart itself, Other affects the difficulty of the steps, Scroll changes the scroll direction of the arrows, and Freeze Arrows can also be turned off.


Extra Stage

New to 6thMix is the "Extra Stage", where players are rewarded for meeting conditions set by the game. If a AA is scored on the final stage on Heavy mode, a message inviting the player to "Try Extra Stage" is shown instead of the Cleared graphic. For the Extra Stage, the song wheel is locked on "MAX 300", and the song is played with several forced modifiers, including 1.5x speed and Reverse. The song is also played in Pressure mode, where the dance gauge starts filled, and can only go down. If the player scores a AA or higher on the Extra Stage the game again rewards them with "One More Extra Stage". This time, the song wheel is locked to "CANDY☆", an easier song but with more difficult Modifiers. The exact same modifiers are used, but the song is played in Sudden Death mode, where any step judgment which breaks a combo immediately ends the game. If the player clears the song with a full combo (which is the only way to do so in Sudden Death mode), a special credits movie is shown. When this second Boss Song is passed for the first time it too will be unlocked for normal play, also displayed on the Song Wheel in red.


Link data

Some machines have the ports to insert PlayStation memory cards. Such memory cards have to be original PlayStation (not PS2) memory cards with Link Data from the home version of DDR 5thMix (the home version of 6thMix cannot create arcade-compatible Link Data). 5thMix can create two different kinds of arcade link data; the Link Data file for 6thMix is known as "New Version" Link Data and is forward-compatible with 7thMix arcade machines as well. Link Data serves two primary purposes: Score-saving and Internet Ranking. The user can save his or her scores from arcade performances, and whenever the game is played in the future, the arcade game will load the scores for each user and show them on the song-selection screen to show the player's best performances. These scores can also be viewed at home with 5thMix. 6thMix also provides Internet Ranking codes based on the user's performance in a given set of songs. As with all of Konami's Internet Ranking events, the website for the game would allow users to enter in a generated password which contains their initials and scores for that session, and the website would display the rankings for those who have submitted codes. Link Data saves these passwords so that they may be entered much more conveniently. The arcade game can exchange custom stepchart data with 6thMix, as well as any earlier version that has songs that are in 6thMix, though this requires special steps to be taken in 6thMix to write a PlayStation-formatted save file, which must then be copied to the PlayStation memory card by the user.


Release


Home versions

The home version of ''DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution 6thMix'' was released in Japan on May 16, 2002, for the Sony
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
video game console A video game console is an electronic device that Input/output, outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can typically be played with a game controller. These may be home video game console, home consoles, which are generally ...
. It featured all 42 songs from the arcade version as well as two additional console-exclusive songs "Kind Lady" and "So In Love". 6thMix's hidden songs can be unlocked automatically, without additional play, by accessing its save data on home versions of ''DDRMAX2 Dance Dance Revolution 7thMix'' or ''
Dance Dance Revolution Extreme is a music video game by Konami and is the eighth release in the main ''Dance Dance Revolution'' (''DDR'') series. It was released on December 25, 2002, for Japanese arcades, on October 9, 2003, for the Japanese PlayStation 2, and on Septembe ...
''. DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution, with the mix number omitted, is the home version released in
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
for the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
video game console A video game console is an electronic device that Input/output, outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can typically be played with a game controller. These may be home video game console, home consoles, which are generally ...
. The
North American North America is a continent in the Northern and Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea, and to the sou ...
version is considerably different from the
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
ese version. It displays song difficulties using the traditional foot-rating system and the Groove Radar in tandem.


Sequel

''DDRMAX2 Dance Dance Revolution 7thMix'' is the seventh game in the ''
Dance Dance Revolution (''DDR'') is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, ''Dance Dance Revolution'' is the pioneering series of the rhythm and dance ...
'' series of
music video game A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs. Music video games may take a ...
s. It was released in Japanese arcades by
Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...
on April 17, 2002, though bootleg installations are available internationally. The Japanese release of DDRMAX2 contains a total of 135 songs, with 53 of these making their first arcade appearance on this release. This game was rated 8.5/10 stars by IGN. ''
Dancing Stage EuroMix 2 The ''Dance Dance Revolution'' series started in 1998 and has grown to a large set of games in the franchise. This list of ''Dance Dance Revolution'' games documents games released, including systems, formats, and regions for which the games were ...
'' is an arcade variant of ''DDRMAX2'' for the European market. It has fewer features and a reduced soundtrack of 68 songs. ''
Dancing Stage MegaMix ''Dancing Stage MegaMiX'' is the fifth home release in the ''Dancing Stage'' series, a European version of the ''Dance Dance Revolution'' series of music video games. ''MegaMix'' was the first ''Dancing Stage'' game released on the Sony PlayStati ...
'' was released exclusively for the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
in Europe and Australia, and this game also uses the ''DDRMAX2'' engine. ''DDRMAX2 Dance Dance Revolution'' is a game for the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
in North America.


Music

''DDRMAX'' includes 42 songs in the arcade release, and 44 songs in the Japanese PlayStation 2 release. ''DDRMAX2'' includes 135 songs in the arcade release, and 74 songs in the Japanese PlayStation 2 release. Notes: * † This song's title contains an in-game typo. The correct name is "Little Boy (Boy Oh Boy Mix)". * ‡ This song's artist name contains an in-game typo. The correct artist is
Scooch Scooch is a British pop group, comprising performers Natalie Powers, Caroline Barnes, David Ducasse and Russ Spencer. Scooch represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki with their song "Flying the Flag (For Y ...
. * 🔷 This song is exclusive to ''DDRMAX'' in arcades. * 🔶 This song is unavailable in the PlayStation 2 version. * 💚 This song is exclusive to ''DDRMAX'' and '' DDR Extreme'' in arcades. The North American version of ''DDRMAX'' is exclusive to the PlayStation 2. It features a total of 71 songs, with 13 Konami originals (including both Boss songs and both console exclusives) and one license (" Ordinary World" by Aurora featuring Naimee Coleman) shared in common with the Japanese version. The remaining songs consist of 50 Konami originals from various sources, 5 console exclusive licenses, and 2 licenses from prior arcade releases. The North American version also features a Nonstop mode, with 6 courses consisting of 5 to 21 songs each.


Nonstop Challenge

Nonstop Challenge was introduced in the arcade version of ''DDRMAX2'', which features 18 courses with songs in the Standard, Heavy and Challenge difficulties. In this arcade release, the Challenge difficulty is exclusive to the Nonstop Challenge mode, and there are 19 songs which solely feature a Challenge difficulty. All 19 songs involve Naoki Maeda. Beginning with ''
Dancing Stage ''Dancing Stage'' is a series of music video games developed and published by Konami. It is a spin-off of ''Dance Dance Revolution'' for the European market as well as a few Japanese titles. Games were released for arcade, PlayStation, PlayStatio ...
EuroMix 2'', the songs "B4U (B4 ZA Beat Mix)" and "Hysteria 2001" can be played individually, with the Challenge steps available in Expert mode. This is also the sole arcade release to offer three easier difficulties for each song, although Double mode omits the easiest of these, which is Beginner. From ''
Dance Dance Revolution Extreme is a music video game by Konami and is the eighth release in the main ''Dance Dance Revolution'' (''DDR'') series. It was released on December 25, 2002, for Japanese arcades, on October 9, 2003, for the Japanese PlayStation 2, and on Septembe ...
'' to ''
Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova 2 , released in Europe as ''Dancing Stage SuperNova'' is an arcade and PlayStation 2 game in the ''Dance Dance Revolution'' (''DDR'') series of music video games. It was produced by Konami and released through Betson Enterprises. The game was rele ...
'', all 19 songs can be played individually, with only Challenge steps available. 17 of the 19 songs remain in subsequent releases. Eight of the 18 Nonstop Challenge courses from ''DDRMAX2'' return in ''Dance Dance Revolution Extreme'', with the Marvelous judgment enabled, and with "Kakumei" featuring Dark and Reverse modifiers on Demon Road 2. Subsequent arcade games have also introduced special Challenge charts or songs: * ''Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova 2'' features six Groove Rader Special charts. * ''Dance Dance Revolution X'' features 17 X-Special charts. * ''Dance Dance Revolution X2'' features 7 Chinese Challenge songs. Notes for Nonstop Challenge: * † "Dynamite Rave (B4 ZA Beat Mix)" made its final appearance in ''
Dance Dance Revolution X ''Dance Dance Revolution X'' is a music video game developed by Konami. A part of the ''Dance Dance Revolution'' series, it was announced in 2008 for Japan and on May 15, 2008, for the North American PlayStation 2. The Arcade game, arcade version ...
'' in Asia, ''Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova 2'' in North America, and ''Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova'' in Europe * ‡ "Matsuri Japan (fron Nonstop Megamix)" made its final appearance in ''Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova 2'' outside of Europe, and ''Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova'' in Europe. * 🎬 This song includes a music video in ''
Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 2 is a music video game by Konami and is the eighth release in the main ''Dance Dance Revolution'' (''DDR'') series. It was released on December 25, 2002, for Japanese arcades, on October 9, 2003, for the Japanese PlayStation 2, and on Septembe ...
'', ''Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova'', and subsequent arcade releases.


Reception

The PlayStation 2 release of ''DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution'' received favourable reviews.
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
gave it a 7 out of 10 rating.
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
gave it a 9.3 out of 10. Its sequel, ''DDRMAX2 Dance Dance Revolution'', also received "generally positive" reviews according to video game
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
. By July 2006, the PlayStation 2 version of ''DDRMAX2 Dance Dance Revolution 7thMix'' had sold 750,000 copies and earned $28 million in the United States. ''
Next Generation Next Generation or Next-Generation may refer to: Publications and literature * ''Next Generation'' (magazine), video game magazine that was made by the now defunct Imagine Media publishing company * Next Generation poets (2004), list of young ...
'' ranked it as the 84th highest-selling game launched for the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
,
Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...
or
GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...
between January 2000 and July 2006 in that country. Combined sales of ''Dance Dance Revolution'' released between those dates reached 5 million units in the United States by July 2006.


References and notes

;Notes ;References


External links


''DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution 6thMix'' official website

''DDRMAX2 Dance Dance Revolution 7thMix'' website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ddrmax Dance Dance Revolution 6thmix 2001 video games Arcade video games Dance Dance Revolution Multiplayer and single-player video games PlayStation 2 games Video games developed in Japan