Dance Dance Revolution ULTRAMIX 2

Dance Dance Revolution ULTRAMIX 2, or DDR Ultramix 2, is the eighth home version of Dance Dance Revolution to be released in the United States. It was released by Konami exclusively in North America on November 18th, 2004, on the Microsoft Xbox video game console. An adaptation called Dancing Stage Unleashed 2 was created in Europe. It comes with 70 songs, 10 of which are hidden and unlockable. 58 of those songs were new to Dance Dance Revolution, with several artists from the "A Different Drum" label.

DDR Ultramix 2 was developed and published by Konami Computer Entertainment Hawaii .

The interface used is new, but retains the Groove Radar and foot ratings. The names of the difficulty modes are "Beginner", "Light," Standard," and "Heavy". By pressing the Start button, you can change the sorting method from the default (New songs first, then returning songs, then unlocked songs) to an alphabetical sort, a sort by song speed in BPM, and a sort by popularity.

Gameplay

The general premise of DDR Ultramix 2 is the same as other Dance Dance Revolution games. One player can play using one dance pad (Single play style), Two players can play using one dance pad each (Versus play style), or One player can play using both dance pads (Double play style).

A player must step to the beat, matching the beat to the arrows presented to them on screen by stepping on arrows on a metal-and-plexiglass dance stage. Depending on the timing of each step, the step is scored "PERFECT," "GREAT," "GOOD," "BOO" or "MISS." A health bar is on the screen, and starts half-way at the beginning of the routine. PERFECT and GREAT steps increase the health bar until it is full. BOO and MISS steps diminish it. GOOD steps have no effect either way. If a player accumulates too many BOOs or MISSes in rapid succession, and the health bar fully diminishes, then they fail the songs.

Freeze Arrows, introduced in DDRMAX, have returned. Instead of just stepping on the arrow, you have to hold it for as long as the green arrow line remains on the screen. If you hit the arrow and keep it held, you score an "O.K.", which scores six dance points. If you do not succeed, it scores an "N.G.", with is worth nothing when your dance points and grade are calculated. OKs help build up the health bar, and NGs diminish it. You get extra base score points for successfully holding a freeze arrow.

At the end of each song, the player sees their accumulated points and how many of each kind of step they stepped. They also get a letter grade, ranging from E (only seen in two player modes when one player fails but the other passes) to AAA (all steps PERFECT), solely determined by the kind of steps they make.

There are two scoring systems: the long-score system used to determine rankings, and an independent dance point system used to determine the grade.

The long-score system has been changed. Every song has a score ceiling of 100 million points, with anywhere from 40-60 million accounting for the actual song score and the remainder being bonus points. There appears to be no relation between difficulty and the base long score of a song.

The dance-point system uses raw step values to determine the grade. It goes by the following formula: 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 you take too many bad steps and deplete the life bar, you will fail, and the game will end immediately. 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.

How a dance score is connected to a grade is unknown, but the grading system is known to be somewhat more lenient than arcade DDR games.

There is no Arcade-style gameplay in DDR Ultramix 2. The regular game continues in Event Mode, where the dancer plays songs until they decide to quit. If a song is failed, the player is sent back to the song selection screen.

Backgrounds

Full motion video backgrounds can be turned on or off in the Options menu. They are on by default. Both these and dancing characters (below) can be on at the same time, but some gamers complain that the game slows down when both are on, so most gamers use one or the other.

Dancing characters can be turned on or off in the Options menu. They are on by default. The dancers can be changed in the Options screen, and each player can choose between Afro, Lady, Rage and Emi. Supposedly, more dancers are supposed to be available via Xbox Live, but to date none have been made available. The dancers' outfits are equivalent to the ones in the Japanese arcade version, Dance Dance Revolution 4thMIX, but the characters are redesigned to take advantage of Xbox's superior hardware.

• The Emi Controversy When a test release of DDR Ultramix 2 appeared at E³ in early 2004, Emi was rendered with a rather racy version of her 4th Mix costume, which amounted to her top being stripped down like a bikini top and her jeans being cut into short-shorts. DDR veterans, knowing that Emi was intended to be a schoolgirl according to her character descriptions, lashed out against the change. The final version of the game showed her in her normal clothes. No reason was given for either change.

Groove Radar

The Groove Radar is a graphical representation based on a five-point difficulty system. The five skill areas are as follows:

• Stream is the ability to smoothly go through from step to step. This is determined by the number of steps in the song.

• Voltage is the ability to hit the fastest steps consistently. This is determined by the fastest tempo of the song, and how long such tempo is sustained in aggregate.

• Air is the ability to hit "jump steps," steps that require you to hit two arrows at the same time. This is determined by the number of jump steps.

• Chaos is the ability to navigate rapidly-changing step patterns. This is determined by analyzing the overall step routine.

• Freeze is the ability to hold onto the freeze arrows. This is determined by the number of freeze arrows.

The foot-rating system of measuring song difficulty is also used. The representation appears beneath the Groove Radar graphic.

Modifiers

Modifiers are changes that can be made to modify the step routine. A menu is available to make these modifications easily. This menu can be accessed by holding the Green select button when you choose your song.

Some of the available modifires:

• Speed mods change the speed at which the arrows scroll on the screen. You can increase it to multipliers of 1.5x, 2x, 3x, 5x or 8x. The default is "1x."

• Boost, when turned on, causes the arrows to accelerate as they near the step zone. The default is "Off."

• Appearance mods change how the arrows appear on the screen. The default is "Visible." "Hidden" makes the arrow fade out half-way up the screen. "Sudden" makes the arrow fade in half-way up the screen. "Stealth" means the arrows are not visible at all.

• Turn mods affect the pattern of the arrows themselves. The default is "Off." "Left" turns all the arrows 90 degrees left. "Right" turns all the arrows 90 degrees right. "Mirror" flips the step pattern so that all left and right arrows swap, and all up and down arrows swap. "Shuffle" creates a random swap of the arrows, and can vary from turn to turn.

• Other mods affect the difficulty of the step routine. The default is "Off." "Little" eliminates all steps that are more frequent than standard 1/4 steps. "Flat" makes all the arrows appear the same, regardless of their step fraction. "Solo" changes the colors of the arrows to the colors used in DDR Solo 2000. "Dark", a new modifier in DDRMAX2, removes the "step zone," forcing the player to rely solely on the beat to determine when to step.

• Scroll mods affect the direction in which arrows scroll. The default is "Normal." "Reverse" makes the arrows scroll from top to bottom instead of bottom to top. The health bar is also moved to the bottom.

• Freeze can turn the Freeze Arrows on or off. The default is "On."

• Step is the last chance to change the difficulty of the song. The default is whichever difficulty you selected before choosing the song.

Challenge Mode a.k.a. Mission Mode

The Challenge Mode in DDR Ultramix returns in DDR Ultramix 2, with new tasks. Players must complete a series of tasks of increasing difficulty in order to get more unlocks.

Workout Mode

Workout Mode is a special mode where you can play songs and have the game keep track of your exercise performance, such as calories burned.

Xbox Live Capability

Live Mode takes advantage of the Xbox Live online gaming service. An internet connection is required. In Live Mode, players can play online against other players around North America. It keeps track of global rankings.

By Xbox Live, players can download song packs that add new songs to the game. For DDR Ultramix 2, nine song packs are available in the United States at a price of $5.00 each. No other song packs have been announced as of this writing. Each song pack has five songs in it. These song packs cannot be used in DDR Ultramix, but song packs from DDR Ultramix can be purchased and/or used in DDR Ultramix 2.

External links

• Konami (US Home Page), makers of DDR.
• Official DDR Ultramix 2 Website