Dance Dance Revolution 4thMix

Last updated
Dance Dance Revolution 4thMix
DDR 4thMix flyer.png
Japanese Flyer for Dance Dance Revolution 4thMix
Developer(s) Konami
Publisher(s) Konami
Series Dance Dance Revolution
Engine n/a
Platform(s) Arcade, PlayStation, Microsoft Windows
ReleaseArcade
  • JP: August 24, 2000
  • JP: December 28, 2000
(4thMix Plus)
PlayStation
  • JP: March 15, 2001
(as DDR Konamix)
  • EU: November 15, 2002
(as DS Party Edition)
Microsoft Windows
  • NA: May 24, 2002
Genre(s) Music, exercise
Mode(s) Single player, multiplayer

Dance Dance Revolution 4thMix [lower-alpha 1] 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 songs available and 12 are new unlockables that require an operator code. Dance Dance Revolution 4thMix Plus is an update that unlocks these 12 songs without an operator code, while also adding 14 new songs of its own, for a total of 150 songs.

Contents

Gameplay

The core gameplay of 4thMix is the same as the previous Dance Dance Revolution games. For scoring, Each step is given a score based on the accuracy of the step and the running combo. A judgment of Great or Perfect will award points and increase the combo, whereas any lower judgment will break the combo, reducing it to zero. Jumps are only worth one judgment, and only adds one to the combo. Each Great is worth 555 points and each Perfect is worth 777 points. The player also receives 333 points multiplied by the current combo after every step. 4thMix is unusual in that it is the only game in the series where Boo steps do not deplete the dance gauge.

A player may play anywhere from one to five songs, depending on how many the arcade operator sets the machine to play each game. At the end of each song, the player sees their accumulated points, bonus points, and how many of each kind of step they stepped. They also get a letter grade that is dependent on the judgments received during play, ranging from "AA" (all steps Perfect) to D (failure, only seen in Versus mode when the other player passes). If the player manages to pass his or her songs, a cumulative results screen is given, totaling the stats from all played stages.

Nonstop

Nonstop Mode, a feature from Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMix, allows the player to play a course of several pre-determined songs without stopping.

Battle

Battle Mode replaced the Unison and Couple modes from previous mixes, and is chosen at the difficulty selection screen while on Versus mode. Battle steps must be played by both players, and are generally designed to make each player take turns between playing simple and complex patterns. As an added challenge, the steps rise from the middle of the screen, and drift to either player's side while continuing upwards.

Some machines have the ports to insert PlayStation memory cards. Such memory cards have to be PlayStation memory cards with Link Data from the home version of 4thMix or earlier. It can exchange data with 4thMix, as well as any earlier version that has songs that are in 4thMix. It can also use Edit Data, custom steps made on the home version.

Downloadable content

In the months after the release of the Windows version of Dance Dance Revolution, Konami offered free downloads for the game on the product website. The free downloads consisted of additional dancing character that were displayed during game play. The characters ranged from general styles (Club DJs, trendy outfits) to odd and seasonal styles (Bondage gear, Christmas dresses, Halloween costumes, robots). The download page displayed blank entries for up and coming downloads. The nature of the new dancers were revealed when the downloads were posted. Dancing characters were released as pairs (Usually a man and a woman when gender even applied), however the final blank entry was a lone dancing character instead of a pair. The final character was a bonus character named Jason, that replaced Guy, a previous downloadable character. [2]

Variants

Konamix and Party Edition

Dance Dance Revolution Konamix and Dancing Stage Party Edition are international ports of 4thMix released in 2002 for the Sony PlayStation. Konamix was released in North America and consisted of 52 Konami original tracks, produced by the company's in-house music staff. Party Edition was released in Europe and included 46 of the Konami original tracks found on Konamix, plus five exclusive new licenses. It was also the last game in the series to be released for the PlayStation in North America.

Dance Dance Revolution (Windows)

Dance Dance Revolution was released for Microsoft Windows computers on May 24, 2002. [3] The game used the engine and interface from 4thMix, and like Konamix, it only includes Konami original songs. However, the song count in the Windows version is reduced to 40 songs, of which 21 are unavailable in Konamix.

Dancing Stage Fever and Fusion

Dancing Stage Fever was released on October 24, 2003 for the PlayStation and PlayStation 2. Dancing Stage Fusion was released on November 5, 2004 for the same systems. The original PlayStation releases used a variant of the 4thMix engine, while also incorporating the announcer from DDR Solo 2000 , though Solo Mode is absent. Fever also incorporates some menu music from 5thMix. These releases omit freeze arrows and include fewer songs than their PlayStation 2 counterparts.

Music

Dance Dance Revolution 4thMix adds 49 new songs and removes one older song, for a total of 136 songs. Of these, 10 are unavailable in Asia.

4thMix Plus music

Dance Dance Revolution 4thMix Plus adds 14 new songs and automatically unlocks the 12 locked songs in 4thMix, bringing the playlist to a total of 150 songs. Songs that are new to 4thMix Plus also return in the 5thMix soundtrack and arcade game, while the 4thMix locked songs are also automatically unlocked in 5thMix.

The 14 new songs include a cover of the theme from Enter the Dragon arranged by Naoki Maeda, and Ventura remixes of the Cat's Eye and Lupin the Third anime theme songs.

Of the 14 new songs, only four returned in the main Dance Dance Revolution arcade series after 5thMix. Two songs, which are remixes of "Rhythm and Police" and "Synchronized Love", returned exclusively in the Dance Dance Revolution Extreme arcade game in Japan and the DDRMAX PlayStation 2 game in North America. Two other songs, "Celebrate Nite" and "Sexy Planet", are Naoki Maeda compositions that premiered in Dancing Stage featuring True Kiss Destination and returned in DDR Solo 2000. 4thMix Plus introduced these songs to the main DDR series. With the exception of DDRMAX , these songs were subsequently kept in every main DDR release, including the current title, Dance Dance Revolution A20 .

Sequel

Dance Dance Revolution 5thMix [lower-alpha 2] is the fifth game in the Dance Dance Revolution series. It was released for Japanese arcades by Konami on March 27, 2001. 5thMix contains a total of 122 songs, of which 31 are new songs and 9 are new unlockables that require an operator code.

5thMix introduced the song wheel interface used when selecting songs. During gameplay, the resolution is now 240p at 60 fps, as opposed to the 30 fps rate used in previous releases.

All of the 18 new licenses in 5thMix, plus the two long versions of Konami originals, do not return in subsequent DDR arcade releases. "Never Ending Story" and "Test My Best", however, return in Dancing Stage EuroMix 2. Additionally, this does not include "Can't Stop Fallin' In Love" by Naoki, which was originally deemed to be a license, but was reclassified as a Konami original in DDRMAX2 and EuroMix 2.

The song "Be Together" was featured on a fictional Dance Dance Mania machine in the 2018 romantic comedy The Kissing Booth on Netflix. The film features a dance cover of the TM Network song, as does 5thMix, but it is covered by Sikora in the film instead of Ni-Ni. [ citation needed ]

Reception

Aggregate review scores
Game GameRankings Metacritic
Konamix85.66% [4] 84/100 [5]

The PlayStation version of Dancing Stage Party Edition received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), [6] indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom. [7]

Related Research Articles

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 genre in video games. Players stand on a "dance platform" or stage and hit colored arrows laid out in a cross with their feet to musical and visual cues. Players are judged by how well they time their dance to the patterns presented to them and are allowed to choose more music to play to if they receive a passing score.

DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution 6thMix is the 6th game in the Dance Dance Revolution series of music video games. It was released in the arcades by Konami on October 19, 2001, and for the PlayStation 2 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 to Dance Dance Revolution 5thMix were removed in 6thMix, although many of the Konami originals from those games would later be revived in future arcade releases.

<i>Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix</i> 2005 video game

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<i>Dance Dance Revolution 2ndMix</i> 1999 video game

Dance Dance Revolution 2ndMix, sometimes abbreviated as 2ndMix, is the second game in the Dance Dance Revolution series of music video games. It was released as an arcade game by Konami on January 29, 1999. The initial release has a total of 33 songs: 22 brand new songs, and 11 from its predecessor, Dance Dance Revolution.

<i>Dance Dance Revolution</i> (1998 video game) 1998 video game

Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) is a music video game, developed by Konami, released in arcades on September 26, 1998, in Japan. Dance Dance Revolution is a unique game involving dance and rhythm that defined the genre. It involves timing and balance by having players use their feet instead of their hands like typical video games. In March 1999, the game was released for North American arcades, and for European arcades under the name Dancing Stage. Players and game critics were caught off-guard by the game's addictive qualities winning the new franchise many merits to its design.

<i>Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova</i> 2006 video game

Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova, 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 released in Europe on April 28, 2006, followed shortly by a North American release on May 15 and a Japanese release on July 12.

<i>Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party</i> 2007 video game

Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party, known as Dancing Stage Hottest Party in the European and Oceanic regions, is a video game released by Konami in 2007 and 2008 to several countries for the Wii console. Konami took the game beyond the traditional setup of Dance Dance Revolution by incorporating the Wii Remote and the standard dance pad into a full body motion game. It has two sequels, Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 2 and Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 3.

<i>Dance Dance Revolution Disney Mix</i> 2000 video game

Dancing Stage featuring Disney's Rave is a music video game released in Japan in arcades on November 30, 2000. On the same day, it was also released for the PlayStation, but under the name Dance Dance Revolution Disney's Rave. It was later released in September 2001 North America as Dance Dance Revolution Disney Mix and in Europe and Australia as Dancing Stage Disney Mix. It is based on Konami's Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) series with animated Disney characters and electronic dance music remixes of past Disney songs. They also include a few non-Disney songs that were popular at the time of the game's release. It is considered to be one of the rarest DDR game released in arcades.

<i>Dance Dance Revolution Extreme</i> 2002 video game

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 September 21, 2004, for the North American PlayStation 2. This game is the ninth release in North America, but despite having the same name as its Japanese counterpart, its gameplay and soundtrack is significantly different and won the Video Music Awards in 2005 on MTV for Best Video Game Soundtrack.

<i>Dance Dance Revolution Solo</i> Video game series

Dance Dance Revolution Solo is a series of games spun off of the main Dance Dance Revolution series. It consists of three arcade releases in Japan. The game mode was also adapted for use in a children's arcade version and two console releases.

<i>Dance Dance Revolution X</i> 2008 video game

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 version was announced on July 7, 2008, July 9, 2008 in Europe, and July 10, 2008, for North America. Released to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Dance Dance Revolution, DDR X sports an improved interface, new music, and new modes of play. The arcade release featured an overhauled cabinet design with a widescreen display, e-Amusement and USB access, and an improved sound system. Despite such new design of its arcade cabinet, upgrade kit to change the edition of DDR on its first generation arcade cabinet from SuperNOVA2 to X is also available. The PlayStation 2 release has link ability with the arcade machine, multi-player support over LAN, and other improved and returning features such as EyeToy support. DDR X was called a "truly global version", with a multi-regional release by all three major Konami houses.

<i>Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 2</i> 2008 video game

Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 2, later released as Dance Dance Revolution Furu Furu Party in Japan, was announced by Konami on May 15, 2008 as part of the 10th anniversary of Dance Dance Revolution celebration. Hottest Party 2 features the same gameplay as the first Hottest Party and introduces new gameplay modes, gimmicks, characters and graphical enhancements. The game also features an all-new soundtrack featuring licensed music from the past four decades as well as new Konami Originals. Hottest Party 2 was released on September 16, 2008 in North America. A teaser site for the Japanese release was launched on December 9, 2008 featuring new gameplay footage from the game.

Dance Dance Revolution Extreme has a robust soundtrack. It includes many licensed tracks as well as in-house original music that was written and performed by Konami staff.

<i>Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 3</i> 2009 video game

Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 3, released in Japan as Dance Dance Revolution: Music Fit, is a rhythm-based dancing game for the Wii. It is a video game released by Konami in 2009. The game can be played using a dance pad, the classic controller, or the Wii Remote and Nunchuck combination. It has two games preceding it: Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party and Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 2.

<i>Dance Dance Revolution X2</i> 2010 video game

Dance Dance Revolution X2 is a music video game, and a part of the Dance Dance Revolution series. The arcade version of DDR X2 was revealed by Konami on November 20, 2009. The sequel to Dance Dance Revolution X, X2 began public beta testing on November 25, 2009. The game was released in Japan and Asia on July 7, 2010, North America on December 31, 2010, and Europe on May 13, 2011. It was the last arcade installment of Dance Dance Revolution with international releases until Dance Dance Revolution A.

<i>Dance Dance Revolution X3 vs. 2ndMix</i> 2011 music video game

Dance Dance Revolution X3 is a music video game, and a part of the Dance Dance Revolution series. The arcade version of DDR X3 was revealed by Konami on June 2, 2011. The sequel to Dance Dance Revolution X2, X3 began public beta testing on June 8, 2011. Promotional information for the game revealed the full name for the game, called Dance Dance Revolution X3 VS 2ndMix due to the new "2ndMix" mode in the game. It was released in Japan on November 16, 2011 for dedicated cabinets and November 30, 2011 for upgrade kits, and December 16, 2011 in Asia.

Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) is a music video game, the 14th installment of the Dance Dance Revolution series, and the sequel to Dance Dance Revolution X3 vs. 2ndMix. The game was revealed by Konami on October 24, 2012. Public beta testing commenced on October 26, 2012. It was released in Japan on March 14 and 21, 2013 for dedicated cabinets and upgrade kits, respectively, and in Asia on March 21, 2013. A limited test release occurred at select locations in the United States, beginning on August 4, 2015.

<i>Dance Dance Revolution A</i> 2016 video game

Dance Dance Revolution A is a music video game, the 16th installment of the Dance Dance Revolution arcade series in Japan, and the sequel to the 2014 release of Dance Dance Revolution. It was released on March 30, 2016 in Japan and Asia as a dedicated cabinet and as an upgrade kit, with Japan receiving a localized build, while the Korean release was delayed to the next week. This game was also released in North America later in 2016, in the form of new cabinets with e-Amusement connectivity, while Europe received new offline cabinets on December 15, 2017. It is the first international arcade release of Dance Dance Revolution since Dance Dance Revolution X2.

<i>Dance Dance Revolution A20</i> 2019 video game

Dance Dance Revolution A20 is a music video game, the 17th installment of the Dance Dance Revolution arcade series in Japan, and the sequel to Dance Dance Revolution A. The game was released on new, golden cabinets on March 20, 2019, in Japan. A software upgrade for older cabinets for Japan and Asia was released on July 24, 2019, with South Korea receiving a localized release on August 1, 2019, and North America on September 24, 2019. A location test in Europe began on October 7, 2019, and ended on March 16, 2020.

References

  1. ↑ Dansu Dansu Reboryūshon Fōsu Mikkusu (ダンスダンスレボリューションフォースミックス)
  2. ↑ Dansu Dansu Reboryūshon FifusuMikkusu (ダンスダンスレボリューションフィフスミックス)
  1. ↑ Neko Neko. "Dance Dance Revolution KONAMIX for Play Station (NTSC U/C)" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 19 September 2010. Retrieved 13 June 2010.
  2. ↑ Jeff Paine. "Dance Dance Revolution review" . Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  3. ↑ IGN. "Dance Dance Revolution review". Archived from the original on February 7, 2004. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  4. ↑ "Dance Dance Revolution Konamix for PlayStation". GameRankings . Archived from the original on December 9, 2019. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  5. ↑ "Dance Dance Revolution Konamix for PlayStation Reviews". Metacritic . Archived from the original on September 21, 2022. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  6. ↑ "ELSPA Sales Awards: Platinum". Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association . Archived from the original on May 15, 2009. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  7. ↑ Caoili, Eric (November 26, 2008). "ELSPA: Wii Fit, Mario Kart Reach Diamond Status In UK". Gamasutra . Archived from the original on September 18, 2017.
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