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Dance Dance Revolution X [Arcade]
DDR (Dance Dance Revolution, or Dancing Stage to those in Europe) is a craze that swept across a fair few nations a good couple of years ago, and likelihood is that if you’ve ever been inside an arcade or bowling alley in the last 10 years or so (of which I’ve been playing for the last 8 and a half years), you will probably have seen one or more of these types of machines around. The original Dance Dance Revolution game was released in Japan in 1998, and is part of Konami’s wide-branching Bemani series. The series has spawned several sequels in the arcade setting, with countless more being released on the home consoles. For the purpose of this “review” I will be sticking to the latest version to grace the European arcades.
The general gameplay involves the player (or players) stepping to pre-determined step charts to the music that they have selected. Each step is graded by the player’s accuracy of hitting the step with either “Perfect”, “Great”, “Good”, “Almost” and “Miss”. “Marvellous” timing above Perfect in strictness was also added for DDRX. The aim of the game is to pass stages by ensuring the life bar, shown at the top of the screen, doesn’t deplete fully. Songs last for anywhere between 1 and 2 minutes, and then the player is given an overall grade for how they’ve done on the song, being graded between F for failing, and AAA (MFC) for getting every single step as marvellous. There are 3 different main game modes, single (one player on one pad), versus (two players on two pads) and doubles (one player on two pads).
DDRX has 3 different types of arrows for general gameplay. Tap arrows are for stepping to the music, and are the general arrows that appear across all game modes and difficulties. Freeze arrows require the player to hold or continually press the directional arrow until the freeze arrow passes the target segment. Shock arrows are a new addition to the series that were introduced in DDRX, they require the player to avoid all arrows whilst the shock arrow passes the target, pressing an arrow during this time will cause a “lightning strike”, lowering the life bar and temporarily removing the arrows from the screen.
Dance Dance Revolution X introduces some new modifiers to the European market, mainly the long awaited 2.5x and 3.5x speed modifiers, background darkening and different noteskins. All of these additions are extremely welcome for the experienced players, making it ever more comfortable to play through songs whilst attempting to stay on beat by making any song be able to get to a more easily readable speed.
Obviously, the most important part of a rhythm game is the music, and Dance Dance Revolution X has lots of it, with approximately 30 licensed songs from artists such as OK Go! and MC Hammer, commissioned songs from artists like UK Hardcore artists Fracus and Darwin, and literally hundreds of songs developed by Konami’s internal Bemani music studio, DDRX can boast a quite a range of songs to suit many musical tastes. However, the removal of a few old favourites from previous games, such as End of the Century which appeared on Dancing Stage Euromix1 and Euromix2, is a small concern and those who are very familiar with the old games might find it a little offputting.
Aside from the music, the scrolling sound for the menus in DDRX has been vastly improved over that which was used for Dancing Stage SuperNOVA, being much more subtle and easier on the ear. The announcer, however, is almost laughably bad. He has some really irritating phrases (“These beats are the bom-diggy y’all” and “We’re going combo wombo”, among others) and generally speaks far too much, detracting from the overall experience.
DDRX also revamps the difficulty rating scale from previous games from a 1-10 scale to a 1-18 scale. The extension to the difficulty scale is a welcome one, as it helps to better differentiate between harder songs, although some of the regradings make very little sense, which is frustrating as it can hinder the progress of those learning to become better at the game.
The cabinet in which the game is enclosed has also been modified since the previous release. A thinner lower down stage has been accompanied with a much larger HD monitor. Unfortunately, this is not without it’s issues. The HD monitor in the cabinet means that there is a certain amount of lag between the screen and the audio, which causes issues when attempting to play in time.
The new stage also has it’s problems, as the input from the sensors going into the machine also has a certain amount of delay on it, which is noticeably worse in parts of songs where there are many arrows in a row. It’s quite unacceptable for a company who has so much experience in this field. A update has apparently been released which fixes the issues with input delay, but I have not yet played a machine with the update installed. However, no amount of updates can improve the horrible “woody” feel of the stage itself, and when compared to earlier versions, it makes the experience just that little bit less pleasant.
Graphically, the new character models introduced for DDRX are slightly more detailed than those used in SuperNOVA, and the stages are much better (unfortunately no signs of any foo foos, but I guess that’s to be expected for a game that will be running in a family environment). The game also sometimes struggles to keep up the framerate required for the game to run smoothly, which can be extremely annoying and offputting. But other than that, the menus are what you’d expect, and seems nice and professional.
In summary, the game contains many songs, some really good, but it is missing some extremely good songs that have been removed from previous mixes. The licenses are rather sub-par in general when compared to previous mixes, and the announcer is very irritating. The new cabinet definitely has it’s own flaws, and the new grading system isn’t exactly brilliantly consistent yet. But may be an enjoyable experience when the problems are ironed out.
7.5/10 - Game
4/10 - Cabinet (6.5/10 with input update)
6/10 (7/10) – Overall rating
DDR (Dance Dance Revolution, or Dancing Stage to those in Europe) is a craze that swept across a fair few nations a good couple of years ago, and likelihood is that if you’ve ever been inside an arcade or bowling alley in the last 10 years or so (of which I’ve been playing for the last 8 and a half years), you will probably have seen one or more of these types of machines around. The original Dance Dance Revolution game was released in Japan in 1998, and is part of Konami’s wide-branching Bemani series. The series has spawned several sequels in the arcade setting, with countless more being released on the home consoles. For the purpose of this “review” I will be sticking to the latest version to grace the European arcades.
The general gameplay involves the player (or players) stepping to pre-determined step charts to the music that they have selected. Each step is graded by the player’s accuracy of hitting the step with either “Perfect”, “Great”, “Good”, “Almost” and “Miss”. “Marvellous” timing above Perfect in strictness was also added for DDRX. The aim of the game is to pass stages by ensuring the life bar, shown at the top of the screen, doesn’t deplete fully. Songs last for anywhere between 1 and 2 minutes, and then the player is given an overall grade for how they’ve done on the song, being graded between F for failing, and AAA (MFC) for getting every single step as marvellous. There are 3 different main game modes, single (one player on one pad), versus (two players on two pads) and doubles (one player on two pads).
DDRX has 3 different types of arrows for general gameplay. Tap arrows are for stepping to the music, and are the general arrows that appear across all game modes and difficulties. Freeze arrows require the player to hold or continually press the directional arrow until the freeze arrow passes the target segment. Shock arrows are a new addition to the series that were introduced in DDRX, they require the player to avoid all arrows whilst the shock arrow passes the target, pressing an arrow during this time will cause a “lightning strike”, lowering the life bar and temporarily removing the arrows from the screen.
Dance Dance Revolution X introduces some new modifiers to the European market, mainly the long awaited 2.5x and 3.5x speed modifiers, background darkening and different noteskins. All of these additions are extremely welcome for the experienced players, making it ever more comfortable to play through songs whilst attempting to stay on beat by making any song be able to get to a more easily readable speed.
Obviously, the most important part of a rhythm game is the music, and Dance Dance Revolution X has lots of it, with approximately 30 licensed songs from artists such as OK Go! and MC Hammer, commissioned songs from artists like UK Hardcore artists Fracus and Darwin, and literally hundreds of songs developed by Konami’s internal Bemani music studio, DDRX can boast a quite a range of songs to suit many musical tastes. However, the removal of a few old favourites from previous games, such as End of the Century which appeared on Dancing Stage Euromix1 and Euromix2, is a small concern and those who are very familiar with the old games might find it a little offputting.
Aside from the music, the scrolling sound for the menus in DDRX has been vastly improved over that which was used for Dancing Stage SuperNOVA, being much more subtle and easier on the ear. The announcer, however, is almost laughably bad. He has some really irritating phrases (“These beats are the bom-diggy y’all” and “We’re going combo wombo”, among others) and generally speaks far too much, detracting from the overall experience.
DDRX also revamps the difficulty rating scale from previous games from a 1-10 scale to a 1-18 scale. The extension to the difficulty scale is a welcome one, as it helps to better differentiate between harder songs, although some of the regradings make very little sense, which is frustrating as it can hinder the progress of those learning to become better at the game.
The cabinet in which the game is enclosed has also been modified since the previous release. A thinner lower down stage has been accompanied with a much larger HD monitor. Unfortunately, this is not without it’s issues. The HD monitor in the cabinet means that there is a certain amount of lag between the screen and the audio, which causes issues when attempting to play in time.
The new stage also has it’s problems, as the input from the sensors going into the machine also has a certain amount of delay on it, which is noticeably worse in parts of songs where there are many arrows in a row. It’s quite unacceptable for a company who has so much experience in this field. A update has apparently been released which fixes the issues with input delay, but I have not yet played a machine with the update installed. However, no amount of updates can improve the horrible “woody” feel of the stage itself, and when compared to earlier versions, it makes the experience just that little bit less pleasant.
Graphically, the new character models introduced for DDRX are slightly more detailed than those used in SuperNOVA, and the stages are much better (unfortunately no signs of any foo foos, but I guess that’s to be expected for a game that will be running in a family environment). The game also sometimes struggles to keep up the framerate required for the game to run smoothly, which can be extremely annoying and offputting. But other than that, the menus are what you’d expect, and seems nice and professional.
In summary, the game contains many songs, some really good, but it is missing some extremely good songs that have been removed from previous mixes. The licenses are rather sub-par in general when compared to previous mixes, and the announcer is very irritating. The new cabinet definitely has it’s own flaws, and the new grading system isn’t exactly brilliantly consistent yet. But may be an enjoyable experience when the problems are ironed out.
7.5/10 - Game
4/10 - Cabinet (6.5/10 with input update)
6/10 (7/10) – Overall rating
I must admit I give it a whirl if I have the time and the money :p
Yes, but there's no substitute for the arcade stage and playing for the crowds. But I guess the embarrassment factor doesn't play in for me anymore, I've been playing far too long and I'm far too good to be embarrassed :)
I play the game as a form of exercise generally, but the social aspects can be pretty good too.
I play the game as a form of exercise generally, but the social aspects can be pretty good too.
Nice detailed review there.
I must admit to enjoying the home versions a lot more than the arcade ones, they always seem to have more options (and, I guess, slightly less of an embarrassment factor!)
I must admit to enjoying the home versions a lot more than the arcade ones, they always seem to have more options (and, I guess, slightly less of an embarrassment factor!)
Dance Dance Revolution X [Arcade]
DDR (Dance Dance Revolution, or Dancing Stage to those in Europe) is a craze that swept across a fair few nations a good couple of years ago, and likelihood is that if you’ve ever been inside an arcade or bowling alley in the last 10 years or so (of which I’ve been playing for the last 8 and a half years), you will probably have seen one or more of these types of machines around. The original Dance Dance Revolution game was released in Japan in 1998, and is part of Konami’s wide-branching Bemani series. The series has spawned several sequels in the arcade setting, with countless more being released on the home consoles. For the purpose of this “review” I will be sticking to the latest version to grace the European arcades.
The general gameplay involves the player (or players) stepping to pre-determined step charts to the music that they have selected. Each step is graded by the player’s accuracy of hitting the step with either “Perfect”, “Great”, “Good”, “Almost” and “Miss”. “Marvellous” timing above Perfect in strictness was also added for DDRX. The aim of the game is to pass stages by ensuring the life bar, shown at the top of the screen, doesn’t deplete fully. Songs last for anywhere between 1 and 2 minutes, and then the player is given an overall grade for how they’ve done on the song, being graded between F for failing, and AAA (MFC) for getting every single step as marvellous. There are 3 different main game modes, single (one player on one pad), versus (two players on two pads) and doubles (one player on two pads).
DDRX has 3 different types of arrows for general gameplay. Tap arrows are for stepping to the music, and are the general arrows that appear across all game modes and difficulties. Freeze arrows require the player to hold or continually press the directional arrow until the freeze arrow passes the target segment. Shock arrows are a new addition to the series that were introduced in DDRX, they require the player to avoid all arrows whilst the shock arrow passes the target, pressing an arrow during this time will cause a “lightning strike”, lowering the life bar and temporarily removing the arrows from the screen.
Dance Dance Revolution X introduces some new modifiers to the European market, mainly the long awaited 2.5x and 3.5x speed modifiers, background darkening and different noteskins. All of these additions are extremely welcome for the experienced players, making it ever more comfortable to play through songs whilst attempting to stay on beat by making any song be able to get to a more easily readable speed.
Obviously, the most important part of a rhythm game is the music, and Dance Dance Revolution X has lots of it, with approximately 30 licensed songs from artists such as OK Go! and MC Hammer, commissioned songs from artists like UK Hardcore artists Fracus and Darwin, and literally hundreds of songs developed by Konami’s internal Bemani music studio, DDRX can boast a quite a range of songs to suit many musical tastes. However, the removal of a few old favourites from previous games, such as End of the Century which appeared on Dancing Stage Euromix1 and Euromix2, is a small concern and those who are very familiar with the old games might find it a little offputting.
Aside from the music, the scrolling sound for the menus in DDRX has been vastly improved over that which was used for Dancing Stage SuperNOVA, being much more subtle and easier on the ear. The announcer, however, is almost laughably bad. He has some really irritating phrases (“These beats are the bom-diggy y’all” and “We’re going combo wombo”, among others) and generally speaks far too much, detracting from the overall experience.
DDRX also revamps the difficulty rating scale from previous games from a 1-10 scale to a 1-18 scale. The extension to the difficulty scale is a welcome one, as it helps to better differentiate between harder songs, although some of the regradings make very little sense, which is frustrating as it can hinder the progress of those learning to become better at the game.
The cabinet in which the game is enclosed has also been modified since the previous release. A thinner lower down stage has been accompanied with a much larger HD monitor. Unfortunately, this is not without it’s issues. The HD monitor in the cabinet means that there is a certain amount of lag between the screen and the audio, which causes issues when attempting to play in time.
The new stage also has it’s problems, as the input from the sensors going into the machine also has a certain amount of delay on it, which is noticeably worse in parts of songs where there are many arrows in a row. It’s quite unacceptable for a company who has so much experience in this field. A update has apparently been released which fixes the issues with input delay, but I have not yet played a machine with the update installed. However, no amount of updates can improve the horrible “woody” feel of the stage itself, and when compared to earlier versions, it makes the experience just that little bit less pleasant.
Graphically, the new character models introduced for DDRX are slightly more detailed than those used in SuperNOVA, and the stages are much better (unfortunately no signs of any foo foos, but I guess that’s to be expected for a game that will be running in a family environment). The game also sometimes struggles to keep up the framerate required for the game to run smoothly, which can be extremely annoying and offputting. But other than that, the menus are what you’d expect, and seems nice and professional.
In summary, the game contains many songs, some really good, but it is missing some extremely good songs that have been removed from previous mixes. The licenses are rather sub-par in general when compared to previous mixes, and the announcer is very irritating. The new cabinet definitely has it’s own flaws, and the new grading system isn’t exactly brilliantly consistent yet. But may be an enjoyable experience when the problems are ironed out.
7.5/10 - Game
4/10 - Cabinet (6.5/10 with input update)
6/10 (7/10) – Overall rating
DDR (Dance Dance Revolution, or Dancing Stage to those in Europe) is a craze that swept across a fair few nations a good couple of years ago, and likelihood is that if you’ve ever been inside an arcade or bowling alley in the last 10 years or so (of which I’ve been playing for the last 8 and a half years), you will probably have seen one or more of these types of machines around. The original Dance Dance Revolution game was released in Japan in 1998, and is part of Konami’s wide-branching Bemani series. The series has spawned several sequels in the arcade setting, with countless more being released on the home consoles. For the purpose of this “review” I will be sticking to the latest version to grace the European arcades.
The general gameplay involves the player (or players) stepping to pre-determined step charts to the music that they have selected. Each step is graded by the player’s accuracy of hitting the step with either “Perfect”, “Great”, “Good”, “Almost” and “Miss”. “Marvellous” timing above Perfect in strictness was also added for DDRX. The aim of the game is to pass stages by ensuring the life bar, shown at the top of the screen, doesn’t deplete fully. Songs last for anywhere between 1 and 2 minutes, and then the player is given an overall grade for how they’ve done on the song, being graded between F for failing, and AAA (MFC) for getting every single step as marvellous. There are 3 different main game modes, single (one player on one pad), versus (two players on two pads) and doubles (one player on two pads).
DDRX has 3 different types of arrows for general gameplay. Tap arrows are for stepping to the music, and are the general arrows that appear across all game modes and difficulties. Freeze arrows require the player to hold or continually press the directional arrow until the freeze arrow passes the target segment. Shock arrows are a new addition to the series that were introduced in DDRX, they require the player to avoid all arrows whilst the shock arrow passes the target, pressing an arrow during this time will cause a “lightning strike”, lowering the life bar and temporarily removing the arrows from the screen.
Dance Dance Revolution X introduces some new modifiers to the European market, mainly the long awaited 2.5x and 3.5x speed modifiers, background darkening and different noteskins. All of these additions are extremely welcome for the experienced players, making it ever more comfortable to play through songs whilst attempting to stay on beat by making any song be able to get to a more easily readable speed.
Obviously, the most important part of a rhythm game is the music, and Dance Dance Revolution X has lots of it, with approximately 30 licensed songs from artists such as OK Go! and MC Hammer, commissioned songs from artists like UK Hardcore artists Fracus and Darwin, and literally hundreds of songs developed by Konami’s internal Bemani music studio, DDRX can boast a quite a range of songs to suit many musical tastes. However, the removal of a few old favourites from previous games, such as End of the Century which appeared on Dancing Stage Euromix1 and Euromix2, is a small concern and those who are very familiar with the old games might find it a little offputting.
Aside from the music, the scrolling sound for the menus in DDRX has been vastly improved over that which was used for Dancing Stage SuperNOVA, being much more subtle and easier on the ear. The announcer, however, is almost laughably bad. He has some really irritating phrases (“These beats are the bom-diggy y’all” and “We’re going combo wombo”, among others) and generally speaks far too much, detracting from the overall experience.
DDRX also revamps the difficulty rating scale from previous games from a 1-10 scale to a 1-18 scale. The extension to the difficulty scale is a welcome one, as it helps to better differentiate between harder songs, although some of the regradings make very little sense, which is frustrating as it can hinder the progress of those learning to become better at the game.
The cabinet in which the game is enclosed has also been modified since the previous release. A thinner lower down stage has been accompanied with a much larger HD monitor. Unfortunately, this is not without it’s issues. The HD monitor in the cabinet means that there is a certain amount of lag between the screen and the audio, which causes issues when attempting to play in time.
The new stage also has it’s problems, as the input from the sensors going into the machine also has a certain amount of delay on it, which is noticeably worse in parts of songs where there are many arrows in a row. It’s quite unacceptable for a company who has so much experience in this field. A update has apparently been released which fixes the issues with input delay, but I have not yet played a machine with the update installed. However, no amount of updates can improve the horrible “woody” feel of the stage itself, and when compared to earlier versions, it makes the experience just that little bit less pleasant.
Graphically, the new character models introduced for DDRX are slightly more detailed than those used in SuperNOVA, and the stages are much better (unfortunately no signs of any foo foos, but I guess that’s to be expected for a game that will be running in a family environment). The game also sometimes struggles to keep up the framerate required for the game to run smoothly, which can be extremely annoying and offputting. But other than that, the menus are what you’d expect, and seems nice and professional.
In summary, the game contains many songs, some really good, but it is missing some extremely good songs that have been removed from previous mixes. The licenses are rather sub-par in general when compared to previous mixes, and the announcer is very irritating. The new cabinet definitely has it’s own flaws, and the new grading system isn’t exactly brilliantly consistent yet. But may be an enjoyable experience when the problems are ironed out.
7.5/10 - Game
4/10 - Cabinet (6.5/10 with input update)
6/10 (7/10) – Overall rating