DanceDanceRevolution [PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii]

[ctc43f]

Originally Posted by _____Cait

I think Supernova CS and Ex JP had the best themes. Mostly for nostalgia though.

X2 has a decent one though.

I'm curious if the guys bashing X2 have played X2 yet. I'm telling you guys, I was one of the first here to bash X2, and to call it out on a bad songlist when Pie-Kun first gave it to us.

Then I bought it and loved it. It might not be as good as the older mixes, but it is DEFINITELY a step in the right direction. Yeah, licenses might not be as good as the Dancemania days. The KO's are all pretty much solid, and personally remind me of the Paula Terry vocalist style days.

Yeah, I love the older mixes best, nothing will beat Ex JP in my eyes, but X2 is the right step that we needed after X.

I bought and played it for a handful of tracks and the ability to make a better chart for Just Dance. The licenses, excluding Ice Ice Baby, the NKOTB track, and Dream on Dreamer, weren't horrible but the charts were. The KOs were good and some had nice charts, but stuff like New Dynamite Rave and New Keep On Movin' sound horrible vocally.

The best way to sum it up is that Konami is trying to please too many people with the CS DDR releases and end up spreading it too thin. They only include 60 songs but try to appeal to the mainstream, the hardcore, the Latin America group, new players, old players, etc. Rather than stick with a simple theme (EX is still best hands down because you won't get vertigo when the dancer cam goes apeshit on fast songs) and focus on content, they try coming up with new dancers and stages. Dice Master Mode seems pretty convoluted for something that is meant to provide an unlock method, especially when most beginner players wouldn't be able to pass the harder ones on there and most advanced players don't want to take the hours and days to unlock the best content on the disc. Heck, Request Mode would have been a better unlock method (similar to mission mode on EX US) if they didn't have those ones like get a bunch of marvelous combos.

At the end of the day it's really the music and charts that determine the longevity of a mix. I personally like EX JP CS because it has a lot of songs and a number of FUN charts, despite the fact its interface is old and the announcer doesn't try to talk over the song.

[oOAsians2loveOo]

Originally Posted by Fairy Red

That may be so... But the only reason I can see about how "bad" these newer games is because they're different than what most of the older fans grew up with. The DDR games had to appeal to a newer crowd, a crowd that seems much nicer than these hardcore "fans", who are indeed very unpleaseable.

The games are still good as long as people continue to enjoy them and buy them. If these newer games were "bad" after SN, they would have stopped making them ages ago. No, if the games are still fun to bring in new and old DDRers, but still provide a challenge for newcomers like myself, then the newer games aren't terrible at all. I've seen some of the older DDRs, they're quite an eyesore to look at. The songs, yes, pretty good, but I think the newer ones sound way better. An updated interface, and HP brought new characters to freshen things up for Wii players.

It's one thing to expect a lot from a franchise you love, but it's just another to instantly dismiss these newer games as "not as good" as the older games. They might have been good in their own right, but I see vast improvements from those older DDRs, even from trying one SN arcade machine once. Like most other long-run games, they only continue to get better. There's still the hard and easy challenges for ALL gamers, casual and hardcore. There is something for everyone, which makes these games much better.

Well it's hard to say really. Have you played any of the older mixes? 4th Mix? [[ Okay, that's old but it's really good ]] 5th, 6th Mix? I mean, yeah, back in the day the graphics weren't the best but you have to think here... 2000-2002 and it's now 2009. Yes DDR improved in some areas more than others. However, the important that is, did they bring anything new to the songs? Did they make creative stepcharts? This is what I usually see hardcore games being concerned about.
They want to see tracks like when Dancemania was on there. Instead of so much 'urban' influences or pop/hip-hop influence. That's all fine and good but it doesn't give that old feel. Now if they want to tend to the casual players, then they should keep that to the Wii. I feel as if the Playstation systems, when it comes to DDR, should be for the hardcore players. But of course, Konami tries to carter to everyone. -shrugs- I got to give them some props for that.

But of course, that's my option. To each his own. -nods-

[Fairy Red]

I've never played the games, but I do love a handful of the songs, like Midnite Blaze, ORION.78 (civilization mix), Speed Over Beethoven, Silver Platform -I wanna get your heart-, so on. But I'd still rather play these newer games, even if I had grown up with the older DDRs.

I'm quite a new-school gamer, and get irked when newer games get bashed for no other reason other than being different. But in the end...meh, you're right. To each their own, after all...

[oOAsians2loveOo]

C: Well I might have not played all the DDR's but I played enough to know that most of them are really good. I might not be a fan of X and as it lacked with a lot of things, it still had some good songs with a few good stepcharts. This X2 one seems good but I'm still waiting for the PS3 version of DDR before I get this one.

[ranatalus]

Originally Posted by Fairy Red

I've never played the games, but I do love a handful of the songs, like Midnite Blaze, ORION.78 (civilization mix), Speed Over Beethoven, Silver Platform -I wanna get your heart-, so on. But I'd still rather play these newer games, even if I had grown up with the older DDRs.

I'm quite a new-school gamer, and get irked when newer games get bashed for no other reason other than being different. But in the end...meh, you're right. To each their own, after all...

they are not getting bashed for "no other reason other than being different". they are being bashed for being inferior in quality

[ctc43f]

Originally Posted by Fairy Red

I've never played the games, but I do love a handful of the songs, like Midnite Blaze, ORION.78 (civilization mix), Speed Over Beethoven, Silver Platform -I wanna get your heart-, so on. But I'd still rather play these newer games, even if I had grown up with the older DDRs.

I'm quite a new-school gamer, and get irked when newer games get bashed for no other reason other than being different. But in the end...meh, you're right. To each their own, after all...

If you've never played or seen the older mixes, you really are missing something. Third mix is probably the best example of a well-rounded mix, with good stepcharts on Maniac for 85% of the songlist and 99% listenable tunes (Let Them Move can move on out, it's really the only dissapointment). Yes, the 30 FPS interface is ugly compared to X2, but it's still fun even after all these years (I played through the entire CS mix this evening and only skipped over Let them Move and Silent Hill).

[_____Cait]

I think Fairy Red gets the point now.

[papersak]

Bottom flipping line...

Originally Posted by oOAsians2loveOo

To each his own. -nods-

Even if a DDR game "sucks" people will still like it. :P

... now I'm waiting for Christmas to come to see if I can get it from some family member. ^^;
Until then... anyonehavethebottomtworequestmodepics? >_>

[Fairy Red]

Originally Posted by _____Cait

I think Fairy Red gets the point now.

OTL Indeed I do. Wish older fans of long-running franchises would rely on more than nostalgia, though...

[I LOVE MY DAUGHTERS]

Ive been around since max 2 and I still realize that the newer games arent as good of quality.

[Ashura96]

I'd say SN2AC is just about as good quality wise, unless your passion is Dancemania licenses.

[I LOVE MY DAUGHTERS]

Originally Posted by Ashura96

I'd say SN2AC is just about as good quality wise, unless your passion is Dancemania licenses.

I would agree. that is the only one though. next closest would be sn, then x.
Theres no saying that X2 isnt going to be amazing though.

[LNDN]

I finally got around to buying a new ps2 after my old one's laser died, and got to play DDRX2. I like the songlist overall, but I had to turn off that horrible announcer again along with the videos(way too many of them).

I thought initially the Dice Master Mode would be fun, but after the novelty and my geek fest over the extra attention on the characters wore off, it became tedius and annoying quickily. Does anything special happen after it's completed? Is it worth it? Those marvelous missions are killing me.

I own all U.S. ps1 and ps2 releases and personally think DDRX2 is one of the better U.S. mixes out there, but certainly not the best. I think it's a major step-up from SuperNova2 U.S. C.S., my god that was horrible. There were barely any songs I liked. After I unlocked everything in that mix, I never touched it again.

[Ashura96]

Disabled videos whaaaat?

[Fairy Red]

You can turn them off in HP3 too, it seems. Good, the music videos were quite distracting. D: I'd rather see the characters dance. The camera isn't music-tempo-controlled like other DDRs, which is very good. Just watching the camera on a fast song on other DDRs makes me dizzy...