Dance Dance Revolution (series)

Dance Dance Revolution, often abbreviated DDR, is a series of dancing games produced by Konami. The game utilizes special "dance pad", also called "dance stage", it is hardware with arrows pointing up, down, left, and right. The objective of the game is to step on the arrows indicated as they scroll up the screen, which are synchronized with the music. Dance Dance Revolution has grown to be extremely popular in both Japan and the United States. Although originally released in arcades, many home versions have now been produced for the PlayStation and Xbox consoles, among others, including accompanying dance mats as peripherals. Dance Dance Revolution is part of Konami's Bemani series of rhythm games.

Modes
To start playing Dance Dance Revolution it is first required to select a game mode. The game modes consist of "single", "versus", and "double" in most games of the series, although 3rd mix had an additional mode called "couple". For modes other than "single" to be available, an additional credit is needed.

"Single" is the default game mode, it uses four panels (up, down, left and right) in one side of the dancing stage.

"Versus" consists of two players, each with four panels.

"Double" is when one player uses four panels, both sides of the stage.

Difficulty
After selecting the game mode, the player(s) have to choose the song that is going to be played. An important factor that determines the steps of a song is the bpm, which stands for "beats per minute", it is the speed in which the arrows are going to scroll by the screen.

In general each song has at least three step charts, one for each difficulty: light, standard, and heavy. In Dance Dance Revolution max 2 (7th mix), however, two more difficulties were added: beginner and challenge mode (oni). The level of the charts are measured in feet, 1 being the easiest, 10 the most difficult. Dance Dance Revolution Extreme (8th mix), is said to have an extra level, referred to as "flashing 10", some players believe this means it goes beyond 10 feet, others think that this only means the song is harder than the previous ten feeter. Konami hasn't specified which of these assumptions are correct.

"Beginner" is a difficulty which has very simplified steps, the number of feet usually average from 1 to 3.

"Light" formerly referred to as "basic" before Dance Dance Revolution Max (6th mix), also before this mix, it was the easiest difficulty. The number of feet is usually 1 to 4.

"Standard" was known as "trick" in the games before Dance Dance Revolution Max (6th mix), commonly the number of feet goes from 3 to 8.

"Heavy" in mixes past Dance Dance Revolution Max (6th mix) were called "Maniac", most of the songs are in 7 to 9 feet of difficulty, however there are a few that have 10 feet, this means the steps are only for experts and that the song requires a lot of stamina.

"Challenge" (oni), started in Dance Dance Revolution Max 2 (7th mix), as a separate mode, in which the player could dance through songs in a row, very much like non-stop in previous versions, with the difference that each player had 4 lives, the game ended if all lives were lost, the lives were lost if the player scored a timing worse than great. In Dance Dance Revolution Extreme (8th mix)it became an additional difficulty for some songs, usually harder step charts, except for a few songs, like sakura. The average of feet goes from 7 to 9.