DDRMAX: Dance Dance Revolution 6thMIX

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. Although only officially released in Japan, units exist worldwide. 6thMix contains a total of 42 songs, 36 of which are new to Dance Dance Revolution.

The interface used is a recoloring and smoothing of the song wheel interface first introduced in Dance Dance Revolution 5thMix, with the addition of changeable sort settings and a longer time limit.

6thMix was intended to be the Next Generation of Dance Dance Revolution. As such, there are many changes. First, the difficulty levels were renamed. Basic' was renamed 'Light', 'Trick' was named 'Standard', and 'Maniac' was named 'Heavy'. They are also given Japanese difficulty names in conjunction: 楽 (raku), 踊 (you), and 激 (geki), respectively. Their color codes—orange, fuchsia and green, respectively—remain the same.

Gameplay
Core gameplay remained mostly the same on 6thMix, with the addition of Freeze Arrows and a new scoring system:

Freeze Arrows appear as green arrows with a long extension. If they are held for the entire length successfully, a O.K. is scored. If it is not held down for the entire length, a N.G. (no good) is scored. Freezes affect the life bar. Scores are calculated with 2 distinct scoring systems, the long-score system used to determine rankings, and an independent dance point system now used to determine the grade.

All songs have a long-score ceiling of 50 million points, and a bonus score is tacked onto it based on the difficulty of the song and other factors. Rankings are given for the highest long-score accumulations a round. If a player plays more than three songs, then it only counts the last three played. If a song is played repeatedly among the three songs used for ranking, then the repeated songs carry no bonus score.

The dance-point system uses raw step values to determine the grade. 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 a player takes too many bad steps and depletes the life bar, they will fail, and the game will end immediately. If the first song is in Light mode, then the game will allow a player to fail that song and continue, but will fail the player out if they fail a second song. 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.

The grade is dependent on the number of dance points accumulated: 100% dance points is 'AAA', at least 93% is 'AA', at least 80% is 'A', at least 65% is 'B', at least 45% is 'C' and anything below 45% is a 'D'. If a net dance-point total of zero is obtained without depleting the life bar and, thus, failing, an 'E' ia awarded. The final grade for the entire game is an average of the grades from the last three songs and not derived from the actual dance points scored.

Interface & graphics
Dancing characters have been removed in 6thMix. Instead, the arrows scroll over clips of full motion video, hence the game does not render any polygons. The screen refreshes at a full speed of 60 frames per second. In addition, the arrows themselves have been tweaked too, now having a rounded edge on their outer tip rather than the V-shaped cut used in all previous games.

6thMix retains the Song Wheel interface introduced in 5thMix, but adds an easier method to enter modifiers. In previous versions, modifiers like "Sudden" or "Shuffle" required a combination of dance steps. Beginning in 6thMix, a player only needs to hold the yellow Start button when they select a song to bring up a full menu of available modifiers, including the ability to speed up or slow down the scrolling of arrows, and a final chance to select the song difficulty they wish to play.

Groove Radar
The "foot rating" system used in previous versions to identify a song's difficulty has been replaced in DDRMAX by the Groove Radar. The Groove Radar is a graphical representation of the difficulty of a song which debuted on DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution 6thMix which exclusively used the system to represent difficulty instead of foot ratings, the only version to do this. Due to this, the only songs that have no known foot ratings are "Follow Me" and "Flash in the Night", because both songs have yet to appear on a different mix.

The radar uses 5 categories to represent the difficulty:
 * Stream - the overall density of the steps in the song.
 * Voltage - the measure of the peak density of the steps (the highest density of arrows that ever appear on the screen at once).
 * Air - the amount of jump steps within the song
 * Freeze - the number of freezes (requiring the player to hold a note after it has been pressed initially) in the song.
 * Chaos - the number of steps in the song that don't occur on quarter notes.

The Groove Radar displays up to two graphs, one for each player, depending on the difficulty they select.

Modifiers
A new options menu accessed by holding down the start button when selecting a song debuted on 6thMix, and is retained on future mixes.

Some of the available modifiers include Speed mods, which change the arrow speed. Boost, which causes the arrows to accelerate as they near the step zone, Appearance, which changes the appearance of the arrows. Turn mods modify the stepchart itself, Other effects the difficulty of the steps, Scroll changes the scroll direction of the arrows, and Freeze Arrows can also be turned off.

Extra Stage
New to 6thMix is the "Extra Stage", where players are rewarded for meeting conditions set by the game. If a AA is scored on the final stage on Heavy mode, a message inviting the player to "Try Extra Stage" is shown instead of the Cleared graphic. For the Extra Stage, the song wheel is locked on "MAX 300", and the song is played with several forced modifiers, including 1.5x speed and Reverse. The song is also played in Pressure mode, where the dance gauge starts filled, and can only go down.

If the player scores a AA or higher on the Extra Stage the game again rewards them with "One More Extra Stage". This time, the song wheel is locked to "CANDY☆", an easier song but with more difficult Modifiers. The exact same modifiers are used, but the song is played in Sudden Death mode, where any step judgment which breaks a combo immediately ends the game. If the player clears the song with a full combo (which is the only way to do so in Sudden Death mode), a special credits movie is shown. When this second Boss Song is passed for the first time it too will be unlocked for normal play, also displayed on the Song Wheel in red.

Link data
Some machines have the ports to insert PlayStation memory cards. Such memory cards have to be PlayStation (not PS2) memory cards with Link Data from the home version of DDR 5th Mix (the home version of 6thMix cannot create arcade-compatible Link Data). 5thMix can create two different kinds of arcade link data; the Link Data file for 6thMix is known as "New Version" Link Data and is forward-compatible with 7thMix arcade machines as well. Link Data serves two primary purposes: Score-saving and Internet Ranking. The user can save his or her scores from arcade performances, and whenever the game is played in the future, the arcade game will load the scores for each user and show them on the song-selection screen to show the player's best performances. These scores can also be viewed at home with 5thMix. 6thMix also provides Internet Ranking codes based on the user's performance in a given set of songs. As with all of Konami's Internet Ranking events, the website for the game would allow users to enter in a generated password which contains their initials and scores for that session, and the website would display the rankings for those who have submitted codes. Link Data saves these passwords so that they may be entered much more conveniently.

The arcade game can exchange custom stepchart data with 6thMix, as well as any earlier version that has songs that are in 6thMix, though this requires special steps to be taken in 6thMix to write a PlayStation-formatted save file, which must then be copied to the PlayStation memory card by the user.

Home versions
The home version of DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution 6thMix was released in Japan on May 16, 2002, for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console. It featured all 42 songs from the arcade version as well as two additional songs "Kind Lady" and "So In Love". 6thMix's hidden songs can be unlocked automatically, without additional play, by accessing its save data on home versions of DDRMAX2 Dance Dance Revolution 7thMix or Dance Dance Revolution Extreme.

DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution, with the mix number omitted, is the home version released in North America for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The North American version is considerably different from the Japanese version. It displays song difficulties using the traditional foot-rating system and the Groove Radar in tandem.

Music
The Japanese PlayStation 2 release of DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution 6thMix includes the arcade soundtrack in its entirety plus two additional unlockable tracks.

Bye Bye Baby Balloon
"Bye Bye Baby Balloon" is a Dancemania licensed song by Joga from Dancemania 20. Its most recent appearance was in Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 3. Joga was previously featured on Dance Dance Revolution with "Dam Dariram" which first appeared in the arcade release of Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMix.

Candy✩
"Candy✩" is a Konami Original song by Luv Unlimited. Its most recent appearance was in the arcade release of Dance Dance Revolution X. The song is part of the original soundtrack album for DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution 6thMix and also features "Candy✩ (K.O.G G3 Mix)", on the nonstop megamix disc. It was later remixed as "Candy♥" in the arcade release of DDRMAX2 Dance Dance Revolution 7thMix and "Candy (UFO Mix)" in Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party.

Cow Girl
"Cow Girl" is a Dancemania licensed song by Bambee from Dancemania Happy Paradise 2. Its most recent appearance was in the arcade release of Dance Dance Revolution Extreme. Bambee was previously featured on Dance Dance Revolution with "Bumble Bee" which first appeared in Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMix Plus.

Dive (More Deep & Deeper Style)
"Dive (More Deep & Deeper Style)" is a Konami Original song by Be For U. Its most recent appearance is the arcade release of Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova 2 A preview of this song was on the PlayStation release of Dance Dance Revolution 5thMix. It is a remix of "Dive" from the arcade release of Dance Dance Revolution 5thMix. The song is part of the original soundtrack album for DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution 6thMix.

Do It Right
"Do It Right" is a Konami Original song by Sota feat. Ebony Fay. Its most recent appearance is the arcade release of Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova 2. A preview of this song was on the PlayStation release of Dance Dance Revolution 5thMix. The song is part of the original soundtrack album for DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution 6thMix. It was later remixed as "Do It Right (Harmonized 2Step Mix)" in the North American PlayStation 2 release of DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution and "Do It Right (80's Electro Mix)" in the Japanese PlayStation 2 release of DDRMAX2 Dance Dance Revolution 7thMix.

Exotic Ethnic
"Exotic Ethnic" is a song by Reveng.

Fantasy
"Fantasy" is a song by Melissa.

Firefly
"Firefly" is a song by Be For U.

Flash in the Night
"Flash in the Night" is a song by Flashman. It is one of two songs that have never repeated in DDR. As such, it does not have an official foot rating for any difficulty.

Follow Me
"Follow Me" is a song by Lady Baby. It is one of two songs that have never repeated in DDR. As such, it does not have an official foot rating for any difficulty.

Ghosts (Vincent De Moor Remix)
"Ghosts (Vincent De Moor Remix)" is a song by Tenth Planet.

Healing Vision (Angelic Mix)
"Healing Vision (Angelic Mix)" is a song by 2MB.

Highs Off U (Scorccio XY Mix)
"Highs Off U (Scorccio XY Mix)" is a song by 4 Reeel.

I'm in the Mood For Dancing
"I'm in the Mood For Dancing" is a song by Sharon.

Justify My Love
"Justify My Love" is a song by Tess.

Kind Lady
"Kind Lady" is a song by Okuyatos.

Let the Beat Hit Em' (Classic R&B Style)
"Let the Beat Hit Em' (Classic R&B Style)" is a song by Stone Bros.

Let's Groove
"Let's Groove" is a song by Tips & Tricks vs Wisdome.

Lovin' You (Rob Searle Club Mix)
"Lovin' You (Rob Searle Club Mix)" is a song by Vinyl Baby.

Max 300
"Max 300" is a song by Ω. Its name references to its bpm of 300, making it the fastest song in the game. It should also be noted that it is the hardest song in the game, as its Heavy/Maniac chart is rated as a 10 in the US version.

Miracle
"Miracle" is a song by St.Jannaro.

My Sweet Darlin'
"My Sweet Darlin'" is a song by Wildside.

Nori Nori Nori
"Nori Nori Nori" is a song by Judy Crystal.

On the Jazz
"On the Jazz" is a song by Jonny Dynamite!.

Ordinary World
"Ordinary World" is a song by Aurora featuring Naimee Coleman.

Orion.78 (Civilization Mix)
"Orion.78 (Civilization Mix)" is a song by 2MB.

So Deep (Perfect Sphere Remix)
"So Deep (Perfect Sphere Remix)" is a song by Silvertear.

So In Love
"So In Love" is a song by Caramel.S.

Sobakasu
"そばかす" (Sobakasu) is a song by Tiggy.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow
"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is a song by Cosmic Gate.

Telephone Operator (Club Mix)
"Telephone Operator (Club Mix)" is a song by Shelley Peter.

The Centre of the Heart (Stonebridge Clubmix)
"The Centre of the Heart (Stonebridge Clubmix)" is a song by Roxette.

True... (Radio Edit)
"True... (Radio Edit)" is a song by Kosaka Riyu.

True... (Trance Sunrise Mix)
"True... (Trance Sunrise Mix)" is a song by Kosaka Riyu.

Twilight Zone (R-C Extended Club Mix)
"Twilight Zone (R-C Extended Club Mix)" is a song by 2 Unlimited.

Witch Doctor (Giant Toons Version)
"Witch Doctor (Giant Toons Version)" is a song by Cartoons.

www.Blonde Girl (Momo Mix)
"www.Blonde Girl (Momo Mix)" is a song by Jenny Rom.

Yozora no Muko
"夜空ノムコウ" (Yozora no Muko) is a song by Eurobeat Lovers.