Dance Dance Revolution!

At the end of summer 2002 I succumbed to my curiosity and borrowed Dance Dance Revolution from a friend for several weeks. I had no idea it was so much fun! I've now created this web page to mark my progress, and to kick me back into learning HTML.

I have a Japanese PS2 with three DDR games, whose full names are Dance Dance Revolution 5th Mix, DDR Max: Dance Dance Revolution 6th Mix, and DDR Max 2: Dance Dance Revolution 7th Mix. While I've only mastered basic/light difficulty (I am a Logical Master, the 8th stage of DDR fever according to Jake Forbes), I do have a few tips for playing the game:

The first is obvious. Beginners should stick to 1-foot and 2-foot songs until they're really comfortable with the game. It can take several tries at the same songs before the body understands how DDR is played.
Once you're no longer a beginner, ignore the feet measurement of song difficulty. Make your way through the songs at Basic level. Find songs you like and get comfortable with them. Try them out at Standard/Trick, then try the rest at that level. Don't bother with the feet rating until you're tackling the Heavy/Maniac-level songs. At that level, when they're so much harder, gauging a song by its feet becomes helpful again.
No gradual warmups. If you're currently doing well (i.e., averaging "C" grades) on 5-foot songs, warm up with one 4-footer and two 5-footers that you can always pass. Don't mess around with easier ones until you need a break from the toughest. And make'em fast ones, too! If you warm up with fast ones, everything else seems slower in comparison.

Dance Dance Revolution 5th Mix
While my first game of DDR was a DDR3 machine in a deserted arcade south of Tokyo's Yoyogi Park on 29 July 2001, I didn't really take to the game until I'd had a few weeks with DDR5 and a borrowed Playstation. DDR5 is the only game in the series in which 3-minute songs appear. They are B4U, Dynamite Rave, Hot Limit, and Oops!...I Did It Again, and are shown below with dark grey backgrounds on their rows. The consensus among DDR players was that the steps became too repetitive in songs of that length, and they were dropped in future releases. At this point I've mastered Single Basic and Trick, and am one song away from mastery of Double Basic. This mix holds my personal record for highest combo, with a 414 combo reached with Hot Limit Single Trick on 1 May 2003.	Feet	Single						Double
	Feet	AA	A	B	C	D	fail	AA	A	B	C	D	fail
	1	4						4
	2	9						5	5
	3	18						13	3	1
	4	13	8					7	13
	5	7	21					3	13	9
	6	2	17	2					3	16	5
	7	1	4	12					1	8	4	5
	8			4	6					1	6	7	2
	9			2	3	6					3	5

Song	Single			Double
Song	Basic	Trick	Maniac	Basic	Trick	Maniac
17	AA	A	A	AA	A	B
Absolute	AA	A	B	A	B	D
Abyss	AA	A	A	A	A	D
Afronova Primeval	A	AA	C	A	C	D
Against All Odds	AA	A	B	AA	AA	A
B4U	A	A	C	A	B	D
Be Together	AA	A	B	A	B	C
Broken My Heart	AA	A	D	A	B	D
Can't Stop Fallin' In Love	A	AA	B	AA	B	C
Dancing All Alone	AA	AA	B	AA	B	D
Dive	AA	AA	C	A	B	C
Dive (more deep and deeper style)	AA	AA	B	A	A	C
Do It Right	A	A	A	A	A	C
DXY!	AA	A	C	A	B	C
Dynamite Rave	A	A	B	A	B	C
Ecstasy	AA	AA	A	AA	A	D
Electro Tuned	A	A	C	AA	B	D
Healing Vision	AA	AA	B	AA	B	D
Healing Vision (angelic mix)	A	A	C	A	B	C
Hot Limit	AA	A	B	AA	B	C
Insertion	AA	AA	D	AA	C	D
I Was The One	AA	AA	AA	AA	A	B
Look to the Sky	AA	A	A	A	A	B
Matsuri Japan	AA	A	B	AA	B	C
Moonlight Shadow	AA	A	B	AA	A	D
Movin' On	AA	A	C	AA	AA	B
Mr.T (Take Me Higher)	AA	A	B	AA	A	B
My Generation	AA	AA	A	A	A	B
Neverending Story	AA	A	B	AA	B	B
No Limit	A	AA	C	A	B	D
Nori Nori Nori	AA	AA	AA	A	A	A
Dancing Ponpokolin	AA	AA	B	AA	A	B
On the Jazz	AA	A	B	AA	B	D
Oops!...I Did It Again	AA	A	A	A	A	C
Paranoia Eternal	A	A	B	B	C	D
Radical Faith	AA	A	C	A	B	D
Remember You	AA	AA	AA	AA	AA	B
Right Now	AA	A	A	A	B	B
God of Romance	AA	A	D	AA	B	D
Sana Morette Ne Ente	AA	AA	C	AA	AA	C
Still In My Heart	AA	AA	B	A	A	C
Swing It	AA	A	B	AA	A	C
Test My Best	AA	AA	B	AA	A	B
The Centre of the Heart	AA	AA	AA	AA	AA	AA
The Cube	A	A	A	AA	A	B
The Twist	AA	A	B	AA	B	D
Tribal Dance	AA	A	C	A	A	C

DDR MAX: Dance Dance Revolution 6th Mix

DDR6 is a substantial departure from previous versions inasmuch as there is no character selection and there is no ranking of song difficulty by feet. There is only the groove radar, which shows how difficult a song is in five qualities: Air (how many jumps), Chaos (how much irregularity), Freeze (how many freeze arrows), Stream (how many arrows per measure), and Voltage (peak density of the arrows).

Without the difficulty measurement in feet, some beginners might stumble into a very hard song. The easiest songs in Basic difficulty are Firefly, Highs Off U, Ordinary World, www.blondegirl, Do You Remember Me, Justify My Love, Let's Groove, Lovin' You, Miracle, On The Jazz, The Centre of the Heart, and Yozora no Muko. According to the charts at DDR Freak, these should be the 1-foot and 2-foot difficulty songs.

I've survived every song, Single and Double, Light, Standard, and Heavy. The last holdout was Healing Vision (angelic mix) Double Heavy, which fell on 9 November 2003. As for the ultimate challenge, Max 300, I survived Max 300 Single Heavy on 31 July 2003, and Double Heavy on 29 October 2003.

The Single Light column below refers to songs I've done with the x1.5 and Reverse options. Without options, I've gotten AA in all of them.

Song	Single			Double
Song	Light	Standard	Heavy	Light	Standard	Heavy
Bye Bye Baby Balloon	AA	A	C	AA	A	D
Candy	AA	A	B	A	A	C
Cowgirl	AA	AA	A	AA	AA	B
Dive (more deep and deeper style)	AA	A	B	AA	A	C
Do It Right	AA	A	C	A	B	C
Do You Remember Me	AA	AA	C	AA	A	D
Exotic Ethnic	AA	A	A	A	A	A
Fantasy	AA	AA	D	AA	A	B
Firefly	AA	A	B	AA	A	B
Flash in the Night	A	A	D	A	A	C
Follow Me	AA	A	C	A	A	C
Freckles	AA	A	B	A	A	D
Ghosts	AA	A	C	A	A	B
Groove	AA	AA	B	A	A	C
Groove 2001	AA	A	A	A	B	B
Healing Vision (angelic mix)	AA	A	B	A	B	D
Highs Off U	AA	A	B	A	A	D
I'm in the Mood for Dancing	AA	A	C	AA	A	C
Justify My Love	AA	A	B	AA	AA	B
Kind Lady	AA	AA	AA	AA	A	B
Let the Beat Hit 'Em!	AA	AA	AA	A	A	A
Let's Groove	AA	AA	A	AA	A	B
Look to the Sky	AA	A	A	A	A	C
Lovin' You	AA	AA	B	A	A	C
Max 300	AA	A	C	A	C	D
Midnite Blaze	AA	AA	A	A	A	D
Miracle	AA	A	B	A	AA	C
My Sweet Darlin'	AA	AA	C	A	A	C
Nori Nori Nori	AA	A	B	A	A	B
On the Jazz	AA	A	B	A	A	C
Ordinary World	AA	AA	B	A	A	C
Orion.78 (civilization mix)	A	A	A	A	B	C
Share My Love	AA	A	A	A	A	B
So Deep	AA	A	D	A	A	C
So In Love	AA	AA	A	AA	A	A
Somewhere Over the Rainbow	AA	A	B	A	A	C
Telephone Operator	AA	A	B	AA	A	B
The Centre of the Heart	AA	AA	A	AA	A	B
True (radio edit)	AA	AA	B	A	A	C
True (trance sunrise mix)	AA	A	B	AA	A	B
Twilight Zone	AA	A	C	A	A	D
Witch Doctor	AA	A	C	A	A	D
www.blondegirl	AA	AA	A	AA	AA	B
Yozora no Muko	AA	AA	B	A	AA	B

DDR MAX 2: Dance Dance Revolution 7th Mix
DDR 7 retains the design elements of DDR 6 while bringing back the difficulty ranking by feet. It also has Challenging Mode, in which players must complete a series of five or more songs back-to-back. These oni courses compel one to go for maximum combos, as one is allowed only three results worse than "great" (two such results are forgiven after each song is completed). I first played this mix at home on 5 May 2003. As with DDR 6, a AA score on a Heavy difficulty final stage song allows one an extra stage. For DDR 7, the extra stage is Maxx Unlimited x1.5 Dark Reverse. I discovered this on 21 June 2003 and survived 15.32 seconds. DDR 7 has two of the horribly difficult 10-foot songs: Maxx Unlimited and Paranoia Survivor. I passed Maxx Unlimited Single Heavy on 25 September 2003, and Paranoia Survivor Single Heavy a few days later. I have played Single Light songs only with the options x1.5, Reverse, and Dark.	Feet	Single						Double
	Feet	AA	A	B	C	D	fail	AA	A	B	C	D	fail
	1							1
	2							11	4
	3	1						13	9
	4	5						6	5	1
	5	4	22					5	18	6
	6	2	13	2					10	7	2
	7	3	23	14					6	7	14	2
	8	1	7	8	5				4	2	7
	9			7	5	2					1

Song	Single			Double
Song	Light	Standard	Heavy	Light	Standard	Heavy
Baby Love Me	AA	A	B	AA	A	D
Break Down!	AA	A	B	AA	A	D
Burning Heat	AA	A	B	A	A	D
Candy	AA	A	A	AA	A	C
D2R	AA	A	B	AA	A	D
Destiny	AA	A	B	AA	A	C
Dive to the Night	AA	A	B	AA	B	C
Drifting Away	AA	A	B	AA	A	C
Ever Snow	AA	AA	B	AA	A	B
Fantasy	AA	A	B	AA	A	D
I Feel...	AA	AA	B	AA	A	D
Little Boy	AA	A	A	AA	A	C
Living In America	AA	AA	A	A	A	B
Long Train Running	AA	A	B	AA	AA	C
Look At Us	AA	A	A	AA	A	C
Maximum Overdrive	AA	AA	B	AA	A	B
Nothing Gonna Stop	AA	A	A	AA	A	C
Rain of Sorrow	AA	A	B	A	A	B
Secret Rendezvous	A	A	A	A	A	C
So Fabulous So Fierce	AA	A	A	A	A	B
Spin the Disc	AA	AA	A	AA	A	A
Stay	AA	A	B	AA	A	B
Sweet Sweet Magic	AA	A	B	A	B	C
The Reflex	AA	A	A	A	A	C
The Whistle Song	AA	AA	A	AA	A	C
Trance de Janeiro	AA	AA	B	AA	A	C
Tsugaru	AA	AA	A	A	B	B
Wakalaka	AA	AA	B	AA	AA	B
B4U	AA	A	B	AA	A	C
Dead End	B	A	B	A	A	D
Drop Out	B	A	B	A	B	D
Dynamite Rave	AA	A	B	A	A	C
Kind Lady	AA	AA	AA	AA	A	A
Paranoia Rebirth	A	A	A	A	B	failed
So In Love	AA	A	A	AA	A	A
AM-3P (303 bass mix)	AA	A	A	AA	A	B
Crash!	AA	AA	A	A	A	B
Cutie Chaser (morning mix)	AA	AA	A	AA	A	C
Do It Right (harmonized 2-step mix)	AA	A	A	A	A	B
Drop the Bomb (SF feat mix)	AA	AA	AA	AA	AA	A
Dynamite Rave (down bird SOTA mix)	A	A	A	A	A	B
Look to the Sky (true color mix)	AA	AA	AA	AA	AA	B
Love Shine	AA	AA	AA	AA	A	C
I'm For Real	A	A	A	A	A	B
Jam and Marmalade	AA	A	A	AA	A	B
Logical Dash	AA	A	A	AA	A	B
Overblast!	AA	A	A	A	A	B
Peace-Out	AA	AA	A	AA	AA	A
The Shining Polaris	AA	A	A	AA	A	A
Kakumei	AA	A	B	AA	A	D
Maxx Unlimited	C	A	C	A	B	failed
Paranoia Survivor	B	A	C	A	B	failed

Song	Single Oni	Double Oni
Afronova (b4 za beat remix)	A	C
AM-3P (am east mix)	A	C
B4U (b4 za beat mix)	A	C
Brilliant 2U	A	C
Burnin' the Floor (blue fire mix)	A	B
Celebrate Nite	A	C
Do It Right	B	B
Drop Out (K.O.G. remix)	A	C
Dynamite Rave (b4 za beat mix)	A	A
Ecstasy (midnight blue mix)	B	B
Higher	A	C
Hysteria 2001	A	B
Kakumei	C	C
Kind Lady (interlude)	AA	A
Look to the Sky (trance mix)	A	A
Matsuri Japan (K.O.G. remix)	AA	B
My Summer Love (Tommy's smile mix)	A	B
Sexy Planet (momo remix)	AA	B
Silent Hill (3rd christmas mix)	A	A
Still in my Heart (momo mix)	B	C
Super Star	A	B
Tsugaru (apple mix)	A	B
Wild Rush	AA	A

Oni Course		Score	Time
More Light	(single)	89.5 percent (complete)	7 minutes 0.83 seconds
More Light	(double)	25.6 percent	2 minutes 31.44 seconds
BeForU	(single)	17.9 percent	1 minute 48.6 seconds
BeForU	(double)	18.1 percent	1 minute 48.98 seconds
Nearly = 130	(single)	23.7 percent	2 minutes 25.98 seconds
Nearly = 130	(double)	58.1 percent	4 minutes 59.53 seconds
From IIDX	(single)	4.1 percent	38.16 seconds
From IIDX	(double)	7.5 percent	50.68 seconds
Love Song Collection	(single)	16.2 percent	1 minute 20.7 seconds
Love Song Collection	(double)	4.9 percent	33.56 seconds
DJ SOTA	(single)	12.7 percent	1 minute 42.04 seconds
DJ SOTA	(double)	12.7 percent	1 minute 42.52 seconds
Middle Tempo	(single)	56.9 percent	5 minutes 51.38 seconds
Middle Tempo	(double)	12.9 percent	1 minute 16.52 seconds
Rap Mania	(single)	11.5 percent	1 minute 57.61 seconds
Rap Mania	(double)	18 percent	2 minutes 33.9 seconds
Midnight Blue	(single)	2.2 percent	14.86 seconds
Midnight Blue	(double)	1.6 percent	11.9 seconds
BPM 140	(single)	13.3 percent	2 minutes 24.44 seconds
BPM 140	(double)	20.7 percent	3 minutes 26.5 seconds
Tricky	(single)	19.3 percent	3 minutes 47.02 seconds
Tricky	(double)	17.3 percent	3 minutes 8.3 seconds
Random	(single)	2 percent	23.27 seconds
Random	(double)	0.7 percent	18.9 seconds
Naoki Platinum	(single)	6.3 percent	44.54 seconds
Naoki Platinum	(double)	5.1 percent	38.24 percent
Maiden Road	(single)	2.8 percent	44.68 seconds
Maiden Road	(double)	0.8 percent	15.1 seconds
Up And Down	(single)	14.2 percent	2 minutes 28.24 seconds
Up And Down	(double)	8.3 percent	1 minute 43.22 seconds
Oni Road	(single)	4.8 percent	41.74 seconds
Oni Road	(double)	1.2 percent	15.38 seconds
Oni Road 2	(single)	3 percent	31.02 seconds
Oni Road 2	(double)	0.6 percent	9.86 seconds
Ultra 12	(single)	2 percent	39.97 seconds
Ultra 12	(double)	3.7 percent	1 minute 2.01 seconds