Dance Dance Revolution Konamix

Platform: Sony Playstation

Dance Dance Revolution Konamix was the third incarnation of DDR to be released on the Playstation for fans in the USA. It was also much better received by fans than Dance Dance Revolution USA, which did not have as many songs, and the songs included were not as popular.

The game used the Dance Dance Revolution 4th Mix engine, which is interesting because DDR MAX was already in the arcades, and DDR MAX 2 was in location testing, if not also already fully released. The 4th Mix engine is not as refined, with song navigation a bit more difficult than in 5th Mix and beyond. And as Dance Dance Revolution 5th Mix was released for the Playstation, there are no doubts that the engine could run on the machine. The best guess is that when Konami of America made the arrangements to start work on Konamix, they got what was available from Konami of Japan - 4th Mix.

Gameplay

Like most DDR games, Konamix is designed to be played with dance pads. However, that is not necessary - you can use a standard controller, with mutliple configuration options. It is much less challenging and enjoyable that way.

Gameplay is the standard pre-DDR MAX play. No freeze arrows, just your arrows to hit at the right time. The game comes set to play 3 songs per game, though you can raise that up to 5 per game, or go into an event mode where you just keep playing as long as you want regardless of failing or passing. The options let you also choose if you want the song to end at failure, or wait until the end of song before the game ends.

The game supports standard single play, double play (one person across both pads), battle mode for songs that have it (a VS mode where the two players have different steps, versus play (two players), and solo mode. Solo mode, which first appeared on the solo DDR arcade machines, offers two additional arrows to deal with - upper left and upper right corners. Not all of the songs have special solo steps, and those that don't will just use the regular single steps in solo mode. Solo mode can only be done by one player.

There is also a workout mode, where you just play the songs and the game counts up calories burnt - though my experience tells me the number they list is definitely too high. There is also a training mode, where you can play the song without worrying about failure, and then afterwards, you can view your performance - see what you scored on each arrow, and learn where you need to improve on for the song. You can also increase/decrease the song speed, allowing you to take some of the faster, tougher songs and slow them down until you know the steps, then slowly increase until you can do it. Both of these modes can only be done by one player.

The game keeps track of your records. Once you pass a song, the top grade you've received on the song will be listed on the "select difficulty" screen before playing that song again. There will be up to three grades displayed, one for each of the step difficulty levels. You can also view all of your records from the game's main menu.

Like just about every DDR game, there are a number of unlockables. There are 20 songs that have to be unlocked before they can be selected, though some of them can be played in NonStop Courses. There are also a number of unlockable characters. Unlocks are achieved by passing 5 songs - each set of 5 songs unlocks the next in the sequence.

List of Unlockables:

Can't Stop Fallin' In Love
Orion.78 (AMeuro Mix)
Absolute
Super Star
PARANOiA Rebirth
Holic
Do It Right
Genom Screams
Dive
La Senorita Virtual
Let the Beat Hit Em! (Classic R&B Style)
Matsuri Japan
Drop Out
era (nostalmix)
Trip Machine (luv mix)
R3
Leading Cyber
Healing Vision
DXY!
AM-3P 303 Bass Mix

And if the 52 songs in thix mix are not enough, there is an edit mode that will let you create custom steps for any song in the game.

Like all pre-DDR MAX games, there are dancing characters in the background. You get to choose the character it shows on your side from a list of characters. Not all of them are initially available - some are unlocked over time. The 1st player chooses a male character, the 2nd player chooses a female character.

Lists Incomplete
Male Characters: Akira, Astro, Boldo, Johnny, Izam, Konsento:03/2, Rage
Female Characters: Devil-Zukin, Emi, Maid Zukin, Nina, Yuki

Music

All of the songs on Konamix are Konami originals. Some were first made for Beatmania, others specifically for DDR. Present are popular songs such as Dynamite Rave, Healing Vision, and Holic, along with some songs only seen in less common mixes, such as Diving Money and R3, which were in Dance Dance Revolution Club Mix. There is one unique song in the game - After The Game, which is a version of 5th Mix's After The Game of Love, but minus the (highly obnoxious) lyrics. I don't believe there is any other mix of DDR that has this version of the song. This is also what appears to be the last appearance of Let Them Move, one of the most despised songs in any DDR mix.

Four of the songs - Groove, Look To The Sky, On The Jazz, and Do It Right - were songs that were new to DDR MAX, but did not have freeze steps in them, so could be included in Konamix. Every other song was from earlier mixes before the introduction of freeze steps.