Dance Dance Revolution Konamix
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.
Dance Dance Revolution Konamix Complete Song List
Difficulty ratings (in feet) are listed after the song - with single ratings first, double ratings second, and solo last, if there are solo steps.
Single Double Solo
Song Artist BSC TRK MNC BSC TRK MNC BSC TRK MNC
.59 dj.TAKA 4 6 7 4 6 7 4 6 7
Absolute dj.TAKA 3 5 8 3 5 8
Afronova Primeval 8bit 4 6 9 4 6 9
After The Game NPD3 1 4 5 2 4 6 2 4 6
AM-3P 303 Bass Mix KTz 3 5 7 4 6 7
B4U Naoki 4 5 8 4 6 7 4 5 8
Baby Baby Gimme Your Love DIVAS 1 3 6 2 4 6 1 3 5
Brilliant 2U Naoki 4 5 6 4 5 7 4 5 7
Burnin' The Floor Naoki 4 6 7 4 6 8 4 6 8
Can't Stop Fallin' In Love Naoki 3 5 8 3 4 8 3 4 8
Celebrate Nite N.M.R 4 6 7 4 6 7 4 6 8
Cutie Chaser CLUB SPICE 3 4 7 3 5 7 4 6 8
Dead End N&S 5 7 9 6 7 8 5 7 9
Dive Be For U 4 5 8 4 6 7
Diving Money QUADRA 4 5 7 5 8 8
Do It Right SOTA feat. Ebony Fay 4 5 7 4 5 8
Don't Stop -AMD 2nd MNix- Dr. VIBE feat. JP Miles 3 5 7 4 5 7 3 5 6
Drop Out NW260 5 7 8 5 7 9 6 7 8
Drop The Bomb Scotty D. 4 5 6 4 5 6 4 5 7
DXY! TaQ 4 6 8 4 6 8
Dynamite Rave Naoki 5 7 9 5 6 8 4 7 9
End of the Century NO.9 4 7 8 5 6 9 4 6 8
era (nostalmix) TaQ 3 6 8 4 6 8 3 6 8
Genom Screams L.E.D. Light 5 6 8 6 8
Groove Sho-T feat Brenda 4 6 8 3 6 8 3 6 8
Healing Vision DE-SIRE 3 6 8 3 6 9
Higher NM feat Sunny 3 5 6 3 6 7 3 5 7
Holic TaQ 4 6 8 4 6 8 4 6 8
Hysteria NAOKI 190 4 6 8 3 5 7 5 6 8
La Senorita Virtual 2MB 7 8 8 6 7 8 5 6 9
Leading Cyber dj.TAKA 5 7 9 4 7 9 5 7 8
Let the Beat Hit 'Em (Classic R&B Style) Stone Bros. 3 5 6 3 5 6 3 5 6
Let Them Move NMR 3 6 7 3 6 7 3 6 7
Look to the Sky System SF feat. ANNA 3 4 6 2 5 7
Luv to Me (AMD Mix) DJ Kazu feat Tiger Yamoto 4 7 8 5 6 8 4 6 8
Make a Jam! U1 3 5 7 4 5 8 3 6 7
Make it Better (So-Real Mix) mitsu-O! 5 6 8 5 7 8 5 6 8
Make Your Move Good Cool feat JP Miles 3 5 7 4 5 7 3 5 6
Matsuri Japan RE-VENGE 4 5 9 4 6 8
On the Jazz Jonny Dynamite! 2 5 7 3 5 7
Orion.78 (AMeuro-Mix) RE-VENGE 3 5 9 3 5 7
PARANOiA 180 6 7 8 7 8 9 6 7 9
PARANOiA Rebirth 190' 6 7 9 6 8 9 6 7 9
Patsenner dj naguero 4 5 6 5 7
Perfect Free nite system 5 6 7 6 7
R3 Tiger Yamoto 5 6 7 6 8
Salamander Beat Crush Mix nite system 4 5 7 4 6
Super Star DJ Rich feat Tail Bros. 5 6 8 4 6 8 6 7 8
The Earth Light L.E.D. Light 5 6 8 6 8
think ya better D sAmi 3 4 5 3 4 7 3 4 6
Trip Machine (luv mix) 2MB 6 7 8 7 8 9 6 7 8
Wild Rush FACTOR-X 4 5 6 4 6 8 4 5 7
Dance Dance Revolution Konamix Complete NonStop List
These are the default nonstop courses. They can be edited at any time. Songs that are initially hidden but playable through these courses are noted with a *.
Course 1:
- Brilliant 2U (basic)
- Perfect Free (basic)
- Salamander Beat Crush Mix (basic)
- End of the Century (basic)
- B4U (basic)
Course 2:
- Baby Baby Gimme Your Love (basic)
- Groove (basic)
- Make Your Move (trick)
- * Do It Right (trick)
- * Let The Beat Hit 'Em (maniac)
Course 3:
- Wild Rush (trick)
- * Drop Out (trick)
- * R3 (maniac)
- * Holic (maniac)
- * DXY! (maniac)
Course 4:
- .59 (maniac)
- Afronova Priemeval (trick)
- Look to the Sky (trick)
- * La Senorita Virtual (maniac)
- * Genom Screams (trick)
Course 5:
- * Healing Vision (maniac)
- Dead End (trick)
- Diving Money (maniac)
- PARANOiA (maniac)
- * era (nostalmix) (maniac)
Course 6:
- Make It Better (basic)
- Don't Stop (basic)
- Drop the Bomb (basic)
- think ya better D (basic)
- Hysteria (basic)