DDR ULTRAMIX2 ESRB rating oddity?

Ok so it's rated E, yet the website AND some copies of the game listed it as rated T, yet the circumstances behind this phenomenon are unknown... and there's nothing online pointing to why and when afaik, and how, and it's been bugging me for a while

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I wonder if it has something to do with the DLC?

it does not, it states the online content will change your experience and is not rated

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Could be because of Lady, but if that were the case, then 3 and 4 would be T.

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There was some controversy surrounding the lyrics to Hit N' Slap, but that probably wasn't it since SuperNOVA was rated E10+.

wait controversy surrounding hit n slap? how big

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I don't remember if this song is from Ultramix 1 or 2, but Ready Steady Go has the word "Motherfucking" on the lyrics, so that affected the rating as well

Ready Steady Go is Ultramix 1. Sadly it never got into any other games...

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I'm surprised that this hasn't actually been answered yet, but it's almost certainly because of the hidden song G2 by Aya, which has very obvious strong language in a very rude tone of voice right at the start of the song. Having a song by Anal Spyder probably didn't help either, but G2 is almost certainly what pushed it over to T. This song did NOT make it into festival.

Ready Steady go's use of Motherfucking wasn't sexual. The same can't be said for sure of G2's use of the F word.

G2 didn't make it into Festival because that was the Ultramix equivalent, and G2 was in Ultramix 2. G2 100% made it into the Ultramix 2 equivalent, STR!KE. Also the lyrics were discussed quite a bit, and I remember all the IIDX players at the time insisting the opening lyric was "funky", and the same line is repeated later. DDR Extreme is rated E and has Highs Off U, which legit does drop the F bomb twice. So it's highly doubtful that G2 having the line "funky beat go on" impacted the rating.

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yeah, if that were actually the line. I have some florida swampland to sell you if you believe that.

My point is the song didn't make it to the USA except in ultramix 2. Str!ke was japan only.

So why didn't that song make it to USA on playstation 2? Surely there's no issue with the lyric at all, right?

I've played back the song super slow. there's simply no way that word is actually "funky" You can maybe hear it as "funky beat gone" if you squint really hard. I sure can't fit funky beat go on into 4 syllables.

Claiming the f word is funk instead, and using funk when you actually mean the f word are both long standing traditions. And people have flat out lied about lyrics to sneak stuff through. Witness Poker Face, which had a chorus that most definitely did NOT match the lyrics until KISS.FM caught lady gaga doing it, and they made an edit that actually says what's in the official lyrics. 100% confirmed.

Also, highs off you's use of the word didn't make it a suggestive lyric. You can bet that if it wasn't in a sex free context, it would have been axed.

To answer this specific question, the Ultramix series were developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Hawaii, whereas the PS2 games were developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo.

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If your point was that G2 didn't make it into any US PS2 game then Festival wouldn't have been your go to example. That was a Japanese release. Pointing out that STR!KE was Japan only just hurts your initial point that the G2 wasn't in Festival. I only mentioned STR!KE because you mentioned Festival.

Most of the Ultramix 2 content didn't make it into a US PS2 game. Konami used all of, what? Four Ultramix 2 songs in a US PS2 game? Monkey Punk, Midnight Special, Baile La Samba, and Love is Dreaminess, right? And that last one never even made it to an arcade release. If lyrics were a problem we would have had Starmine and R10K on a US PS2 game. I don't think there's anything disqualifying in Luv to Me (Ucchie's Edition) or 19, November. Konami simply chose not to use any of these songs, and that includes G2.

I also don't buy the "suggestive lyric" thing. There are songs in DDR with suggestive lyrics, and it seems to get the game an E10+ rating with "Mild Lyrics, Suggestive Themes" listed on the back of the case. Suggestive lyrics doesn't get a T rating, they're caught under suggestive themes. This is swearing. The ESRB website says E and E10+ are for infrequent mild language and mild language respectively, and T is for infrequent strong language. For reference, the M rating is strong language. One use of the word "fuck" would net a game a T rating, that is infrequent strong language. Context doesn't really matter, "fuck" is strong language regardless. Suggestive lyrics are not the same as strong language. "Fuck" in G2 and "fuck" in Highs Off U would be treated the same, as infrequent use.

If Konami did submit the wrong lyrics to the ESRB causing Ultramix 2 to get re-rated, the same absolutely would have applied to Extreme. Extreme got a Greatest Hits release, this would have been the most likely place that would be done. Ultramix 2 does not have a Platinum Hits release like the first game does, which means something else had to happen for it to get changed to a T rating. Something way bigger than submitting the wrong lyrics. If Konami was caught doing that with one game it would surely prompt the ESRB to look into all of them. It would not just affect Ultramix 2.

Either way, you clearly don't know what the line is based on how you're describing all this so everything you're saying is a guess. You simply cannot state with confidence given everything I pointed out here that G2 is what got it re-rated.

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