Dance Station Thread

Call for contributions:
Please DM me or post in this thread if you have any resources to share. This preservation effort is still ongoing, and every piece of information matters!

Valuable information include:
• Official songlists
• Game assets
• Screenshots or gameplay footage
• Arcade recordings
• Or anything else you consider useful for this project

Information could refer to Dance Station 3DDX, Dance Station Stepper, or Digital Dance Station. Even the files used by Dance Station 3DDX D-TECH Viewer program (.mp/.dat/.alz) could be very useful.


Game style lore:
The Dance Station 3DDX was a dance rhythm game developed by the Korean company NGG (Next Generation Games) and released in 2000, containing 34 songs. The game featured 4 foot pads (↙️↖️↗️↘️) and 4 hand sensors (⬅️⬇️⬆️➡️), which was pretty innovative back in that time. It supports 3 game modes: EASY, HARD, and CLUB (doubles), and players can unlock mods (such as 2x, 4x, etc.) by entering 8-move pattern codes. The 3D in the name comes from the inclusion of hand sensors, while DX stands for "deluxe," referring to the game’s cabinet with a massive 52-inch screen.


In 2002, NGG released a sequel titled Dance Station 3DDX 2 D-TECH, adding 26 new songs to the Korean version. The game modes were renamed as PRETTY STEP (easy), POWER STEP (hard), and DUAL STEP (double). Both the 3DDX and D-TECH were distributed via CD according to the specs. There was also a SOLO version of the game (with just one dance pad) sold with a SX cabinet. An international version was also released, featuring additional songs. However, due to the lack of online records, most of these songs remain unknown, but a few pictures from the CZ community show that the banners were translated into English (e.g. “경고” being shown as “Caution” in the international version). It is likely that some of these songs later appeared in other rhythm games released by NGG ouside Korea.


NGG also tried to release a "non-deluxe" version called Dance Station Stepper (with a SX cabinet), which later got a Windows port. This game was meant to compete with other dance rhythm games of its time (specifically with PIU). Initially, the arcade version featured a 5-panel layout (↙️↖️⏹️↗️↘️), but the Windows home version later introduced support for a 4-panel mode (⬅️⬇️⬆️➡️) and included a mini-game that uses all 9 panels. The AC version had four regional variations: Korean, American, Indonesian, and Brazilian.


NGG also released another Windows game focused in the US market, Digital Dance Station, which was essentially a home version of Dance Station Stepper based on a DDR'99 simulator (with .msd files, and supports DDR/PIU modes), and includes most of the Dance Station 3DDX tracks. The game was sold with its own dance mat, and supports 4 play modes (single, versus, double, and couple) in 3 difficulties (BASIC, ANOTHER, and MANIAC).


The 3DDX game style went really popular in China, and after NGG went bankrupt around 2004, the Chinese company AAM (Advanced Amusement Machines), also known as Ez2Dance back then (not related to Ez2Dancer game by AmuseWorld), continued the franchise by releasing Dance Station 3DDX 3 D-TECH, which added Chinese songs to the game. Most of the videos you’ll find online today refer to this version.


The Dance Station 3DDX 4 D-TECH remains a complete mystery, there’s no information about it online. Couldn't find any official documentation, gameplay footage, or even release confirmation. The only clues comes from a few scattered videos suggesting that certain songs later appeared in 4DSS. For instance, this video shows 成人礼, a variation of the original 성인식 (Adult Ceremony) by Park Ji-yoon, but with a longer intro and the chinese banner.

In 2007, the same Chinese company released a bootleg version called Dance Super Station (4DSS, Passional), built on the StepMania 3.9 engine and sold as an "upgrade" of the D-TECH serie. As a result, some cabinet artwork referred to it as Dance Station 3DDX 5 D-TECH instead of DSS, and the original 3DDX/D-TECH hard drive was replaced, likely lost forever. The cabinet used for DSS was the same as the original D-TECH version but with a new marquee and painted in green. There are also other cabinets manufactured by Huayi that run the same game engine, and despite being pretty similar to a D-TECH cab, their side LED bars closely resemble those found on the E5 cab. The game supports 4 modes: EASY, HARD, CLUB (double), and introduced a new game mode called REMIX (which only includes long version songs). Mods in this versions are unlocked by entering a 6-move pattern codes. The initial release included 119 songs, followed by two patches that added 20 additional songs.


Also, back in the day, AAM (a.k.a. Ez2Dance) released two simulators based on StepMania 3.9 for 3DDX 2 (D-TECH) and 4DSS. Both were originally available on the official website — here’s the 3DDX simulator and the 4DSS simulator. Luckily, both builds have been preserved in Jose Varela's SM Archive, under the names "3DDX 2-D-TECH" and "DSS (Dance Super Station)". The simulators themselves were pretty buggy and low-quality, and only came with a handful of songs — but still, they were an official attempt to bring the game home.



Continuing the parade of weird bootlegs, there’s also another obscure game likely titled 疯狂舞曲 (Crazy Dance) ~ Classic Rock Dance, though I’m not completely sure since the logo is heavily stylized and hard to read. It uses the same cabinet design as the D-TECH series, but repainted in blue. There’s no official information available online, the developer remains unidentified, no gameplay footage, and the song list is unknown.


Following the rise in popularity of the gameplay style in China, the company Xiongye made a new bootleg called King of Dancer (舞王争霸, KOD), a franchise that eventually had three releases. The cabinet from the first release resembles a violet D-TECH version with a rounded top marquee and smaller speakers. There isn't much information about this game online, but it preserves the same 3DDX game modes (EASY, HARD, and CLUB) and mods can be selected directly in the game. The franchise also has a 5-panel variant with no hand sensor (let's say a PIU bootleg) called King of Dancer X.


At some point, the cabinet for the first release was redesigned with a different look, possibly to avoid confusion with the D-TECH series. It's unclear whether this rebrand came with new songs or gameplay changes, as no updated builds or media have surfaced beyond a few pictures.


As of the second release of KOD, the cabinet added a 19-inch touchscreen display, freeze arrows support, and even a front-facing camera that shows you dancing in the background while you play. Just like the first version, there's not much info online about these sequels, but it seems like a bunch of 3DDX and 4DSS songs made it in (check out this video).


Another cabinet that follows the same gameplay style and frequently appears online is Hand Dance 4 (手舞足蹈IV代加强势 Dance Station) — yeah, the Chinese full title is a little bit longer 😅. There’s not much info available about this version, but it seems it was also developed by Xiongye, which suggests it might have been a prequel or beta release of KOD. The cabinet is the same used by the D-TECH series repainted in pink, and keeps the classic 3 game modes: EASY, HARD, and CLUB (double), and also introduced a new COUPLE mode. There's also another release of this frachise called Hand Dance 5 (手舞足蹈5代) that features the same cabinet repainted in purple, but there's still no solid info about this game online.


All of these cabinets began to disappear in 2010 after the release of D-Dance Master (D舞达人), also developed by AAM, having 200 songs and popularly referred to as Dance Master Station, which was later rebranded as e-Dance Fame (e舞成名, or simply known as E5). With the addition of online upgrade support, it is also known as E5Online. Similar to KOD, the cabinet also features a touchscreen display and the game supports freeze arrows, but also introduced a 5th center foot pad (↙️↖️⏹️↗️↘️) alongside the 4 hand sensors (⬅️⬇️⬆️➡️). A SOLO version of the cabinet was also released, and most of its songs are unlicensed or "borrowed" from other rhythm games.


The game’s still very popular in China, receiving monthly updates, currently having more than 5K songs. There are 6 game styles: FANCY (for freestyle players), SPEED (for score players), PARTY (for beginner players), DIY (for custom charts loaded through USB port), and WEF (for online competition). After selecting the style, the game offers 6 modes: EASY, HARD, DEVIL (heavy), CLUB (double), LOVER (couple), and REMIX (long version songs). Some songs and modes are exclusive to VIP members through a paid NFC card system similar to the Andamiro's AM PASS or Konami's e-Amusement Pass. Gameplay mods can be chosen directly on the game’s touchscreen

There's a StepMania-based simulator for E5 called E5MNQ, but it's been inaccessible from some countries outside China (probably due to Great Firewall stuff). By subscribing, you gained access to a wide selection of song packs, which include audio, banners, and empty stepcharts. As your subscription remains active (and not banned like mine 😅), the simulator is able to download the actual stepcharts on the fly when you select a song. However, these simfiles don’t support hand sensors, making it essentially a PIU simulator with an E5 with an up-to-date songlist (because also receives monthly updates). This limitation comes from the StepMania build used in the simulator, which doesn’t support E5 mode — a feature later introduced in OutFox (ds3ddx-single5 and ds3ddx-double5).


In 2021, AAM also released a home version of this game called Dance Home E5+, which includes a dance mat, a 3D camera for motion tracking, a remote control, and a USB stick containing the game. The game preserves the original arcade E5 game modes and the same library with over 5K songs, which step charts are downloaded on the fly once a song is selected to play.


In 2025, the cabinet for E5 was rebranded with a minimalist style, featuring a new dance pad and the removal of the top structure for the hands tracking, which now seems to be tracked by software using a camera like the E5+ Home Version (not so accurate for score players). Also introduced a new game mode named DYNAMIC, aimed for freestyle players (as seen in this video), which curiously resembles Konami's Dance Evolution.


Just to clear things up, Dance Station 3DDX, Dance Super Station (4DSS), Dance Master Station (E5), and King Of Dancer (KOD) are all different games, even though their cabinets look pretty similar. The only game known to be based on StepMania is 4DSS, the rest of them have their own engine.

In summary:
Game                     Developer       Hands    Center    Holds   Platform
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
DS 3DDX                  NGG (KR)        ✅       ❌       ❌      AC
DS 3DDX 2 D-TECH         NGG (KR)        ✅       ❌       ❌      AC
DS 3DDX 3 D-TECH         AAM (CN)        ✅       ❌       ❌      AC
DS 3DDX 4 D-TECH         AAM (CN)        ✅       ❌       ❌      AC
DS 3DDX 5 D-TECH / 4DSS  AAM (CN)        ✅       ❌       ❌      AC
DS Stepper               NGG (KR)        ❌       ✅       ❌      AC / CS*
Digital DS               NGG (KR)        ❌       ✅       ❌      CS*
E5                       AAM (CN)        ✅       ✅       ✅      AC
E5+                      AAM (CN)        ✅       ✅       ✅      CS
E5MNQ                    MNQ (CN)        ❌       ✅       ✅      CS
KOD, KOD2 & KOD3         Xiongye (CN)    ✅       ❌       ✅      AC
KOD X                    Xiongye (CN)    ❌       ✅       ✅      AC
HD4 / HD5                Xiongye (CN)    ✅       ❌       ❌      AC
D08                      PikoMonkey (CN) ✅       ❌       ❌      AC?
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
*supports 4 and 5 pads


Chinese classification by game generation:
One interesting thing in Chinese communities is that dance games (跳舞机) are often categorized into “generations” (代), an informal classification based on both chronological release and gameplay evolution.

1st Generation (1代)
Includes Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) by Konami, Pump It Up (PIU) by Andamiro, and TechnoMotion (TM) by F2System. These games established the foundation for pad-based rhythm gameplay

2nd Generation (2代)
Includes EZ2Dancer by AmuseWorld. Introduced front-mounted hand sensors marking a key shift toward more immersive and full-body dance gameplay.

3rd Generation (3代)
Includes Dance Station 3DDX by NGG and the D-TECH series. Known for combining 4 foot panels and 4 hand sensors, allowing a three-dimensional gameplay experience.

4th Generation (4代)
Includes Dance Super Station (4DSS) by AAM and King of Dancer (KOD) by Xiongye. Although they follow the 3DDX game style they are considered a new generation for being developed in China, gaining popularity in local arcades, and incorporating Chinese songs.

5th Generation (5代)
Includes Dance Master Station by AAM (also known as E5, a direct reference to this generation number). Features online support and a new center panel.


Unlock hidden mods codes:
The way modifiers are unlocked varies depending on the game.

3DDX                              
: (2x faster)
: (4x faster)
: (8x faster)
: (zoom)
: (versus)
: (change)
: (mirror)
: (vanish)
: (random)
: (all select)
: (cancel all)

D-TECH                            
: (1.5x faster)
: (2x faster)
: (4x faster)
: (8x faster)
: (1.5x zoom)
: (2x zoom)
: (change)
: (mirror)
: (hidden)
: (union)
: (vanish)
: (vanish hands)
: (vanish steps)
: (vanish target)
: (random)
: (random hands)
: (random steps)
: (cancel all)

4DSS                              
: (1.5x faster)
: (2x faster)
: (4x faster)
: (8x faster)
: (1.5x zoom)
: (2x zoom)
: (hidden all)
: (hidden receptors)
: (hidden at top)
: (hidden at bottom)
: (hidden flash)
: (rotation)
: (break)
: (wave)
: (random all)
: (random hands)
: (random feet)
: (shuffle hands)
: (swap)
: (reverse)
: (cancel all)

Noteskins:
: (heart)
: (darts)
: (bombs)
: (hands & feet)
: (fishes)

KOD                               
: (1.5x faster)
: (2x faster)
: (3x faster)
: (4x faster)
: (5x faster)
: (6x faster)
: (8x faster)
: (1.5x zoom)
: (2x zoom)
: (fading)
: (hidden)
: (hidden at top)
: (mirror)
: (random all)
: (random hands)
: (random steps)
: (vanish all)
: (vanish hands)
: (vanish steps)
: (vanish target)
: (buffer)
: (rotation)
: (wave)
: (bubble)
: (chaos)
: (reverse)
: (no hands)
: (cancel all)

Noteskins:
: (default)
: (darts)
: (hands & feet)
: (hearts)
: (fishes)
: (bombs)

Note:
As of the second release, mods can be selected from the touchscreen display.


About the Song Packs:
The Dance Super Station 4DSS pack was recovered directly from an arcade dump, specifically from the .pk files (a zip-like file), with the stepcharts already in .sm format and includes original banners, music, and videos. The pack includes the base song list (119 songs), and also two patches (adding 40 new songs).

The Dance Station 3DDX pack was converted from a dump of a Chinese bootleg called 手舞足跳2008 (Dancing2008) (by PikoMonkey). This is essentially a reskin of 3DDX D-TECH that preserved the original music, stepcharts, and most banners (some with modified backgrounds). The stepcharts are defined in .mp files (a proprietary format) and were converted to .ssc to handle songs with BPM changes across difficulties.


About MP file format:
This binary file format seems to have been introduced with the D-TECH release of 3DDX, and it's likely used in other bootleg or unofficial versions of the game as well. It stores metadata, timing info, and note data.



FILE HEADER (248 bytes)
OFFSET  SIZE  CONTENT
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
0x00    20   Signature "3DDX 2ndStep" (string)
0x14    148  Song audio file name (string)
0xA8    40   Song title (string)
0xD0    40   Song artist (string)
0xF8    36   Chart header (see below)

CHART HEADER (36 bytes)
OFFSET  SIZE  CONTENT
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
0x00    8    Initial BPM (double)
0x08    8    Audio offset in ms (double)
0x10    8    Difficulties (uint32)
             Positions:
             • 0    Easy (single)
             • 1    Hard (single)
             • 2-3  Easy (versus)
             • 4-5  Hard (versus)
             • 6-7  Dual (double)
0x18    2    Padding (null bytes)
0x1A    4    Unknown values (bytes)
0x1E    4    First note offset in ticks (uint32)
0x22    2    Padding (null bytes)

NOTE DATA (48 bytes per note)
OFFSET  SIZE  CONTENT
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
0x00    8    Segment BPM (double)
0x08    8    Stop duration (double)
0x10    8    Unknown values (bytes)
0x18    16   Column flags (see values below)
0x28    2    Next note offset in ticks (uint16)
0x2A    2    End flag (00=continue, FF=end)
0x2C    4    Next chart offset (uint32)

COLUMN FLAGS (uint16 values)
VALUE   DESCRIPTION
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
0x0301  Left Hand (←)
0x0501  Down Left Pad (↙)
0x0601  Up Left Pad (↖)
0x0101  Up Hand (↑)
0x0201  Up+Down Hands (↑↓)
0x0001  Down Hand (↓)
0x0701  Up Right Pad (↗)
0x0801  Down Right Pad (↘)
0x0401  Right Hand (→)

REMARKS
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
• Notes are defined in 52th (instead of standard 48th)
• Numbers are encoded in little-endian format
• Strings are encoded in EUC-KR


Dance Station 3DDX D-TECH Viewer:
A freeware program that allows users to practice ds3ddx at home back in the 2000s. This program spacifically reads .dat files, which are essentially a concatenation of .mp (step charts) and .mp3 (audio) files, and those .dat files were commonly shared among users in .alz archives (a Korean zip-like format) sometimes accompanied by additional segmented files with extensions like .a00, .a01, etc.



Some files can be found at /nggworld (Daum) but unfortunately many of the official files haven't been preserved. Some known but now unarchived examples include ozings' links and nggworld's links. If you come across any of these files on the Wayback Machine or any other website, I’d really appreciate if you share them.


References:
• Dance Station 3DDX (by NGG)
• Dance Station 3DDX 2 D-TECH (by IceZero)
• Dance Station 3DDX 3 D-TECH (by Ez2Dance)
• Dance Station 3DDX (GAMICUS article)
• Dance Station 3DDX (Arcade Museum article)
• Dance Station 3DDX (Namu Wiki article)
• Dance Station 3DDX (CoinExpress publication)
• Dance Station 3DDX (ChannelBeat publication)
• Dance Station 3DDX D-TECH (ChannelBeat publication)
• Dance Station 3DDX (Czech MusicGames post)
• Dance Station 3DDX (Czech Community post)
• Dance Station 3DDX (Livejournal, Stasie post)
• Dance Station 3DDX (BeatmaniaIIDX website, Stsung post)
• Dance Station Stepper (Kotaku screenshots)
• Dance Station Stepper (Windows game, by NGG)
• Digital Dance Station (by NGG)
• Dance Super Station (by AAM)
• Dance Super Station (by ANZHENG)
• Dance Master Station E5 Online (by AAM)
• Dance Master Station E5 Online (Baike Baidu)
• Dance Master Station E5 Online (2025 version) (Bilibili introduction video)
• Dance Home E5+ (by AAM)
• King of Dancer (by Xiongye)
• King of Dancer 2 (by Xiongye)
• King of Dancer 3 (by Xiongye)
• King of Dancer (Baike, Baidu)
• King of Dancer (ChannelBeat publication)
• King of Dancer 2 (Wenky Baidu)

Ooooh! We use to have a Dance Station 3DDX cab in the UK nearby in the early 2000s, I remember playing Genie In A Bottle I won't be able to play on pad/with sensors, but I'm looking forward to seeing these! good work

---

Thanks! Hope you enjoy it

I was able to play 3DDX just once around 2007 in my country, and since then I wished to port it into SM. I remember to play "Mambo No.5" as my first song and didn't clear it 😅 Hope somebody out there could have more resources or information to keep expanding this project.

I just uploaded a batch of pictures such as taken at IBA (a.k.a International Bowl Arcade a.k.a. International Bowling and Arcade) from August 10th, 2001. My batch starts at image id 67753 and goes through 67767. For the record, they had 7 dance machines in a row - a very primitive DDR (probably O.G, maybe USA?), 3rd Mix Korean v2, Dance Station Stepper, and 4 Pump It Up Cabinets. I'd been trying to remember the name of this game for years. I finally excavated these pictures and found the name... which immediately led to this post, so hopefully this helps.

I definitely can say that our cabinet had the DJ Doc's classic "Run to You" as well as a version of "Tarzan Boy". We also definitely played WAY more DDR 3rd Mix Kv2, so it's quite possible that I didn't even play every song on that machine.

Wow. It wasn't a myth at all. Thanks for sharing!

I found the data from the Windows version of Dance Station (though I’m not sure whether it's the Stepper or Digital version). According to Kotaku's article the banner I got matches the Stepper version, but who knows how reliable that source is. The data is in encoded .msd files (predecessor to .dwi) with some customization to support pump mode. Sadly, I only have a 10-second preview of the songs.

I hope someone out there still has a copy of it.

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Just for the record, I added the spec of the .mp file format (used by the D-TECH version) in the first post.

I'm still trying to find the .dat files (which act as containers for the .mp and .mp3 files) that were shared by the Korean community back then, but no luck so far. The PC versions of the game sold by NGG in Korea (Dance Station 4th) and in the USA (Digital Dance Station) may contain many of the missing audio files. If anyone has them or know where can I find them, DM me.

Also, I noticed that King of Dancer 2 includes several songs from the D-TECH series (as seen in this video), so a copy of that game could be very helpful as well.

Thanks,bro.I had enjoyed play these pack and enjoyed your good work that takes me back to my unforgettable memory.
However I got those problems meets:
Missing simfile:Girl(E,H,C),Hitsong(E,H,C),ICEBABY(E,H,C)
Missing Songs:纯情(E,H),精舞门(E,H),眉飞色舞(H,C),美丽新世界(E,H,C),绿光(E,H,C),动感音乐DJ(H)
Incorrect Media and simfile:本草纲目(E,H,C)
General Problem:
Remix song are unplayable,Maybe is in a case of simfile problem.
Background Video aspect ratio should be in 4:3.
Some songs displays song background incorrectly.
Other Problem:
Some songs still missing while downloading full pack,and some song simfiles completely missing file names.
Also I had used arcade dump to make noteskins working fine.(Not so perfect yet.)

Hey! Thanks for pointing that out.

It seems I messed up when I first uploaded the files (too many songs 😅). I've just upload the missing/incorrect songs and made a repack. The zipping option is provided by ZIV in the simfile category and should work, but I’m not sure how reliable it is (mostly because of the chinese characters). If you're still having issues, I can try another alternative.

Just to clarify, the song you labeled as "动感音乐DJ" is actually 现在跳舞 by 动感音乐DJ.

As for the remix songs, they’re defined with Challenge difficulty, what do you mean by unplayable? Are they not loading at all?
Idk about the issues you're having with the bg videos, might it be a problem with your StepMania/OutFox setup?

I tried that Challenge difficulty unplayable is a problem while playing in Project Outfox that I found out the log says"Couldn't load the Hard Chart's NoteData from song...".
While playing that no any notes appears...

Oops! Looks like there was a typo in the "Challenge" mode for the REMIX songs in the 4DSS pack, they where written as "Challange" in the .sm files. That should be fixed now!

I don't really have anything to contribute except: thank you for caring enough about this game to do all this research, archive the songs and make this thread. I didn't even know this game existed, so even now i'm still learning stuff about old rhythm games. 😄

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Hey! Thanks so much 😊 That really means a lot!

I'm always updating the post whenever I find new stuff, hoping it helps more people discover (or rediscover) this game style, especially since they're pretty much forgotten from western players.