Differences between location tests and the final release?

Just trying to gather some info on old AC location tests, specifically on how they differed from the final release.

All location tests:
- All old songs are playable, a selection of new songs are playable.

DDR X3 location tests:
- No Extra Stage.
- Crazy Love was the special Final Stage. (Was it red colored? Were there any conditions to access it?)
- Compared to the final release, some songs had different ratings (I recall Sakura Sunrise was a 15 or something? Was there also something about Shiny World?)

DDR X2 location tests:
- No Extra Stage.
- The left and right arrows could be used to change the speed mod at any time, not just the beginning of the song.
- Second Heaven and Possession's chart on the location test was the final release's chart. (Possession was rated an 18 like the final, what about Second Heaven? Was it a 14 as well?)
- Possession was the special Final Stage. (Was it red colored? I recall the conditions to access it were something involving getting an AAA and/or playing on Risky.)

DDR X and previous location tests:
- I can't really find any info.

Can anyone help fill out the above, especially with regards to location tests from DDR X and earlier?

DDR SN2 US test:

Shades of Grey was unlocked via eAmuse
volcano was Final Stage special
Unreal was Extra Stage
NGO was Encore Extra Stage

Why Not had the comma on the banner.

DDR X:

-SABER WING was the Final Stage
-On the Break was the Extra Stage
-There was no Encore Extra Stage

The DDR X beta machines used to have 3D toasties or whatever you call them, which were really nothing more special than the two images on the website plus one extra.

... and I really wish I knew all the extras... that I liked.

It seemed like the only characters were Emi, Afro, Bonnie, and Zero, but that may just be due to the lack of videos for this beta.

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Those were probably just placeholders for the real ones. They didn't really seem to fit. Not to mention Afro and Emi were the only available characters at the test.

I have a bunch of info on the older mixes back to 1st mix but it will take a bit to compile it all. Any particular mix you want first?

(also, if you read bemaniwiki you can find some info that way though note it is all in Japanese.

Well, I'll start with Max 2 since I have the most info, on it complete with photos and everything from the Test Location (That I all took/recorded)

Note that depending on the mix, there were multiple test locations with different features each time but that really only started with the X series; there was some experimentation over the different test locations with eAmuse on the SN/SN2 series however.



Oni Courses:


I do not remember the content of the courses, but I do remember some of them were endless. *However* the mods they applied to each successive song were more and more cruel (various speed mods, reverse, dark were the ones I remembered most)

The options menu was the same
http://aaronin.jp/ddrmax2/max2options.jpg

The banner for "Secret Rendesvous" was different. I don't have it off hand but I know there were other copies of it around the web at one point.

Here is the song list from the test location version:
http://aaronin.jp/ddrmax2/max2songs1.jpg
http://aaronin.jp/ddrmax2/max2songs2.jpg
http://aaronin.jp/ddrmax2/max2songs3.jpg
http://aaronin.jp/ddrmax2/max2songs4.jpg
http://aaronin.jp/ddrmax2/max2songs5.jpg
http://aaronin.jp/ddrmax2/max2songs6.jpg
http://aaronin.jp/ddrmax2/max2songs7.jpg
http://aaronin.jp/ddrmax2/max2songs8.jpg
http://aaronin.jp/ddrmax2/max2songs9.jpg
http://aaronin.jp/ddrmax2/max2songs10.jpg

So Deep was a 10 footer under the original test location rating, too.

There was a bug in the test location (one revision?) were the chart for Maxx Unlimited Heavy was used for Tsugaru Standard. I never personally noticed this at the test location when I was there, though.

EDIT

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DDR Extreme test location



I have a bunch of info on my old review page here:
http://aaronin.jp/ddrm3b.html

It is outdated and all but most of the relevant info you are looking for is probably in there. Some songs were only available in oni/nonstop mode and the courses were different.

Also, the chart for Legend of Max Expert Single was different at the end. All I remember now is that the ending had more 8th patterns at the end amidst the jumps. (Jump..jump.. 8th-8th-8th-jump Jump Jump...) sort of like how some of the step-jump patterns went in Maxx Unlimited Heavy actually



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DDR 1st/2nd/3rd Mixes



The interface and gameplay/songs were almost identical except for whatever reason there seemed to be a song omitted from the test location each time:

1st : Money
2nd : Jump (Bus Stop)
3rd : Can't Take My Eyes Off You

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DDR SuperNOVA / 2

(I'm going to dig up my info on this and SN2 later today)

On SN1 however, aside from the huge problems with random syncing each time you played a song (fixed on the .jp version for launch though songs with a BG video still tended to be late), there was one song in the song list that was unselectable : "Mad Blast"

Also, should I note the tie-in with the "Back Dancers" movie and the limited time song "Beautiful Life"? It is impossible to play that song on any DDR mix now since it was removed from SN1 after the campaign was over.

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Yes, Second Heaven was a 14 on the location test. They also changed it for the final version, the chart had the steps re-shuffled to flow much better than the disaster that was the location test chart. I believe they also changed POSSESSION slightly to flow better as well but can't recall.

On SuperNOVA's location test in the UK, there were a bunch of ratings that were really wrong. One I remember was Mugen was 8/8/10, with the same chart.

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EXTREME Nonstop #3:

BLUE IMPULSE had a chart? I wonder what that was like... (same as our current one?)

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Speaking of Extreme-


Oops lol

No idea. Same goes for Least 100 Seconds Oni.

Oh, I see Konami's DDR Extreme test location reports are still up over at:
http://www.konami.jp/bemani/ddr/jp/am/extreme/ddr_new/index.html

(Use the pulldown menu to get to the older dates). Oct 18 has some of the test location photos but the dates around that have more info, including Naoki admitting Love Shine was AAAd on the first try ever (November 13, the same entry where he calls me "That gaijin lined up from first thing in the morning")


EDIT> It was funny the Encore stage on Extreme (Test Location) was Sakura, then Paranoia Survivor Max, then later Dance Dance Revolution for the final release.

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More on X2:

The menu background and lifebar frame were different (darker green background, light blue/silver lifebar frame)

I can tell you about most of the American location tests for all BEMANI games...

SuperNOVA
This one I don't remember all that much. I think I was only 14 at the time so I don't remember a ton about the location test. I have no photos of anything anymore, and if I did they were probably the worst images of any location test ever. I do remember some things though.
-RED ZONE had a different banner
-ALL MUSIC was the only selectable mode. All others were UNDER CONSTRUCTION.
-Many synching issues with songs. Can't recall any that were truly on sync lol
-Memory card slots were promised in the final release, but were never added.
-No Encore Extra Stage

I also thought there was more "new" songs on the location test but people seem to keep pointing that that is false. The interface got cleaned up quite a bit for the final release (both the interface background and the results screen at the very least).

SuperNOVA2
I remember this one a ton. I went as much as I could to this location test. First day problems arose and the machine got upgraded later in the evening. Shortly after it got upgraded e-amuse slots were added with yellow paper covering them and were not usable. probably half way through the location test the machine finally connected to e-amuse (Japan's servers) which signaled the launch of the first American e-amuse machine.
-Why Not had a comma after its name, for some reason.
-VOLCANO as Final Stage
-UNREAL as Extra Stage
-NGO and Encore Extra Stage
-Vem Brincar was the only unlock via e-amuse.
-Pop Art, front panel and new sides added to the machine. They never got released in America after the location test (except for the front plate).

Not much to say about SnuperNOVA2 honestly. Not much changed and there wasn't a ton messed up with it. It looked like they just translated the game that was about to be released into English and held off on half the song list and gave Americans that revision as a location test.





DDR X
Probably the worst one out of all of them. It was poorly received, e-amuse was shut down permanently at Brunswick Zone starting the location test and for an eternity afterwards.
-Lag issue with all songs (you had to hit early to register a MARVELOUS)
-On the Break as Final Stage
-Saber Wing as Extra Stage
-Horatio as Encore Extra Stage
-Challenge Mode UNDER CONSTRUCTION
-e-amuse on the marquee and slots connected but not connected to the e-amuse network.

Did I mention it was poorly received? Literally people would play one round and move over to the in the groove 2 machine for the most part. This machine was the "attempt" to release upgrade kits for SuperNOVA machines in America, which never happened. The Location Test was a complete failure.



Yep worst video editing in the world right there. But it probably has any information about the location test in that video that I failed to mention.

I also have information and pictures about the GFdmV4 location test and beatmania IIDX 14 GOLD tests. Digured you just wanted DDR though.

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Is that this one?
Apparently on SN2 loctest, Pluto Relinquish somehow got the ratings of Uranus. is an 8. Chart's still the same though.

This happens on a beta SN2 I used to play on. It even has that "Why not,".

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Are you sure? I coulda swore it was Shades of Grey.

I remember seeing Vem Brincar on the default list, and then Shades of Grey came out of nowhere.

It was definitely Vem Brincar. I remember it because I was pissed about it being the only unlock and the fact that the songs sucks.

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*ack* song does not suck.

Was there another location test? I remember seeing that pic of Shades of Grey...days after it started.

Yes there was two. One in Naperville and one somewhere else. The one located elksewhere was fully unlocked on accident when it was installed on the machine too.

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Oh yeah, I remember when that happened. I recall the song titles of Pluto and Pluto Relinquish were revealed, as well as the existence of charts for all 5 major boss songs. There was one video of Pluto up to the second stop before the player failed.

Regarding the DDR X US location test, two things were different. The Full combo splash used here was different. The last two arrows were freeze arrows and the step triggers the splash instead of the end of the freeze arrow. The Screen Filter also doesn't appear after the first 2 before of the steps, instead appearing automatically at the start.

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The full combo splash appeared at the start of the freeze at the end because the game had not been programmed to make N.G. break the combo, so once he had comboed the jump, he had a full combo regardless of the freeze arrow.