DanceDanceRevolution (AC) (Japan)

In retrospect, it probably worked BECAUSE it was so diverse. Look at all the DDR games out in America/Japan. All the games that have a diverse license list made it very far (for example, DDRMAX2 had many Dancemania licenses and popular ones as well), and those that didn't have a diverse list kinda flopped (DDR 2010, even DDR II was kind of a flop with the general public).

True, I agree with you. I'll admit, I am more biased to having underground music in DDR since I listen to a lot of it, but I really feel it would be great to feature those kinds of artists. Being a dancer as well, I'm always attracted to unique beats and sounds that you wouldn't normally expect. And as being a dance simulation game, it's only appropriate.

They flopped because the licensed songs had charts that were way too easy and the songs were normal. If you look at DDR SuperNOVA, they had Dancemania remixes and faster mainstream songs like Dance Dance and Funkytown. They also made the level of the charts equal to that of the KOs, crossovers, etc. After DDR X2 and so forth, the licensed songs on expert level are so much easier compared to the other songs.
And I guess it works because many people I know like DDR 2010 because they know the license tracks.(which I think is the wrong way to get into DDR tbh)

You can't even compare sales. DDR MAX2 was released during DDR's heyday where there was little competition in the music game market. DDR 2010 was released after Konami and others had been oversaturating the market with music games for years.

The things that the fanbase finds important in DDR games actually do very little to affect sales with the general public, who make up the majority of sales in the console market.

There's also no "wrong way" to get into DDR. Many of the Dancemania songs that got some of us into DDR back in the day were covers of western top 40 songs in the first place.

negative reaction to Betson X2 happened to American X3

How ironic isn't it? Although strangely vague considering most modern pop/Top 40 music blows...so I somehow feel why many 'current' players feel that the American licenses aren't as great as the old licenses were, but at the same time I don't understand why they keep going on and on about it if Konami wants to try and bring an audience that is more in tune with e most current artists than underground/unknown artists.

SO ABOUT THAT NEW DDR.

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Gangam Style is probably a good choice, but it's ridiculously expensive to license. Uma Uma Song is pretty much the perfect license, because it's popular amongst the majority of the playerbase, attracts a lot of new players a machine, and costs almost nothing to use.

The artist who created the "remix" that's so popular is an american Bemani fan, and he's confirmed that he didn't get a single penny from it's Japanese CD release by Quake Records. If the rumors are true, then presumably they're giving it to Konami as part of their cross-publishing agreement, so the only people taking any money at all will be Caramell, and I don't think their 11-year old contract is worth much in terms of royalties?


Players were snobbish as hell about licenses even back in the Dancemania days, though.

Anything that didn't come through Dancemania was considered junk (even the DDRMAX USA licenses, which were all Saifam songs). Any popular song that showed in an AC game were generally written off by players as "mainstream crap", and the only time a Dancemania cover of a popular song was welcomed by players was when it showed up as a 180bpm 9-footer, in which case people would usually attribute the song's popularity to "a really good remix".

Players at the time shat all over 5,6,7,8 showing up in EuroMIX 2, even though it was a popular Para Para song, a long-standing Dancemania song, and was such a good song choice that it helped put a Euromix 2 machine into every bowling alley in the country :{

Fixed.

Despite the thousands of online fans there may be out there, thousands of fans translates only to hundreds of sales. Even if X2 had the most fantastic pads in the world I'd bet they'd be in the same situation. I think DDR has reached skee ball status: The general public doesn't give two flips of what version it is, they see an interactive game require your feet, it's DDR, it'll always be that game you see sweaty guys o.n But the public? They've moved on to new stuff, like Fruit Ninja and Terminator Salvation. Hell if you read reviews of a place like Disney Quest, the general consensus is that the place harbors a lot of out dated but classic games with no mention of the latest rhythm games (X2, Fiesta, ReRave). People just don't care anymore.

They put ICE ICE BABY in X2. It's probably a classic hit now as far as they're concerned. DDR was never about current hit to begin with, only recently has Konami actually tried to be in touch with the charts... And it feels like DDR has lost a little something as a result.


At least the current Pump It Up machines manage to be bright, flashy, and colorful without looking like a Japanese photo booth. But in Japan these machines are often placed next to Japanese photo booths, so maybe that's the idea.

The awful pads didn't help X2 or X3. I and another Bemani dude were going to petition our arcade to get X2 because the lease sounded doable, but when we heard about the pads we gave up on the spot. Arcades that aren't rich aren't interested in new DDR to begin with; the game needs the hardcore support, I'd imagine, which was lost with the X2 letdown. But that's only one person's perspective, I guess.

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The public may not care about the pads, but arcade techs and managers certainly do. If the pads need to be maintenanced every single week when old DDR machines could be left alone for a long time, they won't be happy (they weren't happy).

Sure, DDR is also not as popular with the mainstream as it once was, but to completely dismiss "Betson X2" as a cause is silly.

I find it kind of ironic that everyone is bitching about Caramelldansen being in (or more accurately: risking being overplayed) when the majority of us probably won't ever regularly play on this machine to begin with (if X2 and X3 are any indication of possible number of machines making it to America and such).

Yes it's an overplayed song that everyone and their mom has heard at least 500 times by now (though fuck y'all I like the song but #imbg), and there probably is better songs out there to choose but I mean come on.

lol gangnam style

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Lets just forget this all together then, Maxx, and not care.

I really don't think arcades - which are dying here every day as it is - are gonna pitch cash into a machine AND an internet subscription - for a product they won't ever be able to fully own in cash and mash out.

Then there's Classroom Edition, which seems to be like this, but for USA/NA, using autofill charts, and marketed exclusively for schools and in 24-player mode. ~.~ The interface is spiffy, but the chart generator is a disaster, and I've already messaged KDEA about it (with some feedback they'll hopefully consider implementing).

So for now, looks like we're still dead ended at X2/II. There's always 2014 (maybe), hopefully the extra time can translate to better songs/charts. Either that, or DDR's classic lifecycle is complete for awhile. I don't really see a lot of players on Rock Band 3 much anymore, either. :/ And that's when I can play. Still, there's so many versions of DDR now, you could play a different one every day for a month, it's not like it'll get boring; and with stuff like VD, PR, PARA-Revo out there, it's not like it would (or SHOULD) be getting much harder, either.

Maybe the next thing we'd see is compilation titles! You know, like that thing they do with Sonic Mega Collection Plus, or Super Mario All-Stars.

Besides, it's not like we aren't personally engineering the home version of X3 ourselves, now. All we're missing now is that hard-to-nail balance of graphical polish and low-end-friendly processing. Doesn't the 2nd Mix simfiles in (X3 vs 2M) actually have videos of the 2nd Mix BGAs? Talk about coming full circle.

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what

posts talking about the so-called internet music (caramelldansen etc)
5 days break
post talking about american DDR future

mfw

btw when's the jaexpo
jaepo in 5 days get hype

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DDR isn't gonna stay dead forever. I mean, "New Super Mario Bros. U" ffs. Maybe it'll take time, maybe it won't. Til then, let's like what we have, since we can't have what we like. Except on StepMania, where we already do have it.

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ddr isn't as hot-selling as mario brah

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I thought we had new info. I was a bit dissapoint.

I'm indifferent about the future of DDR outside of Asia, but honestly with the way they are treating most anything outside of Asia nowadays, it just seems to me that DDR is done for, and if you think about it, a DDR for the Wii U might be quite a hassle given the amount of people that even OWN a Wii U, let alone would want to buy a DDR game for the Wii U. Unless they make it cross-platform for the PS3 and 360, but the chances of that happening are extremely slim.

EDIT: I've always wondered if Konami was ever planning some form of HD remakes of the older DDR titles, but for right now, I want to concern myself with the new stuff and see where they plan on taking this series.

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I don't know about you, but whenever I go to an arcade, at least a few little kids try out DDR. I wouldn't say it's completely dead, it has the foundation of people already knowing what the game is, it's just not as active as it was before. However I think it's still a successful game over at arcades. I think it still brings more revenue than other ones.

still pretty positive this is never going to see even a pw release outside of asia lol