DanceDanceRevolution WORLD (AC)

Konami seems to have rather wide cross promotion deal with Nijisanji, since Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel and eFootball also have similar promos.
It's cheap advertising for Konami to get much needed exposure for Bemani to the public (particularly towards the younger audience) in general, however, I don't think the strategy of appealing to vtuber viewers is the best since I don't think this type of promotion will make them go out of their way to visit an arcade and become regular players.

I wonder what lifespan these songs will have since these songs are originally Konami original songs.

Yeah, so these vtuber covers/collabs definitely isn't my forte and don't appeal to me in the least, so I'm gonna just keep mum on how I think that's going.

I would bet I speak for most of us when I say I wish there were some way Konami would consider actually getting licensed songs for DDR. Maybe it's my own ignorance and I'll own that, but I STILL, to this day, do NOT understand after all these years why other rhythm games like Just Dance, and Dance Central have been able to license the full 3-4 min songs of some of the most popular current songs on Top 40 stations and other songs of the past 20-40 yrs, but yet DDR seemingly can't (or won't) get licenses for the usual 90 secs to 2 mins of some of these songs.

Not only that, but enough time has passed and I don't think it should be taboo anymore to not consider steps for licenses as well if they ever did start back getting song licenses. No they don't need to be 17s or 18s, but I do think the average steps for a license would be in the 14-16 range.

Anyhoo, enough of that rant. I'm a bit bummed that we haven't gotten more legacy steps recently. The last ones were almost 2 months ago, and it seemed during summer we were getting them like every 5-6 weeks. I'm definitely hoping they'll pick those back up as most of those have been well received, and maybe even some revived ones we discussed a while back with steps.

There's 2 answers to this: Japan and money. DDR's focus is primarily the Japanese playerbase, and has been since X3. In the post-Dancemania era, the casual ROI for popular Japanese Vtuber covers, vocaloid songs, etc. is an order of magnitude over a western artist license (this has always been the case if you look at Player's Best stats on X and X2). It's cheaper overall to clear these licenses vs. having to clear major international acts. In fact, both "New Music Update" license rounds on A and A20 were partially subsidized by Dave & Busters themselves (and its an open secret that they had a set of licenses ready to go for 2014's US release if that happened). This doesn't mean we won't be getting more western licenses in the future..... there's a big wave of US cabinet orders ready to go for early next year, and they're all on revshare (which means Konami will end up getting more revenue from the US side than they ever did during the D&B non-revshare period). I'm willing to bet THAT will be when more licenses drop.

I understand this especially when it comes to the playerbase being majority Japanese, and I can even give a slight pass on the money aspect -- that's obvious and perhaps what I thought was the biggest factor. But even so, I would think it would be a decent idea to license a certain number of popular songs from all over, not just those in the states. Hypothetically, let's say they did 10-12 licenses for a new DDR. Depending on popularity, they could license 3-4 US songs, 3-4 UK songs, and 3-4 JP songs (vtuber, cover, etc) to keep it diverse. Just a thought...but as I know DDR outside of JP is pretty much on life support nowadays, and obviously no significant home release interest, guess I'm just thinking of ways to breathe a little excitement, diversity and life back into it. But I get it.

Funny you say that, they just announced a new chart pack for Grand Prix, so World will definitely get these too:

BROKEN MY HEART
D2R
Dragon Blade
Funk Boogie
Gamelan de Couple
La Señorita
No.13
Quick Master
WILD RUSH
カゲロウ

Glad we got a 5th Mix song in these, I wish INSERTiON will get a Challenge chart soon too

I honestly agree a bit with you rant, it was a bit embarrassing seeing the latest Benama stream and seeing IIDX, SDVX, pop'n and the even GITADORA get really good announcements while DDR only got another reminder for the Nijisanji collab. The covers aren't even that good and it sucks they hyped it a lot. At least the ReGLOSS covers were a bit more decent in comparison

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It's been kind of obvious for a while that even in Japan DDR is in "maintenance" mode with any big stuff relegated to multi-game events but otherwise just putting 1-2 songs a month. I believe the only reason they haven't killed the game is because it was one of the first Bemani titles, but there's clearly little real effort being put on it.

Ooohhh, finally Dragon Blade, Gamelan de Couple, WILD RUSH and カゲロウ. Don't let me down.

Gonna put in my guesses:

BROKEN MY HEART - 15
D2R - 13
Dragon Blade -18
Funk Boogie -13
Gamelan de Couple -15
La Señorita -15
No.13 -17
Quick Master -15
WILD RUSH -14
カゲロウ -16

Rating predictions:

BROKEN MY HEART: 15
D2R: 14
Dragon Blade: 16
Funk Boogie: 13
Gamelan de Couple: 16
La Señorita: 13
No. 13: 17
Quick Master: 14
WILD RUSH: 15
カゲロウ: 13

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The main meta in Japanese rhythm games has shifted towards more hardcore players. Touhou and vocaloid are easier to license too, since they have longer licensing periods. Licensing general pop songs can be quite fickle, especially with online updates being a thing

I disagree with this, maybe WORLD is probably at a point where they're winding down, possibly for the next mix. There's been plenty of relevant new Konami Originals/crossovers & charts being added each month, compare to when DDR would only get one song per month at best, and who knew if those songs turned out to be good. There are a few filler songs here and there, but they're interspersed with other exciting content, unlike the lull periods of Ace or 2014. IIDX and pop'n are just getting "hype" right now because they literally just got a new mix/are getting new mixes. DDR will probably follow suit in Q1 2026.

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Well this is definitely a surprise, glad they're starting these back up. And yeah, INSERTiON is something I hope gets a good chart in the future as well. The only one of this list I'm giving a squinty eye to is No.13. To be honest, the chart is good enough, imo. It's one that I wouldn't think even needs a chart. I remember one of the criticisms when it was included in SuperNOVA wasn't the charts, it was more about the song edit. Either way, I'm a bit surprised and suspicious of this inclusion.
I woulda thought we would get a chart for La Señorita Virtual over the original. So that's an interesting choice.


Yeah, I get that it's easier to license, that's obvious. But I have always believed (Dancemania stuff notwithstanding), that the biggest draw to DDR were always the licenses. Yes, KO choices definitely play a huge and significant role in a new DDR's success, but the licensed songs are what the average, casual player sees and hears that would draw a bigger audience. And with that, for those more seasoned players, spice up the licenses and make good 14-16 charts for some of them. Besides, it's not like they couldn't remove a song once/if its license expires anyway -- it's only a 90sec cut of the song. Like I said, just throwing what I think are fairly reasonable ideas out to understand why Konami has operated this way for so long by comparison of other rhythm game companies, but I get it. Maybe I'm just stuck on how things were 20+ yrs ago and trying to work somehow into things now. Has been a good debate and educational.


Honestly, the way WORLD started out, and how it's been kinda going, it does feel like this is a "maintenance" phase for it, or at least experimental. With the songwheel not being well received at all, the early wtf issues dealing with bgvids, the way character portraits are implemented (no real purpose), it just seems WORLD was kind of a "throw stuff out there to see what sticks". It almost reminds me of how when DDR EXTREME US dropped on PS2 and we all kinda hated it as it felt more like a pieced together game, but then EXTREME2 dropped the next year and how phenomenal that was. Could be wrong, but even though it seems WORLD has been fairly successful, it's not without its deserved criticisms.

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https://x.com/yuisity/status/1993854803743818055

Some things never change...

Excellent difficulty choices for Kagerow, Broken My Heart, D2R, Funk Boogie, Gamelan, and La Senorita.

I'm not a fan of 17s and 18s so I would just hate those anyway, can't really comment there.

I know I've played Quick Master since I have the SN folder filled in, but it didn't leave an impression. Hopefully 15 is the right call.

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Everything was at least decent outside of Funk Boogie

No opinion. Dragon Blade - That 428482428482482428482428 section though
No opinion. No 13: Looks like something close to a ITG stamina chart in DDR.
8. Funk Boogie: There isn't a lot to this song to make a good 4-key beatmania chart, probably would have been better to make this more of a gallopy chart. Better than the original charts, at least
7. Quick Master: It's just funny how much harder this is in DDR now than it is in IIDX, good freeze arrows with twists, and I would have rated it higher, but then I thought about PFCing this chart with the song's infamous sync.
6. La Senorita: Don't really know what they could have done with this chart before I played it, but better than expected.
5. Wild Rush: Hey, they actually put a 32nd in a chart! Another alright chart with some good twists and a good cooldown section
4. Broken My Heart: D2R did everything this chart did, but better. Didn't think it was bad, though.
3. Kagerou: Kind of what I expected the chart to be, though I wish they used more of the drums instead of just making a karaoke step chart for 90% of it. Triplets were interesting.
2. D2R: No down-down-right at the end 0/10. In all seriousness, very high energy chart. I actually liked the jumps, but I can see how they wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea.
1. Gamelan De Couple: I think Xenon Challenge is growing on me, this feels like a better version of that and I had some fun this time even if I'm just barely getting into 16s.

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SP charts:












DP charts:

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i am begging you to either put these embeds in [code] or just have links because holy sweet goddamn dude

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Thank you for providing the videos.

I think Konami could have made the Doubles Challenge chart for Wild Rush a little harder

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Gross backgrounds

Here's my tier list. May be subject to change.

S: WILD RUSH
A+: Dragon Blade, No. 13
A: Gamelan De Couple, Quick Master, Kagerow
B+: Funk Boogie
B: BROKEN MY HEART, La Señorita
C: D2R

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La Señorita CDP is the best chart in this pack. Sorry, I don't make the rules. 🤷‍♂️
BUMP:

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