Arcade Boss Songs

I'm figuring out which boss songs are present in the arcade series. I was wondering about the songs from 5th mix below though. I can tell which ones among them are boss songs considering that they have X-specials but what about these songs? Are these considered true boss songs (as in they're declared in a certain way like in the case of Trip Machine Survivor)?:

-Dead End
-Trip Machine (Luv Mix)
-Paranoia KCET

So far, here's what I'd see as boss songs. Did I miss anything?
1st-5th
-Paranoia (original, Dirty Mix, Rebirth, Evolution, Eternal)
-Trip Machine (original, SP Jungle Mix, Climax)
-Afronova
-Healing Vision

Extreme
-Max 300
-Candy*
-Maxx Unlimited
-Kakumei
-The Legend of Max
-DDR
-Trip Machine Survivor
-Paranoia Survivor (original and Max)

Supernova
-Fascination Maxx
-Fascination (Eternal Love Mix)
-Healing-D-Vision
-Chaos
-Max 300 (Super Max Me Mix)
-Paranoia -Respect-
-Maximizer

Supernova 2
-Unreal
-NGO
-Paranoia Hades
-Trip Machine Phoenix
-Pluto (original and Relinquish)
-Trim
-Dead End Groove Radar Special (yes, I ended up considering this as such since it's marked as red in DDR X2 CS USA)

X
-On the Break
-Saber Wing (original and AKIRA ISHIHARA Headshot mix)
-Trigger
-Horatio
-Super Samurai

X2
-RDA Songs (Er, I haven't memorized them)
-Kimono Princess
-Pluto the First
-Roppongi Evolved
-Deltamax (It's because it's a Max, isn't it? Unless it's marked as a boss song in Universe 3)

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Dead End is a stamina drainer, but it is hard to justify it as a boss song just off of that.
Trip Machine (Luv Mix) isn't a boss. End of story.
Paranoia KCET might actually be easier than the original Paranoia, not a boss.
Delta Max is a sure-fire boss, both on expert and challenge difficulty.

So out of those 4, only Delta Max would be a boss, but you can make a case for Dead End as a minor boss.

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Hardest one : Valkyrie Dimension . Catasthrophic even on Stepmania.

Second Hardest : 888 Great Stepchart but still though.

Third Hardest : Dead End Groove Radar Special. The stepchart = insane. Jump section in 16th notes ?

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LOL Dead End GRS went out of my mind. I find it funny that you mentioned Valkyrie Dimension being catastrophic.

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You kinda forgot a few...
5th Mix
Faruhata's Theme
Healing Vision ~Angelic Mix~

Extreme
Maximizer
Bag

3rd Mix
Gradiusic Cyber AMD G5 Mix

Supernova 2
Outer Limits, If you count the DDR Festival revival...

Its kinda hard to tell what is a boss song in the early DDR games. But there was some songs that were obvious ones like Trip Machine or Paranoia. Its also hard to tell now because some people still consider Maximizer, Dance Dance Revolution, and others minor-bosses not boss songs. If they highlight the song red they mean "Get ready for a big Stamina Drainer." (Of Course this doesn't apply to easy, minor, boss songs like DDR or D2R ~Freeze Special~)

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There's an AKBK remix of Saber Wing? I'd love to hear it. :V

But in all seriousness, Maximizer only counts as a boss if we count its Universe chart, otherwise it's too easy.

The only thing bosslike about DDR is the crapload of jumps. Even then, it doesn't add much to the difficulty.

AM-3P (Chaos Special) kinda counts, if only for the abomination that is the first half.

Just throwing this out there:

Have a list for AC BOSS songs and CS BOSS songs too.

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How are Healing Vision Angelic Mix and Furuhata's Theme (which happens to be a license) considered boss songs? I don't think difficulty defines a boss songs (lots of 8-footers are harder than Candy and Kakumei is considered as one of the easiest 9-footers)

Same goes with bag and Gradiusic Cyber in the case above and I already mentioned Maximizer.

Outer Limits isn't present in the arcade version.

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What is everyone's definition of a boss song? A hard song, or ones like Dance Dance Revolution?

I don't care about the CS versions. That's why I had to indicate the word "Arcade" in the topic title.

Starting in DDRMAX, a boss song is indicated when it is marked as red in the song wheel in the mix where they originated. In cases such as Trim and Super Samurai, while it's not indicated as red at any point, they're considered as boss songs from the CS versions they were featured in. Apparently, starting in DDR Supernova 2, they are only indicated as red during Final Stage, Extra Stage and Encore Extra Stage. (At least this is my opinion regarding boss songs)

The red thing doesn't always apply. In the beginner mode of DDR Supernova 2, Peace(^^)V, Flowers and Brilliant2U are marked as red but I doubt that these are considered as boss songs.

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I consider Healing Vision ~Angelic Mix~ a boss because it was the harder version of Healing Vision and boosts longer and more frustrating streams. Furuhata's Theme was remembered as a Boss song, by a lot of people including Kon plus it has some streams a tricky 16th jumps with some chaos. (I know this is a 5th Mix licence but it made it to AC so it still counts) Bag is counted because its....Bag, remember'd as the slow song with horrible ???ths on the majority of the song it was hard and also has been rated a 10 in the old scale. Graduisic Cyber counts because well see the chart then compare it to Dead End. Maximizer slightly count because it was red highlighted, but like Silver Spirit said, in a stand alone, the Oni chart would make it a qualified boss song but without it, it doesn't count.
Outer limits is........out of the question. Its a shame this and Mad Blast didn't make it into an AC.

Difficult shapes a boss and bosses do there best to punish you in the best why they can. And sure there are some songs that are piss easy at boss standards that are highlighted red but the reason why they are red its because they are challenging and different from the rest of the songs. Its difference and Difficult that bring up the Boss song name. *cough* Totally doesn't apply to Dynamite Rave ~Air Special~ because it was very easy. *cough*

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IMO, I don't consider difficulty as the only reason why a song is considered as a boss song. I guess difficulty is your opinion.

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From 1st-5th Mix, difficulty decides the boss songs, which aren't really boss songs, just mini-bosses. From then on boss songs are what Konami tells us are boss songs.

^ So you'd consider songs like Rhythm and Police, No Limit, Dynamite Rave or even Romansu No Kamisama as boss songs?

Or maybe even Get Up'n Move before the club versions and 3rd mix showed up?

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From the original DanceDanceRevolution the songs TRIP MACHINE and PARANOiA were unlocked to play on the final stages IF you had scored high enough or played on a high enough level. In the tradition of Japanese gaming, that was the game's final boss.

From that point on every major arcade release (including the Solos) had that pair of songs in it and were assumed to be the games' boss songs out of habit.

1st: TRIP MACHINE & PARANOiA
2ndMIX: SP-TRIP MACHINE ~jungle mix~, PARANOiA MAX ~DIRTY MIX & PARANOiA KCET ~clean mix~
Solo: TRIP MACHINE ~luv mix~ & PARANOIA EVOLUTION
3rdMIX: PARANOiA Rebirth (No TRIP MACHINE was made for this release)

3rdMIX also did something unique. Depending on what character sets you selected you had access to one of four IIDX crossovers. LUV TO ME (AMD MIX), GRADIUSIC CYBER (AMD G5 MIX), gentle stress (AMD SEXUAL MIX) & JAM JAM REGGAE (AMD SWING MIX). I don't think that they were considered bosses though, just that they were presented that way.

4thMIX: TRIP MACHINE CLIMAX (TRIP MACHINE ~luv mix~ & PARANOIA EVOLUTION joined the main arcade series at this point)
5thMIX: PARANOiA ETERNAL (Also no new TRIP MACHINE here)

Interesting point to note, every mix that didn't come with a new TRIP MACHINE came with an AFRONOVA (3rdMIX: AFRONOVA, 5thMIX: AFRONOVA PRIMEVAL)

Starting with 6thMIX, DDR got an EXTRA STAGE system and came back to the classic interpretation of a final boss.

6thMIX: MAX 300 & CANDY☆
7thMIX: MAXX UNLIMITED & KAKUMEI
EXTREME: The Legend of MAX & DanceDanceRevolution (and also a bunch of other "boss-like" songs that were part of the EXTRA STAGE system just not by default: TRIP MACHINE survivor, PARANOiA survivor & PARANOiA survivor MAX)

I don't remember what songs EXTRA STAGE defaulted to for the rest.

SuperNOVA: CHAOS, Healing D-Vision, FASCINATION MAXX & fascination ~eternal love mix~
SuperNOVA 2: NGO, Pluto, Pluto Relinquish, TRIP MACHINE PheoniX & PARANOiA HADES
X: Horratio, On the Bounce, On the Break, Saber Wing, Saber Wing (Akira Ishihara Headshot Mix) & Trigger

DDR X2 introduced a whole mode dedicated to boss songs. If you get an extra stage on X2 you have the choice of playing in the normal mode or entering Replicant D-action where you can only choose between boss songs. Each time you pass a boss song you get a medal for that song, pass each boss song and you get access to the ENCORE EXTRA STAGE; Valkyrie Dimension.

X2: Outside of RDA: KIMONO PRINCESS & roppongi EVOLVED (versions A, B, C & D), In RDA: Pierce the Sky, Sakura Sunrise, Shiny World, POSSESSION, New Decade, Anti-Matter & Valkyrie Dimension

Why did I just type all that? Well that's what I think about when I think "Boss Songs" in DanceDanceRevolution. The only time where there was no defined idea of a boss song in the main arcade series was when there was a steady supply PARANOiAs and TRIP MACHINEs still being made. So I tend to assume that was their definition in the series. Past that Konami seems to make it pretty clear what a boss song is.

It's a song that only comes out during the final stage of the game, which the player has to challenge in order to "beat" the game. The idea comes from traditional japanese videogames, where you fight through a stage (or a dungeon), and at the end is a boss, who's harder than all the little minions you killed before.

The boss song isn't always the hardest song in the game. If you look at games like Final Fantasy 7, the game's boss is obviously Sephiroth, but he isn't the hardest enemy in the game. There are harder challenges strewn throughout the game if you want to find them, but he's the guy you the designers have decided you need to beat, in order to beat the game.

The idea doesn't really apply anymore, because of the addition of Extra Stages and unlock systems, and as Aeron pointed out, there always seem to be "pairs" of songs, both of which serve the purpose of a boss song. In games like 4th Mix, where the game doesn't throw a specific song at you and say "Come on then, beat this one!", it's hard to tell whether TM Climax or Para Evolution are meant to be the boss song.

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The whole concept of a boss song is kind of meaningless now, because people simply like to use the phrase to refer to any song which is too hard, but in the strictest sense, each game has one song which is designated the song which players of all difficulties should aim to beat, in order to "win" a game of DDR (this is in the absolutely strictest sense of japanese gaming culture, which is where the term comes from).

As well as the Boss Song, newer games although have a "Final Boss Song", this challenge usually only applies to Expert level players. This song is usually not availible on every difficulty level in the machine's default state, and sometimes requires a code to unlock. For this reason, it cannot be considered the boss song, but is the true challenge that expert players must defeat, in order to clear the game. Final Boss songs are marked with (FB).

From SuperNOVA 2 onwards, DDR started incorporating time unlock systems, where the Final / Extra / Encore stages change on a monthly basis. Some people count all of the possible Final Stage and Encore Stage songs as being bosses.


1st : Paranoia
2nd : SP-Trip Machine, Paranoia MAX (FB)

The next few games do not have a Boss Song which is designated in-game, although certainly songs appear to be intended as Boss Songs :

3rd : Afronova / Paranoia Rebirth
4th : Trip Machine Climax / Paranoia Evolution
5th : Paranoia Eternal

The Max series again doesn't designate in-game, but adds the Extra Stage system, and therefore revives the idea of a "Final Boss" that isn't playable in the game's default state, and has to be unlocked, via a code, or high level play.

DDRMAX : None, Candy (FB)
Max2 : None, Kakumei (FB)

Extreme : Paranoia Survivor, Dance Dance Revolution (FB)
SuperNOVA : Healing-D-Vision, Fascination Maxx, Chaos (FB)
SuperNOVA 2 : Unreal, NGO, Pluto Relinquish (FB)

DDRX has multiple Final Boss songs, depending on your score. The hardest to get is Trigger, which is therefore considered the song to beat in order to win the game.

DDRX : On The Break, Horatio (FB), On The Bounce (FB), Trigger (FB)

I'm not sure about X2. I believe in the machine's default state, that the final stage song is Delta Max?

DDR X2 : Delta Max, Valkyrie Dimension (FB)

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Again, I'm going to re-iterate where the idea comes from :

A Japanese player who plays the game will clear a couple of songs, and then on the last stage of the game, a new song will appear on the song select screen. It sounds and looks daunting, and has a high difficulty rating. The player will usually think "Ohh! That must be THE BOSS."

deltaMAX was unlocked by default. It should be KIMONO PRINCESS, roppongi EVOLVED and all RDA songs (why SABER WING and its remix didn't get listed but On The Break is?)

APPEND: you can also add to X2 list if you count songs included in Boss Rush X2 course.

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Read the part that explains what a boss song actually is, and why Extra Stage songs are never considered the boss.

Boss Rush is a completely different thing. It's named after a gimmick in most Famicom-era games, where the last-but-one level of the game would throw all of the game's hardest enemies and mini-bosses at you, one after the other, until you beat them all, and go on to face the game's Final Boss.

If it follows from what you said that only FINAL and ENCORE is counted, then roppongi EVOLVED should be counted in too.

For me, there's a lot of boss songs, and it's hard to determine the exact criteria. Generally songs > 15' (10 old scale) and/or the hardest song(s) of a certain release.

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Yeah, I'm not sure on X2, because I haven't played the final version. The last build I played had Deltamax as the Boss Song.

The point is that while Aeron and I can tell you where the term Boss Song comes from, and what it originally meant, the term has been misused so many times to describe "songs which are harder than Max 300", that to most players, it doesn't mean the same thing it used to.