Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 2
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| Dance Dance Revolution ULTRAMIX 2 | |
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| Developer(s) | Konami |
| Publisher(s) | Konami |
| Platform(s) | Xbox |
| Release date | November 18, 2004 |
| Genre(s) | Music |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E) original rating now Teen (T) |
| Media | DVD |
Dance Dance Revolution ULTRAMIX 2, or DDR Ultramix 2, is the eighth home version of Dance Dance Revolution to be released in the United States. It was released by Konami exclusively in North America on November 18, 2004, on the Microsoft Xbox video game console. An adaptation called Dancing Stage Unleashed 2 was later released in Europe. It comes with 70 songs (130 if song packs are downloaded), 10 of which are hidden and unlockable. 58 of those songs were new to Dance Dance Revolution, with several artists from the "A Different Drum" label.
DDR Ultramix 2 was developed and published by Konami Digital Entertainment, formerly known as Konami Computer Entertainment Hawaii.
The interface used is new, but retains the Groove Radar and foot ratings. The names of the difficulty modes are "Beginner", "Light", "Standard", and "Heavy". By pressing the Start button, you can change the sorting method from the default (New songs first, then returning songs, then unlocked songs) to an alphabetical sort, a sort by song speed in BPM, and a sort by popularity.
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[edit] Gameplay
- See also: Gameplay of Dance Dance Revolution
The core gameplay of DDR Ultramix 2 is the same as in previous Dance Dance Revolution games. The game utilizes the 2-tiered scoring system which was also used on DDR Ultramix. Unlike other home versions, DDR Ultramix 2 only uses an Event Mode like setting, where an unlimited amount of songs can be played, and failure of a song sends the player back to the Song Wheel.
[edit] Interface & Graphics
Full motion video backgrounds can be turned on or off in the Options menu. They are on by default. Both these and dancing characters (below) can be on at the same time, but some gamers complain that the game slows down when both are on, so most gamers use one or the other.
Dancing characters can also be turned on or off in the Options menu. They are on by default. The dancers can be changed in the Options screen, and each player can choose between Afro, Lady, Rage and Emi. Two more dancers, Maid-Zukin and Konsento:03, are available via Xbox Live free of charge. The dancers' outfits are equivalent to the ones in the Japanese arcade version, Dance Dance Revolution 4thMIX, but the characters are redesigned to take advantage of the Xbox's better graphics hardware.
[edit] Challenge Mode
The Challenge Mode in DDR Ultramix returns in DDR Ultramix 2, with new tasks. Players must complete a series of tasks of increasing difficulty in order to get more unlocks. Challenge Mode is not to be confused with the Challenge Mode used by other modern DDR games such as DDR Extreme, where the player can miss an extremely limited amount of times before the song ends. Rather, it is similar to DDR Extreme's Mission Mode as well as the Dance Master Mode in the U.S. PS2 release DDR Extreme 2.
[edit] Workout Mode
Workout Mode is a special mode where you can play songs and have the game keep track of your exercise performance, such as calories burned. There is an undocumented Nonstop Mode-like feature where if the player chooses Random, the game will begin to play all available songs in a random order until the player quits. They must be careful as once this selection is made, they cannot change difficulties or change modifiers unless they quit and start over.
[edit] Online Play
Live Mode takes advantage of the Xbox Live online gaming service. An internet connection is required. In Live Mode, players can play online against other players around North America. It keeps track of global rankings.
By Xbox Live, players can download song packs that add new songs to the game. For DDR Ultramix 2, a total of twelve song packs are available, including the first six from DDR Ultramix, at a price of $5.00 each. Each song pack has five songs in it. Song packs from Song Pack 7 onward cannot be used in DDR Ultramix, but the first six song packs from DDR Ultramix can be purchased and/or used in DDR Ultramix 2. The original DDR Ultramix can read and play the first 6 song packs only if the player purchased them through DDR Ultramix, not Ultramix 2. If they were purchased in Ultramix 2, Ultramix cannot detect them and will require another purchase if you wished to do so. This is very likely to hold true for Ultramix 2-series song packs when DDR Ultramix 3 is released. Ultramix 3 will also contain the ability to detect previous song packs purchased and will make them a part of the Ultramix 3 songlist when first started.
Ultramix 2-series of song packs contain three kinds of content:
- Older DDR songs that have been in a past release worldwide, but must be in-house Konami originals (no licensed songs)
- Brand new songs premiering to the DDR series that have been taken from other Bemani series of games such as beatmania, beatmania IIDX, and GuitarFreaks, and must also be Konami originals (also no licensed songs)
- Brand new songs premiering to the DDR series specially made from contracted artists outside of Konami that are considered in-house original material and has a chance to appear in another Bemani game elsewhere (always seen as a remix of a previously-made Konami in-house song)
[edit] Songs
[edit] Notable Music
MAX 300 (Super-Max-Me Mix): In spite of the title, this song is more of a remix of MAXX UNLIMITED than MAX 300. It scrolls at 320 BPM for the majority of the song. The Heavy step patterns are more complex than MAX 300 and denser than MAXX UNLIMITED, taking a toll on stamina and endurance. The song briefly slows down to 140 BPM 17 seconds through, offering a slight rest, but quickly starts up again with increased difficulty in the steps. The Heavy steps end with several 1/8-note runs, including one lasting six measures, the longest in any official MAX song. The artists listed are Jondi & Spesh. The song also later appeared on the Arcade release Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA, featuring new Challenge steps which debuted originally on the Japanese home version Dance Dance Revolution Strike
Mello: Written by Alien#Six13, this song possesses a property similar to The legend of MAX. During each of the two long freeze arrows in the song, the tempo speeds up from the usual 97 BPM to *783*, surpassing The legend of MAX and all other DDR songs to date (until SuperNOVA 2 with the release of Pluto Relinquish). After the second freeze, the tempo picks up at 194 BPM for the remainder of the song.
Skulk: Through hacking there was a discovory of challenge steps to this song which included "Quad" Steps (Four arrows at a time , not the game mode).
[edit] External links
- Konami (US Home Page), makers of DDR.
- Official DDR Ultramix 2 Website
