Dance pad video games

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This is a comparison of popular proprietary dancing video games in which players must step on panels on a dance pad in time with music. Step placement and timing is indicated by rising arrows overlapping fixed targets.

Contents

[edit] Panels per pad

  • DDR: 3, 4, or 6 square panels; left, down, up, right (up-left, up-right, and 3-panel (up-left/up-right/down, or left/right/down) only available on SOLO machines).
  • PIU: 5 panels; up-left, down-left, center, down-right, up-right.
    • Center panel is square, corner panels are rectangle (height > width).
  • PRO: 5 panels; up-left, down-left, center, down-right, up-right.
    • Center panel is square, corner panels are rectangle (height > width).
  • ITG: 4 square panels; left, down, up, right.
  • MGD: 4 square panels; left, down, up, right.
  • DPR: 4 square panels; left, down, up, right.

[edit] Selection controls

  • DDR: Two yellow buttons for style and song selection, with a green button for starting. The modifier menu can be scrolled through backwards by holding either yellow button and pressing the green button.
  • PIU: No buttons on the cabinet itself; the songs are selected using Down-Left and Down-Right, and chosen with Center. Older mixes may have different selection methods. Every version of Pump it Up uses Down-Left and Down-Right to scroll through, whereas older versions may use Up-Left and Up-Right to make your selection.
  • PRO: Two yellow arrow buttons for style and song selection, with a green button for starting. Red button above the yellow arrows used for displaying the modifier menu, moving backwards in the modifier menu, as well as an alternate way to select your difficulty on the song select menu. At the dance percentage results screen, this button will also take a screenshot and save it to a plugged-in USB flash memory stick.
  • ITG: Two yellow (or blue on a dedicated cabinet) buttons for style and song selection, with a green button for starting. Dedicated cabinets have a red button underneath the green button, which is used for scrolling backwards in the modifier menu, as well as an alternate way to select your difficulty on the song select menu. At the dance percentage results screen, this button will also take a screenshot and save it to a plugged-in USB flash memory stick.
  • MGD: Left and Right arrow keys, Enter (on keyboard, by default).
  • DPR: Left and Right arrows in menus, Up and Down in songlist, X to select and Δ to move back a screen.

[edit] Player/panel modes

  • DDR: Single, Double, Versus in most versions, some also feature Couple (2ndMIX), Unison and Step Battle (3rdMIX), Battle (4thMIX), Double Versus and Quad Mode (ULTRAMIX 2), and Solo play with 6-arrows.
  • PIU: Single, Double (Freestyle and Nightmare), Half-Double (Rebirth through PREX3), Versus, Division (Rebirth/Premiere 2), Combo Battle (Exceed 1/2), Item Battle (Exceed 2), Minesweeper (Exceed 2), Hybrid Difficulty (Exceed 2), Mission (Zero), World Tour (NX), Training (NX/NX2), WorldMAX (NX2)
  • PIU: Single, Double (Freestyle and Nightmare).
  • ITG: Single, Double, Versus, Battle.
  • MGD: Single, Extra Mode (introduced in Mungyodance 2).
  • DPR: Dance (normal dance gameplay), Arcade (somewhat of a single-player rendition of ITG's Battle Mode), Time Exercise, Calorie Exercise, Shadow Dance (similar to the game of H-O-R-S-E), Game Gallery (Dancetris, similar to Tetris).

[edit] Difficulties

  • DDR: Three difficulties are present on all mixes – Light, Standard, Heavy (names vary between versions). Some games also have Beginner and Challenge/Oni. The latter usually offers alternative Heavy-difficulty steps. Songs are rated from 1-10 feet, with "flashing 10s" given to songs of extraordinary difficulty.
  • PIU: Easy, Normal, Hard, Crazy, Another and Mission in Single; Freestyle, Half-Double, Nightmare, Another and Mission in Double. Difficulty ratings range from 1 to 25 ("DANGER") in NX2.
  • PRO: Easy, Normal, Hard, Crazy in Single; Freestyle, Nightmare in Double. Difficulty ratings range from 1 to 16.
  • ITG: Novice, Easy, Normal, Hard, and Expert. All songs have Novice through Hard steps, and most songs have Expert steps, which are always level 9 or above in difficulty. Difficulty ratings range from 1 to 12, although some songs have level 13 Expert steps, which show up numerically as a 13 but visually as a 12.
  • MGD: Easy, Medium, Pro, Insane. Most songs have Pro difficulties. Insane difficulty songs have only one difficulty. Difficulty ratings generally range from 10 to 150, but can go higher.
  • DPR: Super-Easy, Easy, Medium, Hard, Expert. Difficulty is rated in stars, from 1 (easiest) to 5 (hardest).

Difficulty ratings between DDR and ITG are roughly analogous (e.g. an 8 in each game would be about the same difficulty); however some people are unsure about the analogy between 10's in DDR and 10's in ITG, of which some people believe 10's in DDR seem to be harder than ITG's 10's. MGD's ratings system is essentially a more detailed version of DDR/ITG's ratings (i.e., a song rated 95 would translate to 9.5 in DDR and ITG).

[edit] Multiple-song courses

  • DDR: Some versions feature Nonstop Mode, which allows several (usually 4) songs to be played in a row without breaks. Oni or Challenge Mode usually involves 5+ songs and gives the player a rechargeable life bar. On home versions, Endless Mode allows the player to continue playing until the player fails. Solo 2000 and Solo Bass have their own unique courses, which are 3 minute nonstop remixes which consist of 3 songs mixed together, similar to PIU's remixes.
  • PIU: Some versions of PIU have nonstop remixes, which are multiple songs that are remixed together into one. On the home version there is Sudden Death Mode where the song will end automatically if the player misses a step. There is also a Survival Mode where the player has a rechargeable life bar and must continuously play song after song until the life bar has been depleted.
  • PRO: Progressive Mode, allowing several songs to be played with a continuous life bar, and modifiers that change between songs and even during songs.
  • ITG: Marathon Mode, allowing several songs to be played with a continuous life bar, and modifiers that change between songs and even during songs. There's also Survival, where each song has fixed mods and a timer. The player must be very accurate, or extra time will be subtracted from the timer.
  • MGD: Mungyodance 2 has no multiple song courses, however there is a subclass of songs titled "(NONSTOP)". (NONSTOP) songs are typically three similar-sounding songs mixed into one (on average) two-minute long mixes, similar to the DDR Solo series' Nonstop Megamixes. They are played in Normal mode. Mungyodance does not have these.
  • DPR: Dance Praise 2: the ReMiX introduced Custom Playlists. Similar to courses in DDR and ITG, Custom Playlists are custom-made lists of songs to play through.

[edit] Song modifiers

  • DDR: Modifiers are selectable by inputting codes through the dance pad (step codes), and in most versions after 5thMIX, with an Option Menu. There are about 20 options spread throughout a few categories, with one option selectable per category.
  • PIU: Modifiers are only selectable through step codes. Some cabinets have a sticker displaying a few of the codes, such as speed modifiers.
  • PRO: Has a modifier screen similar to ITG's Option Menu.
  • ITG: Has a modifier screen similar to DDR's Option Menu. There are over 60 modifiers in various categories; some categories allow more than one modifier to be selected.
  • MGD: In Mungyodance there is a standard modifier select screen, with a wide assortment of modifiers. In Mungyodance 2, only speed multipliers can be selected. Other modifiers can be activated through stepping on "Modbombs", which appear in some charts; however, the modifier activated is completely random.
  • DPR: Dance Praise has no modifier screens, however the Arcade Mode includes steps that will activate certain modifiers when stepped on.

[edit] Step judgments and combos

  • DDR: Marvelous, Perfect, Great, Good, Boo, and Miss. Marvelous is not available in pre-EXTREME versions, and then only in Oni and Nonstop modes, and actual judgment words vary in North American versions. A Good or below will break a combo. In Oni Mode, Greats do not affect the combo in any way. Combos carry over from song to song in Nonstop and Challenge Mode. In Supernova, Greats began adding to the combo in Oni mode. This has carried over to Supernova 2.

Beginning with Supernova 2, Marvelous timing is on in normal gameplay.

  • PIU: Perfect, Great, Good, Bad, and Miss. In all mixes, Bad or Miss will break a combo. In versions other than Extra and Prex 3 and later, Goods will also break a combo. In these final cases, Goods maintain one's combo but doesn't add to it.
  • PRO: Superb, Perfect, Great, Good, and Miss. A Good or Miss will break a combo.
  • ITG: Fantastic, Excellent, Great, Decent, Way Off, and Miss. A Decent or below will break a combo. Combos carry over from song to song in all modes. If a player uses a memory card, then it is possible to carry a combo on in perpetuity.
  • MGD: In Mungyodance, Perfect, Excellent, Great, Decent, Way Off, and Miss. A Decent or below will break a combo. In Mungyodance 2, step judgements were completely removed, making the combo the sole factor for song evalutaion.
  • DPR: Perfect, Great, Good, Almost, Missed. A Good or below will break a combo.

[edit] Timing Windows

  • DDR: The Perfect step rating is moderately hard to attain, and the courses-only Marvelous step rating is extremely difficult to attain. The Marvelous step judgment is the tightest judgment among any of the three dancing games. The timing windows for console versions of DDR are noticeably easier, to compensate for differences in hardware across different platforms.
  • PIU: The Perfect step rating is highly dependent on version and machine difficulty, as higher difficulty settings reduce the size of the timing windows. Versions before Premiere 2 set to any difficulty level tend to be most comparable to newer versions set to Hard difficulty.
  • PRO: The Superb step rating is moderately hard to attain.
  • ITG: The Fantastic step rating is rather difficult to attain, and the Excellent step rating is slightly easier to attain than a Fantastic.
  • MGD: The Perfect step rating is rather difficult to attain, and the Excellent step rating is slightly easier to attain than a Fantastic. In Mungyodance 2 a Hit is 50% or better timing, whilst Miss is 49% or worse.
  • DPR: The Perfect step rating is much easier to attain than most other dance games.

An ITG Fantastic is harder to get than a DDR Perfect, but an Excellent is easier to get than a DDR Perfect. However, getting a Pump It Up Perfect on a Premiere 2 or later on a low difficulty level is easier than getting either an ITG Fantastic or Excellent combined.

[edit] Jumps/hands

  • DDR: Aside from a single song in Dancing Stage 1.5 (Uh La La La Maniac Single), a single song in Ultramix 2 (Skulk Challenge Single) , and four songs in Solo 2000, no more than two panels need to be pressed simultaneously at any given time.
  • PIU: Harder difficulties require three, four, five, or even six panels to be pressed simultaneously. Most players use one foot to press two panels at the same time, rather than a hand. The "secret song" "Raw" on Nightmare difficulty has a ten-panel hold; its stepchart is meant to spell out a message on the screen (AM 4 X2 FREE VOLT THANX), not to be passed. It is generally regarded throughout the PIU community that simply passing Raw alone is impossible. Charts in Zero, NX, and NX2 have combinations with over 6 steps in many different situations, many of which involve special situations in missions or are required for multiple players.
  • PRO: Harder difficulties require three, four, five, or even six panels to be pressed simultaneously.
  • ITG: Some charts require three or more panels to be pressed simultaneously, requiring the use of hands or other body parts. When playing double, up to six panels may be required to be pressed/held simultaneously. It is worth noting that on machines which were converted from DDR to ITG, it is usually more difficult to hit hands because one must apply much more pressure to get steps to register; this is because DDR cabinets were not originally designed with hand play in mind.
  • MGD: Some charts require three or more panels to be pressed simultaneously, requiring the use of hands or other body parts.
  • DPR: Some charts have jumps.

[edit] Steps to avoid

  • DDR: In the Challenge Mode from EXTRA MIX and the home version of 4thMIX, and Mission Mode found in later games, certain conditions must be met to pass a stage, often requiring the player to avoid hitting a certain arrow. ULTRAMIX 2 has "poison" arrows.
  • PIU: In Exceed 2 2-player battle mode, Mines are introduced which are indicated by darker coloured arrows. Stepping on these decreases your life. There are also arrows that activate random modifiers when you step on them. In the mission mode introduced to Zero, mines attached to certain stages appear as red squares with an x, making them more distinct, though hitting them does far more damage in Zero than it did in Exceed 2 (frequently causing an instant fail). Even registering a Zero mine with a 'bad' grade can set if off.
  • PRO: If you are standing on a panel when a mine crosses the target zone, it will explode, causing the player to lose life. This does not affect your combo, but does affect your overall grade.
  • ITG: If you are standing on a panel when a mine crosses the target zone, it will explode, causing the player to lose life. This does not affect your combo, but does affect your overall grade.
  • MGD: If you are standing on a panel when a mine crosses the target zone, it will explode, causing the player to lose life. This does not affect your combo, but does affect your overall grade. In Mungyodance 2, the mine was replaced with the "Modbomb", which instead of causing loss of player life activated a random modifier.
  • DPR: In Arcade Mode, there are three specific arrow types that are typically negative to the dancer. Smoke Bombs shroud the target area in a cloud of black smoke. Strobe Bombs cause a strobe to flash around the dance area. Disco Bombs cause a mirrored disco effect to fill the dance area.

[edit] Grades

  • DDR: Almost all versions feature A, B, C, D and E. Prior to 4th Mix features SSS, SS and S (DDR USA replaces these with AAA Perfect!, AAA and AA, respectively). 4th Mix and beyond features AA (and was missing E), with AAA added in 5th Mix and beyond. In 5th Mix-SuperNOVA, all steps must be "Perfect!!" or better to score a AAA. In SuperNOVA2, the grading was changed to 99% of steps "Perfect!!" for a AAA.
  • PIU: S, A, B, C, D, F. Different games in the series, and different songs, have different criteria for what constitutes an S, A, etc.; in general, however, later mixes are easier to get higher grades in.
  • PRO: SS, S, A, B, C, D, F. Pump It Up Pro also includes a percentage score.
  • ITG: ****, ***, **, *, S+, S, S-, A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D, F. All steps must receive a "Fantastic" judgment and all hands, jumps, rolls, and mine avoidances must be successful to score a "quad-star" (****, or 100%). Star ratings begin at a score of 96%.
  • MGD: Mungyodance 2 has a Paw system, 1 paw being the worst grade (45% and below) and 8 paws being a perfect grade (100%). Mungyodance has AAAA, AAA, AA, A, B, C, D, and E.
  • DPR: There is no actual grading system in place, however doing very well will cause the dancer to be inducted into that song's "Hall of Fame".