This game delivers rhythmic play that has become well-established throughout the series’ dynasty — to gloss generally, players are rated on how effectively they provide input in response to a continuously-scrolling list of controller direction instructions. The game differs slightly in technology and musical content from the Japanese arcade game, the home port of the same name, and the parallel European release Dancing Stage SuperNova 2. When the screen informs players that they are about to be called upon to push the “left” button as its corresponding glyph ascends the screen, they must try to match it precisely at the instant when the glyph overlaps with a target region at the top of the screen. If they are successful, they will advance to the next stage of the game. This synchronizes to player-selected electro-pop music with music videos or animated dancing avatar sideshows. Of course, it is intended for play with the series’ trademark control device, a giant four-way directional pad laid out on the floor to be rhythmically walked upon. DDR games are what they are, which are synchronized to player-selected music. (Two can be utilized simultaneously for two players or by a single player demonstrating great dance movements.)
This game features 72 songs (some in an incomplete form) in various styles from Konami’s J-pop stable and regionalized tunes from recognized Western artists. Players are awarded sufficient points to “buy” an initially-locked handful in the in-game “store” after completing various in-game achievements, at which point they can “buy” these songs from the in-game “store.”
In addition to the game’s standard mode, which consists of “picking three songs and seeing how high of a cumulative score you can rack up, assuming that you don’t get prematurely booted due to low performance,” the game offers a variety of other play types, including “hyper master” mode (which consists of taking on extra tasks to earn achievements such as Supportive Modules to make things easier and Challenge Modules to make them tougher), workout mode (which assists in calculating calories burned.
