Dance Dance Revolution (Arcade, 1998)

The game that started the rhythm game craze of the late-90s/early-00s, Dance Dance Revolution introduced to the world the joy of pounding arrows with your feet.

Revisional Differences#

Three revisions of the game are known to exist:

• ver.JAA - The game's original release. While it is present in MAME as ddrja, only its disc data has been preserved (and as such it is not playable).
• ver.JAB - A slight revision of the original release, labeled as ddrjb on MAME.
• ver.JBA - A revision known as the "Internet Ranking Version", released two months after the original and labeled as ddrj on MAME.

Miscellaneous#

• The game's original release only used the CD image to store music tracks; all other data (graphics, steps, sound effects) is stored in ROMs. From the Internet Ranking Version, this other data is stored in the CD image as well.

Attract Sequence#

• The KONAMI logo seen in the original release is the 1986-1998 variant, with italicized text and more dimmed out colors, which the Internet Ranking Version had since updated. This is also noticeable in the post-name entry screen.

• An "Internet Ranking Ver." graphic element was added to the right of the title logo.

ver.JAA/ver.JAB	ver.JBA

Ranking Screen#

• Each of the ranking screen backgrounds are toned blue rather than sepia.

Gameplay#

• The Versus mode was added, requiring a code to activate.
• The Maniac difficulty was added, though it is exclusive to Single Play mode, and also requires a code to activate. In addition, the Another difficulty was added to Double Mode.
  • A text string and a ranking screen graphic for this difficulty can be found in ver.JAB, however.
• The timer on the play mode selection screen was increased from 12 seconds to 15.
• When activating a code (e.g. the MIRROR modifier, the ANOTHER difficulty or the Double mode), the text for the modifier is displayed on a large font above the mode description in the original release, which was changed to a smaller font below the mode name on the Internet Ranking Version.

ver.JAA/ver.JAB	ver.JBA

• The game's font graphics received updated colors:

File	ver.JAA/JAB	ver.JBA
data\pct16\plane\m_ac0808.cmt
	This font is, for example, seen in the coin counters, which are seen at all times, and above the score counters during gameplay. While in ver.JAA/JAB it is orange, it was later changed to green.
data\pct16\plane\m_ac0812.cmt
	This font is, for example, seen in the difficulty labels on the song selection screen, as well as the percentages on the results screen. While in ver.JAA/JAB it is green, it was later changed to yellow with a blue outline. The "1" glyph was also changed.
data\pct16\plane\m_ac1216.cmt
	This font is, for example, seen in the score counters during gameplay, as well as in most of the text displayed on the results screen. While in ver.JAA/JAB it is blue, it was later changed to red.

• In the original release, the difficulty levels went up to 7. With the addition of the Maniac and Double Another charts, the Internet Ranking Version expanded the scale to 8. In addition, all difficulty labels were altered:

• The difficulty labels and modifier indicators are now positioned above the screen shutter which appears upon selecting a song.

ver.JAA/ver.JAB	ver.JBA

• In the original release, the arrows don't disappear even if they are hit with a Perfect or a Great.
• The mode and modifier indicator elements were moved slightly upwards in ver.JBA.

ver.JAA/ver.JAB	ver.JBA

• The Internet Ranking Version added a functionality in which one could register their in-game score on a now-defunct website via a code for a tournament.

Song List#

• The Internet Ranking Version added two new songs:
  • MAKE IT BETTER / mitsu-O!
    Ratings: Single - 5 / 6 / 8; Double - 5 / 6
    Availability: HARD
  • TRIP MACHINE / DE-SIRE
    Ratings: Single - 6 / 7 / 8; Double - 6 / 8
    Availability: Final Stage NORMAL/HARD
• All songs save for KUNG FU FIGHTING received new backgrounds, as follows:

• Four songs received difficulty changes in at least one of their charts:
  • HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN MELLOW
    Double BASIC: 2 → 3
  • KUNG FU FIGHTING
    HARD Single BASIC: 2 → 3
    Double BASIC: 3 → 4
  • LITTLE BITCH
    Single ANOTHER: 5 → 6
  • THAT'S THE WAY (I LIKE IT)
    Double BASIC: 3 → 4

Unused Graphics#

Boy Dancer#

KONSENTO-01's textures, which are found in data\all\boy.tex, appropriately feature unused textures for a scrapped human dancer which resembles a boy.

Dancemania Album Sequence#

Of the Dancemania album covers seen during the game's attract sequence, these ones, which are associated with Dancemania BASS#1 and Dancemania SPEED, are unused. They can be found in m_cmcd13.cmt and m_cmcd18.cmt, respectively, inside the folder data\pct256\plane.

"Music From"#

data\pct256\plane\m_jacket.cmt, which features the CD title graphics seen in the song selection screen also feature an unused "Music From" label. It's likely this was meant to be displayed above the CD titles.

Unused Song#

Remnants of a scrapped song, MONEY by RAGGA TWINS, can be found within the game's data. Its music tracks exist in the original release (ver.JAA) only, heard when playing Tracks 10 and 20 of the CD; its contents were replaced with silence in ver.JAB, and ultimately removed in the Internet Ranking Version (ver.JBA), though its graphics and step data still remained. One interesting thing to note is that the Internet Ranking Version features a very similar song to MONEY, the Konami original MAKE IT BETTER; both are reggae tracks, and feature similar patterns in its charts.

Banner:

data\pct256\plane\m_song2.cmt, data\pct256\plane\m_singer.cmt (ver.JAB)
data\pct256\plane\u_mon_ta.cmt (ver.JBA)

CD:

data\pct256\plane\m_selcd4.cmt (ver.JAB)
data\pct256\plane\u_mon_cd.cmt (ver.JBA)

Background:

data\pct256\plane\s_money.cmt (ver.JAB)
data\pct256\plane\u_mon_bk.cmt (ver.JBA)

Preview audio: 845jaa02.bin - Track 10

Music: 845jaa02.bin - Track 20

Chart data: data\seq:

• seq_008n1.bin - 1P Basic
• seq_008n2.bin - 2P Basic
• seq_00881.bin - 1P Another
• seq_00882.bin - 2P Another
• seq_00891.bin - 1P Maniac
• seq_00892.bin - 2P Maniac
• seq_008d.bin - Double Basic
• seq_008dx.bin - Double Another

To re-enable this song, apply the following cheat to the associated files. In ver.JAB, changing the disc image to ver.JAA's makes the song play the correct audio.

<cheat desc="Re-enable 'Money' song">
    <script state="on">
        <action>temp0=maincpu.pd@80070f80</action>
    </script>
    <script state="run">
        <action>maincpu.pd@80070f80=00000000</action>
    </script>
    <script state="off">
        <action>maincpu.pd@80070f80=temp0</action>
    </script>
</cheat>

<cheat desc="Re-enable 'Money' song">
    <script state="on">
        <action>temp0=maincpu.pd@80073ba8</action>
        <action>temp1=maincpu.pb@800e4546</action>
    </script>
    <script state="run">
        <action>maincpu.pd@80073ba8=00000000</action>
        <action>maincpu.pb@800e4546=07</action>
    </script>
    <script state="off">
        <action>maincpu.pd@80073ba8=temp0</action>
        <action>maincpu.pb@800e4546=temp1</action>
    </script>
</cheat>

Alternatively, a converted version of the chart data for use in programs such as Stepmania can be downloaded below:

Download MONEY chart data (converted) File: DDR-MONEY-SIMFILE.zip (860B (compressed)) (info)

Unused Text#

Stored alongside the difficulty labels is the following string:

  NO MEAN   

This would have been displayed if a song's difficulty level is set to 0, which is never the case.

Unused Metadata#

data\music\cd1.db contains a metadata sheet, such as difficulty values, a path to an associated file, and which CD title should it display. Curiously, there are some parameters which are never displayed normally, such as the songs' titles, artist names, and even a BPM display; these are marked in gray, alongside slots for songs that are normally unplayable. The data below applies to ver.JAB.

Differences in Internet Ranking Version#

• The slot for MAKE IT BETTER is no longer unused, though its Unknown D parameter was changed to 1B26. Its associated file was also changed to data/music/upper.bin, rather than recycling PARANOiA's.
• Save for the slots for MAKE IT BETTER and PARANOIA, all ID 1 and ID 2 parameters have had their values added by 03 and 02, respectively. The former song did not have these changes at all, while the latter had these parameters added by 04 and 03, respectively.
• The difficulty parameters are no longer used; the values listed no longer match what is actually seen in-game.
• All Unknown A and Unknown B parameters were blanked out.
• MONEY's Modes parameter was blanked out.
• MY FIRE is no longer a Final Stage song.
• PARANOIA's unused artist parameter was changed to 180, making it consistent with the artist listed in the song's banner.
• The Internet Ranking Version added a slot for the new song TRIP MACHINE, placed between PARANOIA's and MAKE IT BETTER's.

Dummy File#

While the disc image in ver.JAA and ver.JAB is only used to store music tracks, opening it with a disc image editor reveals an extensionless file labeled B. When played as an .aiff file, it is revealed to be the opening theme from the worldwide versions of Hyper Bishi Bashi Champ.