Dance Dance Revolution X2
Dance Dance Revolution X2 is a music video game, and a part of the Dance Dance Revolution series. The arcade version of DDR X2 was revealed by Konami on November 20, 2009. The sequel to Dance Dance Revolution X, X2 began public beta testing on November 25, 2009. The game was released in Japan and Asia on July 7, 2010, North America on December 31, 2010, and Europe on May 13, 2011. It was the last arcade installment of Dance Dance Revolution with international releases until Dance Dance Revolution A.
Development
The first public location test for Dance Dance Revolution X2 was announced by Konami on November 20, 2009, to be held from the 25th to December 3, 2009 in Akihabara, Tokyo. The location test revealed new features such as a redesigned song selection interface, new adjustable versions of the Sudden and Hidden modifiers, and the ability to adjust these settings and the speed of the arrows in-game using the control buttons on the cabinet. The location test version did not contain an Extra Stage song, but "POSSESSION" was accessible on the build if certain conditions were met.Features
- A redesigned Cover Flow-like song list. This design is based on DDR Universe 3.
- New "Happy" and "Pro" play modes. Happy mode is designed for beginners, with a simplified interface and reduced song list. Pro is basically the "normal" mode.
- Two new options have been added. The first are HIDDEN+ and SUDDEN+, which are alternate versions of HIDDEN and SUDDEN that can be activated using the up and down buttons on the cabinet. The second is the RISKY option, which gives the player one life bar ; it is only available when playing SINGLE or DOUBLE mode. If the player missteps, the stage will end and skip to the next stage. This is useful for the players who want to achieve higher scores. In addition, SPEED can also be adjusted using the up and down buttons on the cabinet.
- MARATHON MODE, exclusive for PASELI owners. Players can play up to 7 stages using the PASELI e-money system. Certain CHALLENGE charts for songs are also only available in this mode.
- BATTLE MODE has been removed from the game.
- Step Rating BOO is renamed back to MISS and merged with N.G. ALMOST have been removed entirely
Characters
- Afro
- Alice
- Baby-Lon
- Bonnie
- Emi
- Geisha-Zukin
- Gus
- Jenny
- Julio
- PiX
- Rage
- Rena
- Rinon
- Ruby
- Victory-Concent
- Yuni
- Zero
Extra Stage
Extra Stage
The Extra Stage system in this game has been changed. The player must obtain performance grade of AA or AAA from the First Stage to a Final Stage to reach Extra Stage. There are no longer songs exclusive to Final Stage that are required to access Extra Stage as with previous versions. The special song available in Extra Stage is KIMONO PRINCESS, but the difficulty ratings of the chart is based on the sum of difficulty ratings and the number of stages on the credit. The list is as follows.| Quantity of stages | Beginner | Beginner, Basic | Beginner, Basic, Difficult | Beginner, Basic, Difficult, Expert |
| 2 | 1 to 12 | 13 to 18 | 19 to 26 | 27 to 38 |
| 3 | 1 to 18 | 19 to 27 | 28 to 39 | 40 to 57 |
| 4 | 1 to 24 | 25 to 36 | 37 to 52 | 53 to 76 |
| 5 | 1 to 30 | 31 to 45 | 46 to 65 | 66 to 95 |
The Extra Stage uses Battery Dance Meter; its quantity of lives is 4. The players can choose options for Extra Stage.
Encore Extra Stage
To access Encore Extra Stage, the player needs to get AA or better on KIMONO PRINCESS on Expert during Extra Stage. Unlike previous version where the players may choose any song, Encore Extra Stages have been reverted to the style in DDR MAX, where only a specific song can be played. The song is Roppongi EVOLVED on Expert. The version of the song is chosen randomly. Players are still able to set options before challenging Encore Extra Stage.Replicant D-Action
For Replicant D-Action, each song has different requirements to access.- Pierce The Sky is accessed by passing at least 20 songs in the X2 folder.
- Sakura Sunrise is accessed by passing at least 2 songs in each song folder.
- Shiny World is accessed by passing 6 courses and 1 drill course.
- POSSESSION is accessed by getting at least 100 difficulty ratings on CHALLENGE difficulty, and scoring AA or better on Pierce The Sky and Sakura Sunrise on the same difficulty.
- New Decade is accessed by getting a full combo on 15 different song charts, and scoring AA or better on Sakura Sunrise and Shiny World on the same difficulty.
- Anti-Matter is accessed by playing Trial Mode 3 times, and scoring AA or better on Pierce The Sky and Shiny World on the same difficulty..
When the player subsequently earns all six, the player immediately will access the special Encore Extra Stage, Valkyrie dimension on Expert. The player is forced to play the song immediately, which means the player cannot change options or take a break.
Release
Dance Dance Revolution X2 was released on December 31, 2010 in the United States. Internationally, Dance Dance Revolution X2 was imported in Canada on December 5, 2011 at the Funhaven amusement centre in Ottawa, Ontario. As of August 2019, this is the sole venue in Canada to feature this game, after a competitor withdrew an upgraded machine.New cabinets, and Dance Dance Revolution X upgrades, feature a 37" monitor at 720p. Legacy cabinets, initially running SuperNova 2 or an older release, feature a 29" monitor at 480p.
Music
There are 83 new songs featured in X2. 17 out of 19 licensed songs from Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova and 10 out of 13 from Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova 2 have been removed due to their licenses expiring. The licensed material from Dance Dance Revolution X remains, including tracks from the Dancemania compilation series, as well as A Different Drum records. Four classic licensed songs from earlier DDR mixes have also returned in remastered form, along with a special remixed license track. The first location test build contained 14 new songs, plus one secret song, "Possession", which had special conditions required in order to be unlocked. Three additional songs were added on an updated build installed several days after the testing began.In the 2010 Japanese Arcade Operators Union expo, Konami showed a newer build of the game. This newer version showcased even more new songs, including additional material from other BEMANI music games.
The final release of the build revealed many new unlocks, special remixes by Konami artists, and song revivals. The licenses include selections by well known Japanese and Western artists. This the very first DDR arcade release to include licenses from the Cyber Trance series of albums. It is also the first time that Super Eurobeat tracks have been featured in a DDR game since Dancing Stage featuring Disney's Rave. Other songs have been ported over from the latest PlayStation 2, Wii, and Xbox 360 DDR releases. There are a total of 444 songs in this game.
One of the new features included in the main game mode is a special "Extra Stage" system. Known as Replicant D-Action, this mode allows players to choose from a set of 6 difficult songs, 3 level 14's and 3 level 17's. When a player gets rank AA or more one of these songs, they receive a medal for that particular track. When players subsequently earn all 6 medals, they can access the Encore Extra Stage, "Valkyrie dimension". "Valkyrie dimension" is known as the first song in the series is harder than the "Extra Stage" despite having one life, let alone the most difficult song in the entire series.
On March 23, 2011, Konami introduced a special promotion called APPEND Festival. This allowed players to unlock 2 special songs for 5 BEMANI games, including DDR X2 and the recently released upgrade version of jubeat knit, jubeat knit APPEND. However, these songs are not available in the North American and European versions of the game due to the lack of e-Amusement in those regions.
Below is a list of songlist changes featured in the final version. A lock indicate that the song must be unlock. A clapperboard indicate a special background videos will be played during the song. However, some of the background videos are actually displayed on the large screen of the background instead of displaying it full screen. A "clapperboard" will indicate such songs.
;Notes:
- mark indicates that this removed song was absent from the North American and European releases of Dance Dance Revolution X.