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Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMix

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Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMIX, or DDR 3rd Mix, is the 3rd game in the Dance Dance Revolution series of music video games. It was released in the arcades by Konami on October 30, 1999. Although only officially released in Japan, units exist worldwide. It has a total of 68 songs, 34 of which were new to Dance Dance Revolution.

DDR 3rd Mix is arranged in three modes, which are explained later. The interface is the same as the previous versions: the player rotates a jukebox-like menu of CDs which represent the available songs. The player can modify how the arrow arrangement and how they appear on the screen with various step codes when you selected a song. After a song is selected, a menu would appear allowing a player to select a difficulty level. As with DDR 2nd Mix, each player can choose a different difficulty level if they desire.

The engine for DDR 3rd Mix was also used Dance Dance Revolution USA, the second arcade release of DDR in North America.

Gameplay

The core gameplay of DDR 3rdMIX is the same as the previous Dance Dance Revolution games. 3rd Mix featured a brand new scoring system, instead of being heavily combo-based like the last two mixes, combos are of virtually no importance. The maximum score for each song is 10,000,000 (all Perfects). Perfects are worth twice as many points as Greats, and steps toward the end are worth progressively higher points than steps toward the beginning. In nonstop mode, a 2x, 3x and 4x multiplier apply to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th songs respectively, making a perfect nonstop worth 100,000,000 points.

3rd Mix was also the first version of DDR where different beats (compared to a 4-beat register) alternate different colors, making 1/4th, 1/6th, 1/8th, 1/12th and 1/16th steps look different and making it easier for the player to recognize changing rhythms. This color scheme is called "vivid" mode, whereby the old scheme of all arrows being the same color is henceforth referred to as "flat" mode. Flat appears as an option and modifier in later versions of DDR.

This release marked the first time lyrics were displayed during gameplay for every song. This can be turned on or off by the arcade operator. This feature was later dropped.

Link data

Some machines have the ports to insert PlayStation memory cards. Such memory cards have to be PlayStation 1 memory cards with Link Data from the home version of DDR 3rd Mix. It can exchange data with DDR 3rd Mix or DDR 2nd Mix. It can also use Edit Data, custom steps made on the home version.

Gameplay

The player can choose which mode they want to play after putting in their coins, but before pressing START.

DDR 3rd Mix This is the default mode. In this mode, the 34 new songs are all available in addition to three carryovers from DDR 2nd Mix, for a total of 37. When selecting difficulty, only Basic and Trick are available. Nonstop Mode is a new feature available in 3rd Mix mode, selectable when selecting single or double play. It allows the player to play one of several set courses without stopping. The only times that it stops is after each song and the new song's name appear.

DDR 2nd Mix By pressing the yellow arrows in the pattern (Left, Left, Right, Right) before pressing START, the player enters 2nd Mix mode. In this mode, Nonstop is not available, but the can select all the songs available in DDR 2nd Mix. All three difficulties--Basic, Trick and Maniac -- are available. Unlike SSR, "vivid" mode is on by default in 2nd Mix mode.

Step Step Revolution (SSR) By pressing the yellow arrows in the pattern (Left, Left, Left, Right, Right, Right, Left, Right) before pressing START, the player enters SSR mode. This mode is identical to 3rd Mix, but only Maniac difficulty is available. "Vivid" mode is turned off by default, although it can be turned on with a code.

Other versions

DDR 3rdMIX (Asian)

DDR 3rd Mix Asian is a version of 3rd Mix released elsewhere in the Orient, except for South Korea. It is missing a few songs, and has a bug when trying to enter the step code for the Shuffle modification.

DDR 3rdMIX (Korea 1)

DDR 3rd Mix verKorea1 was released in South Korea in March 2000. It is exactly like the original version of 3rd Mix, except that it fixes the Shuffle bug and adds seven Korean pop songs and one from the original to 3rd Mix and SSR modes.

DDR 3rdMIX (Korea 2)

DDR 3rd Mix verKorea2 was also released in South Korea in March 2000. It is based on the Asian version. In addition to the verKorea1 songs, it adds nine more Korean pop songs to 3rd Mix and SSR modes.

DDR 3rdMIX PLUS

Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMIX PLUS is a re-issue of DDR 3rd Mix released on June 21, 2000. It does away with SSR mode and allows the player to select Maniac difficulty in 3rd Mix mode. It also adds 23 songs: 14 brand-new songs, the seven new songs added to verKorea1, and two more carryovers from DDR 2nd Mix.

Home version

The home version of Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMIX was released in Japan on June 1, 2000, for the Sony PlayStation video game console. It contained 68 songs, 23 of which were hidden and unlockable, including most of the new songs from 3rd Mix and several selections from 2nd Mix and 3rd Mix Plus. And it also two bonus songs from 4th Mix like "Bumble Bee" and "Gimme Gimme Gimme". It does not contain any Korean pop songs.

The Home Version has the ability to Disc Change from 1st, 2ndReMIX and Append Club Version. this unlocks the other Nonstop Ranking from 1st to 2nd and Club Version. the Graphic Interface is still the same but the background effects are disabled.

"Xanadu" , "Follow the Sun (90 in the Shade Mix)", and "It Only Takes a Minute (Extended Mix)" did not appear on the 3rd Mix home versions. These songs are featured in the Home Version of Dance Dance Revolution 4thMIX.

The game engine and menus were used for the first U.S. home version of Dance Dance Revolution for the Sony PlayStation in 2001. A few songs from this mix were also included.

Soundtrack

The Original Soundtrack for DDR 3rd Mix was produced by Toshiba-EMI under their Dancemania dance music brand.

External links

References



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