History Trivia / DanceDanceRevolution

* Currently, eight tracks have Level 19 charts: Valkyrie dimension, POSSESSION (on Double only), [=PARANOiA=] Revolution, EGOISM 440, Over The "Period", ENDYMION, MAX 360, and Lachryma《Re:Queen’M》

* ReferencedBy: In the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "[[Recap/SouthParkS8E4YouGotFdInTheA You Got F'd in the A]]", one of the dancers Stan recruits is Yao, a DDR player.
-->'''Yao:''' I can't dance without the machine.

*** Two South Korean version were released: Ver.Korea with seven then-exclusive songs, and [=Ver.Korea2=] which adds nine exclusive songs unavailable on any other DDR release. However, both games are missing seven songs from the Japanese release, and graphics for Charmy and "Oh Nick Please Not So Quick" were censored. With the release of ''4thMix'', however, four of the Japan-exclusive songs were made available for the first time.

** Although the Korean versions of ''[=3rdMIX=]'' got some exclusive songs, they are missing several songs from the Japanese version. The pan-Asian version is even worse, lacking both those cut songs ''and'' the Korean songs.
** The international releases of ''X'' and ''X2'', outside of Asia, uses a cabinet manufactured by Betson and Raw Thrills. ''X'' is notorious for its terrible quality, in contrast to the Japanese version manufactured by Konami. ''X2'' was significantly better, but still not quite up to par with the Japanese counterpart.
** The international release of ''A'', outside of Asia, is missing some things from the Japanese version:
*** e-Amusement Pass support is absent in Europe, while Paseli is absent outside of Asia (however, at the same time, Premium mode can be activated using coin credits instead, with U.S. machines largely having it be the same price as a basic mode credit).
*** While the Asia release features 795 songs, the international (non-Asia) release only features 769 songs. Removals include most notably all Exit Tunes licensed songs; a partial cutlist can be found [[https://remywiki.com/AC_DDR_A#Removed_Songs here]].
*** [[Franchise/TouhouProject "Night of Nights"]] has Challenge charts missing from the non-Asian builds. Yeah, a song is in all versions of the game but ''not all of its charts'', and it has yet to be explained why.
** Zig-zagged by ''A20'': [=Round1=] got a shipment of the new gold cabinets, notably running Japanese builds rather than a U.S.-specific build like the existing A cabinets -- allowing access to the aforementioned licenses absent from the international version of A, at the cost of Paseli paywalls being present (a situation shared by all other [=Round1=] imports), and briefly not having an English interface (however, user-selectable English and Korean modes were added to all versions in a larger patch that accompanied the A20 upgrade for existing cabinets in Asia). With the U.S.-specific upgrades for the existing A white cabinets deployed in late-September 2019 (installed with a manual upgrade kit using a USB flash drive and a new dongle, as opposed to over-the-air like Asian builds), some of the Asia-exclusive licenses missing from A are now playable (but not all -- which further intensifies the OneGameForThePriceOfTwo status of the release as a whole).
** A very odd case within the Asia region: the song "ALGORITHM" was made available at the time in every version of ''DDR A'', including the US version… except in Korea, due to a confrontation with the GRAC[[note]] or the "Game Rating and Administration Committee"[[/note]] in South Korea. It had since been subverted in the next DDR update.
** ''Dancing Stage [=SuperNOVA=] 2''. Came out slightly over a year after the North American version (and two weeks after the US got ''DDR X''), removed various songs from that version and only added ''one'' new song as compensation. The company failed to launch an arcade version in Europe, as the [=PlayStation 2=] for the arcade machine was banned by the European Union. It was also the last release of the series that Europe got for the [=PS2=], as neither ''X'' nor ''X2'' had European equivalents.

** This was zig-zagged with ''Dance Dance Revolution A'' and beyond, having official American releases at various [=Round1=] and Dave & Busters locations around the US, along with one in Canada, including e-Amusement. Europe was not as lucky, as, despite promises that it would happen eventually, there is no timeframe on whether there will actually be e-Amusement for that region. While America got A20 and A20 Plus, which were released via e-Amusement updates, Europe is still stuck with DDR A.

* PromotedFanboy: Aaron Tokunaga, best known for the ''DDR'' fan site [[http://aaronin.jp/ Aaron In Japan]], designed the Challenge chart for "Night of Nights".

** The international releases of ''X'' and ''X2'', outside of Asia, uses a cabinet manufactured by Betson and Raw Thrills. It is notorious for its terrible quality, in contrast to the Japanese version manufactured by Konami.

* ContentLeak: "ACE FOR ACES" had its Expert charts datamined, and back when it required a Perfect Full Combo to complete (any step below Perfect would end the track early), it allowed the charts to be cleared much sooner than expected.

** With ''VideoGame/StepManiaX'', the SpiritualSuccessor to ''ITG'' but which also features a ''Pump''-style center panel. That said, ''[=StepManiaX=]'' takes a somewhat different approach, being marketed mainly towards fitness centers rather than just arcades.

* NoBudget: Betson by far. This began [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-CAmHSYRMA to a lesser extent]] with [=SuperNOVA=], with North American cabinets of slightly lower quality compared to its Asian counterparts, but still very much playable. The worst case was with DDR X: while Asia got an extremely nice new cabinet design with tons of LED effects and the ability to retrofit legacy cabinets for the new PC hardware, everyone else ''had'' to buy a new Raw Thrills cabinet, save for the rare international availability of upgrade kits. The then-new cabinets looked like a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITb6lzoy1Zw cheap, bootleg version of the Japanese design]], with elements of the ''VideoGame/GuitarHero Arcade'' cabinet also built by them. They infamously featured poorly-built pads (covered with ''one piece of metal with holes in it'' and no triangle brackets, as opposed to the traditional grid of square panels), a weak sound system (including ''fake subwoofers''), a monitor with input lag, and the navigation buttons being on a bare, metal panel with no decoration. Some of these issues were rectified with DDR X2 (which had a more traditional pad design, along a few more decals imitating the Japanese design), but players still reported pad problems. The distributor claimed that upgrade kits for DDR X were limited because they felt [[LowestCommonDenominator it would be too much work for arcade operators to handle]]. Fans were quick to call the spokesperson's bluff, given that [=SuperNOVA=] upgrades and ''VideoGame/InTheGroove'' required similar hardware retrofits, but didn't hinder their adoption or popularity. The current international releases since ''A'' have used the current white-colored cabinets used since 2013, but there are still no kits for existing machines outside of Asia.

** ''X'' was actually tested in the United States in a Betson ''[=SuperNOVA=]'' cabinet (specifically, the same one that had been used for a previous ''SN2'' location test) with Bemani PC hardware, indicating that Betson and Konami may had actually considered releasing kits for existing cabinets (as mentioned earlier, the game was only released outside of Japan in Raw Thrills-designed cabinets, which used off-the-shelf Dell Optiplex computers rather than the bespoke Bemani PC hardware). In 2022, said cabinet was [[https://twitter.com/tay1or/status/1563371836263452673 discovered to have been in a random arcade in Pennsylvania]] since at least 2016, still running the location test build.

* NoBudget: Betson by far. This began [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-CAmHSYRMA to a lesser extent]] with [=SuperNOVA=], with North American cabinets of slightly lower quality compared to its Asian counterparts, but still very much playable. The worst case was with DDR X: while Asia got an extremely nice new cabinet design with tons of LED effects and the ability to retrofit legacy cabinets for the new PC hardware, everyone else ''had'' to buy a new Raw Thrills cabinet, save for the rare international availability of upgrade kits. The then-new cabinets looked like a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITb6lzoy1Zw cheap, bootleg version of the Japanese design]], with elements of the ''VideoGame/GuitarHero Arcade'' cabinet also built by them. They infamously featured poorly-built pads (covered with ''one piece of metal with holes in it'' and no triangle brackets, as opposed to the traditional grid of square panels), a weak sound system (including ''fake subwoofers''), a monitor with input lag, and the navigation buttons being on a bare, metal panel with no decoration. Some of these issues were rectified with DDR X2 (which had a more traditional pad design, along a few more decals imitating the Japanese design), but players still reported pad problems. The distributor claimed that upgrade kits for DDR X were limited because they felt [[LowestCommonDenominator it would be too much work for arcade operators to handle]]. Fans were quick to call the spokesperson's bluff, given that [=SuperNOVA=] upgrades and ''VideoGame/InTheGroove'' required similar hardware retrofits, but didn't hinder their adoption or popularity. The current international releases since ''A'' have used the current Japanese cabinets (the white cabinets, and the gold ''A20'' models), but there are still no kits for existing machines outside of Asia.

* SequelGap: The arcade ''DDR'' games suffered from this; despite a steady release schedule for arcade games from the original up until ''EXTREME''. From 1998 to 2002, there were [=20ish=] ''DDR'' games released, and then there was a 3 1/2-year gap between ''EXTREME'' and ''[=SuperNOVA=]''. After that gap, ''DDR'' arcade releases became regular once more until DDR 2013, when Konami adopted a rolling release model using online updates (given Konami's new business model of selling its arcade games as a service, this is understandable); songs were added over time (usually via events), and an update in 2014 refreshed the song selection and results screens, but it was technically the same game for three whole years. DDR A was released just over three years later, also via an online update, but unlike the previous patches, it did contain more significant changes to make it qualify as a new version rather than another patch (i.e. a new user interface design and branding).

** The trailer for a 2009 DDR game on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=len-36qxifQ Xbox 360 and [=PlayStation=] 3]] (which would have accompanied X2 [=PS2=] and Hottest Party 3) revealed a dramatic facelift to the franchise, with 3D stages closer in style to ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'', a themable interface, an 8-panel mode, and promises of DLC from ''every'' arcade DDR game. However, it eventually disappeared into DevelopmentHell. When news of a [=PS3=] version re-surfaced in 2010, fans hoped it would finally be the game they were hoping for. Surprise, it wasn't, and was practically a completely different game. It was built off the polarizing ''Hottest Party 4'' content, 8-panel mode was only on Challenge charts (with a very confusing layout that shoved the corner arrows in the same lanes as Left and Right), and it did not have the same extent of DLC as was announced for the previous version (though to be honest, they ''tried'' at least). Bits and pieces of the UI from the trailer did end up appearing on the arcade [=X2=].

* FanNickname:
** DDR A20 on upgraded machines is sometimes referred to as "DDR H20", as a pun referencing its [[WaterIsBlue blue-colored user interface]]. Some have pointed out that the game's title is officially pronounced as an acronym (i.e. "A-2-O" or "Ace-2-O" and not "A-twenty"), and the ending of the "ACE FOR ACES" video (where Rinon falls into the ocean) as support of this StealthPun. In addition, both of the initial Extra Exclusive songs on the release had some sort of aquatic theme to their title ("ORCA" as in the whale, and "Splash Gold").

-->'''jun:''' Under the perfect sky without clouds, I had arrived at a certain arcade in Tenoji, Osaka. I was there to attend an event... yeah, for the commemoration of DDR's comeback. The place was packed, and I made a promise in front of all those people to produce a new PARANOiA... At that moment, my spirit was drug deep into the underworld. Hades had been calling me in my heart and told me that this was to be my new burden. At that point I devoted myself to complete the production, all the while being afraid... aware of Hades always watching me. The rhythm's irregular change every four measures shows how nervous and disturbed I was due to Hades' continued presence. Always running to escape from Hades and the underworld, I would lose my breath and scream out... yet still keep running... my fear of Hades escalating so that my heart rate reached 300... then, I saw something when finishing up the song... it was a shadow with a huge sickle and the crimson red of...

** "Tsugaru" (from ''[=DDRMAX2=]'') is also the name of a ''VideoGame/TwinCobra'' track.

* FanNickname: DDR A20 on upgraded machines is sometimes referred to as "DDR H20", as a pun referencing its [[WaterIsBlue blue-colored user interface]]. Some have pointed out that the game's title is officially pronounced separately (i.e. "A-2-O" or "Ace-2-O" and not "A-twenty"), and the ending of the "ACE FOR ACES" video (where Rinon falls into the ocean) as support of this StealthPun. In addition, both of the Extra Exclusive songs have some sort of aquatic theme to their title ("ORCA" as in a whale, and "Splash Gold").

* NetworkToTheRescue: Arcade ''DDR'' receiving dedicated North American builds starting with ''A'' was due to American arcade chain Dave & Buster's paying Konami Amusement to localize the games.

* NoExportForYou: Not counting region exclusive releases like ''Dance Dance Revolution USA'' or ''Dancing Stage [=EuroMix=]'', there has been a grand total of 5 arcade installments released internationally: 1st Mix, [=SuperNOVA=], X, X2 and A. This led to almost every other arcade importing the games at the height of DDR's popularity and using bootlegged upgrades, with ''Extreme'' being the most common version even today.
** The Ultramix and Universe games were also never released in Japan (Xbox, barring a brief period in popularity for the Xbox 360 spurred by ''VideoGame/TheIdolMaster'', has never really been popular in Japan). Some songs from Ultramix however, did get dispersed through several other titles, including DDR Festival (based off Extreme US) and [=STRiKE=] (based off Extreme 2), and a number of Universe 3 songs made an arcade debut on X2. While the first three Hottest Party installments got localized versions for Japan, Music Fit (Hottest Party 3 JP) was the final console DDR game released in Japan ''ever''. In fact, Konami has all but given up on making new versions of arcade Bemani titles on major consoles in Japan (except on portable devices, and even some of those are outsourced). Most of the new originals on X3 vs. 2nd Mix were from Hottest Party 4/DDR 2010 and Hottest Party 5/DDR II (the latter also used the same interface theme, but modified for the DDR X2 engine), briefly inverting the traditional struggle of ''America'' waiting from songs from the next arcade release.
** With no international release for X3, the arcade DDR landscape is back to how things were before [=SuperNOVA=], except with the added complication of e-Amusement, again (though these issues are in no way exclusive to DDR). DDR 2013 and onwards will also refuse to boot if its not connected to e-Amuesment, unlike previous games where connectivity was optional, making importing even ''less'' viable (though not impossible, as people have found ways around the network check).
** And now Konami's zig-zagged it, with ''Dance Dance Revolution A'' getting a release at various [=Round1=] and Dave & Busters locations around the US (along with one in Canada), with e-Amusement connectivity for the first time, plus actually having added some U.S.-oriented licenses. Konami also found a distributor in Europe, Electrocoin; however, despite promises that it would happen eventually, there is no timeframe on whether there will actually be online service.

*** [[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} "Night of Nights"]] has Challenge charts missing from the non-Asian builds. Yeah, a song is in all versions of the game but ''not all of its charts'', and it has yet to be explained why.

** DDR Extra Mix for the PlayStation has the DDR Solo 2000 pairs, but also features two instances of "Sky High": one by DJ Miko, and another by Lucyfer. Both songs are different.

* FollowTheLeader: Many clones of [=DDR=] were made, most notably ''VideoGame/StepMania'' and its commercial variant ''VideoGame/InTheGroove''. In these games, ignoring the improvements, you had the same 4-arrow configuration, scrolling up into a gray stepzone, at which point you would get one of five judgments depending on timing, colored just as they are in [=DDR=] (except the best judgment), same handling of jumps, hold steps, video clips in the background, a similar-looking song wheel, etc. This ran full-circle as some ideas from those games were later implemented in [=DDR=]: shock arows are similar to [=SM=]'s mines. "Chrome" was removed from [=DDR=]'s interface much like [=ITG=]. [=DDR=]'s "solo" coloring scheme became the basis of [=ITG=]'s coloring scheme, adding some colors which in turn were later used in [=DDR=]'s "rainbow" coloring scheme. [=DDR=] also saw a jump in difficulty from ''[=SuperNova=]'' onwards that was large and sudden enough to chalk up as a reaction to the higher difficulty ceiling in games like [=ITG=] (ITG was active during the five-year interim between ''Extreme'' and ''[=SuperNova=]'').

** Konami lost a lot of licensing deals with departed in-house artists sometime after [=SuperNova 2=], hence why a lot of Konami Original songs were removed in X, including those by [=BeForU=] and its members (who left Konami in 2006), Reo Nagumo (who stopped composing songs for the company in 2008, though he had left Konami since 2000), and Argie Phine (who left in 2000). "Dynamite Rave" had to be rerecorded since it featured Phine's vocals, with Brenda Burch replacing her. When [=BeForU=] broke up in 2009, however, the rights to their Bemani songs returned back to Konami, hence why their songs returned in X2.

* Currently, seven tracks have Level 19 charts: Valkyrie Dimension, POSSESSION (on Double only), PARANOIA Revolution, EGOISM 440, Over The "Period", ENDYMION, and MAX 360.

* ExecutiveMeddling:
** Due to some form of expiring license for the vocals, a new version of "Dynamite Rave" was recorded for the international arcade versions of DDR X (which also made an appearance on Hottest Party 3 as a "new" song with completely different charts, alongside several other similar remakes)
** The infamous Raw Thrills DDR X cabinets were also a form of this due to cost concerns; the game even had location tests and convention showings in a Japanese cabinet (although, sans the light sticks in later tests).

* MilestoneCelebration: ''Dance Dance Revolution X'' which was made for the 10th anniversary of the franchise.
** ''Dance Dance Revolution A20'' was designed to mark the 20th anniversary of the franchise.
* NamesTheSame: Not with a fellow game, but still fits. "DDR" in German is an abbreviation of "Deutsche Demokratische Republik" or in English "German Democratic Republic", also known as UsefulNotes/EastGermany. If you type in "DDR" in [=YouTube=], videos pertaining to that topic is brought up just as likely, and many confused Germans have found themselves stumbling upon videos related to the games instead of the ex-country. In fact, it's probably why DDR was for a long time marketed as ''Dancing Stage'' in Europe.

* SimilarlyNamedWorks: There are two different songs named Fantasy, one which debuted in MAX, and another ("STAY (Organic house Version)" from Dance Maniax 2ndMix) which debuted in [=MAX2=]. Yes, both are available on Extreme.

* FanNickname
** DDR A20 on upgraded machines is sometimes referred to as "DDR H20", as a pun referencing its [[WaterIsBlue blue-colored user interface]]. Some have pointed out that the game's title is officially pronounced separately (i.e. "A-2-O" or "Ace-2-O" and not "A-twenty"), and the ending of the "ACE FOR ACES" video (where Rinon falls into the ocean) as support of this StealthPun. In addition, both of the Extra Exclusive songs have some sort of aquatic theme to their title ("ORCA" as in a whale, and "Splash Gold").
* FollowTheLeader: Many clones of [=DDR=] were made, most notably ''VideoGame/StepMania'' and its commercial variant ''VideoGame/InTheGroove''. In these games, ignoring the improvements, you had the same 4-arrow configuration, scrolling up into a gray stepzone, at which point you would get one of five judgments depending on timing, colored just as they are in [=DDR=] (except the best judgment), same handling of jumps, hold steps, video clips in the background, a similar-looking song wheel, etc. This ran full-circle as some ideas from those games were later implemented in [=DDR=]: shock arows are similar to [=SM=]'s mines. "Chrome" was removed from [=DDR=]'s interface much like [=ITG=]. [=DDR=]'s "solo" coloring scheme became the basis of [=ITG=]'s coloring scheme, adding some colors which in turn were later used in [=DDR=]'s "rainbow" coloring scheme. [=DDR=] also saw a jump in boss chart difficulty that was large and sudden enough to chalk up as a reaction to the higher difficulty ceiling in games like [=ITG=].

* NoDubForYou: All of the games' announcers speak in English (and many of them are native speakers of it), with a few lines of GratuitousJapanese at most, even though a lot of ''DDR'' games are Japan-only. On the contrary, ''Universe 3'' had a Japanese announcer as DLC, and it was only released in North America.

** The Dancemania remix of the theme song from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' was supposed to appear in 5thMIX, but they dropped it at the end.

* Currently, six tracks have Level 19 charts: Valkyrie Dimension, POSSESSION (on Double only), PARANOIA Revolution, EGOISM 440, Over The "Period", and ENDYMION.