A short-lived Konami Rhythm Game in its BEMANI line, designed to cash in on the Para Para dance trend in Japan in the early 2000s. It plays almost like sister game DanceDanceRevolution, except that it uses a platform with a semi-circular array of five infrared sensors — denoted on-screen by five arrows — to detect hand motions corresponding to Para Para routines.
The charts in this game are designed to correspond to the routines; on the first version, professional Para Para dance videos were displayed as background videos as a guide (mirrored so that they would correspond to how the player would have to perform), but 2nd Mix switched to using 3D characters. The game also offered a companion screen that showed the aforementioned videos for spectators to watch). Alongside the standard "Para Para" mode, there was also a "Freestyle" with charts carrying difficulty levels and no , so you could come up with your own choreography.
As expected, the majority of the game's soundtrack is Eurobeat licenses (particularly from Avex), but there were also Konami original songs, and Eurobeat remixes of popular DDR songs of the era.
The game only lasted for two mixes (plus a "1st Mix Plus" update); 2nd Mix notably switched to 3D characters for the routines instead of videos. Like most Bemani titles, its rare outside of Japan, but its a cult classic (especially at anime cons that are lucky enough to have one in their game room). 1st Mix also had a PlayStation 2 port, which uses a sensor controller. The game is also supported by StepMania and its forks as a game type with support for the aforementioned PS2 controller (with the Project OutFox fork having made particular efforts on making the gameplay more accurate), simfiles, as well as groups (such as EKS-D) making choreography videos paired with original charts.
Not to be confused with the Coldplay song "Paradise", which title drops this game in its chorus by mere coincidence.
This series provides examples of
- Annual Title: The song "velfarre 2000".
- Market-Based Title/Regional Bonus: Korea received a modified version of 1st Mix known as Para Para Dancing (which is based mostly on the 1st Mix Plus engine), which has changes to its soundtrack due to Korean restrictions on Japanese content at the time; "I Wanna Dance" and "Tora Tora Tora" were removed, "Hold on Me" received a new version with Korean vocals, and six eurobeat remixes of K-pop songs (all of which licensed from SM Entertainment) were added to Freestyle mode. The cabinet also includes three additional sensors that are on the back of the platform, with modifiers allowing you to play facing away from the screen
as a Self-Imposed Challenge. - Pink Means Feminine: The cabinet, and the sensors of the PS2 controller, are pink. 1st Mix's UI was mostly dark magenta (2nd Mix went to light blue and yellow), and all the Para Para performers in the videos are female.
- Required Spinoff Crossover: The DDR remixes; "Dynamite Rave (super euro version)" and "CAN'T STOP FALLIN' IN LOVE (super euro version)" crossed back to DDR on SuperNOVA, and the PPP original "Hold On Me" crossed over for Extreme. "Night of Fire" was on both DDR Disney Mix (the PS1 version) and beatmania IIDX.
- The Cameo: Usao-kun, the rabbit mascot of Keyboard Mania, is a playable character on 2nd Mix. Oddly enough, he also cameos in the video of Domino's "PARAPARA PARADISE" on beatmania IIDX 6th style (which, despite its title, never appeared in the game).
