Dance Dance Revolution A

Lore & Background

A sequel, titled Dance Dance Revolution A20, was released in 2019 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the series. The game was first announced during the Grand Final of the 5th Konami Arcade Championship (KAC), which was held on the final day of the Japanese Amusement Expo (JAEPO) 2016 event, February 20, 2016.

Reader's Guide

The game features a handful of overhauls to the existing system used by previous games. The most significant change is made towards the song selection screen. While the previous game, DDR 2014, still uses an interface that resembles the Cover Flow system introduced in DDR X2, DDR A changes it into a Sound Voltex-like pagelist giving the illusion of a touchable interface, although selection is still made using buttons below the monitor. Nine song choices, organized in three rows, are in clear view of the player at any time; scrolling past them will reveal additional row of songs, somewhat like the one used in DDR 4thMix. For the first time, selection can be done using the up and down buttons to skip a row of songs (in previous games, these buttons are exclusively used for e-Amusement services and certain modifiers). While highlighting a song is needed to display their detailed information, all of the visible song choices always display their song title and the current difficulty level selected, reducing the time needed to browse through them. The Groove Radar, previously fixed for each chart, now behaves accordingly whether the player sets options that eliminate arrows (e.g. activating 'Freeze: Off' causes the Freeze portion of the radar to disappear) or not. The grading system also includes '+' and '-' levels for all grades except for AAA and E (though D does not have a '-' level). There are also aesthetic changes. If the player's dance meter is depleted down to the red level, a 'danger overlay' will be added behind the player's arrow zone and the arcade cabinet's speakers will turn red. Another expanded feature from previous DanceDanceRevolution versions is the 'Clear Lamp' progress tracking system. This allows players to quickly see how well they performed on songs directly on the Music Select screen. The Clear Lamps are located next to each song, and will shine with different colors and intensities. The in-game characters now have the dance routines of the Supernova era (though premade routines are retained). Some options have also been removed or changed to fit better with the gameplay. Due to failures related with Windows XP Embedded, all cabinets are replaced by DDR (2013) cabinets or have arcade boards changed from DDR (2013) cabinets. These cabinets have a new Bemani PC Type 5 that runs Windows 7 Embedded Standard. A mid-2017 update blocked all CHALL

Did You Know?

• The game was first announced during the Grand Final of the 5th Konami Arcade Championship (KAC) on February 20, 2016.
• Dance Dance Revolution A is the first international arcade release of Dance Dance Revolution since Dance Dance Revolution X2.
• The Korean release was delayed by one week compared to the Japanese and Asian release.
• Europe received new offline cabinets on December 15, 2017.