Dance Dance Revolution 4th Mix
Dance Dance Revolution 4thMIX, or DDR 4th Mix, is the fourth game in the main Dance Dance Revolution series of music video games. It was released as an arcade game by Konami on August 24, 2000. Although only officially released in Japan, units exist worldwide. DDR 4th Mix features 136 songs, 42 of which are new to this mix. Twelve of the songs are initially hidden and must be unlocked by the arcade operator.
Nonstop Mode
Nonstop Mode, a feature from DDR 3rd Mix, allows the player to play a course of several pre-determined songs without stopping.
Battle Mode
Battle Mode is equivalent to the Unison and Couple modes from previous mixes, and is chosen at the difficulty selection screen while on Versus mode. Battle steps must be played by both players, and are generally designed to make each player "take turns" between playing simple and complex patterns. As an added challenge, the steps rise from the middle of the screen, and drift to either player's side while continuing upwards.
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 4th Mix or earlier. It can exchange data with DDR 4th Mix, as well as any earlier version that has songs that are in 4th Mix. It can also use Edit Data, custom steps made on the home version.
Interface and graphics
The menu interface of DDR 4th Mix is signicantly different from previous versions of Dance Dance Revolution. Players can now choose Single, Versus, or Double modes on a dedicated Style selection screen, instead of the button combinations required of older mixes. Players must also choose one of eight Genres, which each contain a portion of the total song list. The available songs during the game will be limited to those in the chosen Genre.
The song selection screen depicts a series of seven diagonal song banners on the bottom half of the screen. Scrolling off the right edge of the screen causes the next seven banners to replace the current ones. The top half of the screen displays the current song's background image and difficulty ratings. Pressing the start button chooses the song, and replaces the bottom half of the screen with a difficulty selection menu. Each player may choose to play on Basic, Trick (called Another in previous versions), or Maniac (or Battle, if playing Versus). A player can also modify arrow appearance and arrangement on this screen by performing various "step codes" on the dance platform. As in previous mixes, step pattern difficulty is displayed as a foot rating, but the ratings are no longer given text labels (like Catastrophic for 9 feet).
The color scheme of DDR 4th Mix consists mainly of black, blue, and violet. The main gameplay screen has a slightly revamped Dance Gauge and score display, and 3D-rendered dancing characters still appear in the background of each song. Which character appears for each player is dependent on the Genre selected.
DDR 4th Mix Plus
Dance Dance Revolution 4thMIX PLUS is an upgrade of 4thMIX, released on December 28, 2000. It adds twelve new songs not seen in any previous DDR version. Several older songs have received new Maniac step sets, with the old steps being moved to "Maniac-S" (for Single) or "Maniac-D" (for Double). The new steps are generally much harder than before, and are used as the default Maniac steps in 5thMIX. The old step sets have been restored for songs included in DDRMAX2, and certain 4thMIX PLUS steps return as Oni/Challenge steps in DDR EXTREME.
4thMIX PLUS also adds an All Music Genre, which allows full access to the song list during a game. The dancing character for this Genre is randomly selected.
Solo versions
Dance Dance Revolution Solo 4thMIX was released concurrently with DDR 4th Mix, designed for use with Dance Dance Revolution Solo cabinets. The changes in the actual game engine are few, but significant. The "Select Style" screen now offers "4 PANELS" and "6 PANELS", instead of Single, Versus, and Double. The arrow graphics have been replaced with the "chubby" arrows of the Solo series, and are aligned in the center of the screen during gameplay. The song selection interface and scoring/grading systems are identical to the standard version of 4th Mix. The song list is also exactly the same, and all songs have been given 6-panel step patterns.
Dance Dance Revolution Solo 4thMIX PLUS is the Solo version of 4th Mix Plus, and is analogous to Solo 4th Mix.
Multiplayer Mode from the DDR Solo series is not present in either game.
There is one confirmed Asian release of 4th Mix SOLO that is currently in West Bend, WI. This version is missing quite a few songs and the unlock code does not work on this machine.
