Soundtrack Name: Dance Dance Revolution 2nd Mix
U.S. Game Name: Dance Dance Revolution 2nd Mix
Musical Genre: Dance (duh)
Original Game System: Arcade
Publisher: Intercord Japan/Toshiba-EMI Limited
Copyright Holder: Various
Number of CD's: 2
Number of Tracks: 38/29
CD Length: 50 min 32 sec / 64 min 33 sec
Composers and Performers:
Various (there's about 30 of them)
Review:
Italicised notes added 7/11: OK, when I first wrote this I was a little harsh
(actually I toned
it down from its original form). Just keep in mind that part of my problem with
this soundtrack is that aside from a somewhat unispired 2-3 minutes of intro music,
the songs from this game were not written for the game. I know that this kind of
game is better off with licensed music, but they could have thrown in at least one
good original song. Konami is capable of that. I still agree that the soundtrack
has good dance music, which got it a very solid "B" rating. Some people do, however,
despise this music, so it can't reach "A" status.
I'm not a fan of dance music. I don't like dancing, and I don't like sappy
lyrics.
That being said, I must concede that the DDR soundtracks contain some
of the best dance music around. Who would have thought that a game containing dance
music from Europe, that requres the player to follow directions on a screen would
be so popular? I guess such a simple, non-violent game has an easier time going
mainstream than some fighter like Tekken 3. Maybe they seem more popular than they
are because some people pump too many quarters into the machine. I've seen people
get near perfect scores on levels facing away from the screen. Maybe if the dance
moves were random rather than fixed, and the game was more a challenge of reflexes
it would be less popular. But I've gotten sidetracked, I'm supposed to be talking
about the music. And the packaging. Dance Dance Revolution 2nd Mix has the shiniest
packaging I've ever seen. That's a good thing.
The volume of silve coating used on the packaging is mind
boggling. Also, insert booklet doesn't just list all the tracks, it
has ads (in Japanese) for other CD's that these tracks are on. On one CD's cover is
a picture of a girl's behind. Don't worry, she's wearing a string bikini, but the
crazy blob dancing guy is standing on her butt. It's weird.
Once you get the CD
in the CD-player, you'll here some of the best dance music around. If you haven't heard any DDR
music, I suggest you go to ANY arcade on the face of the planet and watch someone
play (or pop in a few quarters yourself). Although there are a billion different
Mixes for the various DDR games, if you like one, you'll like them all. 2nd Mix
is taken from one of the older versions of the game, so it's likely that if you
are just now getting into DDR games, you'll only recognize the more popular tracks
that survived into later games. Also, I should mention that the second CD actually
contains longer remixes of the better tracks from CD one. All the songs on the
first CD are 1 min to 1 min 30 sec long, while the tracks on the second CD are, on average,
2 min to 3 min long. I play the tracks off the second CD for my show because
they are longer. The tracks on the second CD also have the sound effects from
the game, the cheering, clapping, and crazy guy that compliments you when you do
well. I still want to hear that guy say "You suck, let someone else use the machine."
That would be funny. As far as popular tracks go, I can tell you from
requests on my show that Butterfly by SMILE.dk and Dub-i-Dub by Me & MY
are at the top. I gave this soundtrack a "B" ranking because although some people
love this music, others simply don't like it. I never put this in my stereo. I
don't mind playing it on my show (then again I play excite bike and that has 20 sec
of music), but I'll never listen to it on my own.
Final Rating: B
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