Dance Dance Revolution Solo BASS MIX is the first special one-player version of the Dance Dance Revolution series of music video games. It was released as an arcade game by Konami on August 19th, 1999. Although only officially released in Japan, units exist worldwide. DDR Solo Bass Mix features 16 songs, all of which are new to Dance Dance Revolution.

Gameplay

The gameplay of DDR Solo Bass Mix is considerably different. There are three different distinct game modes: "3PANEL", "4PANEL" and "6PANEL".

4PANEL is the traditional DDR single-player game mode, using the up, down, left and right arrows. All three difficulty ratings (Basic, Trick and Maniac) are available.

6PANEL is the big one. It uses all four arrows PLUS extra arrows in the up-left and up-right arrows for added difficulty. These arrows are colored green on the pad. All three difficulty ratings are available in 6PANEL as well.

3PANEL is a simpler mode that only uses the up-left, up-right and down arrows. 3PANEL only has one difficulty setting.

A player must step to the beat, matching the beat to the arrows presented to them on screen by stepping on arrows on a metal-and-plexiglass dance stage. A judgment is displayed for each step, depending on the player's timing: "PERFECT!!", "GREAT!", "GOOD", "BOO" or "MISS..". An on-screen life meter, known as the Dance Gauge, begins halfway full at the start of each song. Perfect and Great steps slowly fill the Gauge, while Boo and Miss steps quickly deplete it. Good steps have no effect either way. If a player accumulates too many Boos or Misses, and the Dance Gauge becomes empty, the player fails the song and the game ends.

A player may play anywhere from one to five songs, depending on how many the arcade operator sets the machine to play each game. At the end of each song, the player sees their accumulated points, bonus points, and how many of each kind of step they stepped. They also get a letter grade that is dependent on the judgments received during play, ranging from "AAA" (all steps Perfect) to "D" (near failure). If the player manages to pass his or her songs, a cumulative results screen is given, totalling the stats from all played stages.

The scoring and grading systems in this version is highly simplified, and done by straight score. You get 500 points for a "PERFECT", 300 points for a "GREAT" and 100 points for a "GOOD". Jumps score double. You get a bonus for your longest normal combo, which is the combo length multiplied by 300. You also get a bonus for your longest PERFECT combo, the most straight PERFECT steps you got, which is the combo length multiplied by 100.

Nonstop Mode

Nonstop Mode is slightly different from DDR 3rd Mix. In this one, it consists of a long, truly-nonstop strip of three songs called a megamix. You can pick a megamix in the normal song selection list, and it takes up two songs on your play. Each song is cut to about one minute in the mix, so it is about the length of two songs.

Versus Mode

Multiple DDR Solo Bass Mix machines can be linked together. This is the only way multiple players can play against each other. To activate it, each participating player in the group must press start initially, then hit the down arrow twice.

Interface and graphics

The menu interface of DDR Solo Bass Mix is signicantly different from previous versions of Dance Dance Revolution.

Soundtrack

Fifteen of the songs from DDR Solo Bass Mix are on the original soundtrack for Dance Dance Revolution Solo 2000.

External links

• Konami (US Home Page), makers of DDR.
• Konami (Japanese Home Page)
• Official DDR Solo BASS MIX website, from Konami. (In Japanese)
• Dancemania (In Japanese)
• DDR Freak - Community Site for DDR and Bemani Games in general