Dance Dance Revolution STRIKE [PS2/JPN]

   A new Shop Mode allows the winning of special items. Konami touts entirely new graphics and characters in the PS2 exclusive game for a refreshing return to the dance floor.

NCS Game Notes
* When playing the "Let's Dance" track, the original David Bowie video plays in the background... and a good chunk of it at that. Watching the video brought us back to the early days of MTV when videos were low budget, cheesy, and yet strangely compelling. At a few points in the Bowie song/video, there are images of people dancing that were so curious that cues were nearly missed as NCS stompers had to study the video. The song ends about three seconds after Bowie croaks the lyrics, "tremble like a flower..."

» In the intro to the game, rendered dancers explode onto the stage for a few seconds of bliss before the DDR Strike logo appears.

» Twenty two characters are selectable at the outset of the game including Charmy - a green haired girl in silver spacesuit, Astro - a cosplayer in striped getup with alien headgear, Rage - freestyler dressed in street gear, Boloo - purple afro-wearing hipster in matching purple duds, SA-JA - fan waving princess in middle eastern garb, and Tracy - if MTV needed another Vjay, we have a recommendation. Also of note is the ROBO2001 dancer who is literally a robot with an electrical plug for a head, clunky movements, and glider ailerons attached to its back. There's another 22 slots for additional characters which wait to be unlocked.

» Beginner songs that one starts off with include "Baile le Samba" or "I will Survive" followed by "Oops!... I Did it Again" or "Let's Dance" followed by "Saturday Night Love" and "Choo Choo Train." Each dance is called a Mission. After the easy songs are conquered, Light and Normal songs are opened up with more difficult steps and combinations

» After each song, the game tallies up your PERFECTs, GREATs, GOODs, BOOs, MISSes, O.K.s, and counts how many MAX COMBOs you strung along. A letter grade is also assigned such as "A" or "C" based on your performance. If you're starting a new game, you'll be setting new records with each and every song. In the normal courses, the rating of MARVELOUS which is above PERFECT is added to the step ranking system.

» The announcer shouts out encouragement during a song such as "You're not an ordinary fella," "You move smoothly," "Grab my Heart," "Absolutely Wonder," "P-P-Perfect," and other commentary.

» The video that is shown during the "Polovisian Dances and Chorus" by Naoto Suzuki feat. Martha is from the PS2 Over Zenith (OZ) game.

» There's a SINGLE mode where one player dances, a VERSUS mode where two hoofers kick it up side by side on two dance pads, and a DOUBLE mode where one player spans the distance of two pads and has to manage 8 arrows.

Original Date of Release in Japan: February 15, 2006
Product SKU: SLPM-66242 / Jan Code: 4988602125269
Japanese Title: ダンスダンスレボリューションＳｔｒｉｋｅ