*checks calendar*
Nope, this isn’t April Fool’s Day. This is real, very real. Konami dropped the bomb and finally gave a us a new DDR title. In 2020. Yes:
Feast your eyes on DDR V. Or, “DDR Inverted-A-Minus-the-Bar-in-the-Letter“. Or DDR ULTIMATE MOBILE(?) OR DDR KONASUTE/eaCLOUD???
Actually, we’re not 100% sure what this will end up being. From investigation at Tokyo Game Show 2019, we found that the build of “ULTIMATE MOBILE” there was actually running on a PC.
It was also noted at its debut that the game would be released not only for iOS & Android, but for PC as well:
However, given how different those builds were from this, we may be off by a ways. The site does mention that “40GB HDD space” is required, which would incur that this will be the eaCLOUD/KonaSute version rather than just Ultimate Mobile…
It’s also listed under that section on the current “Ichika’s BEMANI Super Rock-Paper-Scissors Competition 2020” event:
Anyway, let’s dive in and look at what we have on our hands/feet today!
DDR V, just announced by Konami’s official DDR account on Twitter today, is an Alpha Test version, completely free for all to play. All you need is a Konami ID (we can help, if you don’t already have one), a browser, and a keyboard or some input controller/device.
Just head to the game’s site and click Game Start “ゲームスタート” – then sign in with your Konami ID and get playing!
There are currently 15 tracks available, with all charts ready to play:
 | HANDS UP IN THE AIR | U1 | 128 |
 | RISING FIRE HAWK | L.E.D.-G | 157 |
 | Come to Life | ARM (IOSYS) feat. Nicole Curry | 90～180 |
 | Hopeful | 柊木りお featured by SOTAG | 146 |
 | Neutrino | HuΣeR | 75～300 |
 | Cosy Catastrophe | SYUNN | 90～360 |
 | Love You More | BEMANI Sound Team “Sota F.” | 175 |
 | Drop The Bounce | Hommarju | 75～150 |
 | District of the Shadows | DJ Noriken | 150 |
 | Skywalking | Nhato | 90～180 |
 | F4SH10N | aran | 140 |
 | Our Soul | CaZ | 150 |
 | BLSTR | Ujico* | 160 |
 | Rampage Hero | DJ Shimamura | 175 |
 | ALPACORE | Cranky | 175 |
This is a good amount and a nice selection for a free test version. As a bonus, there’s no failing/audience Boo, and the audio quality is fantastic. Feel free to use this as a music player!
There’s a little Settings Menu in the upper-right where you can adjust your Timing/Offset, and most importantly, configure an external controller. We tried our luck with the beatmania IIDX Entry Model Controller over USB:
Others on Twitter seem to have had luck with a number of official and not-so-official controllers as well. Konami’s FAQ for the game notes:
“If you have various DDR dedicated controllers, you may be able to play by using a USB adapter. While perfect operation isn’t guaranteed, if you’re interested, please try it.”
So plug something in, or user your keyboard’s arrow keys, and choose a song. After that, choose your difficulty:
Hopefully you remember how to play 1x with NO HI-SPEED MODS, because that’s all you get here!
After trying Neutrino and making sure timing was fine (don’t worry, windows are wiiiiiiide) we gave it our best shot on the IIDX controller using a modified diagonal layout.
Not the greatest controller…but it worked fine! We’re looking forward to all the fun stuff that people start plugging in during the next few days:
So here’s what we want to wrap up with. If you’re a DDR player, don’t pass on trying this out. We know it’s not “legit.” Heck, it’s basically official FlashFlashRevolution. But this doesn’t mean it can’t evolve.
It’s up to the players to drive Konami’s decisions on what to do with this. If there’s no reaction, it will fade into obscurity and only be remembered on WaybackMachine or some archive copy.
But if it gets any good response, and people voice their opinions, it could become a major title that could compete with the arcade version in terms of quality.
Arcade version data link?…
…FINALLY, EDIT MODE?!
The possibilities go on and on.
Do you want to see an official soft pad come back? How about that slick Gold Arcade-style controller that showed up at JAEPO last year?
Of course you do. So talk about it. Tweet what you like. Post what you don’t.
In any case, share this, get the word out, and let’s get ready for the next evolution in DanceDanceRevolution.
~Thank you for playing~