Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova, released in Europe as Dancing Stage SuperNova, is an arcade and PlayStation 2 game in the Dance Dance Revolution series of music video games. It was produced by Konami and released through Betson Enterprises. The game was released in Europe on April 28, 2006, followed shortly by a North American release on May 15 and a Japanese release on July 12. Unlike previous DDR arcade releases, all versions have the same features and song list. It is the 5th arcade release in Europe, the 3rd arcade release in North America, and the 9th arcade release in Japan.
Features
Characters
SuperNova reintroduces characters, after their absence from DDRMAX games and Dance Dance Revolution Extreme. In SuperNova, character selection is random by default, but can be changed in the options menu. The following eight characters are available:
Afro
Baby-Lon
Emi
Gus
Rage
Jenny
Robo-Zukin
Ruby
SuperNova 2 retains these characters while adding six new characters and a dedicated character selection screen, for a total of 14 characters. Three of the new characters and all returning characters, with the exception of Robo-Zukin, also receive a second costume, for a total of 23 costumes. The following new characters are available:
Alice
Dark-Zukin
Concent Be-fU
Concent Kyo-fU
Julio
Yuni
Of the 14 characters, 10 return in Dance Dance Revolution A. The Concent and Zukin pairs are unavailable.
The game supported e-Amusement functionality in Asia, with limited testing outside of Asia.
Link Data (cancelled)
Link Data was a planned feature for the Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova series designed to provide connectivity between the arcade and PlayStation 2 versions of the game, by means of a PlayStation 2 memory card. The reader was depicted in arcade flyers, but it was never released. This feature already existed in Dance Dance Revolution Extreme and several earlier releases, but used original PlayStationmemory cards and readers instead, which SuperNova does not support. Supplier issues with Sony forced Konami to cancel the functionality. To compensate, Konami offered a coupon or soundtrack sampler for customers in North America who purchased the game in 2006.
Release
The game was released in North America on May 15, 2006, with the first confirmed sighting at Disneyland in Anaheim, California at the Tomorrowland Starcade. Its release in Japan was delayed slightly so that the game software could be updated to fix the reported timing issues, and was later released with an extra song in late July 2006.
Music
The arcade release of SuperNova contains 303 songs, of which 119 are all-new additions to the game. The arcade release of SuperNova 2 contains 357 songs, of which 62 are all-new additions to the game.
Sequel
Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova 2, sometimes abbreviated as DDR SN2, was released on August 22, 2007 by Konami to Japanese arcades and on February 21, 2008 for the PlayStation 2 counterpart. In North America, a slightly different PlayStation 2 version was released first on September 25, 2007 before that region's arcade release on January 17, 2008. It is the final arcade release to be powered by the PlayStation 2 by means of the Python 2 arcade board. SuperNova 2 features the standard gameplay modes as well as new modes to challenge seasoned players. The soundtrack ranges from classic Konami Originals to new pop and dance standards. The console version in North America features songs by Justin Timberlake, Gwen Stefani, Ian Van Dahl and Goldfrapp. Also featured is EyeToy support for additional gameplay elements as well as mini-games using the camera and online play through the PlayStation Network allowing players to face-off with other players across the country. The game was well received as a solid addition to the DDR lineup.
Reception
Arcade
The original Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova arcade release in North America reached sales of about 250 brand new cabinets by distributor Betson. Conversion kits were also available, upgrading a machine with Dance Dance Revolution Extreme or older to SuperNova. As of October 2018, there are 337 SuperNova and SuperNova 2arcade machines available worldwide, of which 253 are located in the Americas. In North America, Konami partnered with Betson to distribute SuperNova and SuperNova 2 to arcades. The partnership resulted in "lower quality footpads and monitors" compared to Japan, though still of better quality than the infamous Dance Dance Revolution X and X2 arcade releases in North America and Europe.
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 release of SuperNova and SuperNova 2 received mixed reviews. For the first title, GameSpot and IGN each gave it a 7 out of 10 rating. Eurogamer gave Dancing Stage SuperNova a 6 out of 10.
Legacy
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Dance Dance Revolution, Dance Dance Revolution A received a DDR Selection mode, featuring songs from older mixes. A dozen of songs from the DDR SuperNOVA series, with six per SuperNOVA game, can be played with the SuperNOVA 2 interface by using this mode. Dance Dance Revolution A20 also offers this mode. In 2019, a love hotel in Kobe, Japan installed Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova in a hotel room. Dance Dance Revolution A20 introduced a new cover of "Long Train Runnin'" by The Doobie Brothers as free downloadable content. The SuperNova series and DDR X feature a cover by X-Treme, whereas DDRMAX2 and DDR Extreme feature a cover by Bus Stop with different lyrics. The A20 cover incorporates lyrics from both the X-Treme and Bus Stop covers.
