Links
The main websites about Dance Dance Revolution. A very complete list of DDR related websites can be found in the Stepmania Directory. In particular you will find tons of original simfiles, themes and noteskins for Stepmania there. Plus, Amanda warns you every week about the newest releases on Bemanistyle, ddrplace and Stepmania.com.
Buying hardware
This is where you start... I focus on the European market, which of course I know best. Below are mainly remainders
of the info in Playing on a PC. I am always grateful for good info about merchant websites.
http://www.fl-games.com: It's the way to go if you are after the ultra cheap
soft mat at 12€, or if you need a Playstation 2 to USB adaptator.
http://www.mayflash.eu or http://www.futuremax.eu/fr/
: If you seek an upper level mat, you have very possibilies in Europe, to my knowledge.
These two sites are somewhat twins as Mayflash is property of the Futuremax enterprises, from the nederlands.
It used to be Futuremax's merchant website for Europe, but now there is also a site named after the compagny.
The offers are very close: same mats, same prices on the two websites except the PG Impact is only sold on
Futuremax. Sometimes one is advantageous in matter of fare prices. The choice of mats is mainly among Futuremax's range:
foam mats Deluxe Ignition and PG Impact, TX metal mats, Fitpro metal mat and Blueshark.
Futuremax discounts some of its products on ebay, the seller name is inthegrooveshop (this is the french link).
You should check this ebay shop regularly for good bargains.
Finding tracks
Your quest for DDR title will be time consuming, but exciting as you discover the HUGE variety of available songs.
Begin with the Dance school section of this website. You will find a few
downloadable titles. This will not take you anywhere far though... There is two category of DDR files :
Official packs are the PCs counterparts of the Dance Dance Revolution games released in arcade or console(also spin
offs like Dancing Stage). All of them have been converted to Stepmania and Dance With Intensity, this represents a
huge pile of ddr files.
Then you have the originals files. Made by fans, they cover an incredible variety of musics. Dozens are released
everyday! This is what you sould look at if you want "hits" songs.
http://zenius-i-vanisher.com/v5.2/index.php features both officials
and originals simfiles. No need to register to download at a more than satisfying speed. Great! Go to
Bemani, DDR & DS, simfiles.
http://www.stepmaniaonline.eu/: in addition to host Stepmania's
multiplayer games, Stepmania Online offers you most official packs and a lot of unofficials, direct download.
http://www.stepmaniadownloadsource.com/ has most of the officials
songs packs including DDR first mix to eigth mix. You will also find a lot of themes (only for 3.9 I guess) and announcers.
http://www.bemanistyle.com/ is the website gathering the most simfiles,
unofficials tracks produced by the DDR communauty. Head to Simulation then search simfiles,
if you are lucky you will find a dwi of your favorite song!
The database is impressive, think about a dozen thousands of titles. Fallout of this, it takes days to go through
the entire list looking for attractive songs.
Be also warned that the quality of the files ranges from wonderful to unplayable : there is a good deal of heavy only files,
sometimes the folders are a mess, and often the synchro is spoiled... you are gonna dig to find the simfiles you
dream of! Luckily there is a rating system which will let you make a first sort. You can also read this website: it offers
every week a selection of the best bemanistyle simfiles.
For the records, bemani is the name of the division "musical games" of Konami.
http://www.ddrplace.com/: Same kind as Benami, much less titles though. You
will find a DDR tutorial which claims it can rise you up to the heavy level in one week, worth a try?
http://www.ddrencore.com/: The site is back in early 2011 with a new design allowing us to listen the tracks
on the website! Every single simfile is suited to dancepad and has several difficulty levels to please the player whatever his skills.
http://www.dwiextreme.com/: website of a group of DDR fans involved in the
creation of quality DDR tracks. They release packs of songs regularly. Techno is their style of music, the likes of
David Morales and Moto Blanco.
http://www.stepmania.com/: the official website includes a section
Songs/User Submitted with at least a thousand titles, same spirit as Bemanistyle.
Stepmania Directory/Downloads gathers a lot of original simfiles
packs, very convenient!
http://gilou82.free.fr/DDR/: Hey, a french website! :p It gathers 11 collections of a score songs.
What I appreciate most is that each pack's content is fully detailed with the difficulty levels available. The songs adapted
in these packs are incredible but a lot are fun outdated french songs, like introduction songs from old animation series. Non french people won't understand these :D There
remains a good deal of well made international hits.
Communauty websites
Once you gathered the necessary equipment you maybe will want to know more about DDR and to keep in touch with the latest news. zenius-i-vanisher and bemanistyle are great for that, but you should also check these websites:
http://www.ddruk.com was THE english-speaking reference website. It had all the
official packages in direct download. One day they changed the server and the songs were gone for ever...
Still the website follows the DDR news and has an active forum
http://www.stepmania.com: all you need about the reference DDR simulation software.
http://www.stepmaniaonline.com/: Stepmania multiplayer is closely linked
to Stepmania Online, which maintains the servers for Online play. There is a ladder to rank the players just like in
Starcraft! The european version has taken the lead recently, see below.
http://www.stepmaniaonline.eu/: The US version of Stepmania Online
has closed, now the DDR players meet there for competitive (or leisure...) online play!
http://www.ddrfreak.com/: ddrfreak is a big american website about Dance
Dance Revolution. It covers all the news, and you will find in Tips and tricks materials to rise your level
of play. Also a complete list of DDR versions along with the songlist for each, and stepcharts : you can print the
arrow succession on official songs !
http://stepmaniathings.com/: gathers tons of themes, noteskins, and announcers for Stepmania.
http://www.ddronlinecommunity.com/: Official Konami website about DDR,
obviously you won't find a word on Stepmania there but rather news about the official releases (Dance Dance Revolution
and Dancing Stage), score tables, videos and forum.
PumpHaven : a forum about Pump it up, a musical game
very close to DDR except there are five arrows: a center arrow and four diagonals.
French speaking websites:Orgames ,
Azur Games, DDRBordeaux,
NTss Tss and Powa.
French DDR teams: Initial,
Dance or Die, slippershurricane,
Ryhtm'n'Rogues.
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