Editing Dance Dance Revolution (section)

==Gameplay==
[[File:Dance Dance Revolution gameplay.gif|thumb|right|Demonstration of the typical gameplay style and interface of games within the ''Dance Dance Revolution'' series]]
The core game involves the player stepping their feet to correspond with the arrows that appear on the screen and the beat of the song playing. During normal gameplay, arrows scroll upwards from the bottom of the screen and pass over a set of stationary arrows near the top (referred to as the "guide arrows" or "receptors", officially known as the Step Zone). When the scrolling arrows overlap the stationary ones, the player must step on the corresponding arrows on the dance platform. Upon doing so, they are given a judgement for their accuracy of every streaked note (From highest to lowest: Marvelous,{{efn|First appeared in the Nonstop and Challenge mod of ''EXTREME'' and first used for normal gameplay as of ''SuperNOVA 2''.}} Perfect, Great, Good, Almost,{{efn|Boo for ''5thMIX'' and earlier. Merged with Good for ''X2'' onwards. This judgment (together with Good after merging) no longer breaks combo from ''DDR 2013'' onwards and adds points from ''A'' onwards.}} Miss{{efn|Boo for ''SuperNOVA'', ''SuperNOVA 2'', and ''X'' only.}}).

Additional arrow types were added in later mixes. ''Freeze Arrows'', introduced in ''[[DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution 6thMix|MAX]]'', are long green arrows that must be held down until they completely travel through the Step Zone. Each of these arrows awards an "O.K.!" if successfully pressed or an "N.G." when the arrow is released too quickly. An "N.G." decreases the life bar and, starting with ''[[Dance Dance Revolution X|X]]'', also breaks any existing combo. ''X'' also introduced ''Shock Arrows'', walls of arrows with lightning effects that must be avoided, which will award an "O.K.!" if successfully avoided or an "N.G." if any of the dancer's panels are stepped on. An "N.G." for shock arrows has the same consequences found with freeze arrows, but hitting a shock arrow additionally hides future steps for a short period.

Successfully hitting the arrows in time with the music fills the "Dance Gauge", or [[life bar]], while failure to do so drains it. If the Dance Gauge is fully exhausted during gameplay, the player will fail the song, and the game will be over. Otherwise, the player is taken to the Results Screen, which rates the player's performance with a [[letter grade]] and a numerical [[score (video games)|score]], among other statistics. The player may then be given a chance to play again, depending on the settings of the particular machine. The default limit is three songs, though operators can set the limit between one and five.

Aside from play style Single, Dance Dance Revolution provides two other play styles: Versus, where two players can play Single simultaneously, and Double, where one player uses all eight panels. Before the 2013 release of ''Dance Dance Revolution'', some games offer additional modes, such as Course mode (players must play a set of songs back-to-back) and Battle mode (two players compete with a tug-of-war life bar by sending distracting modifiers to each other). Earlier versions also have Couple/Unison Mode, where two players must cooperate to play the song. Course Mode was reintroduced to the series starting with ''A20''.

===Difficulty===
Depending on the edition of the game, dance steps are broken into various levels of difficulty, often by color. The difficulty is separated into two to five categories, depending on the game:

{| class="wikitable" style="max-width: 45em;"
|-
! rowspan="2" style="width: 20%;"  | Game !! colspan="5"  style="width: 80%;" | Difficulty
|- style="text-align: center; font-size: 1.5em;"
| style="background: #88ffff;" | Beginner || style="background: #ffff88;" | Basic || style="background: #ff8888; color: white;" | Difficult || style="background: #88ff88;" | Expert || style="background: #8888ff; color: white;" | Challenge
|- style="text-align: center;"
! ''SuperNOVA'' series {{dagger}}
| 1–4
| 1–9
| 2–10
| 4–10
| 6–10
|- style="text-align: center;"
! ''X'' and newer
| 1–9
| 2–13
| 4–16
| 7–18
| 4–19
|- style="text-align: center;"
| colspan="6" | {{dagger}} ''[[Dance Dance Revolution Extreme]]'' and older also used these difficulties, but with different names and level ranges from game to game. Some difficulties are absent in some games.
|}

The first release of ''Dance Dance Revolution'' established two difficulties: '''Basic''' for Single and Double modes, and '''Another''' for Single mode only. Each chart is rated with a level from 1 to 7, and every release through ''3rdMix Plus'' also attributed a title to each level number. The ''Internet Ranking Version'' added Another for Double mode, and a new higher difficulty of '''Maniac''' for Single mode only, along with several level 8 charts, titled Exorbitant. ''2ndMix Club Version 2'' introduced several level 9 charts, titled Catastrophic until ''3rdMix Plus'' and Evolutionary in ''X3 vs. 2ndMix''. The Maniac difficulty was renamed '''SSR''' and expanded to Double mode for new songs in ''3rdMix'', with the name reverting to Maniac in ''3rdMix Plus''. Beginning with ''4thMix'', all songs featured the Maniac difficulty in Single and Double mode. Also, '''Another''' was renamed to '''Trick'''. ''4thMix Plus'' introduced new Maniac charts for 16 songs, while the original Maniac charts were labelled Maniac-S and Maniac-D in this game, with only the new charts remaining in ''5thMix''.

''DDRMAX'' introduced the "Groove Radar", showing how difficult a particular sequence was in various categories, such as the maximum density of steps. This release removed the level numbers, and among the 42 songs, two ("Flash in the Night" and "Follow Me") have never received any level numbers due to being ''DDRMAX'' exclusives. Additionally, ''DDRMAX'' changed the difficulty names to '''Light''', '''Standard''', and '''Heavy'''. Beginning with ''DDRMAX2'', level numbers were reintroduced, along with a level 10 for "MAX 300" and "MAXX Unlimited". Level 10 was titled Revolutionary in ''X3 vs. 2ndMix''. ''DDRMAX2'' also introduced the '''Challenge''' difficulty with "Kakumei" ("革命") on One More Extra Stage, and in Nonstop Challenge Mode songs. ''Extreme'' introduced the '''Beginner''' difficulty, which premiered in ''Dancing Stage EuroMix'', as the game's easiest difficulty. It is only available in Single mode, except in the ''[[Dance Dance Revolution Universe|DDR Universe]]'' series for the [[Xbox 360]], which offers Beginner difficulty in Single and Double modes. ''Extreme'' features a total of 37 songs with the Challenge difficulty. Exclusive to ''Extreme'' were "flashing 10s" that seemingly hint to go beyond a regular 10.

''[[Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA|SuperNOVA]]'' standardizes the naming of difficulty to the '''Beginner''', '''Basic''', '''Difficult''', '''Expert''', and '''Challenge''' respectively.

Due to the old system not going past level 10 and other outdated reasonings, ''[[Dance Dance Revolution X|X]]'' overhauls the numbering system, now extending the scale of 1–20. All songs from previous versions were re-rated on the new scale, roughly multiplying the old number to 1.4x (i.e. 9 now being 12 or 13). Even though the rating can go up to 20, no song has reached that level. The highest rated song on ''X'' is 18. ''[[Dance Dance Revolution X2|X2]]'' introduced the first 19: "Valkyrie dimension" Challenge. Although the new rating system is an improvement from the old system, it is common for each sequel to re-rate charts to reflect the proper difficulty, such as "POSSESSION" Double Challenge being re-rated from 18 to 19 on both ''[[Dance Dance Revolution II|DDR II (Wii)]]'' and ''X3 vs. 2ndMix''.

Starting from ''[[Dance Dance Revolution A|A]]'', the difficulty is now displayed during gameplay.

===Groove Radar===
{{See also|DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution 6thMix#Groove Radar}}

The foot-rating system was completely removed for the 6th Mix, and replaced by the ''Groove Radar''. The Groove Radar is a [[star plot|graphical representation]] of the difficulty of a song based in five different areas: Stream, Voltage, Air, Chaos, and Freeze.

*'' Stream'' – Indicates the overall density of the steps of the song. A high number of steps is a factor too, but not necessary for a high stream measurement.
*'' Voltage'' – Indicates the peak density of the steps (the highest density of arrows that ever appear on the screen at once). Songs with a high BPM (300 or more) usually have a high voltage measurement, since it allows more steps to appear in increasingly halved beats (8th step in a 300 BPM song equals to 4th beat step in a 150 BPM song, and so on), though songs with lower BPM can have a high voltage, even if the halved beats usually cap at 32nd beat (64th beat steps exist in very few songs).
*'' Chaos'' – Indicates "off-beat" steps; those that do not occur in 4th or 8th beats.
*'' Air'' – Indicates the number of double steps (i.e. jumps) and shock arrows within the song.
*'' Freeze'' – Indicates the number of freeze arrows within the song

Each game usually has a song that maxes out a category within the radar. If a song in a following mix or update has a higher category measurement, then the groove radar is renewed so the new song can max out that category, while all previous songs are re-rated in respect to the new radar.

As of ''[[Dance Dance Revolution (2013 video game)|DDR 2014]]'', the groove radar also employs a numerical measurement in addition to a graphical representation. Before the update, the radar did not disclose the number by default, though it could be shown by holding the SELECT button while heading to the song select screen.

The Groove Radar was not very popular among seasoned DDR veterans. The foot-rating system was restored to work with the Groove Radar in the [[DDRMAX Dance Dance Revolution|North American home version of the game]] and the next arcade version, ''[[DDRMAX2 Dance Dance Revolution 7thMix|MAX2]]'', and almost all future versions (except for versions based on the [[Dance Dance Revolution Extreme (North America)|North American version of ''EXTREME'']], which only used foot ratings). All of the ''MAX'' songs on ''MAX2'' received foot-ratings, excluding songs that were removed.

''SuperNOVA 2'' featured special edits of songs specifically meant to max out specific categories on the radar, culminating with "DEAD END ("GROOVE RADAR" Special)", maxing out all five categories. While not related, ''SuperNOVA 2'' also featured a variation known as "My Groove Radar" as part of e-Amusement, which was also divided into five categories, though it was meant to measure the player's stats on songs rather than showing the song's difficulty.

This feature is now removed in DDR WORLD.

===Extra Stage system===
The Extra Stage, originally introduced in ''1stMIX'' and reintroduced in ''MAX'', rewards a player for clearing three songs, either with a high enough grade on the final stage or by fulfilling specific play requirements. The player receives the opportunity to play a free extra song, which often defaults to a very difficult song with forced modifiers (such as 1.5x speed and Reverse) and LIFE4 since ''DDR X2'', a life bar identical to the battery bar similar to Challenge mode with 1–4 lives depending on their score in the final stage in ''SuperNOVA 2'' and ''X'', or a non-regaining life bar before ''SuperNOVA 2''. Beginning on ''SuperNOVA 2'', players may be able to access the modifier menu (LIFE GAUGE is disabled) and the forced modifiers (save for battery bar or LIFE4) are no longer used. However, the Replicant-D Action event in ''X2'' and since ''DDR 2014'' did not allow players to select modifiers for its Encore Extra Stage.

Before ''EXTREME'', the Extra Stage song was predetermined. Afterward, any song can be played for the Extra Stage, although there is still a song designated as ''the'' Extra Stage (usually marked with red letters on the song wheel, or contained within the EXTRA EXCLUSIVE folder. In all cases (etc. in EXTRA EXCLUSIVE songs), they must be unlocked for regular play). A player who attains a grade of "AA" (or "A" in ''SuperNOVA'' or 950.000 Supernova 2 points in ''A'') on the Extra Stage is invited to play an additional stage, "One More Extra Stage" (OMES, or Encore Extra Stage post-''SuperNOVA''), with another special song option, played in RISKY, in which any combo-breaking step or missed freeze will cause an instant failure. Since ''X3 VS 2ndMIX'', some Encore Extra Stage songs are marked as "ATTACK PERFECT FULL COMBO", where any judgment less than Perfect will cause the player to fail the song. Unlike Extra Stages, the song for Encore Extra Stages remains predetermined, the only exceptions were ''SuperNOVA 2'' and ''X'', which allowed players to play any song for their Encore Extra Stage. Usually, if this final boss is beaten, a special credits sequence is played.

With the implementation of [[e-Amusement]] in DDR, mixes after ''SuperNOVA'' have contained multiple songs as extra stages, often based on specific conditions, such as playing specific difficulties or songs.

From ''MAX2'' onward, the BPM of Extra Stage songs is displayed as a random, changing number, instead of the song's true BPM to hide it from players, also when KAKUMEI was played as an Encore Extra Stage, its Groove Radar data is hidden by continually animating through random songs' ratings.  The random BPM display is replaced with the normal BPM display in the next mix, and as of ''X'', after the said song has been unlocked for normal play.