FAQs - DDRMAX - 6th Mix

Unlockable songs

Three extra songs are available to players that are not in the normal songlist, and each has its own unlocking method. For information on unlocking MAX 300 or CANDY★, see the Extra Stage section below.

To unlock true... ~trance sunrise mix~, play two separate songs by Be For U on your first and second rounds (assuming the machine is set to 3 songs per credit). On the final round, true... ~trance sunrise mix~ will appear in purple in the song wheel.

Alternatively to the regular unlock methods, you can also use the following unlock method to permanently unlock the songs for regular game play.

Unlock Codes

Machine owners/operators have the ability to unlock new songs for the game through the operator menu. Here are the instructions you need to follow to unlock an arcade machine. Please note that if you do not have access to the panel behind the coin door (ie - if you don't own the machine nor are you responsible for it), you cannot enter the unlock codes. Thanks go to Brian Ho of IndyDDR.com for providing the images of his own machine.

To enter the operator menu, you must hit the Test button. The pictures above show the two styles the operator panel can come in - the lefthand one in original Japanese machines, and the righthand one in Korean/Asian/US machines. In the picture on the left, the Test button is the top one in the column of three buttons (the other two, in order, are Service and Degauss). In the picture on the right, the Test button is the red one in the upper-righthand corner, and the white button next to it is the Service button.

Once you hit the Test button, you'll see a menu as follows:

Use the and buttons to select GAME OPTIONS (*not* MEMORY CARD OPTIONS as is highlighted in the picture), and then, while holding the 1P and the Service Button, hit the 1P button to enter the SECRET menu.

From here, hit the 1P button to select APPEND.

You can now type in the unlock codes. Use and to select the spaces, and to change the letters in each space. When you've entered in the password, hold and and then push to confirm the password.

The unlock codes for this game are as follows:

• Unlocks 1-3 (All): PGEKMMN-INGLOMI

If you've done this correctly, you should have MAX 300, true... ~trance sunrise mix~, and CANDY★ available during normal play. Credit given to seishinbyou and yasu from AaronInJapan.com for finding and sharing the code.

Step Modes and other codes

Difficulty can be chosen before each song is chosen. Basic, Trick, and Maniac have been replaced by Light, Standard, and Heavy. Use the and buttons to change difficulties from the option screen. You can also press to change the difficulty from Light to Standard or from Standard to Heavy. You can press to change the difficulty to an easier difficulty.

Song selection works similar to 5th mix. All songs are available, and you can select among four different song orders -- composite difficulty (default), alphabetical, BPM, and Player's Best (the 30 most often played songs). To change the order, hold the and buttons simultaneously at the song selection screen.

There's a new option select screen. If you hold when the game is starting, before the song selection screen, a menu will appear. Here, you can select all of the above modes, as well as high speed mode. You may select from among x1.0 (normal), x1.5, x2, x3, x5, and x8 speeds. Just as in other Bemani games, high speed does not affect the speed of the song - just the scroll rate. To go back in the menu, hold or , then .

Roulette mode has been revived from 2nd mix. If you choose Roulette as your song, the songs begin to scroll, and don't stop until time runs out or when you hit . Certain songs not available during normal song selection are available in Roulette mode.

A new type of step - Freeze steps - has been introduced in DDR MAX. Freeze steps require the player to remain standing on a panel for the length of the arrow, similar to the way you must keep a sensor lit in ParaParaParadise. If you miss the first step of a freeze, your combo ends. The first step is ranked according to the regular step ranking: Perfect, Great, Good, Boo, Miss. The rest of the freeze is ranked separately. You are allowed to lift your foot from the panel for less than an 8th note without breaking the freeze. If you successfully complete the freeze, you receive an OK. Otherwise, you get an NG on the screen. You can tell when you're about to get an NG when the arrow starts flashing between bright and dark green. Not completing a freeze (getting an OK) does not break your combo. You also need not lift your foot when the freeze arrow ends in order to get an OK.

Extra Stage

DDRMAX introduced a new feature to the DDR series called "Extra Stage". Essentially, Extra Stage rewards very skilled players with an extra challenge round after their last song. Each DDR version featuring Extra Stage has different requirements and features - here's how it works in DDRMAX:

• To unlock Extra Stage, clear your last song on Heavy with a grade of AA or better.
• Extra Stage in DDRMAX is MAX 300 Heavy [x1.5, Reverse, No Regain]. If you miss a step, your dance gauge will drop and you will not be able to recover the lost portion.
• To unlock One More Extra Stage, clear Extra Stage with a grade of AA or better.
• One More Extra Stage in DDRMAX is CANDY★ Heavy [x1.5, Reverse, Sudden Death]. If you get a Good or break a freeze, the song immediately ends.

Clear at least Extra Stage and you will earn a special credits ending.

Grading and Score

• How well you do in each of the 5 attributes (stream, air, chaos, voltage, freeze)
• Max combo and total OK's

• Perfect = +2
• Great = +1
• Good = 0
• Boo = -4
• Miss = -8
• OK (on freeze) = +6
• NG = 0

• 100% = AAA
• 93% - 100% = AA
• 80% - 93% = A
• 65% - 80% = B
• 45% - 65% = C
• less than 45% = D
• didn't clear song = E

Difficulties

Difficulties in DDRMAX have a whole new ranking system. Gone are the feet of yesterday, and the labels Catastrophic, Exorbitant,...Simple have little meaning in this mix. In its place is the new Groove Radar, which is basically a graphical representation (a pentagon) of the difficulty of the song. The radar is divided into 5 attributes:

• Air - Measures the number of jumps in the song
• Chaos - Measure the irregularity of steps
• Freeze - Measures the number of freeze steps
• Stream - Overall density of the steps
• Voltage - Peak density of steps

You can also hold when you select a song to reveal an options screen where you can modify all play modes.

• Speed - choose from x1, x1.5, x2, x3, x5, x8
• Freeze - turn on or off freeze arrows
• Appearance - visible, hidden, sudden, stealth
• Turn - off, mirror, left, right, shuffle
• Other - off, little, flat, solo (arrows don't change color as they scroll up)
• Scroll - standard, reverse (arrows scroll from top to bottom)
• Boost - on/off (Arrows accelerate as they reach the edge of the screen)
• Step - Light, Standard, Heavy

Boost:
Freeze off:
Scroll reverse:
Cancel all:
Mirror:
Right:
Left:
Shuffle:
Appearance (Hidden/Sudden/Stealth):
Other (Little/Flat):
Edit screen:	( to go back)

Special thanks to bodochan for translating Konami of Japan's website, and to corey(ver2) and mikael for verifying much of the information. Pokgai Kenobi translated the scoring and grading section.