Which PS2 version should I get

Thought I'd bring the DDR forum back alive (and post to make sure I still have an account here)...

I've been playing the arcade versions of DDR for the past few years, with little experience on the PS2. Now that I have a PS2, I've been thinking of picking up a version of DDR. Which one should I get though? I was thinking MAX2 since it's right in the middle with regards to price. But how are the song lists and other features?

Extreme is a good mix. I liked Max 1 as well. Come to think of it, Max 2 was pretty good, and there are lots of favorites on Konamix. Just buy them all. :)

They all have really unique features as well as song lists.

Konamix has six-panel mode on some songs, and has a lot of the great Konami originals. On the down side, the frame rate sucks and the nonstop mode is very limited.

MAX has a really good selection of music. The heavy songs tend to lean toward "stream" songs with not many complicated rhythms. It has Oni mode, but the Oni courses are not very well-thought-out.

MAX2 also has a good selection of music, as well as nonstop mode, which IMO is not as interesting as Oni mode. The heavy songs are more complicated in rhythm.

Extreme has a new interface, and pretty much every mode from the past games, except 6-panel. The song list is probably the weakest because of too many bad licenses and repeats, but what's here from past DDR mixes is good.

If I had to pick one and throw the rest away, I'd probably take MAX2.

Another option is to wait until June and pick up In the Groove, which will be identical to the arcade version, plus five songs.

I'll agree with Den on the getting MAX2 for PS2.

When I first got EXTREME I thought it was great, then I took a step back and got MAX2, the song choice is alot better.

~Rob Willi

If you've been playing for a while, then I desperately recommend Max1. And My reasoning...

Max 1-Best Song selection IMO, songs are indeed streamy, but fun, has Oni mode, even though it's a little bad, and the interface is highly pleasing. Has lots of fun hard stuff too. Excellent

Max2-This one's growing on me, but the unlock list is abysmal. The music is really half great, half awful. If you like girly songs, you'll like this mix. The steps are probably the hardest on PS2 with stuff like Burning Heat, Maxx Unlimited, and Breakdown. Decent.

Extreme-Terrible songlist. 10% of it is the best on PS2, 10% is decent, 80% is HORRIBLE. The mix is rediculously easy, my friend has everything SDGd except for three songs, and the only hard oni course is Way of Legend. Mission mode is a plus, but frustrating. Party mode is pointless, no additional fun there. Pretty Awful.

If you had been a beginner, I would've said Max 2, since it and Extreme are catered to beginners, but Extreme is bad.

And I didn't mention Konamix because the Framerate makes it automatically less fun than all the others.

Wait for ITG to come out for PS2 and play that plain and simple. www.inthegroovegame.com

But I wanna play DDR now ;)

I'll have to check if ITG is in our computers yet at GameStop. Anyone know how much it is going to be? If it's not too much I might have to reserve it...

Edit: Nevermind, it's right on the site: $39.99 plus free shipping, a bonus RedOctane keychain and RedOctane temporary tattoo if you pre-order it.

*** Edited 3/21/2005 5:00:15 PM UTC by MiLLeNNiUMRiDeR***

I will definitely buy ITG, and it's a great game, but it's already wearing a little thin for me.

The reason is that 75% of the expert songs are impossibly hard for most players, and even the players who can pass them say they're no fun. And 99% of them use the bar on those songs, so that'll be no good on the home game.

Also, of the hard-difficulty songs, most of the stepcharts just aren't that interesting.

In fact, when I thought about it, I could think of only two outstanding stepcharts in ITG: ROM-eo and Juli8 expert and That Sound expert. There's some good ones, some bad ones and lots of crappy ones. Compared toh DDR Extreme, which has dozens of incredible stepcharts.

Still - ITG shall be pre-ordered by me.

Well, bit the bullet and picked up MAX2 the other day. Unfortunately my mats apperntally stopped working. I ripped one open and discovered the thin foam layer of my soft pad had been stretched and folded to the point that the 'down' contacts weren't... contacting.

I could buy a new soft pad, or I could just replace the thin foam layer, but instead I think I'm going to build a mat using the components of the old. Pain in the butt, but it'll be a fun project to accomplish.

*** Edited 3/26/2005 5:57:18 AM UTC by MiLLeNNiUMRiDeR***

Or there is always Ebay. :-D

So far I still have my cheapy mat which has worked very well but it's time to move to metal. :-P

Hope you like Max 2!

-Tina

*** Edited 3/27/2005 12:13:07 PM UTC by coasterqueenTRN***