Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party

Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party
Also known as: Dancing Stage Hottest Party (EU/AU) Developer: Hudson Soft Publisher: Konami Platform: Wii Released in JP: October 24, 2007 Released in US: September 25, 2007 Released in EU: March 28, 2008 Released in AU: April 11, 2008 This game has unused areas. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused music. This game has unused sounds. This game has debugging material. This game has regional differences.

Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party is the first of a series of Dance Dance Revolution games for the Nintendo Wii.

It can be best described as an arguably cursed amalgam between DDR SuperNOVA and DDR Mario Mix. In fact, it even uses the latter's engine.

Debug Menu

Swapping the ddrmodeseldll.rel and ddrmodeseldll.str files with selmenuDll.rel and selmenuDll.str makes the game boot into a debug menu.

Other

Sometimes, pressing - on the main debug menu will display a system font.

Alternatively, pressing + on the main debug menu will redirect to a series of options, which determines the selection parameters should any of the "DDR" functions in the first page, the "STG TEST" or the "SSQ TEST" functions be chosen.

PAGE 1

Function	Present in US?	Present in JP?	Description
DDR_22	Yes	No	Plays the song Caught Up on the Wave Cell venue.
DDR_35	Yes	No	Plays the song will on the Sensor venue.
DDR_41	Yes	No	Plays the song Movin' On on the Wave Cell venue.
DDR_27	Yes	Yes	Plays the song Lesson by DJ on the DDR venue.
DDR_51	Yes	Yes	Plays the song tokyoEVOLVED Ver.B on the Axis venue.
DDR_52	Yes	Yes	Plays the song tokyoEVOLVED Ver.C on the Axis venue.
DDR_53	No	Yes	Loads the song TRUE♥LOVE (Clubstar's True Club Mix), but freezes due to the game trying to load stage data that does not exist.
DDR_54	No	Yes	Loads the song Pluto the First, but freezes due to the game trying to load stage data that does not exist.
DDR_55	No	Yes	Loads the song DOUBLE TORNARD, but freezes due to the game trying to load stage data that does not exist.
DDR MODESEL	Yes	Yes	Reboots the game.
DDR RESULTS	Yes	Yes	Warps to a mockup results screen, but softlocks the game because it's impossible to get out of.
DDR WORLDSEL	Yes	Yes	Freezes the game.

PAGE 2

Function	Present in US?	Present in JP?	Description
STG TEST	Yes	Yes	Loads the game's stages, as well as charts for the songs with the same ID.
DANCE VIEW	Yes	Yes	View a still frame of each of the characters' animations. Automatically plays the song 1, 2 Step upon entering. Controls: 1 / 2 - Change character Nunchuk Stick - Move camera Nunchuk Up / Down + C / Z - Zoom in/out Nunchuk Left / Right + C - Zoom in/out (faster) Nunchuk Left / Right + Z - Move camera left/right Nunchuk Up / Down + C + Z - Move camera up/down
Camera Test	Yes	Yes	A viewer for the camera animations. Controls: - / + - Change animation Nunchuk Stick - Move camera Nunchuk Up / Down + C / Z - Zoom in/out Nunchuk Left / Right + C - Zoom in/out (faster) Nunchuk Left / Right + Z - Move camera left/right Nunchuk Up / Down + C + Z - Move camera up/down
RESULT TEST	No	Yes	A viewer for the Groove Circuit mode messages.
MES TEST	Yes	Yes	A viewer for some of the system messages.

PAGE 3

Function	Present in US?	Present in JP?	Description
SSQ TEST	Yes	Yes	Views a chart, with a blank stage setting.
MAT CHECK	Yes	Yes	Some sort of input test, which only seems to detect Dance Pad inputs.

Unused Charts

Challenge Charts

While Hottest Party does not have playable Challenge charts, three songs have data for them: the license Finally, and the original songs will and Confession. While the former seems to be just a gimmickless version of the final Expert chart, the latter two are very early variations of their respective Expert charts, and also lack gimmicks.

Download will and Confession (challenge charts) File: DDRhp1-challenge.zip (4,60 MB) (info)

ssq.bin

The file ssq.bin can only be found in the game's American release and contains early variations of the game's stepchart files. Notably, 42 of the game's 52 songs (including the alternate versions of tokyoEVOLVED) have notable differences between the early and final data.

Early Chart Data

Additional Charts

After tokyoEVOLVED Ver.C's ID (52), there are eight different versions of the song Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now), each using different gimmicks, and having an additional intro section.

Variant 1

• Basic
  • Absolute Notes: 137
  • Freeze Arrows: 7
  • Gimmick: Foot Confuser
  • Gimmick Notes: 29

Chart Data

• Difficult
  • Absolute Notes: 217
  • Freeze Arrows: 7
  • Gimmick: Foot Confuser
  • Gimmick Notes: 44

Chart Data

• Expert
  • Absolute Notes: 363
  • Freeze Arrows: 13
  • Gimmick: N/A

Chart Data

• Beginner
  • Absolute Notes: 111
  • Freeze Arrows: 1
  • Gimmick: N/A

Chart Data

Variant 2
Its charts notably contain Hand Missiles in the Up and Down arrows, which never happens in any of the final charts.

• Basic
  • Absolute Notes: 142
  • Freeze Arrows: 7
  • Gimmick: Hand Missile
  • Gimmick Notes: 52

Chart Data

• Difficult
  • Absolute Notes: 217
  • Freeze Arrows: 7
  • Gimmick: Hand Missile
  • Gimmick Notes: 54

Chart Data

• Expert
  • Absolute Notes: 363
  • Freeze Arrows: 13
  • Gimmick: Hand Missile
  • Gimmick Notes: 53

Chart Data

• Beginner
  • Absolute Notes: 112
  • Freeze Arrows: 1
  • Gimmick: Hand Missile
  • Gimmick Notes: 53

Chart Data

Variant 3

• Basic
  • Absolute Notes: 137
  • Freeze Arrows: 7
  • Gimmick: Screen Stomper
  • Gimmick Notes: 45

Chart Data

• Difficult
  • Absolute Notes: 217
  • Freeze Arrows: 7
  • Gimmick: Screen Stomper
  • Gimmick Notes: 54

Chart Data

• Expert
  • Absolute Notes: 363
  • Freeze Arrows: 13
  • Gimmick: Screen Stomper
  • Gimmick Notes: 52

Chart Data

• Beginner
  • Absolute Notes: 111
  • Freeze Arrows: 1
  • Gimmick: Screen Stomper
  • Gimmick Notes: 49

Chart Data

Variant 4
The Basic chart is very similar, albeit not the same, to this video footage from when the game was first announced. Most charts also contain Hand Markers on the Up and Down arrows, which none of the final charts have.

• Basic
  • Absolute Notes: 137
  • Freeze Notes: 7
  • Gimmick: Hand Marker
  • Gimmick Notes: 24

Chart Data

• Difficult
  • Absolute Notes: 217
  • Freeze Arrows: 7
  • Gimmick: Hand Marker
  • Gimmick Notes: 43

Chart Data

• Expert
  • Absolute Notes: 363
  • Freeze Arrows: 13
  • Gimmick: N/A

Chart Data

• Beginner
  • Absolute Notes: 111
  • Freeze Arrows: 1
  • Gimmick: Hand Marker
  • Gimmick Notes: 12

Chart Data

Variant 5

• Basic
  • Absolute Notes: 163 (counting a single overlapping note)
  • Freeze Notes: 7
  • Gimmick: Double Stomp
  • Gimmick Notes: 26

Chart Data

• Difficult
  • Absolute Notes: 169 (counting eight overlapping notes)
  • Freeze Notes: 7
  • Gimmick: Double Stomp
  • Gimmick Notes: 32

Chart Data

• Expert - same as Variant 1
• Beginner - same as Variant 1

Variant 6
These charts are structurally the same as Variant 2, though they use a different gimmick.

• Basic
  • Absolute Notes: 142
  • Freeze Arrows: 7
  • Gimmick: Foot Missile
  • Gimmick Notes: 52

Chart Data

• Difficult
  • Absolute Notes: 217
  • Freeze Arrows: 7
  • Gimmick: Foot Missile
  • Gimmick Notes: 54

Chart Data

• Expert
  • Absolute Notes: 363
  • Freeze Arrows: 13
  • Gimmick: Foot Missile
  • Gimmick Notes: 53

Chart Data

• Beginner
  • Absolute Notes: 112
  • Freeze Arrows: 1
  • Gimmick: Foot Missile
  • Gimmick Notes: 53

Chart Data

Variant 7
The Basic chart is structurally the same as Variants 2 and 6, albeit it uses another different gimmick.

• Basic
  • Absolute Notes: 90
  • Freeze Arrows: 7
  • Gimmick: Foot Destructor (Yellow)
  • Gimmick Notes: 52

Chart Data

• Difficult - same as Variant 6.
• Expert - same as Variant 6.
• Beginner - same as Variant 6.

Variant 8
Much like Variant 7, the Basic chart is structurally the same as Variants 2 and 6.

• Basic
  • Absolute Notes: 90
  • Freeze Arrows: 7
  • Gimmick: Foot Destructor (Blue)
  • Gimmick Notes: 52

Chart Data

• Difficult - same as Variant 6.
• Expert - same as Variant 6.
• Beginner - same as Variant 6.

Unseen Foot/Hand Missile Behavior

Foot Missiles and Hand Missiles are gimmick notes that only appear in Battle Mode, in which two players compete for the highest score while playing the same difficulty.
When hitting these gimmick notes under normal conditions, they move towards the other player's side, except for when it is the last one in the chart, in which it shrinks until it disappears. Should they not be hit, however, the player's Dance Gauge is decreased significantly, and there's a chance the next Foot/Hand Missile that should appear is "skipped", likely to prevent more than two of these gimmicks from appearing at once.
However, through the game's debug menu, it is possible to play a song in Battle Mode with both players playing separate difficulties, in which these gimmicks display an unused behavior; they always shrink upon being hit, and they never "skip", even when not hitting such notes. As such, more than two Foot/Hand Missiles can appear at once.
The video on the side is a demonstration of this behavior on the song Beautiful Inside (Cube::Hard Mix), in which the Hand Missile gimmick is used.

(Source: tikal.)

Unused Graphics

All of these take in consideration the folder data.

Early Warning Screen

boot.bin contains graphics for Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix‍ '​s warning screen.

Minigame Mode

ddrmodesel.bin contains graphic assets for a scrapped "Minigame" mode.

Image	Description
	Would be shown in the left side of the screen. The style shown here is much different from the other modes.
	A description, roughly translating to "Master the minigames!!".

Locked Default Stages

ddrmodesel.bin also contains graphics indicating that the first 8 dance stages are locked, though this never happens as they are already available by default.

Other Mario Mix Leftovers

win.bin contains many more leftover graphics from Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix.

Dialog

Button Prompts

Miscellaneous

(Source: tikal.)

Unused Music

sound/stream/TESTMUSIC_32.brstm is an unused loop.

(Source: tikal.)

Unused Sounds

To do: Doublecheck and verify further

sound/ddr.brsar, the main sounds repository, contains many unused files within its filesystem.

Announcer

GR/VOICE/ARCADE
These voice files wouldn't look out of place in an arcade installment or an arcade-like gamemode, though Hottest Party is not one and does not contain such a thing.

File	Sound	Transcription
VO_NAR_179		"Insert Coin"
VO_NAR_180		"Game Over"
VO_NAR_181		"Stage Clear"
VO_NAR_182		"Congratulations"
VO_NAR_183		"All Clear!"
VO_NAR_184		"Mission Complete"
VO_NAR_185		"Alright, thanks for playing DDR"
VO_NAR_186		"You're ooooooutta heeere!"
VO_NAR_187		"Press Player 1 Start"
VO_NAR_188		"Press Player 2 Start"
VO_NAR_372		"Are you sure?"

GR/VOICE/INSTRUCTION

File	Sound	Transcription
VO_NAR_307		"When Hand Markers appear..."
VO_NAR_308		"...shake your Wii Remote and Nunchuk."
VO_NAR_309		"Hand Markers only appear on the left and right."
VO_NAR_310		"Shake your Wii Remote for right Hand Markers."
VO_NAR_311		"Shake your Nunchuk for left Hand Markers."
VO_NAR_312		"Keep shaking your hand during Hold Markers."
VO_NAR_313		"You will fail the Hold Marker if you stop shaking your hand."
VO_NAR_314		"Your feet and hands will be used to play this game."
VO_NAR_315		"When the arrows rise to this point, step on the matching panels."
VO_NAR_316		"Step on both panels if two different marks appear at the same time."
VO_NAR_317		"If you misstep repeatedly, the Dance Gauge will decrease until the game is over."

GR/VOICE/GIMMICK

File	Sound	Transcription
VO_NAR_344		"Don't miss the U.G. Arrows, or Uncle Glyde will take over the screen!"
VO_NAR_345		"Use a hand controller to send the gimmicks over to your opponent's area. Accuracy counts!"
VO_NAR_346		"Many gimmicks will appear; pay attention to your accuracy!"
VO_NAR_347		"Don't step or the gimmicks, or your Dance Gauge will decrease."

GR/VOICE/FREEZE/EXPLAIN

File	Sound	Transcription
VO_NAR_348		"When the arrows rise to this point, step on the matching panels."
VO_NAR_349		"Step on the sensor continuously during freeze arrows."
VO_NAR_350		"Lifting your foot up during a Freeze Arrow will result in a misstep."
VO_NAR_351		"Step on both panels if two different marks appear at the same time."
VO_NAR_352		"If two Freeze Arrows are displayed simultaneously, step on both sensors at the same time."
VO_NAR_353		"If you misstep repeatedly, your Dance Gauge will decrease until the game is over."

GR/VOICE/GAME/EXPLAIN

File	Sound	Transcription
VO_NAR_354		"Your feet will be used to play this game."
VO_NAR_355		"Your hands and feet will be used to play this game."

GR/VOICE/DECIDE

File	Sound	Transcription
WORKOUT/VO_NAR_357		"Enjoy burning off those calories!"
GCM/VO_NAR_358		"Use your groove to set the crowd on fire!"
FREE/VO_NAR_359		"Heat up the floor with your hot dancing!"
OPTIONS/VO_NAR_361		"Use options to set your own temperature!"

GR/VOICE/SELECT/STYLE

File	Sound	Transcription
VO_NAR_039		"Versus Style"
VO_NAR_040		"Double Style"

GR/VOICE/SELECT/PLAYER

File	Sound	Transcription
VO_NAR_044		"Select Stage"
VO_NAR_047		"Select Character"
VO_NAR_048		"Select Music"
VO_NAR_049		"Random Music"
VO_NAR_050		"Request Music" Audibly a placeholder.
VO_NAR_362		"Select Dancing Stage"
VO_NAR_363		"Select Difficulty"
VO_NAR_364		"Select Mode"
VO_NAR_365		"Select number of players"
VO_NAR_366		"Select Venue"
VO_NAR_367		"Player addition"

GR/VOICE/SELECT/DIFFICULTY

File	Sound	Transcription
VO_NAR_051		"Easy or hard?"
VO_NAR_052		"How good are you?"
VO_NAR_053		"Let's push it!"
VO_NAR_054		"Challenge yourself."

GR/VOICE/CHAR

File	Sound	Transcription
VO_NAR_368		"Uncle Glye" Possibly an early name for U.G..

GR/VOICE/STAGE
Because Hottest Party does not have any sort of stage system, these go unused.

File	Sound	Transcription
VO_NAR_298		"First Stage"
VO_NAR_299		"Second Stage"
VO_NAR_300		"Third Stage"
VO_NAR_301		"Fourth Stage"
VO_NAR_302		"Final Stage"
VO_NAR_303		"Extra Stage"
VO_NAR_304		"One More Extra Stage"
VO_NAR_305		"Encore Stage"
VO_NAR_306		"Seriously, this is the last Extra Stage."

GR/VOICE/EMOTION

File	Sound	Transcription
VO_NAR_281		"Alright!"
VO_NAR_282		"So nice!"
VO_NAR_283		"Uh-oh!"
VO_NAR_284		"Oh, man!"
VO_NAR_285		"Sweet!"
VO_NAR_286		"Not good."
VO_NAR_287		"Yeah!"

GR/VOICE/BATTLE/SELECT

File	Sound	Transcription
VO_NAR_266		"It's time to get serious."
VO_NAR_267		"Alright, c'mon."
VO_NAR_268		"Let's enjoy this."
VO_NAR_269		"I'm waiting for you."
VO_NAR_270		"Don't push your luck."
VO_NAR_271		"Show me your strength, if you can!"

GR/VOICE/GCM/STAGECOMPLETE
These are audibly placeholders.

File	Sound	Transcription
VO_NAR_247		"Alright, that's great! Now let's move on to the next event."
VO_NAR_248		"GCM tip 2"
VO_NAR_249		"GCM tip 3"
VO_NAR_250		"GCM tip 4"
VO_NAR_251		"GCM tip 5"

GR/VOICE/RANDOM

File	Sound	Transcription
VO_NAR_278		"Press the A button"
VO_NAR_279		"You're the best of the cool dancers!"
VO_NAR_280		"Caution"

GR/VOICE/TEST

File	Sound	Transcription
VO_NAR_272		"Test"
VO_NAR_273
VO_NAR_274
VO_NAR_275		"Check"
VO_NAR_276
VO_NAR_277

Miscellaneous

Found many times within the filesystem is a short beep.

(Source: Dreemii27, tikal.)

Oddities

The song Caught Up is the subject of two oddities.

The first oddity relates to the song's gimmicks. For each chart, there is an area reserved for a gimmick pool, labeled "CHAR", in which the gimmicks to be used are listed, in order to be called by the step direction area. The ID normally used for the Foot Missile gimmick is 03, though Caught Up's charts use the ID 0A. Behaviorally, there doesn't seem to be any differences between these two types; both are even used together in the song's Expert chart!

The second oddity also relates to the song's Expert chart. The right arrow in measure 16 and the left arrow in measure 20 are both coded as freeze arrows which end a beat after they start, though they appear as regular arrows instead. The reason for this is unknown.

(Source: tikal.)

Regional Differences

Songlist

Each version has exclusive songs, as listed below, with most of the Japan-exclusive songs later appearing in Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 3 or the 2010 release.

US/Europe	Japan
B4U (The Acolyte mix) Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) Rhythm Is A Dancer unappreciated	B4U (Rising Sun mix) DOUBLE TORNARD TRUE♥LOVE (Clubstar's True Club Mix) Pluto the First

Song Banner

The song Gypsy woman received an updated banner in the game's Japanese release, which uses a different font. This was undone in the European release, however.

US/Europe	Japan

Courses

Some of the game's Workout Program courses were slightly altered in order to accomodate the different songlist:

		Stage 1	Stage 2	Stage 3	Stage 4	Stage 5	Stage 6
WORKOUT PROGRAM 2	US/EU	Always (Microbots Trance Dance Mix)	Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)	unappreciated	Lips of an Angel	Too Little,Too Late	Yo, Excuse Me Miss
	JP	Always (Microbots Trance Dance Mix)	You Spin Me 'Round (Like a Record)	Blue Monday	Lips of an Angel	Too Little,Too Late	Yo, Excuse Me Miss
WORKOUT PROGRAM 3	US/EU	Disco Inferno	You Spin Me 'Round (Like a Record)	Karma Chameleon	Clocks	Far Away	Little L
	JP	Disco Inferno	Buried a Lie	Karma Chameleon	Clocks	Far Away	Little L
WORKOUT PROGRAM 4	US/EU	Nothing But You	99 Red Balloons	Rhythm Is A Dancer	Summertime	I Don't Feel Like Dancin'	The Sign
	JP	Nothing But You	99 Red Balloons	Call On Me	Summertime	I Don't Feel Like Dancin'	The Sign
WORKOUT PROGRAM 5	US/EU	unappreciated	Karma Chameleon	Buried a Lie	Hot Stuff	Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)	Blue Monday
	JP	Hot Stuff	Karma Chameleon	Buried a Lie	Lips of an Angel	Clocks	Blue Monday
WORKOUT PROGRAM 6	US/EU	Far Away	99 Red Balloons	You Spin Me 'Round (Like a Record)	Call On Me	Lips of an Angel	Finally
	JP	Far Away	99 Red Balloons	You Spin Me 'Round (Like a Record)	Call On Me	Nothing But You	Finally
WORKOUT PROGRAM 9	US/EU	let it out	I'm Flying Away	the beat	will	Mess With My Emotions	Moving On
	JP	let it out	I'm Flying Away	the beat	DOUBLE TORNARD	Mess With My Emotions	Moving On
WORKOUT PROGRAM 10	US/EU	will	LOVE SHINE (Body Grooverz 2006 mix)	1998 (Sparky 2006)	B4U (The Acolyte mix)	Confession	Such A Feeling
	JP	will	TRUE♥LOVE (Clubstar's True Club Mix)	1998 (Sparky 2006)	B4U (Rising Sun mix)	Confession	Such A Feeling

Gameplay

The Hand Marker notes received an updated design in the game's Japanese release, which was also carried over to the European release.

US	Japan/Europe

Groove Circuit Mode

There are also some changes done to Groove Circuit Mode when the game was released in Japan. Most of them relate to the songs being played, though there are also changes in the missions.

Initial Playthrough

• VENUE HALLUMINATION's missions are much less strict in the Japanese version; instead of requiring the player to get less than 5 Boos, the three missions of this Venue require the player to get less than 25, 30 and 35 Boos, in this order.
• In VENUE ERU, the song played in the third mission is will rather than LOVE SHINE (Body Grooverz 2006 mix).
• In STARGAZE VENUE, a third song was added to the pool of songs available in the second mission: DOUBLE TORNARD.
• In VENUE U-MATIC, a third song was added to the pool of songs available in the second mission: TRUE♥LOVE (Clubstar's True Club Mix). In addition, the song will was changed to let it out.
• Also in VENUE U-MATIC, the third mission's song, which was originally let it out, was changed to LOVE SHINE (Body Grooverz 2006 mix).
• Much like VENUE HALLUMINATION, EV VENUE's missions are also much less strict in the Japanese version; instead of requiring the player to get less than 3 Boos, the three missions of this Venue require the player to get less than 20, 25 and 30 Boos, in this order.
• One of the songs available in the second mission of EV VENUE, B4U (The Acolyte mix), was changed to B4U (Rising Sun mix). Despite the different titles, both have the same charts.

Second Playthrough

• VENUE TECTONIC's missions are much less strict in the Japanese version, requiring only 20 million points to pass its songs rather than 40 million points.
• As was the case with EV VENUE in the first playthrough, B4U (The Acolyte mix) was changed to B4U (Rising Sun mix) in the song pool for the second mission of VENUE TECTONIC.
• VENUE ERU's missions are much less strict in the Japanese version; instead of requiring the player to get less than 3 Boos, the three missions of this Venue require the player to get less than 15, 20 and 25 Boos, in this order.
• The song played in the third mission of VENUE ERU was changed from CANDY (UFO mix) to the new boss song Pluto the First; clearing this mission unlocks the song for regular play.
• Due to the song Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) not being available in the Japanese version, its slot in the song pool for the second mission of SYSTRONIX VENUE was changed to Call On Me.
• Due to the song Rhythm is a Dancer not being available in the Japanese version, some changes were done to VENUE U-MATIC; instead of playing Clocks in the venue's third mission, it is part of the song pool of the second mission, with CANDY (UFO mix) replacing it where it originally stood.
• EV VENUE's missions are much less strict in the Japanese version; instead of requiring the player to get no Boos, the three missions of this Venue require the player to get less than 10, 15 and 20 Boos, in this order.

Error Screen

Whenever the game crashes, it will display a basic handler.