GOOD, GOOD! KEEP ON GOING

the mark of my ddr addiction. also the mark where they began to amp up difficulty (paranoia survivor, sakura, trip machine survivor, the legend of max, etc)
plus the returning song list is ALSO gas. its so good
i love tapping arrows its so fun

YOU'RE NOT AN ORDINARY FELLA

...

NOOooOOOooOoOoOOooooo! [SHUNK] Did you do your best? Game over.

The tears from the time I was hurt
have softly faded away
When I look back at that, could it have been because there was always a place I belonged?

Let's walk
Like we're holding hands
It's always just like that, whatever happened, we had faith,
We looked straight ahead of us
To that faraway place...

Our hearts both had the same feelings
and we had "meaning" ("faith")
We were unconsciously helped
Because of the deep bonds we had

Somehow our painful memories were
the only thing we kept mysteriously hidden.
Reflected in your eyes
Were the unaffected memories
Of when we laughed from our the bottom of our hearts

Let's have courage
and hold out our hands!
It's how we always wanted to be, from now until forever, wanting to believe
looking straight ahead
To that place...

Whatever happened,
not giving up,
putting our shoulders together,
becoming one...

Whatever time it was,
becoming desperate,
Not understanding,
Worrying...

They're all my precious memories... so,
There's no substitute for them, those days...
Are something I'll surely never forget
Even as we walk down our own respective paths to the future

Let's walk
Let's search for tomorrow
Because now we're starting anew, let's believe
We'll go straight ahead, until we get to that faraway place in the future someday...

Don't forget...

eHOLE rating: 42% (30/71). This is a review of the NA CS release, although it should be made clear that the arcade release of Extreme is a fabulous game, the franchise's finest hour.

The CS release, however, is ugly as sin, has a marginal tracklist stuffed with lifeless covers of pop hits, and featured a collaboration with Burger King that allowed players to unlock a Paula Terry song. Trash!

Favorite song: Only You. (Also my mom's favorite, so maybe there's some fondness-by-transference happening here.) The death of Francisco Gutierrez, AKA Franky Gee, AKA the face of Captain Jack himself, was the first tragedy to really rock Bemani. Captain Jack had more personality than just about any other licensed artist in DDR, and though his music didn't often hit for me, Only You was the outlier that stole my heart. The fakey doo-wop chord progression and background vocals in the chorus are just too sweet for me to deny. All the hoochie mamas throw your hands up!!!

The arcade version is, at least, an "end of an era" release. There can be debates all day on whether or not Konami intended this to be a DDR The Final, especially with the Japanese home release leaning towards that with a rather sentimental credits sequence, but, whether it was or not, it was a great release with a songlist that spans the entire series up to that point. The QoL improvements of the later games prevent me from saying this is the peak of the series, but it's still an all time classic.

The American PS2 version is an entirely different game. While the original arcade release felt like the ultimate DDR release, Extreme US is more of a middle of the road release, not as good as the US releases it is sandwiched between and especially not as good as the arcade or Japanese release it is named after. The EyeToy modes were apparently good, but I never had one.