This was my first exposure to DDR as a franchise, so there's gonna be a lot of nostalgia and bias when it comes to talking about this game. That said, DDR SuperNova is what put attention on the franchise again after the community wanted more challenging content that Konami wasn't delivering. It's the only game in the franchise to have a fleshed out campaign mode for the home console (one of the best modes of the series). I would argue SuperNova had the most diverse and fun song list across arcade and console, though I can imagine DDR fans having differing opinions on that subject. The aesthetic of SuperNova is also very pretty. From the menus to the animated backgrounds and stages to the song wheel and color palette, I just love the red grid aesthetic and its use of negative space. While many fans may consider DDR Extreme as the first thing one thinks of the franchise, I will always point to SuperNova. I would even consider this to be a nice entry point for anyone wanting to get into DDR on home consoles.

The worst PS2 DDR, simply because it is the most tedious method of unlocking songs. You either need to complete inane, confusing challenges in the obtuse Stellar Master Mode (lol what does that even mean) or play 12 hours. No, not leaving your console running for 12 hours; I mean actually playing 12 hours of music. Which is a real punisher when you consider that this starts with one of the smallest playlists of songs in the whole series.

But it's still DDR. This one gets bonus points for its range of genres - there's early 2000's indie rock, hard jazz, emo, Eurobeat, ska, J-pop, a song about a monkey stealing ice cream (?), and more. Just wish it weren't such a chore to unlock it all.

I'm jumping the gun by reviewing this before EXTREME but I feel like I know how best to articulate my thoughts on it rn so, waiting's for losers.

SuperNova is Konami's first arcade DDR after their brief hiatus, 1 year after Guitar Hero took over the public's perception of music simulation games. The visual style's been totally overhauled - all the FMVs are gone, now replaced with 3D vectorized dance stages. Dancing characters from 1st-5th mix return with updated mo-cap and models, and the UI is less 'jukebox' and more 'mp3 player' in its presentation.

This also marks the first mainline entry no longer feature Dancemania songs - all returning Dancemania tracks were cut, too. Konami must've seen changing trends in music and been unwilling to keep up contracts with Toshiba Emi, and this continued for the rest of the series, barring some throwbacks in future games. From this point onward, Konami would select licenses on either a song-by-song contract basis with Toshiba-Emi, or reach out to other licensors.

Now, to be blunt, this is where DDR becomes flat-out worse to me - aesthetically, at least. Without background videos and dancemania tracks, the sense of auditory and visual cohesion is totally lost. There's no feeling of personalization to these tracks, it feels a little like playing StepMania, it's just 1 visual interface with an assortment of songs loaded into it. I'd be more mad about it, but Supernova is thankfully at least a good mix.

In the span between AC EXTREME and AC Supernova, dozens of console DDR's and spin-offs released, each with tons of new exclusive tracks. In a cool move, the overwhelming majority of those songs ALL got ported back into Supernova. It's an enormous selection with tons of bangers that really helps outweigh the loss of the Dancemania tracks. Funk Boogie, DoLL, Can Be Real, I'm For Real, Jam & Marmalade, Keep On Liftin', Love is Orange, Maximizer, Paranoia -Respect-, peace-out, Polovtsian Dances and Chorus, Scorching Moon, Seduction, even a crossover track from Yuzo Koshiro of all people. You could've made an entire new mix just out of this killer ensemble -

- and yet, there's still other new songs, and they're pretty cool. The licenses have Doesn't Really Matter, Jerk It Out, Give Me Up, a new remix of Long Train Runnin', Love At First Sight from MAX2 US, and a solid Toxic remix. The crossover tracks from BM/Popn/Gitadora have some fan-favorites like Red Zone, murmur twins, Mondo Street, and most-downloaded-zenius-stepmania-file Xepher. Really, the only point of contention I have towards the music is that the new Konami origins are pretty weak. You really feel the stock electronic synth vibes starting to creep up and encumber everyone's efforts. I only really like Fly Away, Star Gate Heaven, Flow (True Style) and the boss songs out of the bunch.

Also, this is just a footnote, but the US PS2 version's pretty solid too. It's the only US PS2 release where the majority of the songlist is taken from the arcade game instead of hodge-podging older releases. If there's a good popular song from the list up there and it didn't already appear on an older PS2 release, there's a high chance they included it. Only real problem with this port? They moved the options to a seperate menu option, and you can't select it by holding the button when you pick a song anymore. It fucks with my muscle memory. It took Konami til the e-Amuse era games to figure out the better way to do this.

It's a testament to Bemani's team that they still made a really strong product amidst the biggest strain at their series' identity, losing Dancemania and all. Could you imagine if like, Zelda and Pokemon characters just randomly disappeared from Smash forever, but they still went strong in spite of it? That's the situation here, and props are due all-around.

Here's hoping they don't pull more bullcrap down the road to further burn player goodwill! :D

This may be the best game from the most iconic rhythm game series of all time. This game is the only socially acceptable form of blasting J-pop in public. While I would rate the platforms the same and have played both, I played this game on the PS2 which has an entire mission mode called Stellar Master Mode. This changes up the game even more to be even more challenging and more than just trying to go for a high score. This goes without saying, but I was using a dance pad and not a controller. Most pads these days are very well worn, but mine worked well enough.
So yeah, it's good music and fun modes. Can't hope for much else for DDR. I shouldn't have to explain what DDR is to people, right?