Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA - First Look
Dance Dance Revolution ™ SuperNOVA
Release Date: Spring 2006
Genre: Music
Platform: Arcade
The Breakdown:
After sticking to home consoles for six years in North America, Dance Dance Revolution is finding its way back to the arcades in the latest version.
Bigger than any of its predecessors SuperNOVA boasts over 300 songs and 2,000 dance patterns that should keep you busy for quite a while. Also, sporting an enhanced graphics engine the onscreen dancers are realistic, defined and darn better lookin', as well as more articulate with their animations. A new art direction for the backgrounds keep it from feeling exactly like the other titles, which is refreshing if you'd been feeling burnt out.
Voice Assisted Tutorials should help the awkward new bloods to acclimate to the game, assisted also by the new game modes aimed at beginners, it shouldn't be as difficult to find your rhythm (if such a thing exists for you). New modes have also been added for the long time fans of the series, or folks that have just been blessed with the gift of dance and need no training, who feel they need more of a challenge then they've been offered from the others.
Why You Ought to be Interested:
It's been a long time coming. Finally some fresh blood for the arcade, and besides; it's DDR for crying out loud. If you like to dance like a crazy person in front of lots of people then this is the game for you. Okay, not everybody has to flail around like a farmyard animal to play this game, just folks like me; I've seen plenty of people manage to insert style into the jumping madness that usually plagues its crowds.
Not to mention that once you get into your "groove" and become the dance master you were born to be, there is no better way in the planet to show that off. Just dancing around by yourself in an arcade for no reason can get you escorted out. No, I don't know that from experience. Jeez.
What Might Not Be "Oh So Right" About It:
If you lack the style that is required to look like a nice sane person while playing DDR, and you don't like to dance like a crazy person in front of lots of people, this isn't the game for you.
One thing that seems to redeem this negative comment however, is the knowledge that eventually this game will be available for your home console. So then, you can look silly all by yourself in the privacy of your own home. Heck, I know we don't really need the game for that, but it certainly provides some justification.
Sidenote: 
Elementary school fitness takes a turn for the weird in West Virginia pretty soon, as Konami announced that they are incorporating Dance Dance Revolution into the Physical Education program in over 300 schools in West Virginia to combat the increasing obesity problems in adolescents within the state. Sweatin' to Pop. I'll betcha Richard Simmons is pretty ticked.
Check your local arcade this Spring, and drop it like it's hot darnit!
-Saria
