FFR Exclusive SuperNOVA Info

[nforcer06164]

If you've been following the "New Arcade DDR" thread, then you also likely know that Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA recently arrived at Brunswick Zone Naperville. Living nearby, Neonatrias and I decided to check it out. I am reporting to you, the community of FFR, our exclusive analyses, pictures, and videos. I personally will not put any of this information anywhere else, and it is exclusive to FFR only. Photos and videos in this thread are copyrights of me, Neonatrias, and FlashFlashRevolution.com, and you may not use them without the consent of one of us. Now that that's out of the way....

SuperNOVA synopsis:

SuperNOVA is in its own beautiful dedicated cabinet. The color scheme is red. Not a bright red, but a deep, blood-like red. It gives the machine a dark-yet-modern tone that is quite striking and pleasing to the eye. The cabinet art is beautiful as well.

The screen and interface are high-res and absolutely gorgeous. The screen itself is a flatscreen (I am uncertain of the size). The graphics are incredible and the framerate is top-notch; time between frames is literally unnoticeable. The music videos and dancer sequences are executed perfectly. The resolution is great and greatly surpasses that of even DDR EXTREME, and rivals that of In The Groove 2's dedicab flatscreen.

The rest of the machine has other new, interesting qualities. The buttons project from the machine instead of lying nearly flat on Konami's previous cabinets. The pads are nearly identical to previous models, but they are highly sensitive in comparison. The sensitivity is nearly identical to In The Groove 2's dedicab pads. The bars on the back of the pads are noticeably thinner, allowing for an easier grip.

The gameplay itself has minor tweaks as well. The noteskins have seen a dramatic change in name; default is now vivid (the original and official name), solo is now rainbow, and note has been added as a playable skin. Flat is the only skin that has remained unchanged. The names of the difficulties have been changed; beginner is now easy, light is now medium, standard is now difficult, and heavy is now expert. Challenge remains the same. There is a new jump modifier that converts jumps into single steps. Little has been renamed "cut" and has its own spot on the modifier screen. The scoring system has been switched back to 5th style, meaning that a full combo is necessary for a AA (in contrast with MAX2 style, which requires 93% Dance Points). A AA on the final stage opens up extra stage, which (as of the beta) is Fascination MaxX only, with 1.5x as the only modifier. The jumps count as 1 towards a combo, in contrast to many previous mixes where they were worth two. The beta version only offers single, double, and versus as playable modes.

The machine, as a beta program and cabinet, has its share of problems as well. The pads are not exactly top-notch. It is uncertain whether they need to be broken in, or if it will be a perpetuating problem. Some arrows are oversensitive, where stomping near the arrow will cause it to register, or in extreme cases, stick. Other sensors are faulty and don't register 100% of the time. The cabinet, as of now, has no volume control, and has no bass support. Betson has reportedly claimed that they will remedy this issue on-site in the near future. Many of the songs, especially old ones, are off-sync, probably resulting from a rushed beta and conversion irregularities. Only 60 seconds are allowed for song selection, and the time does not freeze while scrolling, leaving little time to browse the extensive song selection (all of which were not included in this version of the beta). Sorts will not hold; alpha sort will revert back to default sort after the selected song is finished. If the left or right select button is held on the song select screen, the song modules become choppy and unreadable. The modifier screen does not have a "go back" option; if a mistake is made, one cannot go back if he or she has moved to the next modifier. A clipboard and paper was provided for players to present problems they found, as well as recommendations as well as feedback, so many problems will likely be remedied by the final release, as well as some other tweaks.


That's about it for the synopsis. But, here's what you really wanted to see: FFR's exclusive pictures that you'll see here first. Note that you'll see the aftereffects of a camera flash, but the lights were low so that the flash was necessary to get decent shots.

Full frontal views:







Profile shots:









Side views:







The marquee:





The bar, and a bit of the pad:





Freak that body:





Sensitivity demos:









Screenshots:





















A playing shot:





The infamous BZ credit system (for those that wondered about the odd device on the front of the machine):









That's about all we have for photos. These are the best out there, and remember, you saw them first here, on FFR. Neon will be uploading videos shortly that showcase the machine's awesome graphics capabilities.

Enjoy, and leave your thoughts and feedback. Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA hits the arcades, completed, this year!