experience than just an arcade game; that circle of friends having dispersed after graduating

college, I’m left being the occasional lanky white guy tearing up Kakumei or Jet World

on a long-neglected MAX2 machine in an otherwise deserted mall arcade. Part of that is because

said mall arcades are becoming scarce, and a machine in poor repair can and will mangle

your ankles or frustrate you with a nonresponsive pad. And while there are plenty of home versions

these days - emphasis on “these days” - it takes a concerted effort to find a working

pad, tape it down (if you know what’s good for you), and actively try to enjoy a game

that’s been designed not for the long-time player, but for the passer-by with some cash.

Universe 2, though, challenges some of these preconceptions. And it completely reinforces

others.

First off, the song list. This isn’t the barely-disguised Dancemania vehicle that started

the series, with the ridiculously endearing cheeseball tracks like Bye Bye Baby Balloon

or Cartoon Heroes. There are actual, recognizable songs on here, like the Safety Dance and Rockit

and that one song you’ve heard a million times but only now learned is “Apache”

by The Incredible Bongo Band. Every DDR game has had licensed songs, though, but these...

these are actually difficult. It used to be that if Sandstorm or I Like To Move It got

jammed into a US DDR release, it’d max out at maybe seven feet and be, in reality, a

lot easier than that. But... honestly, Take Me Out is really, really good. It’s this

kind of thing that got my hopes up a bit... only to find out that to unlock Spin the Disc

- one of my standbys a decade ago - I’d have to smash my way through a lengthy, grindy

Quest mode, where I’d have to beat opponents into submission or get a certain combo count

and, ostensibly, earn cash to trick out the dancer I prefer not to have in the background.

In reality, this usually boils down to playing the fastest, highest-density songs you can

find (Walk Like an Egyptian and Dead End are fine for this purpose), and hope you can read

it when the top quarter of the screen is taken up by a meaningless picture, the bottom quarter

has an info bar splashed across it, and the larger-than-necessary report of your combo

and accuracy obscures most of the center. Fortunately, you can leave the song any time

after completing the goal, so you don’t have to actually finish anything.

Since it’s a home release of a DDR game, there’s the requisite training mode some

people use and the workout mode no one uses, as well as stepchart editor if you really

think Jungle Boogie needs Butterfly spins. (Please tell me you know what Butterfly spins

are.) Also, since this is the 7th generation and you can’t really release a game without

DLC, you can tack on a 10-song bonus pack for ten bucks that’ll let you actually play

Dynamite Rave and Graduistic Cyber. But aside from my frustrations with the interface - why

they got rid of double-tapping up or down to change difficulty is beyond me, since I’ve

accidentally switched from Heavy (erm, Expert) to Beginner more times than I can count - at

least the new songs they’ve jammed in are worth playing. Sure, this batch might sound

a little more techno and altogether samey, but the stepfiles are the important part,

and they’re quite sound. Even that clown song.