Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova 2

by Konami

Product Features

• All-new arcade release of the DDR series hits the PlayStation 2
• Awesome soundtrack packed with major hits and brand new songs
• Enhanced online support offers 4-player multiplayer
• EyeToy Supports for PS2- use your hands and feet and see yourself on TV
• Sequel to the biggest and best DDR game to date

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000UZVL9Y
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches ; 4.8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: September 25, 2007
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,922 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #6 in Video Games > PlayStation 2 > Rhythm > Dancing
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Edition: Game

The hottest revolution and bestselling video game in the music game category explodes onto the dancefloor with Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA2, the follow up to 2006's biggest and best DDR game to date.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fixing what's broken, breaking the song list; UPDATE: DEFECTIVE AND UNWARRANTED, October 2, 2007

By 

Chris Adamson "invalidname" (Grand Rapids, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova 2 (Video Game)

The sixth DDR released in North America for the PlayStation 2, "Supernova 2" isn't the best choice for the PS2 owner (that would be the previous "Supernova"), nor the second best (that would be "DDR MAX 2"), but it's a solid third place. What it does right, it largely inherits from its prececessor. What it does wrong can be squarely laid on the shoulders of its music producers and licensers.

By this point, pretty much everyone in gaming knows DDR, so a summary of basic gameplay can be skipped. The key is how the game is presented and what varieties are available. In addition to the basic arcade-style game, Supernova offered solid "advanced" games such as a versus mode, the best exercise mode the series has ever known, and then sabotaged it with the aggravating "Stellar Master Mode", a confusing mission mode that had to be completed to unlock over a third of the game's soundtrack and all the extra modes. Supernova 2 simplifies this with a "Hyper Master Mode" which at least allows players to progress more quickly through unlocking new stuff. However, it shares the same dubious design decision as Stellar Master Mode: most of the challenges change the nature of the game, sometimes radically (arrows are rearranged, superimposed, invisible, move at confusing speeds, etc.).

Given how much effort has to be invested in these Master modes to unlock much of the soundtrack and gameplay, you wonder: what's the real game, arcade mode, or Master mode? It's as if "Madden NFL 2008" only offered the NFC teams at the start, and made you play silly quarterback challenges and punt/pass/kick contests to unlock the AFC, team-by-team.

Fortunately, Hyper Master Mode is a lot easier to beat, since you can buy "support modules" to help you clear difficult challenges. For example, if a challenge requires you to hit a certain number of combos, a module that turns "good"s into "great"s will keep your combos going. So you're less likely to hit a brick wall in Hyper Master Mode than in the previous game's Stellar Master Mode. But it's still annoying to have to invest so much time in this mode at all.

I exercise with DDR every day, and I appreciate how good Supernova's exercise mode was, and am grateful it is copied lock, stock, and barrel for Supernova 2. You can maintain multiple profiles and histories for exercise players, protect them with passwords, and design your own custom exercise courses (also possible in MAX 2, but not in the "Extreme"s).

The catch is that you need to start unlocking songs quickly to build a tolerable workout. Supernova 2's default song list contains a lot of low-speed R&B and slow pop from popular performers like Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, etc. Some of the licensed songs, like Chris Brown's "Say Goodbye" and especially Gwen Stefani's "Wind It Up" are particularly ill-suited to DDR-style dancing. There are licensed songs that work in this format, like Fatboy Slim's "The Rockafeller Skank", but sadly, they're the exception. Doing a workout of 17 all-random songs, on "basic" for the first and last and "difficult" otherwise, I found I was only burning 350 calories, compared to 450 for similar workout schedules on Supernova. Only after unlocking the usual DDR J-pop suspects like Be For U, Riyu Kosaka, Naoki Maeda, Anettai Maji-Ska Bakudan, etc., could I get the speed to a point where it was interesting and valid exercise.

So, full points for taking the best of Supernova, addressing the worst problems of Stellar Master Mode (though a timed unlock system, ala MAX 2, would have been preferable), but points off for terrible taste in licensed music. It shouldn't be your first DDR game, but if you're already playing the series and want more, it's not a bad choice.

UPDATE: After two and a half months, a chunk of the disc broke off while returning the disc to its case. I contacted Konami customer support and even though I'm within the 90-day warranty period, they refused to honor the warranty and replace the defective disc. As Konami is apparently in the business of selling defective and essentially unwarranted product, I've got to say: BUYER BEWARE. Amazon won't let me change my rating, but defective products should surely get one star, if not zero.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid addition to the DDR series, October 11, 2007

By 

C. Sides (Memphis, TN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova 2 (Video Game)

Supernova 2 is a solid addition to the DDR series.

Even though the tasks in "Hyper Master mode" are just as annoying as in previous DDR games, the interface is much less confusing that in Extreme 2 or Supernova.

And I'm very happy to report that you don't have to play in Hyper Master mode to unlock songs. The songs will unlock automatically after playing enough in Game mode, although it takes longer.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A disappointing addition to the series, December 12, 2007

By 

Rob W. "Professional amateur" (Southern CA, USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova 2 (Video Game)

As a fan of all the PS2 DDR games from Max through to SuperNOVA, my wife and I expected SuperNOVA 2 to be no different - but unfortunately, it just isn't up to scratch. The game mechanics are the same, but they've made some things worse.

- The 2-player Stellar Master Mode, where you unlocked most of the songs, is replaced by the 1-player Hyper Master Mode. You can't unlock much if you want to play together rather than one at a time.

- The song list is awful. Only a small handful of songs are worth playing, and the starting licensed line-up is terrible, apart from Fatboy Slim's Rockafeller Skank. That song's great and has good, fun steps, so it's a pity it has to show up here in such weak company.

- The steps are just not FUN in this game. The game's acquired a taste for step-jump combinations, and also for stuttering sequences that don't really allow you to get into a rhythm. The game actually manages to make dancing annoying - that's something I never thought any DDR game would do.

At the end of it, I rate SuperNOVA 2 as the worst home DDR game I've played. We own all the others, but SuperNOVA 2 is getting returned, as we're simply never going to play it. I give the game 2 stars overall, and they're both for Fatboy Slim's "Rockafeller Skank". The rest of the game can go jump in a lake.

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