Dance Freaks & Dance ManiaX Guide/FAQ/Traveling Companion Version 0.4 - February 10th, 2002 Welcome back for my thi...no, wait, fourth guide in my award-winning series! Anyway, Dance Freaks is a right fun little game, and I think it would be nice to tell you all about it. No story, no Quarter-circle back and punch, no skee-ball, just Dance Freakin' the night away! Furthermore, unlike in my other guides, I'm actually giving you a Walkthrough! (Heh heh heh.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents I: What is Dance Freaks? II: How to Play...Better III: Game Mechanics IV: Abridged Walkthrough V: Music to Swing To VI: Glossary VII: (Non-Brass) Tricks VIII: Miscellany ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part I: What is Dance Freaks? - "You dance like a woman!" "I dance like a woman...if she was a man!" - Zorak and Space Ghost from Space Ghost, Coast to Coast ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dance Freaks is a spinoff of Konami's Highly sucessful Dance Dance Revolution series. The deal is that instead of mainly using your feet with a floor-stationed control pad, you're mainly using your hands with four and eight-foot high laser sensors! The cabinet consists of a screen, and eight sensors - four are eight feet off the ground and four are four feet off the ground. As music plays and beats are displayed on the screen, move your hands to break invisible lasers projected between the sensors. Basically, follow the beat with your hands! As it turns out, you may have seen this game before - Dance Freaks is the Korean Version of Dance ManiaX (their typo, not mine). Now, one of the reasons that I decided to write this FAQ was because I looked for info on this game on the net and couldn't kind anything. Well, there was also the fact that it became as addictive as Futurama too to condend with. Anyway, at first I thought that the game just fell out of nowhere like the Twilight Zone - like in that one episode with the slot machine that kept taking that guy's money and then appeared in his room yelling "Michael! Michael!" until it pushed him out the window! Then I thought..."Well, since the Caution screen and cabinet marquee include Korean letters and the copyright screen says 'for sale and use in Korea and its territories only'...perhaps it's the Korean version!" As near as I can accertain, not having played Dance ManiaX, just reading the FAQ's, it would appear that this version has a couple of extra songs, in (or at least having their titles in) Korean, most notably by the band "Cool". Of course, if I'm completely screwed up, lemme know - I'd like to know all the sordid details. So now, "Let's dance freely to the rhythm!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part II: How to Play...Better - "Hit the Space Bar. No! The Space Bar! The big key below all the little keys!" - Myth's Tutorial ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Probably the best way to learn how to play is to just find yourself a Dance Freaks machine and just go with it for a game. Obviously, you should start with "Put Your Faith in Me", as it's the easiest song, then move on to "Keep On Movin'" and "All Night". Even better is if someone else happens to be near the machine. Ask them to help you out by playing second player. They can be your support - even if you fail the song, you can keep going since they still passed. But perhaps you still want some basic pointers. Well, here goes. First, we need to talk about your stance. No, no, not just how you stand, your *stance*. We're in the big leagues now! First of all, spread your feet apart so you're comfortable - a foot to a couple feet apart will be just fine. Secondly, put your hands at about your stomach level. Now, hopefully you're at least five feet tall so that when you put your hands here, you're only a couple inches below the bottom sensor. Otherwise...well...reach up, I suppose. One of these days I'll take a chair to the arcade to try Dance Freaks seated...but back to the hands. Form them so that you're preparing to karate-chop a cinderblock or a Kleenex in half depending on skill and hold your hands in that knife-edge position. See, this way it's not too ambigious about whether or not you break the beam with your hand. Also, if you have a wristwatch on either arm, you may want to place it in your pocket, your backpack, your best friend's mouth, etc. Glasses are all right - you have to see the screen after all! If you have any jewelery that can slip and slide around, you'll probably want to remove that too. Jackets are probably left by the cabinet for your dancing session as well, unless you want the inside of your jacket to feel and smell like the inside of your sock after running a mile. If possible, grow long hair and braid it so that you have a creative way to break the beam. So, what should you wear for your Dance Freaks experience? Well, if possible, avoid long sleeves - especially loose-fitting long sleeves. Comfy-fitting pants or shorts are also a must. Try to avoid sweats for the same reason you should avoid long sleeves - they'll only slow you down. For me, a t-shirt and cargo pants are my attire of choice whenever the DF bug strikes. If you are of the female type, I think that wearing a dress is probably a bad idea, but a skirt should be fine. Pants are probably the best all-around though. Of course, bikinis are perfect dancing attire! No, no, just for women! Aaaak! No! All right, now we know that to wear and how to stand - time for one last thing - it would behoove you to bring a bottle of water with you to the arcade. The thing is, not only is Dance Freaks significantly more active than Super Street Fighter vs. SNK vs. Marvel Fighters Alpha-Gamma-Delta EX Plus Beta Hyper Championship Edition - This is a Dancing game, after all! - but Dance Freaks acts as a world class dehydrator with its high-intensity spotlights shining in your face. Thanks, Konami! And when I tell you a bottle of water, I don't mean a Coke. Coke will only make you more thirsty in the long run. I don't really know about Gatorade or Powerade or Hyperade or what not...but I say stick with the water. Unless you can somehow get a bottle of milk to the arcade and get it to stay cold for a couple hours... ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part III: Game Mechanics - "I don't know how to play solitare, so I'll just put the cards in random piles and declare myself the winner." - Dogbert ------------------------------------------------------------------------- So, what do all those things on the screen mean? Glad you asked. From the upper left, you've got the first player's ranking and life bar, and on the upper right, the second player's ranking and life bar. In between, the beats of the music form the center of the screen, and often psychedelic patterns which change for each song fill up the edges. Finally, on the bottom left and right are each players' score and whether or not they've selected Mild/Wild/Trial. Let's go over each of these: The Life Bar: Named for a delightful little pub in the commisary of Konami's building, this sucker starts out full, and goes down every time you miss. Fortunately for you, it also fills up gradually when you get Perfect, Great, and perhaps Good on each beat. I don't really know just how much depletion takes place with each Miss, but it seems to vary. I do know that you'll lost half the darn bar for your first Miss, which seems a mite unfair. However, if your bar is near completely drained, the formerly placid edges of the screen will change to red and yellow flashing "Danger" borders which should do wonders for your rhythm. If the bar is completly drained and you Miss, you will often get one last chance - your rank will drop to E, but you can still keep going as long as you don't miss. One more Miss, however, and you fail the song. When this happens, the song instantly ends, and you lose another song token. (So, for example, if you have four tokens and you fail a song, you'll end up with two - one which was used to play the song you just failed, and another taken away as the penalty. Don't complain too much, though - walk down the hall of your arcade to Dance Dance Revolution and you'll find that it stops the whole darn game if you fail one song!) Ranking: This deserves discussion in the next topic: The Dance Freaks Scoring System: Ah yes, the High Score. It's almost a novelty with games nowadays, it being overruled by percentage rankings of how many secrets you got, or winning streaks, or, my personal favorite, no score at all - just getting to the end of the game...awake! Oops, I mean just getting to the end of the game...alive! However Dance Freaks has a fairly comprehensive scoring system. Thanks to a tip from Perimus, I found that each song has a base value of 1,000,000 points. That is, if you perform each song completely perfectly without missing a beat (indeed, getting 'Perfect' on every beat), you will achieve this score. However, many among us will not achieve this standard, often receiving far fewer points. So here is my educated guess as to how the points are distributed: Each song distributes a different amount of points for each beat - I'll call this the base value. If you get a 'perfect', you'll receive the full base value, a 'great' will give you two-thirds of the base value, and a 'good' will give you but one-third. Also, a miss gets you the first name of a popular liquor - No, not Johnny Walker...not Jim Bean either...but Jack. Unlike Dance Dance Revolution 4th Mix (the one we have in our, of all places, Wal-Mart) where completing a 1-sta...erm...foot song flawlessly will net you, say 400,000 points and completing a 5-foot song with several thousand steps, many of which were clumisly and barely managed (not that this is the case of the author in any respect, of course, merely for the sake of illustration), will net you more than a million and a half points - *breath* each song is worth a maximum of 1,000,000 points. So, you can complete Put Your Faith in Me one-handed and blindfolded and receive 1,000,000 points, but completing Mad Blast Wild clumsily will only net you 600,000. Therefore, it's only really accurate if you compare song scores on the same songs. Now for the rankings - ever notice the real-time ranking bar above your 'life' bar? It too is based on your score. Get 'Miss' and 'Good' and it will fall down, but get 'Great' and 'Perfect' and it will work up. My crackpot theory here is that it's based on your performance so far for each beat divided by the total number of beats. This is why if you hit a perfect on the first beat of the song, you'll get an 'S', but if you only hit a Good for the first beat, you'll get an 'E'. It's also why your rank will fall even though you're hitting all the beats (but only with 'good'). Two other things to note: One, whatever combo you have throughout the song - whether your max is five or full - seems to have exactly zero bearing on your score (aside from the fact that choppy combos tend to have lots of misses, and thus, fewer points.) Two, your 'life' bar also has no bearing on your rank. I've had Danger with Rank A and a full 'life' bar with Rank D during the song. Go figure. At the end is where the most important ranking is: more guesswork ahoy! S: 1,000,000 - 960,000 A: 959,999 - 900,000 B: 899,999 - 800,000 C: 799,999 - 700,000 D: 699,999 - 600,000 E: less than 600,000 In case your brain is now liquefied from all the possible scoring permutations, here's the executive summary: * Each song has a Max Score of 1,000,000 points. * A high score on an easy song is not necessarily better than a low score on a hard song. * Rankings are calcuated continously and automatically based on your score, and nothing else. * Your score is based on the number of Perfects, Greats, Goods, and Misses throughout the song, and nothing else. * Dustin Diamond (Saved By The Bell's Screech) is currently selling deck sealer in a Cleveland hardware store. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part IV: Abridged Walkthrough - "Avoid Missing Ball for High Score." - Instructions for Pong ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Insert Coin(s). Press Start. Select Song #1. Dance. Select Song #2. Dance. Select Song #3. Dance. Select Song #4. Dance. Observe Ranking. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part V: Music to Swing To - "We can Dance if we want to/because your friends don't dance/and if they don't dance then they're/no friends of mine." - Safety Dance ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A great deal of thanks goes out to Lord Odin Zed, author of the Dance ManiaX 2nd Mix FAQ which is also at GameFAQs.com. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have nearly as much information on the song artists, BPM, and Star Rankings. Still more thanks goes out to Perimus, who journeyed all the way to Korea to get Korean translations of the songs and artists (or just asked someone fluent in Korean, but we both like the first one better.) The translations appear in parentheses when they're not in the arcade, in case you can't read Korean for some reason. Perimus also gets mad props (as opposed to complacent props) for getting the track numbers of each song. (The track numbers being the numbers in the upper right corner of the picture of each song.) This section is dedicated to the subtle (and not so subtle) nuances of each song. This will let you dance even more freely to the rhythm! Put Your Faith In Me (Saturday Night Mix) - Uzi-Lay - Track #2 Single: *------- Mild/ *****--- Wild Double: ***----- Mild/ *****--- Wild BPM: 120 Motif: The open highway, and some sort of transparent globes. Recommended for: People playing the game for the very first time, folks that want to get that S-rank, or those with William Shatner Rhythm. This song is really easy, even on Wild. It's nice for introducing your rhythm-deficent friends into the game because it's so simple. It has no low notes at all and only Schala-Jane Smeffenfeffers to contend with. Fine, Singles. On Wild, you've got low and high notes and a couple Double Crosses...but since this is one of the slowest songs, if you've got a little ability, you'll do fine. Full Combo: 128 Mild All Night (featuring Angel) - Tomoki Hirata - Track #5 Single: **------ Mild/ *****--- Wild Double: ******-- Mild/ *******- Wild BPM: 135 Motif: Bright stars and little men flapping their arms. Recommended for: Keep on Movin' (DMX Mix) - N.M.R type G - Track #8 Single: **------ Mild/ ******-- Wild Double: ****---- Mild/ *****--- Wild BPM: 131 Motif: Clotheslines draped between buildings, eighth notes. Recommended for: Tears - (So Chan Wheei) - Track #32 Single: ***----- Mild/ *****--- Wild Double: *****--- Mild/ *******- Wild BPM: 140 Motif: Water, Tears, and tiled "TEARS" letters. Recommended for: Together Forever - Cydney D - Track #20 Single: ***----- Mild/ *****--- Wild Double: *****--- Mild/ *******- Wild BPM: 134 Motif: Roses - how romantic! Bring your girl/guy and do this one! Recommended for: People on dates that are too cheap to make two months' salary last forever. All My Love - Tomosuke & Sabrina - Track #9 Single: ***----- Mild/ ******** Wild Double: ****---- Mild/ ******-- Wild BPM: 132 Motif: Disco dancing complete with mirrored ball. Recommended for: Dr. Love - Asuka M. - Track #7 Single: ***----- Mild/ *******- Wild Double: ****---- Mild/ *****--- Wild BPM: 123 Motif: ECG Pulses alongside dancing women. Recommended for: jane jana - T.E.M.P.O - featuring Mohammad & Emi - Track #21 Single: ***----- Mild/ ******-- Wild Double: *****--- Mild/ ******-- Wild BPM: 125 Motif: A woman with at least four arms that knows how to use 'em! Recommended for: Locomotion - Alexia - Track #15 Single: ***----- Mild/ *****--- Wild Double: ******-- Mild/ ******-- Wild BPM: 134 Motif: Blue '38 Ford. Recommended for: People with a weakness for the classics. (Unknown) - UP - Track #34 Single: ****---- Mild/ *******- Wild Double: ****---- Mild/ ******-- Wild BPM: 127 Motif: Fish, seagulls, and a life-jacketed crash dummy. Recommended for: Ain't it Good - Tomoki Hirata - Track #4 Single: ****---- Mild/ ******-- Wild Double: ******-- Mild/ ******-- Wild BPM: 134 Motif: Little men running around alongside Geometric patterns. Recommended for: Mobo*Moga - Orange Lounge - Track #24 Single: ****---- Mild/ ******-- Wild Double: ******-- Mild/ ******-- Wild BPM: 172 Motif: '68 VW Beetle on Pink and White swirls. Recommended for: Body featuring JBraithwaite (The I.C.B. Club Vocal Mix) - Tomoki Hirata - Track #6 Single: ****---- Mild/ *****--- Wild Double: ****---- Mild/ *****--- Wild BPM: 134 Motif: Weightlifters featured on the $Body currency. Recommended for: In My Dreams - Rebecca - Track #13 Single: ****---- Mild/ ******-- Wild Double: ***----- Mild/ *******- Wild BPM: 139 Motif: A little determined stick figure in a cute little stick town. Recommended for: Butterfly (Kung-Fu Mix) - Smile.dk - Track #17 Single: ****---- Mild/ *******- Wild Double: ****---- Mild/ *******- Wild BPM: 135 Motif: Butterflies. Lots and lots of Butterflies. Recommended for: Carry-overs from Dance Dance Revolution. This song is strangely addictive, I don't know why. As it happens, it's really pretty simple technically. It only has a set of Double Crosses at the beginning, and everything from then on is Singles and Doubles. It also has the Circle, which you can read more about in the glossary. On wild, Butterfly has three major sections of two sets of seven singles. The first is High-left and right, the second has a low beat on beats three and seven, and the third has an up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-B-A-Start (Oh, whoops! Wrong Konami reference there.) The third has an up-down-down-up-up-down-down pattern. Full Combo: 168 Mild/ 300 Wild You Broke My Heart - Naoki featuring Paula Terry - Track #1 Single: ****---- Mild/ *******- Wild Double: ******-- Mild/ ******-- Wild BPM: 160 Motif: Hearts everywhere! Also, my personal favorite, a bouncing phone. Recommended for: Those that just broke up and are holding a grudge. (Cho Lyoun) - CLON - Track #28 Single: ****---- Mild/ ******** Wild Double: ******-- Mild/ ******** Wild BPM: 140 Motif: Blue hands, faces, and bodies which are apparently arc welding. Recommended for: My Sharona - DJ Miko - Track #16 Single: *****--- Mild/ ******** Wild Double: *****--- Mild/ *******- Wild BPM: 144 Motif: A traffic-stopping woman crossing her legs and moonwalking in heels. Recommended for: Any fan of "That '70's Show". Heaven is a '57 Metallic Gray - Hiro (featuring Sweet Little 30's) - Track #10 Single: *****--- Mild/ ******** Wild Double: *****--- Mild/ ******-- Wild BPM: 190 Motif: Classic Detroit Rolling Stock - and windswept skirts! Whoo! Recommended for: Folks who hum the soundtrack from "Grease" while changing the oil in their hair. Despite this song being ranked five and eight stars, it's not really too tough to get through. The Mild Version is almost all Doubles, the only thing that makes it somewhat difficult is the quick pace of the song. Wild, you have to contend with Triplets, but not much else beyond that. Both should watch out for the rallentando (immediate slow down - I knew that the seven years of band would come in handy!) near the end though, as well as the sudden change of pace back to the original tempo soon after: "Nobody get in our way *rallentando* Heaven...is...a...fifty...seven... meat...tall..ic...gray!" *Original Tempo* Let's Get Down (Mo-Funk Mix) - JT Playaz - Track #19 Single: *****--- Mild/ *******- Wild Double: *****--- Mild/ ******-- Wild BPM: 145 Motif: Lots of partying faces. Recommended for: Baila! Baila! - Dandy Mineiro - Track #23 Single: *****--- Mild/ *******- Wild Double: ******-- Mild/ *******- Wild BPM: 129 Motif: Clapping hands and a spirited woman's face. Recommended for: It's a Party - Bastamike and Rashad - Track #19 Single: *****--- Mild/ *******- Wild Double: *****--- Mild/ *******- Wild BPM: 145 Motif: Party favors being carted around by robots. Recommended for: Meaning of Life - K.Wit featuring Gary - Track #12 Single: *****--- Mild/ ******-- Wild Double: ***----- Mild/ *****--- Wild BPM: 112 Motif: I think that person is the artist! Recommended for: Misery - Cool - Track #31 Single: *****--- Mild/ *******- Wild Double: *******- Mild/ *******- Wild BPM: 145 Motif: A pulsing face. Also a skeleton and someone from Body. Weird. Recommended for: Get It All - Brass Tricks - Track #22 Single: ******-- Mild/ ******** Wild Double: *******- Mild/ *******- Wild BPM: 132 Motif: The Brass Tricks, baby! Whoo! Recommended for: Elite gamers with impeccable taste in music. (On a completely unrelated note, this is my personal favorite song.) This song is pretty much all technique - because it's one of the slowest songs this side of Put Your Faith in Me. However, the techniques involved more than make up the high star rating. Mild competitors have to deal with a set of Double/Double Cross/Doubled Up switches when the bridge of the song comes, and another set of those near the end. Wild folks get a different version of the same set - only a bit rougher, as they don't flow as evenly as the Mild. Add to this the sets of quick Double-beats (which you can get with the Half the Work trick), and the Circle Mark II and you've got one (Brass) Tricky song. Full Combo: 318 Mild Dynamite Rave (B4 ZA Beat Mix) - Naoki - Track #14 Single: ******-- Mild/ ******** Wild Double: *******- Mild/ ******** Wild BPM: 170 Motif: Seizure-inducing woman sillouettes amid "DYNAMITE RAVE" lettering. Recommended for: Folks that happen to have a Jolt Cola-IV on hand. I like to think of this one as the Equalizer - if you can get through this song, then you're going places with this game. On Mild you pretty much have a double on every beat, and except for two quick double-crosses, there aren't really any tricks or off-beats here. Wild is where it gets interesting. You have a couple of Twins, as well as a few sections where you have to follow eighth-notes instead of beats, and many Mild sets of two Doubles are replaced with sets of three Doubles - many of which become Double Crosses. Full Combo: 264 Mild Dash - (Baek Ji Young) - Track #30 Single: ******-- Mild/ ******** Wild Double: *******- Mild/ *******- Wild BPM: 180 Motif: A collage of the road, lipsticks, and other motifs. Recommended for: Gorgeous 2012 - The Surrenders - Track #3 Single: ******-- Mild/ *******- Wild Double: ******-- Mild/ *******- Wild BPM: 135 Motif: Matadors? Treble Clefs? Men running away? I dunno... Recommended for: Those with William Shatner Rhythm...in a good way. Afronova Primeval - 8 bit - Track #11 Single: ******-- Mild/ ******** Wild Double: *******- Mild/ ******** Wild BPM: 200 Motif: Various landscapes and denisens of the African wilderness. Recommended for: Those who have just had their Cocoa Puffs (with Mountain Dew instead of milk) complete with a Bawls chaser. This song is all about speed. Nothing more and nothing less. Mild gives you a nice taste of what to expect in Wild songs - the change in speed from Mild to Wild is roughly the change in speed from other Mild songs to this one. Nothing trickier than a Double Cross in here, though. Wild is where the game hunkers down and gets tough. Frankly, if you don't use the "Half The Work" Trick described below, your arms are going to fall off. Other than that, however, this is a very simple song - the only real challenge is a set of switches from Doubles to Double Crosses near the end of the song. And there's one more Wild trick that's downright diabolical if you don't know the secret: It's a double Double Cross at inhuman speed. Do not move your hands away from the sensors - instead do a calm, tranquil wave... | o | o | o | o | <--- "Oooooiiiii!! Lemme out! Lemme out! Oooooooiiiiiiii!!" | | | | | | | | | | | | O | | O | <--- Put your left hand up, and your right hand down... | O | | O | | <--- Then wave your left hand right, and your right hand left. Full Combo: 352 Mild/ 554 Wild - 280 Mild Doubles/ 463 Wild Doubles (Rash Love) - Sechi Kies - Track #33 Single: ******-- Mild/ ******** Wild Double: *******- Mild/ ******** Wild BPM: 140 Motif: The concert stage and a couple of bikes. Recommended for: Mad Blast - The Infection - Track #25 Single: ******-- Mild/ ******** Wild Double: *******- Mild/ ******** Wild BPM: 180 Motif: Guns, throbbing speakers, and rapidly increasing numbers. Recommended for: (Analysis of a Man and Woman) - Cool - Track #27 Single: ******-- Mild/ *******- Wild Double: *****--- Mild/ *******- Wild BPM: 170 Motif: DNA-ish Spirals and teddy bears. Also floating shirts. Huh. Recommended for: Hyperactive kids and those that don't mind repetitive high-pitched voices, some of which can only be heard by dogs and dolphins. Analysis of a Man and Woman? Huh. I could have sworn that this little ditty was about a little girl putting their cat in the microwave. OK, perhaps that was a little cruel, but I needed something to vent the frustration of this song's high-pitched weirdness. Song lyric interpretation aside, this song is a bit odd, with a lot of patterns that don't really flow together. Mild, it's pretty much all doubles and singles, with a few double crosses, Wild throws some Doubled Ups into the mix. The pattern they have (if any) is hard to devine, so either brush-up your sight reading skills, or endure the high pitched Man and Woman analysis several times. Trials - Trials are sets of five songs (or four, depending on the stinginess of your local arcade operator) that come at you one after the next. Two caveats to keep in mind - One, The little bar underneath your class will not replenish itself after each song. If you just barely scrape through the first song in the trial so that your screen's flashing "Danger!", that's just where you'll be when the second song starts. Two, your break after each song which was formerly at least thirty seconds after you see your ranking and select the next song, and watch the warning...*again*...is now three seconds. From DDR - Overall: *****--- Put Your Faith In Me - *------- / Mild Keep On Movin' - **------ / Mild Butterfly - ****---- / Mild Dynamite Rave - ******-- / Mild Afronova Primeval - ******-- / Mild World Groove - Overall: *****--- jane jana - ***----- / Mild Mobo*Moga - ****---- / Mild Baila! Baila! - *****--- / Mild Gorgeous 2012 - ******-- / Mild Afronova Primveal - ******-- / Mild Major Songs - Overall: ******-- Dance Party - Overall: ******-- You Broke My Heart - ****---- / Mild It's a Party - *****--- / Mild ??? ??? All My Love - ******** / Wild Club Mix - Overall: *******- All Night - *****--- / Wild Body with JBraithwaite - *****--- / Wild Ain't It Good - ******-- / Wild Meaning of Life - *******- / Wild Dr. Love - *******- / Wild Over 170 - Overall: ******** Mobo*Moga - ******-- / Wild Heaven is a '57 Metallic Gray - - ******** / Wild Dash - ******** / Wild Afronova Primeveal - ******** / Wild Mad Blast - ******** / Wild Challenge - Overall: ******** All My Love - ******** / Wild Get It All - ******** / Wild (Unknown) - Sechi Kies - ******** / Wild Afronova Primeval - ******** / Wild Mad Blast - ******** / Wild One last song: Jet World & Drop Out & PARANOiA - Max Type 2 Non-stop Mix Special - Track #26 Single: ??? Double: ??? BPM: 270/260/220 Motif: Psychedelica, ambulances, and a rather naughty nurse. Recommended for: The dancing elite (or L33t D4Nc1n D00d's!!!11!111!1) You can't actually pick this song - You can only get it as a bonus if you complete a Trial with a good rating - probably B or higher. (Well, actually, there's a case that you can pick it; see Event Mode in the Glossary) Anyway, this song starts slow and works its way to faster tempos. (Now, looking at the BPM may convince you that the reverse is true, but I'm referring to the beats you're expected to get.) This song kind of works its way from Mild to Wild as it goes on. Watch out, it's pretty long. Also, one small, minor, trivial detail - miss one beat and the song ends. That's not a problem or anything, is it? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part VI: Glossary "He looked under GUIDANCE and it said SEE ALSO ADVICE, and then he looked under ADVICE and it said SEE ALSO GUIDANCE." - Mostly Harmless ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Single Player - This is the meat and potatoes of Dance Freaks. For Single Player, you'll have to take care of four different lasers - as the announcer says: "Upper Right! Upper Left! Lower Right! Lower Left! Both han..." oh, wait, that last one involves more than one sensor. Anyhow, within single player, you'll have your choice of Mild, Wild, and Trial modes. And here's a diagram of the screen in single player: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | L | L | R | R | | | | | | | l | u | u | l | | o | p | p | o | | w | p | p | w | | e | e | e | e | | r | r | r | r | | | | | | | | | | | Doubles - Double mode is the road less traveled, because this time you've got eight sensors to contend with - more than you had to contend with when trying to get your blue novel published! *ba-dum-bum-ching!* As well, you can't really play with more than one person in this mode unless you each take half, that is...But that takes most of the fun out of it, because this mode was more or less designed for one player with quick hands and a sharp mind. Unfortunately, there's no trial mode here, just Mild and Wild. As well, you get one song less than you would have in Single Player - can't have you hogging the machine all day! Finally, you can't get into doubles without knowing *dramatic voice* The sssseeeecreeettt cccccooooodddddeeee! (see below to unearth) Here's a diagram of the screen when playing doubles: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | L | L | R | R | L | L | R | R | | | | | | | | | | | l | u | u | l | l | u | u | l | | o | p | p | o | o | p | p | o | | w | p | p | w | w | p | p | w | | e | e | e | e | e | e | e | e | | r | r | r | r | r | r | r | r | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Single - A single is pretty much the simplest technique in the book - you'll see this from Put Your Faith in Me to Dynamite Rave/Wild. | | | | | | o | o | o | o | <--- Move your hands when the circle comes here... | | | | | | | | | | | | O | | | <--- ...like this one here... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | O | | <--- ...and this one! | | | | | Double - Doubles start popping up in two-star songs, and oddly enough, stick around, like many other techniques. Of course, this game is more or less rub your stomach...then pat your head...then chew gum...then count backwards from 1000...etc. | | | | | | o | o | o | o | <--- "Everybody's doing the brand new dance now!" | | | | | | | | | | | | O | O | | <--- And here's a double - both hands up! | | | | | | | | | | | O | | | O | <--- Here's another one - both hands down! | | | | | | | | | | Double Cross - No, no, this one doesn't involve an ex-girlfriend...this one involves breaking two sensors - only one's up and one's down. You'll start to see these occasionally in four-star songs, and later on they'll be out in force. | | | | | | o | o | o | o | <--- "Let's dance freely to the rhythm!" | | | | | | | O | | O | <--- Put your left hand up, and your right hand down... | | | | | | | | | | | O | | O | | <--- Now your right hand goes up and your left hand goes down! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | O | O | O | O | <--- Jumping Jack! (No, it's not really in the game...I hope.) | | | | | Doubled Up - OK, you try naming them. I was this close to calling the 'Single' 'Schala-Jane Smeffenfeffer'. "Right, this song starts simple with a Schala-Jane Smeffenfeffer into a Schala-Jane Smeffenfeffer with another Schala-Jane Smeffenfeffer followed by the Schala-Jane Smeffenfeffer-Schala-Jane Smeffenfeffer-Schala-Jane Smeffenfeffer combo..." After all, one of the perks of writing the guide is that you can make up the terms as you go along. Just ask Zach Meston (wherever he is now...zachmeston.com is down!) Where as I? Oh yeah, writing the guide. Doubled up means that you need to place one hand above a sensor and another hand below the same sensor. These suckers don't appear until about five-star songs, and wild five-star songs at that. It's a Party Wild is littered with 'em. | | | | | | o | o | o | o | <--- "This is a Dance Sen-sah!" | | | | | | O | O | | | <--- Put your left hand up and your right hand below it, | | | | | or vice versa. As an alternative, use your feet to get | | | | | that low one! | | | | | | | | O | O | <--- Same thing, only get your hands/feet around the right | | | | | sensor. | O | O | | | | | | O | O | <--- This triplet is pretty popular in It's a Party Wild. | | | O | O | Quick hands and feet! The Circle - Ai ai ai ai. Ai ai ai! Ai ai ai ai, it's in Butterfly! This is the signature pattern of Butterfly and not much else, and it involves seven or eight fast Schala-Jane Smeff...oh, all right, singles. There's the slow circle on Mild and the fast circle on Wild which I will demonstrate in Double ASCII-vision; Mild on the left, Wild on the right: | | | | | | | | | | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | <--- "Catching the up and down movement!" | | | | | | | | | | O | | | | O | | | | <--- The Wild circle is literally twice as | | | | | | O | | | fast as the Mild one. You either need | | O | | | | | O | | very fast hands or a trick I'll describe | | | | | | | | O | later... | | | O | | | | O | | | | | | | | O | | | | | | | O | O | | | | | | | | | | | | | <--- Note the extra lower right beat in the | | | | O | | | | | Mild circle - don't get lost in the | | | | | | | | | upgrade from Mild to Wild! | | | O | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | O | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | O | | | | | | | | One way to get the Wild circle (apart from seven quick hand passes) is the elegant but hard to time Great Circle Route. To do this, keep one arm extended and move it in a clockwise circle breaking all the sensors you need to break - when you get to the lower right sensor, immediately double back and do another counterclockwise circle to break the last three. The problem is that it's rather hard to time if you're used to thrusting your hands forward to get each beat. It just takes a little practice. Half-Triplet - We're really getting into the advanced territory here - I consider this the hardest move to get just right. Even Full Triplets, which are discussed a little later, don't give me as much trouble as these suckers do. There aren't that many of these in the game - there's an odd one in It's a Party Wild, and several more in Broke My Heart Wild. I say that the best way to get these is to get the lower beat with your foot and the upper two with either hand. Just watch the timing. Of course, when you play seven-star songs and up, you'd better have your timing down pat! | | | | | | o | o | o | o | <--- "Listen to the music and *feel* *the* *beat*!" | | | | | | | | | | | O | O | | | <--- It's a standard Doubled Up here... | | | O | | <--- ...but this is a bit tricky. Try waving your hand | | | | | from left to right to pull it off. | | | | | | | | | | (Full) Triplet - This is actually pretty easy to get if you remember that you've got feet - use one of your feet to get the lower beat and both hands to get the top beats - think of it as doing the Can-Can without the knee and the panty-revealing dress and you'll get through it just fine. This is located in only one song - the eight-star Heaven is a '57 Metallic Gray Wild. Grease is the word indeed! | | | | | | o | o | o | o | <--- "Keep on, keep on, keep on, keep on Movin'!" | | | | | | O | O | O | | <--- The triplet in all it's glory. Kick up and raise both | | | | | hands - but be quick... | | | | | | | O | O | O | <--- As the next triplet will require you to kick up your | | | | | other leg fairly soon after that. | | | | | The Circle, Mark II - This sucker is suprisingly easy once you realize that it is indeed a circle. Appearing in the Get it All and Mad Blast Wilds, it requires either both hands or a set of tap-dancer-speed feet. One final note: The direction shown here is the direction of both song's circles...if you're playing Mirror Mode, you probably will get burned when you get to the circles unless you've prepared. | o | o | o | o | <--- "Give it, give it, give it, give it, give it to me!" | | | | | | O | O | | | <--- OK, here's how I do it...start with left low, right high. | | O | O | | <--- Now bring left to up-left and right to up-right. | | | O | O | <--- Keep the right where it is and move left to low-right. | O | | | O | <--- Swing left to low-left and bring right down to low-right. | O | O | | | <--- And leave left at low-left and bring right to up-left. | | O | O | | <--- Left to up-left, right to-up right... | | | O | O | <--- Left to down-right, right stays still... | O | | | O | <--- Left to down-left, right to down-right. Simple! The Double Stroke - Thanks once again go out to Jon Zila for this pattern definition and its corresponding solution - just watch out for Gamera, he's a friend to all children, you know: "I noticed it alot in Mad Blast and Afronova Primeval. | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | | | | | | | | | | | | | | o | o | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | o | o | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | o | o | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | o | o | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | o | o | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | o | o | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | It doesn't matter how much I tried, it's almost impossible to move back and forth that fast. So I devised a method (which you can come up with a name: "double sweep"?) [Ed.: I like Double Stroke, myself - gets some engine motifs in there.] in where your body remains stationary, but you reach over with one arm and sweep it so that you can play two red sensors at once. The trick is to be quick, but once you get the hang of it, it is alot easier than trying to run back and forth. You can also use it in Heaven is a '57 Metallic Gray, so you don't have to use your feet. But what's the fun in that?" Tamale Pie - A simple dish that even a college student can make! Oddly enough, it neither contains tamales, nor is it a pie. Anyway, you need a stove, an oven, a casserole dish, a saute pan or skillet, and a small pot. Also needed are: 1-2 Pounds Hamburger 1 14 1/2 oz. can of corn 1 14 1/2 oz. can of olives 1 14 1/2 oz. can of whole tomatoes 1/4 cup butter or margarine 1 6 oz. box of Stove Top cornbread stuffing 1 2/3 cup of very hot water 0-2 tablespoons Chili Powder (to taste) Preheat oven to 450 degrees Farenheit. Brown hamburger in skillet - use a sieve to drain excess grease after hamburger is browned. Chop up tomatoes, and add to hamburger. Chop up olives and add to skillet along with corn and chili powder. Meanwhile, add hot water to small pot along with butter/margarine and stuffing (with seasoning packet, if applicable) - mix until water is absorbed. Pour hamburger mixture into casserole dish and smooth out - then add the stuffing mix to the casserole dish and smooth out. Place in oven for 30 minutes, then remove and let stand for 2 minutes, and enjoy! Serves 6-10. Great for restoring energy after a Dance Freaks marathon. Note: Don't dance for at least 15-30 minutes after eating or else your lunch will get a round trip. The seeeecccrrreeeettttt cooooddeeeee - It's really pretty simple, and by the amount of use it sees, it's not really too secret anymore. After you insert the proper amount of coins into the machine, hold down the left and right selection buttons and press start. This will lead you to: The Dynamite Dancers Menu - Here, you can decide what sort of game you want to play. Options include: Single/Double/Center - If you pick anything besides single, this will become a one-player game (much to the chagrin of the person behind you in line, probably.) Single gives you your standard 4-sensor game (and lets a partner join in too) - Double gives you a one-player game in which you're expected to take care of all eight sensors, and Center gives you a 4-sensor game, where instead of the far right or far left two sets of sensors, you get to play with the center two sets of sensors. Nice for tournament play, I suppose. Mild/Wild/Trial - This is what you normally get to pick from when you press start without bringing up the menu - only real wrinkle is that there is no trial mode available when you select doubles mode. D'oh! Cross/Straight/2-lines - I must admit I didn't have the slightest idea what each of these were, but a friendly e-mail from Jon Zila set the record straight. So...oh no, there goes Tokyo, Go Go Jon Zila! "Cross: This option makes all the blue circles to come from the top of the screen, and you have to play them when they reach the bottom of the screen, as opposed to the top. It should look like this: | |o|o| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |o| | |o| And doubles look like this: | |o|o| | |o|o| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |o| | |o|o| | |o| It's probably the most difficult option you can chose out of all possible combinations. Straight: Self-explanatory. It the way you normally play. 2 Lane: This option changes the layout into only 2 lanes, both red. The blues have been turned off, what used to be red cirlce remains red, while what used to be blue circles have now been turned to red. | |o|o| | | | | | | |O| | |O| |F| | |F| |F| | |F| | | | | | So basically, there are only 3 possible combinations: a single left, a single right, and a double; in which all 3 are red. The triplets in Heaven is a '57 Metallic Gray are now just doubles. It's actually a very unchallenging and uninteresting way to play. An interesting feature about the circles on the top, the change color on every beat, even though in no way does that affect what should be played. Another interesting feature about this option is that even though all the circles have become red, you can still play them as blue. So if you play an entire song above, below, or a combination of both, it wouldn't matter." You can tell which mode you're on when you're playing by the little icon that appears next to "Single Mild/Wild" when selecting your songs - Normally, it looks like four matchsticks face up for Straight, two matchsticks up and two down for Cross, and only two matchsticks for 2-lane. Mirror Mode - Off/On - Defaulting to off, this causes all the moves normally on the right side to be on the left and vice versa. Good for mixing it up a bit and getting you in the groove instead of on auto-pilot. When selecting this mode, a mirror appears to the right of the "Single Mild/Wild" icons when you're selecting your songs. Upside-down Mode - Off/On - Defaulting to off, this causes all the low moves to be high and vice versa. Let's see you get those '57 Metallic Gray Wild Triplets now, hotshot! When selecting this mode, two circular arrows appear to the right of the "Single Mild/Wild" icons when you're selecting your songs. One final note - If you select two-player single and enter the Dynamite Dancers Menu, each player can choose a different combonation of Mirror Mode and Upside Down Mode. How flexible! Event Mode - (Thanks to Perimus for this information) Is your Dance Freaks machine grabbing more of your quarters than the laundromat? (If so, um...you may want to re-direct a few of those quarters. And put your arms down, you're losing friends!) Then ask your friendly arcade attendant to switch Dance Freaks to Event Mode. (This mode is set with switches inside the coin door, so you'll need the key to the machine. Hey, ask him! Don't go plotting anything without giving me a cut!) Once you have Event mode set, the following will happen: (Thanks again, Perimus) " - All songs are available to be selected in any difficulty, even the bonus song. - Any song may be selected during play, even if you have played that song already. You can play the same song for each token of play if you wish. - You will not 'die' if you fail a song. You will continue to finish the song, and you will not be penalized any of your 'song tokens' for loosing like normal. - Once you have died (i.e. obtained a permanent E ranking by loosing your bar) your score from then on will su[Ed: Ahem, Orally Siphon. This is a family FAQ after all!] Even if you get perfect and full combo from that point on, you still only receive a very small amount of points for each note. So if you die like this, your score will be low. This not only applies to event mode, it also applies to two player mode when one player dies, and the other does not. - The same applies to trial, playing a trial set, you will not have to stop playing when you loose/die. However, you will not be able to rank if you finish with an E rank. There is also an available option in the service menu called "Internet Ranking" option. However, this option requires a telephone line, and the arcade we play at doesn't have one to hook up to the machine. " Another Ssssseeeeeeeccccccrrrrreeetttt Cccccoooooddddeeee - Thanks again to Perimus, who pressed all the buttons until he won: "On the song selection screen, quickly press "LEFT LEFT RIGHT RIGHT" and you will be put into "two-line" mode. Around our arcade, this has become known as freestyle mode." ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part VII: (Non-Brass) Tricks "Once upon a time, there was a land of oppressed people known as the Trids. It happened that a giant was perched on a hill between their castle and their crops. One day, the castle sent out their knights to fight the giant, but the giant would just kick one off the hill and watch it smash into the rest of the knights. Then they sent the calvary to attack the giant, but it would just kick the horses off the hill, and cause the same result. Finally, a visiting holy man decided to take matters into his own hands. He climbed the hill and proclaimed - 'Giant! Leave the knights and horses alone! If you wish to kick anyone, then kick only me!' And then the Giant said: 'Silly rabbi, kicks are for Trids!'" - One of my father's many, many, many bad jokes ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    OK, so you can complete any song on Wild in your sleep. What's left?
Performing tricks, of course! It's a real crowd pleaser, it is. Now, tricks
leave a lot to freestyle - all you really have to do is break the beam at the
proper time. Hmmm...next time I'll bring a couple of fans to the arcade and try
my hand at fan dancing. But where will I plug them in?

Anyhow, here are a some tricks I've seen and heard about and even done from my
tenure at Dance Freaks:

Palm Strike: Simple and understated, I recommend this for after a long set of
tricky beats to convey the subtle feeling of "Yeah, I've got it all under
control." Instead of having your hand in the knife-edge form, pretend that
you're one of the Supremes performing - "Stop! In the name of love!" (Slinky
orange dress optional.) This works especially well in My Sharona for the Whoo!
in "My-my-my-my-my-Whoo!"

    Effective for   - High Single
    Cool-down time  - Very Little
    
Headbutt: Simple and overstated - This one actually uses the old bean for more
than a hat storage unit. The best way to do this is with a quick nod, as if to
say "Yes, yes, take out the trash, yes." Not bad in techno-ish songs like Mad
Blast. 
    
    Effective for   - High Single
    Cool-down time  - Considerable
    
Repeater Headbutt: This is a bit complex - keep thrusting your head forward to
get several beats, and pull it back just enough so that it doesn't break the
beam. Thrust-pull-thrust-pull...etc. Practice on fairly easy songs first, but
it's good for any set of high beats. If the high beat switches sides, work in a
head-shake with the pulling back so that you thrust your head forward on the
proper side when the beat comes.

    Effective for   - High Singles
    Cool-down time  - Considerable, and too many could make you dizzy!
    
Showing some leg: Even though the emphasis in this game is on hands, remember
that you have two other perfectly serviceable limbs elsewhere (probably). You've
probably already done a little of this if you use your hands exculsively most of
the time - '57 Metallic Gray? Huh? Get it?

Anyhow, it's pretty simple, just kick one leg out from under you towards the
sensor, and bring it back when the beat is done. Practice this so that you can
do the next one easily...

    Effective for   - Low Single
    Cool-down time  - Short
    
Swivel-hip: This one lets you get repeated low beats. First, place your knee up,
like you're doing the first part of the Can-can (Panty-revealing dress
required...erm, optional.) Now, kick the foot of that knee forward. Then, bring
it back to the knee-up position, and then when the next beat comes, kick it
forward again.

As well, when you have to switch from one low side to the other, aim the knee
towards the middle of the two sensors, then kick your foot right for the right
side and left for the left. Looks neat when you go left-right-left-right in
rapid sucession.
    
    Effective for   - Low Singles
    Cool-down time  - Short, but don't fall over!

Half the work: (Thanks to Jon Zila for this trick) When you get to some of the
harder songs, sometimes the only way in which they're harder is that you have to
thrust your hands forward roughly 5,000 times a second. Take Afronova Primeval
(please):

| o | o | o | o | <--- "Get on up, bring your body this way!"
|   | O | O |   | <--- Thrust both hands forward!
|   | O | O |   | <--- Again!
|   | O | O |   | <--- And Again!
|   | O | O |   | <--- And Again!
|   | O | O |   | <--- And Again!
|   | O | O |   | <--- Hands becoming numb!
|   | O | O |   | <--- Stroke immenent!
|   | O | O |   | <--- *Thud!*
|   | O | O |   | <--- Ooohhhh...
|   | O | O |   | <--- Man, are you OK?
|   | O | O |   | <--- I think I fell on my keys...
|   | O | O |   | <--- *loss of consciousness*

Why not try a different tactic? Instead of thrusting your hands forward on every
beat, thrust them forward on every other beat. But, thrust them so far forward
than they go beyond breaking the sensor. That way, when you bring them back
towards you, the sensor will break again. Now, this can require a slight shift
in timing, since you probably haven't had your arms overextended for a while,
but it will probably pass.

| o | o | o | o | <--- "It's a Party! Aww-whaa! It's a Party Aww-whaa!"
|   | O | O |   | <--- Thrust both hands far forward...
|   | O | O |   | <--- And far back.
|   | O | O |   | <--- And far forward
|   | O | O |   | <--- And far back...
|   | O | O |   | <--- Aaahhhhhh.
|   | O | O |   | 
|   | O | O |   | 
|   | O | O |   | 
|   | O | O |   | 
|   | O | O |   | 
|   | O | O |   | <--- "I can't believe it! This is a Miracle!"

Of course, it doesn't have to be a double for this trick to work - it works
wonderfully for the singles section of Get it All (Brass Tricks) too:

| o | o | o | o | <--- "Ohhhhh Yeeeaaah Yeah Yeah! Ohhhhh Yeeeaaah Yeah Yeah!"
|   | O |   |   | <--- Arm forward...
|   | O |   |   | <--- Arm back. Remember the Karate Kid? Wax on, Wax off!
|   |   | O |   | <--- Wax On
|   |   | O |   | <--- Wax Off! Hi-yah!

One-hander - (Thanks again go out to Jon Zila) If you have a very simple song
with only single beats, you can do it with just one hand! Personally, I think
the biggest crowd pleaser (and most difficult song) with this trick is
Butterfly/Wild. After the initial part of Double crosses (which you can
technically keep your one-hander kosher with by using your legs for the low
beats), you can get the entire song with just one hand.

"But how?" You ask, "What about the doubles?" Well, for those, I like to use a
little technique called the Forearm Smash. And it goes like...oh, wait...

Forearm Smash - Ahh, much better. Anyway, the forearm smash is done by bending
your elbow 90 degrees so that your forearm is perpendicular with the sensors.
Then, by thrusting your forearm forward, you can get both sensors at once!
Thrust forward at average height to get a high Double, or dip and Forearm Smash
to get a Low Double. If you have an exceptionally long forearm (unlike mine,
alas...) then you can then tip your hand down from the Forearm Smash position to
get one High and one Low, doing a Double Cross! If you are so bodily blessed,
then you can do just about any song with one hand. About the only moves you
really can't do with one hand in that case are the Doubled Ups or Triples. 

Twin Turbo - (Thanks again to Jon Zila, Professional Dancer and City Stomper)
Here, I'll dispense with my usual banter and let Jon Zila tell it like it
is...Hey! Stop cheering!

"On the double crosses, the players can play on each other's sensors, and not
miss a note.  It takes a little practice and requires the two players to agree
on how to execute it before you actually start playing the song.


| o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
| o |   | o |   | o |   | o |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   | o |   | o |   | o |   | o |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
| o |   | o |   | o |   | o |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   | o |   | o |   | o |   | o |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |

If I were first player, and my friend was playing second player, then for the
first double cross, I could play my lower left and his lower left.  And second
player could play his upper right and my upper right.  And the reverse applies
when playing the second double cross.  That trick might take a while to master,
but it is worth the effort.  Keep in mind that depending on what player you are
affects how you you play it. (Imagine playing The Meaning of Life using this
trick.)  As for a name for this trick, once again I leave it up to you. [Ed:
Twin Turbo works nicely, keeps the motif down.]"

Behind-the-Back Passes - (Jon Zila vs. King Kong in the single loss of his
career)

"Certain songs give you the opportunity to turn around and play behind yourself.
The song that comes to mind is Mobo*Moga.  At the end of the song, there is a
part where you play 5 alternating notes in a row, repeated by the same pattern
in blue, then back to red.


| o | o | o | o |
|   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |
|   |   | o |   |
|   | o |   |   |
|   |   | o |   |
|   | o |   |   |
|   |   | o |   |
|   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   | o |
| o |   |   |   |
|   |   |   | o |
| o |   |   |   |
|   |   |   | o |
|   |   |   |   |
|   |   | o |   |
|   | o |   |   |
|   |   | o |   |
|   | o |   |   |
|   |   | o |   |
|   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |

On the blues, you can turn around and play behind yourself, and turn back around
for the last set of red."

The uses of this trick should be obvious - with this you can chat it up with
attractive women or men behind you while continuing to play.

Texas Switch - (Courtesy of Jon Zila, again) 
    
    "Something that I thought of but have yet to try is changing places in the
middle of the song with the other player."


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part VIII: Miscellany
    "All the money in my budget has been completely accounted for...
        100% - Miscellaneous" - The Motley Fool (www.fool.com) Forums
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, against your better judgement, I'm sure, you've made it to the end of the
FAQ! So now that you're here, we may as well get all the FAQ sundries out of the
way:

Do you see a blatant error in this guide that you can quite easily rectify? Have
you got a new trick that really adds to your dance? Do you want to shower me
with praise and adulation? Then e-mail your suggestions and corrections to:

quizmaster@zianet.com

Also, please put "Dance Freaks Guide" or something similar as the subject line.
Let's face it folks, if you send me a tip with the subject "Improve your Home
Mortgage!" I'll probably throw it away.

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    Nearly useless information with little to middling possible use:
    This FAQ contains 63,177 characters, 10,069 lines, and is 26 pages long.
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Sexiest Men and Women in the known universe (i.e. - Contributors)

    Many thanks go out to Lord Odin Zed, who allowed me to use the song
information in his Dance ManiaX 2nd Mix FAQ - because of him, I didn't have to
go to the arcade with a notepad!

    His FAQ can be found at: 
    http://www.gamefaqs.com/coinop/arcade/game/31978.html
    
    A great deal of thanks also go out to Jon Zila, who told me about what
Cross, Straight, and 2-lanes options are for on the Dynamite Dancers Menu. Jon
was also the inspiration behind no less than four tricks!

    An incredible amount of thanks go out to Perimus, who gave me a nice
spreadsheet of pretty much all information of value for each song (Artist, BPM,
Full Combos, etc.) Being an arcade owner, Perimus also gave me the inside track
on Event mode, something I didn't know even existed! Perimus also noted that I
left out the song...um...I don't know what it is, but it's by the group UP and
features fish, as well as noting the "KLON" misspelling.

    You can read all about the misadventures of this reprobate and pick up more
information on all of Konami's Bemani series of games at Perimus's website:
    http://www.teamleapfrog.com

    And of course, I'd like to thank you all for bearing with me and hope that
even if this FAQ taught you nothing, it at least put a smile on your face. So,
thank you. No, not you, you. Yes, you. Thanks.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Legal Information:

This guide is (c) Copyright 2002 T.C. Chavez (alias Quizmaster v.4.0).

This guide is intended for non-commercial use.

Dance Freaks, Dance ManiaX are (c) Copyright 2000-2002 Konami.

T.C. Chavez has no affiliation with Konami. 

Any other copyrighted terms are (c) Copyright their respective owners.

Guide not meant to be taken internally.

Void where prohibited. Void where void. Void to the Dallas Cowboys. Void to
George Latzenby. Void to anyone that called G.I. Joe a doll instead of an action
figure. Void to the couple that hangs out at the coffee shop in excess of 20
hours a week. Void to Branson, Missouri. Void to whoever took the last piece of
pizza. Void if you do not find glasses sexy. Void to basic cable subscribers.
Void to anyone what reads this message.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Did you like this FAQ? You may also like:
    The Perfect Dark Munitions Guide: Learn which end to point towards enemy!
    The Pokemon Puzzle League FAQ: Marvel at descriptions of Combos and Chains!
    The Paper Mario FAQ: Read a half-finished enemy description guide!
    
    All by me, and all at www.GameFAQs.com!
    
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Version History:
    Version 0.1 - Original Release.
        1/23/2k2
    Version 0.2 - Much gussied up better release.
        1/25/2k2
    Version 0.3 - Added the Tricks and the Sightings Section.
        2/04/2k2
    Version 0.4 - Added a few more song descriptions, Tricks, and Game Mechanics
        2/10/2k2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Coming in later editions:

x  How to do tricks!
_  More complete descriptions of each song!
_  Better descriptions of the trials!
_  More self-serving sarcastic banter!
_  Where to find the fairly rare Dance Freaks/ManiaX arcade machines!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Parting Shot:
    "If something should happen to me, all the world's women will greive!"
        - Edgar Rene Figaro, Final Fantasy VI