DDR A Update: RINON’S ADVENTURE II, Level Indicator, and Timing Shift: A Happy Accident?

The most recent update for DDR A (2017052600) introduced a bunch of new changes and content. RINON’S ADVENTURE continues into its second phase, bringing us Challenge mode charts for Come to Life (SP/DP 18), Emera (SP/DP 17), and Start a New Day (SP/DP 16); all of which were previous EXTRA EXCLUSIVE songs.

Additionally, the update adds a new level indicator that shows the numerical difficulty of the current song being played. A very surprising, but generally welcome update. Although, this feature may or may not have been pushed out too soon.

A less obvious, but more controversial change, is the shift in the visual offset affecting only the newer white DDR cabinets. Since this update, the arrows flash when stepped on slightly more past the targets. While this does not affect the time you need to step to the music, players will need to step visually later than before. Many players have said that they needed to step on the arrows before they reached the targets to get a Marvelous anyway due to input and visual latency, so this change makes players feel like they are stepping more visually on time with the targets. Compare the difference between before and after the update. The change in visual timing was apparently unintentional, and will possibly be reversed in a later update.

And finally, the latest change found in the update was the removal of Challenge-only songs when playing without an eAMUSEMENT pass. This includes the Nonstop Megamix songs from DDRMAX2, the Groove Radar Specials from SuperNOVA 2, and the X-Specials from DDR X. While this change may seem questionable as it locks out content for casual players, it actually makes a lot of sense. People who are playing for the first time or have little knowledge of the game will generally not know of and will not seek out these charts. They are likely out of their desired skill range. People who will continue to play DDR A on a regular basis will most likely already have an eAMUSEMENT pass. Casual players, to their benefit, will no longer know the fear of accidentally choosing DEAD END(“GROOVE RADAR” Special) instead of the original DEAD END.