Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 2

***Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 2***, later released as ***Dance Dance Revolution Furu Furu Party*** (ダンスダンスレボリューション フルフル♪パーティー, *Dansu Dansu Reboryūshon Furu Furu Pātī*) in Japan, was announced by Konami on May 15, 2008 as part of the 10th anniversary of *Dance Dance Revolution* celebration. *Hottest Party 2* features the same gameplay as the first Hottest Party and introduces new gameplay modes, gimmicks, characters and graphical enhancements. The game also features an all-new soundtrack featuring licensed music from the past four decades as well as new Konami Originals. Hottest Party 2 was released on September 16, 2008 in North America. A teaser site for the Japanese release was launched on December 9, 2008 featuring new gameplay footage from the game.

## Development

*Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 2* was announced on May 15, 2008 alongside *Dance Dance Revolution Universe 3* and *Dance Dance Revolution X* by Konami on the DDR Online Community website as part of Game Day 2008. A sequel to the 2007 *Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party*, Hottest Party 2 features many improvements. Konami promises an entirely new soundtrack featuring music from the "last four decades", more innovative Wii Remote and Nunchuk support, four-player multiplayer and brand new gameplay modes. Hottest Party 2 features a difficulty range that allows both new players and seasoned dancers to enjoy the game. Mii support will be added to the game, allowing players to incorporate their Mii avatars onto the dance floor. Courses, a mode featured in the mainstream *Dance Dance Revolution* series, will be introduced on the Wii for the first time. Dance gimmicks such as Triple Stomp and Dance N' Defend Battle Mode will add new dynamics to the standard gameplay. New dancing characters will be introduced and the dancers will show off realistic dance moves that players can watch and practice in special mode. New dancing stages with greater detail will be added to the game, more than 50 total environments for the characters to dance in. Konami also announced a sample of the music to be included in Hottest Party 2, including covers of "Black or White" by Michael Jackson, Umbrella" by Rihanna, "We Got the Beat" by The Go-Go's, and the inclusion of Justice's D.A.N.C.E. A teaser trailer and a series of gameplay screenshots were released by Konami alongside the announcement.

On August 1, 2008 The *Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 2* teaser website was updated with a new trailer revealing additional information about the upcoming game, alongside the new song "Into Your Heart", by series producer Naoki Maeda. The updated dancers with new dance moves are featured, along with the detailed stages featuring club style lighting, video walls and live crowds, new gimmicks that shrink the size of the on-screen arrows to varying degrees, the first appearance of Training Mode on the Wii, Dance N' Defend Battle Mode in action and the 360 degree dancing character viewer.

## Gameplay

Gameplay remains relatively unchanged from the original game, as players must step on the marked arrows on a dance pad controller, or wave their Wii Remote or Nunchuck when the corresponding arrow or hand marker passes through a set of static arrows on-screen to the beat of a song. When played with the Wii Remote, a separate "hand combo" attached to the lifebar increases if the player can keep the beat of the song with the controller while in play. These hand combos can add a bonus to the player's score when a hand marker is eventually reached.

New modes on Hottest Party 2 include a battle mode and the "Groove Arena", an updated version of Groove Circuit from the previous version. As with the previous game, songs can also contain special "gimmick" arrows with unique behaviors. New arrow gimmicks on *Hottest Party 2* include arrows that rebound when hit and must be hit three times in order for them to fully disappear, and arrows that only appear suddenly.