why did konami stop the 6 panel?

Mostly_Harmless · Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 9:30 am Post subject: why did konami stop the 6 panel?

Hi guys I read this site and fourms a few times a day and this is my first post...I was wondering why none of the new ddr games dont have the 6 panel solo mode, it looks like alot of fun and I have been looking everywhere for DDR Konamix but its so hard to find, i was wondering if anyone here has tried the 6 panel and wanted to know what it was like, i would believe it would be fairly confusing for those fast runs. thx guys

Da-Risin-Smoke · Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 10:19 am Post subject:

Because I guess it wasn't very popular.
DDR Solo wasn't a good mix as I thought it would be.

Besides, there's PIU.
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videoCWK! · Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 12:24 pm Post subject:

PIU sucks. I have Konamix. 6 Panel Mode is OK.

Synaesthesia · Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 12:30 pm Post subject:

Joel Stud?! · Trick Member Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Location: The ILSTU

I can understand not having it in the arcade... after all that requires different pads or a different machine altogether. But at home it's something fun and different, and not that many people have pads without corner arrows.

UTOPIA · Trick Member Joined: 22 Jan 2006 Location: Levittown, NY

Sure 6 pannel may seem a little wierd, but that doesn't mean its DEAD. I mean my arcade used to have DDR 4th mix SOLO before it got ITG2, and Stepmania still gives you the option to make 6 pannel steps for your songs. And its true that Konamix was the only game that featured that but keep in mind that Konamix took the 4th mix theme, which at the time is when SOLO came out with its own DDR version, and then the two merged together to make DDR 4th mix SOLO and 4th mix SOLO plus.

Besides, 6 pannel isn't the only pannel that was invented. Ever heard of 3 pannel? I honestly don't know how that works out since this site doesn't have pics for the 3 pannel stepchart, lol.
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Wakka Lakka · Trick Member Joined: 12 Mar 2005

You might as well as why did you continue to buy DDR when 6-panel was discontinued. It takes quite a bit of cash to develop 6-pannel stepcharts for every song, for every difficulty, and playtest them all. Konami at some point decided that the business case for keeping it around wasn't there. They probably spent the money on something else which they believed would bring in more sales (liscenses to more top-40 pop songs I would guess).

Mostly_Harmless · Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 6:10 pm Post subject:

awwwww its such a shame 6 panel is gone for good i really wanted to try it out. I had no idead it was that expensive to make step charts for that. But I do wonder if dance games are going to evolve into 9 panel games much like PIU (but only with 4 more panels)because the sight reading is so much easier red for top yellow middle blue bottom, but the only problem with PIU to me is that you don't get the luxury of having different colored arrows to tell you what kind of beat it gets, anyway thanks for all your opinions guys =)

Synaesthesia · Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 6:44 pm Post subject:

It isn't; Wakka Lakka is likely just taking shots in the dark. I would think that 6-panel cabinets were more expensive to produce. That's a practical possiblity; another is that they just didn't think it was that great of an idea.
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videoCWK! · Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 7:01 pm Post subject:

Wakka Lakka · Trick Member Joined: 12 Mar 2005

Yeah a lot of people have a misconception about the cost of software development. I just ran through some estimates and for 70 songs and 3 levels of difficulty it would cost around $400,000 if you paid the designer of the charts a $50K salary and the playtester a $25K salary. This is assuming the playterter can test 1 song a day and the designer takes 2 days per chart - and taxes and utilities aren't too expensive. No shots in the dark here Synaesthesia, I do this for a living and I wouldn't bid it a cent under $400K. Perhaps stepcharts don't thake 2 days a piece though.

Tyrgannus · Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 7:24 pm Post subject:

I can make 5 well thought out stepcharts per day.

I can make 50 crap stepcharts that I just threw together, but no one wants to play those so who cares...

Ya, 5 a day isn't too bad. Remember, 8 hour work day. 1.6 hours per chart.
That's 96 minutes.
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Julie QQQ...? · Trick Member Joined: 07 Jun 2002 Location: Boston, MA

6-panel was awkward feeling, bizarre, and had a weird learning curve. That, and with a Solo machine, you couldn't have your friends equally embarrass themselves simultaneously. Still, it was great fun.

Solo Bass was an awful mix, save a few songs, with no option to play 4-panel. Solo2K was alright, but the timing window was huge (you could also play 3-panel; fun and easy stuff... so were the nonstop megamixes). I remember there used to be a ton of Solo2k machines around, before the big controversy back in 2002-2003 over the nurse riding the syringe with the drug-like pills flying around in the background. Many arcades opted to rid themselves of their Solo2K's after that, and after Konami stopped really caring about 6-panel, it just faded out of the spotlight and into DDR history, making oldschool people like me quite nostalgic when thinking about it

Synaesthesia · Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 8:46 pm Post subject:

Wakka Lakka · Trick Member Joined: 12 Mar 2005

It is a high estimate for where I live (unless its Tyrgannus who turns out stepcharts like a madman and commands a lofty salary) But it really doesn't matter because most of the '400K' figure is paid to insurance companies, the government, mortgage lenders (for the facilities), utilities, and the computers/software/networks anyway. I do agree that my figures are probably high but they are in the ballpark. Even if it's 200K, that could get a liscense or two and unfortunately that will fly much better with the bean counters than an additional mode of play for the more hardcore fans. Its the same reason DDR doesn't have 11-13 footers, and the same reason that DDR never re-wrote the engine to handle triplets (despite the trivial nature of the programming involved).

UTOPIA · Trick Member Joined: 22 Jan 2006 Location: Levittown, NY

Cluny · Trick Member Joined: 22 Nov 2005

Hey Utopia, do ya think you could maybe change your text style? It's kinda annoying.

videoCWK! · Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 4:57 am Post subject:

unlucky911 · Trick Member Joined: 15 Feb 2005 Location: Philippines

hi. i've tried out solo at home and in the arcade. we had 4th mix plus once. i sucked at 6-panel and the arcade machine wasn't really good so i often end up failing in the middle of the first song i play. 6-panel mode is best at home i guess. i've passed a few songs in the home versions but it didn't really get me enthusiastic about playing 6 on the arcade. i wonder how it would be like to have a 6-panel MAX or PARANOiA Survivor. I guess it would be a challenge. well, Stepmania's the only way to go.

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Mostly_Harmless · Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 7:13 am Post subject:

wow it seems like 6 panel dosen't seem to be so hot, but it seeems like I made a little mistake about wondering if dance game will evolve to 9 panel because they alredy exist in the arcade! Not in the USA but there was a game I came across on a web site called "Techno Motion" both pads have 9 panels and you can do an 18 panel ganme for doubles. The game came out in 2000 in Japan, i tried getting videos of what the gameplay looked like but they don't seem to be availible on the web

Dose anyone know what im talking about or has at least tried it, thanks guys =)