ParaParaParadise

ParaParaParadise
Developer(s)	Konami
Publisher(s)	Konami
Released	2000
Genre	Rhythm
Mode(s)	Single player, Two Player
Platform(s)	Arcade, Playstation 2
Input methods	5 Infrared sensors; 3 buttons, Dual Shock 2
Arcade cabinet	Unique design
Arcade display	Raster, standard resolution, horizontal

ParaParaParadise (パラパラパラダイス), often abbreviated PPP, is an arcade and Playstation 2 dance game made by the Japanese company Konami and released under the Bemani moniker following the booming Para Para fad.

Gameplay

The arcade game Para Para Paradise features an octagonal platform with motion detecting sensors above it. Players must trigger the sensors by moving their arms (or other body parts) under the sensors when a corresponding arrow reaches the top of the screen placed at the front of the platform. A second cabinet can be hooked up to the PPP machine that has a small 13" LG CRT TV and a DVD player. This DVD player is perfectly synced with the game cabinet and will show the Para Para Allstars dancing to their routines. This allowed people to learn routines outside of home video, clubs, and if the game was before PPP 2nd Mix. PPP 1.1 and above can be linked to a second machine for 2 player mode. The home Playstation 2 version features a USB peripheral, which has five pink "pods" each with three infrared sensors. Each pod can be individually calibrated to accommodate the height of the players arms. There are two game modes that will allow you to practice Para Para dance routines; Para Para mode, featuring arrows corresponding to the routine (all mixes) and an optional dancing girl in the background (in PPP 2nd Mix) showing you how it's done, and Training Mode, a mode that breaks each song into parts (only available on PPP 2nd Mix). For example, Part A of a song consists of 10 seconds. These 10 seconds will first be played before you to show you how it's done, then the same sequence will play again with you being able to activate the sensors to practice the routine. Once the entire song has been played through, the entire song will play in one sitting with you being able to activate the sensors. However, Training Mode costs an entire credit for just one song. There is also Freestyle Mode, which has more arrows for you to "hit" in an attempt to freestyle the song; i.e., dance it as gracefully as possible. Both the Arcade versions and the Home version have the difficulties of Normal, Hard, and Expert. There is also another mode called Another Expert which includes very difficult charts and is limited to a few songs. This has to be unlocked through a series of key presses/sensor waving. The background generally features a CG background that is coordinated with the game. In PPP 2nd Mix, you could choose to have a CG model dance the routine in front of the background in order for you to learn the routine. For the home version, you can choose either to have the psychedelic and cute background animations such as hearts and fireworks or videos of the Para Para Allstars. In addition to that, you can also choose how the videos should be shown, being able to among other things flip the video (so that you won't have to mirror their moves yourself). In both the arcade versions and the home version, you are able to use miscellaneous modifications, like those of the Dance Dance Revolution series. By hitting both arrows (on both versions) on the song selection screen, you will be presented with a menu. You can modify the display (in the arcade version, you can remove the dancing character, in the home version, you can switch the background out for a video of the Para Para Allstars doing the routine of that song, but only in ParaPara mode), the scrolling speed of the arrows, the visibility of the arrows (Hidden, Sudden and both at once) and Random (the arrows will switch positions. For example, all left arrows will become up-arrows, all perpendicular up-left arrows will become right arrows, and so on).

Music

The music used in Para Para Paradise is exclusively fast-paced Eurobeat. The majority of tracks are "true" Para Para tracks from the Avex Trax record label, such as Velfarre 2000, Anniversary and Boom Boom Fire. A portion of the songs are Eurobeat remixes of other Bemani tracks such as CAN'T STOP FALLIN' IN LOVE. There are also two songs that are J-EURO remixes, remixes of J-pop songs (Aishiattemasu and Deluxe, both by Key-A-Kiss). Songs such as Night of Fire have been featured in various iterations of Dance Dance Revolution games and on the soundtrack for Initial D anime.

Internationalization

Due to the lack of popularity in the game, Konami released only four ParaParaParadise games for the Japanese market; three arcade versions along with one version for the PlayStation 2. The Korean version is called ParaParaDancing. It is different in that all of the songs that were in Japanese or mentioned Japan (such as "Ale' Japan", which was in English) were removed and a few new (Korean) songs were thrown in, one of which is a remix of popular Asian artist BoA's "Sara" and four of which are remixes of popular songs by the Korean artists S.E.S. and H.O.T.. "Hold On Me", originally in Japanese, was also covered in the Korean language for this edition. The Korean version also introduces a new feature never seen in the Japanese version; you can choose to switch sensors. Because ParaParaDancing has eight sensors (the normal five plus three in the rear), you can now change the position of the sensors. You can choose to flip the sensor use to the left side, right side or to behind you, making it possible to play the game while facing away from the screen for nifty Freestyling and ParaPara'ing routines. The cost of all of this was the dancing 3D characters in the background (although the resolution of the background animations are much higher than in that of the Japanese version).

Emulation and simulation

The developers of MAME have been working on a way to emulate the arcade machine on a computer.

StepMania has PPP simulation mode. Current CVS version (and upcoming 4.0 release) can use infrared sensors that Konami supplied with PPP game for PlayStation 2. Simfiles, however, are few and far between. ParaParaParadise 1st and 2nd Mix CHDs (Compressed Hunks of Data) and ROMs for MAME have been successfully dumped, although emulation is currently not finished.

External links

• PPP emulator - An emulated game of ParaParaParadise.