ParaParaParadise

Forget everything you have seen in Dance Dance Revolution, Dance Maniax, or Beatmania!!! ParaParaParadise (literally) breaks all boundaries in dancing/rhythm games by putting the player square in the middle of an infrared cage and letting him/her loose on a variety of dancing tunes. Select a song, then go wild trying to break each beam in time to the music. Succeed, and you can continue; fail, and you will have to step down.

Step into the center of the octagon, select a song, and using your arms (reccomended, but not crucial) to break the beams to register hits in tune to the notes on-screeen. Do well enough and you can continue on.

Sometimes, a dance will have a "hold" (indicated by a line going down from the arrow), meaning that once you move your arm in the correct direction, you need to hold it there until the end of the line, at which point you can withdraw the arm. With one arm held in place like this, it makes having to continue the dance with the other arm that much more challenging.

• Expert mode - Go all the way to the right when choosing difficulty (Hard), and hold the right selection button down for two seconds until it moves past Hard to Expert.
• Nonstop (perform several songs in a row with no break in-between) - When choosing a song, go until you see a box like no other (this box will have all Japanese text and a large pink background). This is Nonstop where you get to choose three more songs to play all in a row.
• Secret menu - When choosing a song, hold down the left selection button and the right selection button for two seconds. A secret menu will pop up. There are five items, each of them a simple On/Off button that is toggled by hitting the start button:
  1. Hi-Speed - Doubles the speed of the rising arrows, similar to "Fast" in Dance Dance Revolution Solo Mix.
  2. Mirror - flips the left and right sides (left/up-left, and right/up-right), just like Beatmania, Beatmania IIDX, and Dance Dance Revolution
  3. Random - Like "Shuffle" mode in Dance Dance Revolution (random arrows). It makes things more difficult! Song parts that have sweeping motions do not seem to be affected by this, though. Also, you cannot have both Shuffle and Mirror on at the same time.
  4. Hidden - Same as Dance Dance Revolution, where the arrows disappear partway up the screen.
  5. Sudden - Same as Dance Dance Revolution (arrows appear partway up the screen.) There's no smooth fade-in of the arrows, though -- they just appear/disappear as they pass the middle of the screen.
• Stealth - Not an official 'mode' but just like with Beatmania, if you switch on 'Hidden' and 'Sudden' this will make the arrows invisible for the 'stealth' mode.

ParaParaParadise is the first Bemani dancing game to introduce the "hold" instruction that is later featured in Dance Dance Revolution 6th Mix - DDR MAX.

While Dance Dance Revolution was based on 'nightclub dancing' or 'rave' or similar styles, and Beatmania, Beatmania IIDX, and Beatmania III were based on a DJ's turntable, ParaParaParadise was based on Japanese 'ParaPara' dancing, which was big in Japan in the 70's. Videos of 'how-to' can be found if you look hard enough in Japan, but chances are it is pretty rare to find one these days!

Also, in the latest addition to the beatmania IIDX family, beatmania IIDX 6th Style, ParaParaParadise is the name of one of the selectable tracks you can play, and just by listening there's no doubt about it that it would not be out of place here!

Interestingly, Korean versions of the game have begun appearing in prominent US arcades.

Features an octagonal area for the player to stand in.