Pump It Up (video game series)

Home versions

Andamiro released home versions of Pump it Up for PCs, coming with a CD containing the game and a special dance mat, with arrows of the same size as the arcade's pads. On Korean versions, the mat is connected through the PS/2 port, and comes with an adapter to share it with the keyboard. On international versions, the mat uses a USB plug. Exceed and Zero were also released for the PlayStation Portable.

On November 11, 2004, Andamiro released the Korean version of Pump It Up: Exceed on the PlayStation 2, which includes most of the songs from the arcade Exceed version. An American version of the game was released on August 31, 2005 for the Xbox and PlayStation 2 under the title Pump It Up Exceed SE This version includes most of the songs from the Korean PS2 version and six US licensed songs, as well as revivals and removals from Exceed 2. Exceed SE also uses the updated engine from Exceed 2.

Andamiro by March 27, 2018, released a teaser screenshot for the mobile version of the game, Pump It Up M. Beta testing for the game is now over (by March 30, 2018).

Pump it Up can be simulated by the programs Kick It Up, Direct Move, StepMania.

Reception for Exceed SE

Pump It Up Exceed SE was met with mixed to average reviews upon release. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Xbox version of Exceed SE 77.06% based on 16 reviews and 74/100 based on 9 reviews and the PlayStation 2 version of Exceed SE 74.47% based on 34 reviews and 73/100 based on 28 reviews.

Difficulty

The numeric difficulty system in the 2015 Prime

The steps for the various levels of difficulty available for a particular song are ranked using a scale, the format of which varies from version to version. Early games had difficulty ranked by "Station" with all songs on a station having the same difficulty. Stations became ways to select song types in Pump it Up Zero and then became ways to select different game modes after the New Xenesis series. Some stations are meant for more advanced players despite hosting a selection of difficulties inside of them. For example, the Music Train, World Max and Mission stations are often for advanced players while Arcade or the Easy station are for general players.

Before Exceed was released, the difficulty for all game modes ranged from 1 to 10, with the exception of "Vook", a song introduced on The Premiere 2, which was level 12 on Double mode. Level 1 was the easiest song available at that difficulty while level 10 was reserved for the most difficult. With Exceed's debut all levels were reworked into a unified range from 1 to 10 for most modes, up to level 15 for Crazy mode and ranging as high as 20 for Nightmare mode. Successive games have resulted in higher level ranges for all song difficulties as well as an overall higher maximum difficulty cap for Nightmare Mode.

Exceed 2 added the infamous "????" rating for unusually difficult songs. This level is often referred to as "unrated". Many unrated songs are more difficult than the allowed maximum. All "another" rated songs given a level of "??" in Exceed 2. Later games have most "another" step songs show a numeric difficulty instead of question marks. Unrated songs often feature gimmicks, experimental charts, or are not made to be beaten by a single player and are not recommended for the average player. Another rating charts vary in difficulty and can be easy, however, they are typically harder than the regular chart of the song at a similar level.

Early games up to Zero and including the New Xenesis series showed the levels via icons. These games use a star scale to measure the lower levels, which goes up to 8 in half increments (for a maximum level of 16). The higher levels are measure by a skull scale which goes up to 8 in whole increments. On NX2 and NX Absolute, the difficulty scale is modified with a line of circles that go up to 8 in whole increments. Higher difficulties replace these circles with stars and even higher difficulties replace the stars with skulls.

Starting with Fiesta, the Normal / Hard / Crazy / Freestyle / Nightmare modes are replaced by prefixing the difficulty level before the difficulty number. Another difficulty charts are placed among the regular charts for the song and are prefixed with "Another" instead of a difficulty level, though this was removed between Fiesta and Prime.

Modifiers

Since the first release, all game modes accept modifiers which are enabled by using special codes inputted by rapidly stepping on the game pad. The effects vary from speeding arrows up, changing the design of the arrows all together, making them fade as they go up, or making them appear in random places instead of their pre-defined column (while still being on the same beat).

Most players after a starting period get used to applying the modifiers to make arrows faster which makes them more spaced out. All songs have a default speed of 2x. It is also possible to decrease the arrow speed. Using modifiers a matter of personal preferences even though the increased speed options are very popular, especially at higher levels where there are many arrows on the screen at once.

The most popular step codes for the specific version are contained on a sticker affixed to the machine. If a player has a PumBi drive inserted, their preferred modifiers are automatically saved and will be applied to every song until the player changes their modifier settings.

Modes

Station select in the NX Absolute

Games before Pump it Up Zero used the Station select to choose the game's difficulty. Later games use the Station Select screen to choose the game mode.

"Easy Station" or "Basic Mode" is the default mode on all games starting with Pump it Up Fiesta. In this mode, song difficulties are color coded to help identify harder songs. Blue songs are the easiest, yellow songs are normal, red songs represent hard ones, and purple for very hard ones, while green color is showing a difficulty for Double mode. To leave Easy mode the player can enter the "FULL MODE" command, insert a flash drive containing user data or use an AM.PASS card (from PRIME 2). The Pro series also supports mission mode, music train and the regular arcade game once out of easy mode.^[1]

"Arcade Station" or "Full Mode" is for players familiar with the game. In this mode the player may access hundreds of songs not available in Basic Mode. The screen also changes to show the traditional difficulty modes and colors. If a thumb drive containing user data is inserted or an AM.PASS card is used to login, high scores are saved for later use and the machine will display local high scores after each song. These scores are uploaded to the Andamiro website to join in the global rankings.^[2]

"Special Zone" or "Rank Mode" is an extra hard mode for machines connected to the Internet that requires a thumb drive with user data (for PRIME and later) or an AM.PASS card (for PRIME 2) to access. This mode allows players to test themselves in stricter conditions, with timing windows stricter than in Full Mode, inability to disable (or dim) the background clip, and inevitable failure when player lifebar reaches zero, despite the machine settings. Songs in this mode are starting at level 13 and lower ones can't be played in it. All points scored in this mode are recorded on the Andamiro website in players personal profile, saving total score gathered along with separate scores for Single and Double charts.^[3]

"Music Train" mode was introduced in Pump It Up Fiesta. Music trains are pre-selected courses where multiple songs play continuously. Many music trains feature a unique theme or gimmick to them, catering to advanced players. Pump It Up PRIME 2 introduced the "Random Train" mode, where tracks are randomly chosen from player-defined difficulty bracket.^[4]

"Skill Up Zone", "Mission Zone" or "Quest Zone" is unlocked by inserting a USB drive into the machine. Mission Mode presents new goals for advanced players to meet which can be as simple as a different step pattern to a familiar song or as complex as modifications to the game's interface. When a player attempts or clears a mission, they are granted EXP (experience points) to advance further in the mode. The mode was expanded into the World Tour mode on NX, and the RPG-styled WorldMax on NX2.

Battle Mode appeared on "Pump it Up 2nd DF". The player with higher score would win the battle. On Perfect Collection and The Premiere, a player could "attack" their opponent with modifiers by creating combos, with longer combos results in more damaging attacks. On Exceed 2 there are extra bonus arrows containing power ups activated by action steps that come up later which launches the attack. The battle could be decided in only 1 song in most cases. Stage Break does not affect this mode.

Division Mode, appearing on Premiere 2 and Rebirth, utilized special stepcharts with "switches" that could switch between a "Groove" style (for freestyling), and a "Wild" style for more advanced charts.

Half-Double, appearing on Premiere 2 and Rebirth and remaining until Premiere 3 and Prex 3, was a mode which only used the 6 panels in the middle (both centers plus the right arrow pair on the 1p side and the left arrow pair on the 2p side).

Nonstop Remix Mode or Long Cut Mode: longer club mixes of several songs, and sometimes even long versions of existing songs.

Training Station was introduced in NX, and consists of special tutorials themed on various fundamentals of play. Lessons consist of 3 songs with special stepcharts emphasizing the theme of the lesson.

Brain Shower was introduced in NXA. It is a new type of game that combines traditional timing of steps and arrows with mental exercises including mathematics, observation, and memory.

Improvements across versions

The first series title was Pump It Up 1st Dance Floor, released by Korean coin-operated machine developer Andamiro in October 1999 for the arcade. This game introduced the series first in-house musician BanYa, the South Korean band working with Andamiro to compose original songs as well as a selection of popular K-pop and dance songs.^[7] All versions between this one and Pump It Up Zero simply added new songs and new steps. If a game is not noted in this section, then that game simply introduced new songs with few noteworthy changes.

Pump It Up Zero for the arcade and PlayStation Portable was released in 2006. Zero contained a brand new interface, now featuring previews of background videos and the ability for two players to play on separate difficulties. Zero also contained the Easy Station, a mode containing a modified interface and a selection of easy songs. The Mission Station contained sets of songs played with specific conditions that must be met when they are played - such as getting a specific amount of a judgement for instance.

Zero also introduced the "Another" step chart difficulty. Another Step songs are not entirely new songs. Rather, they are songs with steps which differ from their original counterparts drastically with some being very experimental in nature.^[8] Another Step songs are not given a specific category and are listed with the regular charts for each song. Generally the difficulty of Another charts range from easy to extremely hard, with some songs being impossible to complete without a second player.^[9] This has remained a standard feature in later games.

Pump It Up New Xenesis, or NX, was released later in 2006 with new tracks and a mode with nonstop remixes. The channel arrangement on NX was altered, now featuring a default channel containing all 29 new Arcade Station songs. NX is World Tour was a new series of missions for Mission mode named after capital cities of various nations throughout the world as well as after the developers of NX at Nexcade. It consists of a group of 64 missions of three songs each, all with unique step charts containing various challenges such as passing a song, or completing a song with specific conditions or goals to accomplish.

The Remix Station from Zero had been changed to the Special Zone: an area containing nonstop remixes, long versions of songs, and Another mode songs. All of Pump it Up Zero's Another songs have also been moved to the Special Zone. Most of the unlocks, however, depend on playing through World Tour mode. In addition, a new cabinet style has been added to the lineup featuring a futuristic design and a 42' plasma display. Yahpp, who split from the BanYa team, became the project lead leading to a style similar to the early games.

Unlike in earlier games the difficulty level of a song in NX is not visually represented by a number. Levels 1 through 14 are shown as star icons, each level corresponding to a half icon, while levels from 15 to 22 are shown as skull icons, with each level corresponding to a whole icon. Pump It Up NX2 displays both the stars/skulls and a digital level indicator. The Extra and the Prex series of games also use this graphical style. A "????????" rating is given to songs that are "beyond the charts", gimmick charts that are meant to be impossible for one player, or charts that are meant for two players at the same time. The "????????" rating was kept for extreme songs in later games outside of this series.

NX 2 released in 2008 added support for Andamiro's proprietary USB flash drives, which save player progress and worldwide ranking. A new metagame life system was introduced that allows players to play four songs instead of three if they have life left at the end of three songs. Getting an A ranking or higher allows the player to maintain their life points, however, anything lower than an A will cost the player life points. If a player does especially poorly their set will be reduced to only two songs.

The Fiesta or 10th Anniversary Edition in 2010 added two new mission modes (Quest and Skill Up) and removed difficulty levels in favor of chart options. The sequels Fiesta 2 (2012) and Prime (2014) feature a wide selection of music with Prime introducing the global Rank Mode.^[8]

The Pro/Infinity series

Pump It Up Pro was released by Fun in Motion and Andamiro in 2007. The product is a spin-off of Pump It Up, and was developed separately from the main series with the intent of getting players who normally play 4-panel dance games to try 5-panel dancing.^[10] The game utilizes a heavily modified build of StepMania 4 for its engine and was purchasable as a cabinet or as an upgrade for existing Pump It Up machines running MK6 or MK7 hardware.

Kyle Ward is the project lead and is responsible for many of the songs and step charts in this series.^[11] Many elements of the game are inherited from In the Groove, a four-panel dance game which Kyle Ward was previously involved with, such as the ability to save stats and song edits on a USB flash drive. Andamiro built cabinets for and distributed In the Groove 2.

The Pro series is also unique among Pump it Up games due to its trademark style. These are the first games led by a non-Korean project head. The good will fostered by Kyle Ward working with Andamiro to create cabinets for In the Groove 2 led to him being given a position within the company as a project creator, lead, and creative consultant.^[10]

The default mode is Easy mode, which offers a simplified user interface where a minimal number of options are selectable and the most difficult songs have been removed.^[12] The Revision 5 patch added Half Double mode as a difficulty which uses the 6 panels on the inside of the pad layout excluding the outer corners from play. Pump It Up Pro does not contain a separate mode for remixes and long versions, the long songs and remixes present on Pro are present in regular play, and require two rounds to play. In place of a Remix mode is Progressive, a mode containing courses consisting of four songs each. A sequel was released in 2010.

Pump It Up Infinity (2013) was intended as a reboot of the original Pro idea and introduces a "Basic mode" to encourage new players.^[13] Infinity features songs from all Pump It Up versions, including the spinoff series Pump It Up Pro and Pump It Up Pro 2.^[12]

Mobile version

From the official teaser screenshot, the mobile version or known as Pump It Up M introduces some new features that is only exclusive for this version such as training mode, scout, and in-game shop menu. The leaked screenshot also reveals some Prime songs on the game that maybe refer to the default songlist of the game.^[14]