Perhaps the most noticeable changes in DDR Extreme are the extra stage and the updated green color scheme.

Players can pick their own song to try to pass the extra stage, including "The Legend of Max".

Pressing the left and right buttons simultaneously unlocks the Series, Alphabetical, Beats-per-minute, Player-best and Default sort orders.

Also, players lose more of the dance gauge bar for each missed step as they progress further along each song.

In the arcade version, each player begins with four lives, and loses a life for breaking a combo (getting a judgment of "Good" or inferior) or letting go of a freeze arrow.

The judgment uses a stricter timing window than Perfect, representing very accurate steps made by players.

In the arcade release of DDR Extreme, no visual indicates that a song has Challenge step patterns.

DDR Extreme uses a slightly different rule for Extra Stage, although the basic principle remains the same.

However, the player can choose any song for Extra Stage, though the regular ES modifiers (1.5x (speed), Reverse (scroll), Heavy (difficulty), No Recovery dance meter) still used.

A type of food is assigned to each arrow and players must step on the one that best matches the animal being displayed on screen.

A special difficulty appears during song select that lets players play with their hands and feet at the same time.

Players shake palm trees with their movement and attempt to catch all the falling coconuts.

The banners are displayed at the top of screen with the Foot Ratings listed below in the center of the wheel.

The North American release features a total of 71 songs, of which 41 are from the arcade version.

[citation needed] The official soundtrack was released on Toshiba EMI's Dancemania series of albums and contains two discs.

Prior to the release of this code DDR fan groups who had read the contents of the game disc and noticed the song believed its absence to be a last minute change or a glitch.

It was announced in a press release by Konami on May 17, 2005, and unveiled at the E3 expo in Los Angeles that same day.

The game includes 74 songs, 50 of which are unlocked through normal play or through points earned in Dance Master Mode.

The official music video for Block Rockin' Beats appears in Dancing Stage Unleashed 3.

It received a runner-up position in GameSpot's 2004 "Best Puzzle/Rhythm Game" award category across all platforms, losing to Katamari Damacy.

DDR Extreme Clarity improves upon Pro by adding Slow and Fast timing indicators,[8] a feature only available at the operator's discretion beginning with Dance Dance Revolution X2, and only available with an e-Amusement membership since the 2014 release of DDR.