Digital Dance Mix Vol. 1 Namie Amuro

Digital Dance Mix Vol. 1 Namie Amuro is a music game that is composed of three main game modes:

In "Digital Dance", the player watches a performance of either "Chase the Chance" or "You're My Sunshine", featuring choreography performed by a digital model of Amuro.^[1] The player may customize the type of stage and Amuro's outfit, with five stages and six costumes available to choose from.^[2] During the performance, the player may adjust the position and zoom of the in-game camera to observe the choreography from any angle.^[3][4] The camera may be programmed to follow a specific part of the model, such as the head or chest.^[5] The speed of the song can also be changed.^[6]

"Sing It" is a karaoke mode in which lyrics are displayed onscreen and the volume of Amuro's vocals is lowered so the player may sing along to the track. Players can freely stop, play, or rewind the song to practice.^[2][6]

The "Presents" mode features four simple minigames themed around Amuro.^[2][4] "Chase the Dance" is a rhythm game in which button inputs must be pressed in time with the song. "Sweet 16 Cards" is a card-matching memory game. "Door my Sunshine" is a simple puzzle game where players must assemble a door from puzzle pieces. "A Walk In The Maze" is a maze game in which players must guide a monkey through a maze to reach Amuro.^[7][6] A brief profile of Amuro's biographical information and a summary of her discography up to 1996 can also be viewed.^[2][6]

Digital Dance Mix Vol. 1 Namie Amuro was developed by Sega AM2.^[8] The game was produced by Yu Suzuki, who explained that its concept originated from the Virtua Fighter CG Portrait series that AM2 had developed beginning in 1995, which featured still images of 3D modeled characters. The developers wanted to create a more interactive title that would allow players to adjust the camera.^[7] Suzuki further described it as music software that was "a step forward" from traditional CDs and DVDs.^[9]

Namie Amuro performed motion capture work for the game to produce its animations and choreography, and she personally selected the lineup of costumes that would be included.^[9] According to Suzuki, Amuro was chosen to be featured as she was the most popular artist in Japan at the time.^[5] At Amuro's request, her choreographer created a new dance routine for "Chase the Chance" that she specially performed for use in the game.^[7][5] The motion capture process was based on wireless technology AM2 had previously developed to create animations for Virtua Fighter 3 (1996).^[7] The virtual model of Amuro, one of the most technically advanced and detailed models in a Saturn game, was created by scanning her face to create a 3D image that became the base of the model.^[7][3] Amuro was very impressed with the game's accurate recreation of her choreography.^[10][1] The dance performances are rendered in real time at 60 frames per second.^[3][5] The music was originally composed and arranged by Tetsuya Komuro for Amuro's second studio album Sweet 19 Blues (1996); Komuro was correspondingly credited as a composer for the game.^[6]

Video editing for the game's pre-recorded music videos was handled by editor Shūichi Kakesu, who was previously known for working with director Mamoru Oshii on the anime film Ghost in the Shell (1995) and had been introduced to Suzuki at a trade event.^[11] Kakesu was provided with five of Amuro's promotional videos, which he edited into two new videos that were three minutes long each. While he was new to the video game industry, Kakesu was interested in working on the game as he believed the 3D animation technology developed for video games had the potential to impact anime and filmmaking productions.^[11] A new implementation of the TrueMotion video compression codec was used to render the videos. A TrueMotion engineer wrote it specifically for AM2 in response to criticism that video playback on the Saturn was inferior to other hardware; it allowed for enhanced playback that was superior to previous Saturn games.^[7]

Digital Dance Mix Vol. 1 Namie Amuro was released in Japan on 10 January 1997.^[15][16][17] The game was sold exclusively through convenience store chains in Japan, including Seven-Eleven, FamilyMart, Circle K, Sunkus, and Shikoku Spar.^[9][7] It was made available at over 16,000 stores at launch.^[10] Although the game was formally published by Sega, distribution at convenience stores was handled by DigiCube.^[2] A Sega representative stated in an April 1997 interview that the company chose to distribute the game through DigiCube "based on the content of the software" and that it was not developed specifically for release at convenience stores.^[18]

Coverage of the game in Western media was limited due to its Japan-only release, and publications generally viewed it as a curiosity that was unlikely to be localized internationally. Game Players characterized it as part of a new wave of "twisted" Japanese music games alongside PaRappa the Rapper (1996),^[19] while GamePro and Computer and Video Games commented on the atypical convenience store release strategy.^[20][21] GameFan noted the realistic motion-captured movement of Amuro's model, and wrote that "console game machines appear to be becoming the stage for singers".^[22] British magazine Mean Machines Sega, describing the title as "a concert sim", opined that "Digital Dance Mix has about a 0.005% chance of coming out in this country".^[23] Similarly, Computer and Video Games believed that "there's hardly any chance of it being released in the UK, unless Sega can persuade the Spice Girls to have a go".^[24]

In January 1998, Edge reported that a version of Digital Dance Mix Vol. 1 Namie Amuro for the Panasonic M2 had been showcased at the Digitalmedia World Expo trade event in November 1997. However, the port was never released due to the cancellation of the M2 platform.^[25]

Digital Dance Mix Vol. 1 Namie Amuro was not considered a commercial success.^[15] It sold 49,186 copies in its first week of release, placing number 2 in the Famitsu Top 30 for week 2 in 1997.^[26] Sales reached 100,000 copies by April 1997,^[3] and 116,553 copies by November 1997.^[27] The game received generally mixed to poor reviews.^[15] Praise was directed to the detailed model of Namie Amuro, while criticism focused on the game's lack of interactivity and its small amount of content, with only two songs included.

Writing for Game Criticism [ja], Wataru Hayashimura praised the technical achievement of making the game for the Saturn, and speculated that it might lead to a port of Virtua Fighter 3 for the system. However, he criticized the dance animations for seeming stiff and robotic, and unfavorably compared the game's animation and use of music to PaRappa the Rapper. Hayashimura ultimately considered Digital Dance Mix "an experiment that should really be conducted on a desk".^[28]

In an unscored review, the Japanese Sega Saturn Magazine stated that the game's content "seemed to still be in the planning stages" and wished that there was more interactivity in the gameplay.^[11] Hungarian magazine 576 Kbyte praised the high-resolution model of Amuro but called the game "a video clip emulator" and considered it to not have lasting appeal.^[29] The English Sega Saturn Magazine lauded Amuro's model and the game's high framerate, but panned the minigames. The publication deemed the title "spectacularly without point" for anyone other than fans of Amuro and wrote that it was "very expensive considering what it offers".^[3]

Retrospective commenters have identified Digital Dance Mix as a precursor to other music and rhythm games,^[13] including Bust a Groove (1998),^[30][31] Space Channel 5 (1999),^[32] and the Hatsune Miku: Project Diva series.^[16]

• Namie Amuro discography