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I don't have DDR, but I play it at my friends house all the time and it's awesome. I'm pretty good, but my friend is better. I think we played SuperNova II.

I think most players would agree that the japanese versions of either DDR Extreme or DDR SuperNOVA 2 are the best.  Extreme had over 100 songs, including a bunch of awesome revivals.  And it has Max. (period) which only appeared on that game.  And SuperNOVA 2 has the Pluto songs, some great revivals, and an awesome songlist overall.

StepMania.

JK LOL

Seriously, I'd have to say SuperNOVA2, which I give a 9.5/10 because there is no SO DEEP and MAX. (period) even though FAXX and FELM reach 600 BPM on 1.5x.

My personal favorite is MAX USA and MAX2 USA because I really enjoy the list given.

Since the people who are buying DDR are people who (I assume) already know about the series, I would say EXTREME2 USA since it has many amazing Konami Originals players can recognize from the arcade, great licensed songs (fun remixed licenses as well), and is a well-balanced mix for any DDR beginner to try out.

The unlock system for EX2 USA was fun, and though a time unlock system was also a good way to go in MAX USA and MAX2 USA, the unlock system wasn't very hard and can be progressed with a smooth transition of songs if the player is a beginner.

Both in terms of console releases and arcade releases: Extreme/SN2

Extreme AC brought back a lot of the older licenses, and just had an overall awesome songlist which allowed it to still be played often years and years after it was released.

Extrene PS2 (JP) brought the largest songlist ever seen on the CS games, with lots of old favorites such as CSFIL (Speed Mix) and both of the old max songs.

SuperNOVA2 AC fixed a lot of the problems that plagued SN1, and added great original songs by dj Taka, Osamu Migitera, and Daisuke Asakura among others. It also has the largest (AFAIK) songlist for an arcade DDR game.

SN2 CS JP brought (most) of the arcade songs and added the great CS songs from the US version like EternuS, Until Forever, and d****e. It brought great, though perhaps overused, revival songs. Though, sort of like Extreme JP PS2, the stepcharts to the CS songs are less than great.

DDR Extreme 2 was my fav version for the home version  it had a very balance songlist with some of the best arcade and home version songs I have seen. I liked the Mission Mode on it too.

The New background vids were nice too. 

The interface was good too. 

SN2 JP.

The japanese ddr extreme and max2 were my all time favorites not to mention as well, ddr 5th mix.

I have a few favorites, I can't pick just one, so I'll just list them from Consol to arcade. 

::CONSOL::

Since I'm not an import player, I'll just talk about the USA home releases.

 By far my ALL time favorite DDR Game was, and still is, DDR Konamix.  The reason... simple... Best songlist ever.  The Earth Light, Trip Machine (LuvMix), Salamander Beat Crush Mix, Perfect Free, Celebrate Nite, R3, Holic, DXY!, Cutie Chaser, Genom Screams... these are just a few examples of the songs that I love the most.  It just had all the different varieties going all the way back from 2nd Mix Club Version (Salamander Beat Crush Mix, The Earth Light) to DDR Solo mix (Celebrate Nite) to DDR 6th Mix (Look To The Sky, On The J****.  Plus the steps matched perfectly with the songs and had a great flow, and didnt have any cheap gimmics or had too many elements like cross-overs.  This is how a TRUE USA DDR game should be all the time... graphics aside, cause i know it was based on the 4th mix theme but that's a MINOR flaw anyone can over-look, especially if you have alot of fans like me, who love old-skool.

 My second favorite is the first DDR game for PS1... based off the 3rd mix but the songlist was also awesome because it was pretty much like the arcade version with the exception of a few songs, which is ok since they were later released on Konamix anyways.  What I don't understand is why there was such a conflict over the song Butterfly and why you guys took it out during final productions.

 And lastly, all the Ultramix Games... why?  Because the songs of course... only reason why I fall in love with any DDR game.  .59 Remix, Nemesis, I Feel... (TOY Mix), ZETSUBOUTEKIDA!, Skulk, Nari Narien Jay Dabhi remix... a few of my all time favorites.  PLEEEEEEEEAAAAAAASE, have these songs appear on either an arcade or a PS2 game in the future... this is my only request.

 ::ARCADE::

My all time favorite mix is DDR 5th mix.  Moonlight Shadow, Never Ending Story, and Hot Limit are my top 3 favorire 5th mix songs of all time.  Plus the additoon of the DDR solo songs like Sexy Planet and Celebrate nite also are awesome.  4th Mix Plus songs like Do Me and Cat's Eye are also my favorites.  This version is just flawless in my eyes.

 My second favorite goes to DDR 4th mix... all the songs from DDR 1-3 plus songs for the 4th mix... which in my opinion are the best songs and the ones that started it all, making history... sheer brilliance, end of story. 

Okay, regarding console releases, I'll say that the SuperNOVA2 (JP) release was the best.  Awesome songlist and tons of revivals :D.  Second best would be Extreme (US) because that's the one that everyone has played on, and it has a decent songlist :P

 For home releases, I play both imports and US releases.  In order of my favorites: SuperNOVA2 (JP), SuperNOVA (US), Extreme2 (US), and Ultramix 2.  I liked SuperNOVA more than Extreme2 mainly because I've seen those songs more than enough times and SuperNOVA was a friendly change from the norm.  SN2 was just awesome.  Good revivals and great new songs are ftw :)

DDR Ultramix 2 (just 2 in specific)

Why?

There was more to it than just your standard modes... new ways to play the game were introduced such as quad mode and the battle games. I think DDR needs something refreshing such as those... mini-games would be a plus too. 

I also liked the wide timing window. Because I'm more interested in the fun aspect of the game rather than the technical/exercise aspect of the game.

Hey limewirelord, Console and Home Versions are the same thing.  And there was no US version of DDR Extreme AC.

Console: Konamix, then DDR 1st US. Utopia said it all.

Arcade: 5th, then 4th Mix Plus and Extreme. Amazing songs, charts, and interfaces.

 I still want that PS1 DDR Revival for the 10th anniversary. 

 ... and LOL at song names with a_!_z_!_z being censored! 

I've only played DDR Extreme (JP) in the arcade and I've really enjoyed it. I like most of the all the songs that are on it and the steps for it on both single and doubles. I can only hope that the others games are as good as this one. Maybe I'll live somewere to try the other games.

As for the video games, I've have all the PS2 games and I have to say I love everone of them. I look foreword to the next one. My favorite one out of the bunch I would have to say that it's Extreme 2. The music on that game just fit and jell well togetter. Oh also DDR Max 2 comes as a close second mostly because of the music. Having said that I really enjoyed nearly all the music on all the mixes.

I really enjoy Dance Master Mode on Extreme 2 of all the game modes of all the games. I've always use it for training to play DDR. It doesn't get to hard to fast and that helps. Also the charts they have on that mix also helps. ^_^

For arcade releases, SuperNOVA2. Note that I'm only considering machines that have been officially released in North America, which somewhat limits the selection, but moving on.

Why? Since it shows that Konami is listening. There were a lot of problems with SuperNOVA, and it is very heartening to not only see these things addressed, but to see brand new things that are thrown out there. The GROOVE RADAR Special songs weren't well received, sure, but I applaud Konami for trying something new and interesting like that. Marvelous in regular gameplay gives the top tier players new scores to compete for. There's a very healthy selection of generally well-stepped new Konami originals complemented by 10 crossover songs that don't dominate the song list (hello SuperNOVA) but add some new flavour. Unique videos for songs is amazing as well; I hope in the future many more songs will feature these fantastic videos

The main thing that severely needs to be fixed with SuperNOVA2 is the rating integrity. And the licenses were the weakest arcade selection yet, but we'll save that for another day.

For North American console releases, I still love EXTREME2.

Everything from that game just screams great effort. So many characters, unique videos for every single song, a large songlist of new content we haven't seen before (and by that point the EXTREME songs weren't so old as to be boring), and a lot of brand new material too to keep things fresh. Throw in probably the best license list in any North American DDR game featuring great stuff from Dancemania (especially the SPEED series) and popular, actual dance tracks from Armand van Helden and Gabriel & Dresden, and you've got a winner. Also, nc makes great covers, the Genie In A Bottle cover is awesome. The steps to the exclusive songs were mostly great too. Lots of Challenge charts also helps. I'm always up for more Challenge charts. I also liked Dance Master Mode, as much as others hated it.

If Konami's ever looking for great dance licenses, look no further than the 26 volume Trance Voices collection. A bunch of those songs have already been in DDR, and they're always my favourites. :)

Ditto what Arctic said.

ARCADE: SN2, but I'm including Extreme AC too. Why SN2? It has almost every song and course from Extreme, I really like some of the new stuff, I like most of the new stuff, and I hate very little of the new stuff. (Stuff = songs or features.)

HOME: MAX1, EX2, or SN2. All 3 because of the songlists. EX2 more than the other two for the videos and polish. SN2 more than the other two for mission mode. MAX1 more than the other two for nostalgia.

DISQUALIFIED: Extreme JP CS. For me, IIDX > DDR. And this game has more IIDX songs than 4th style. I loved this game for the 'yellows'. But when I think about it, there were really only 20-odd new songs: Love Love Shine, Speed Over Beethoven, and bunch of tens. The other license that I liked was cut. (Senorita.) I'd recommend this game the highest out of the Japanese games that I've played, but I'd also rate it critcally near the bottom. I'm not giving any awards to a best hits compilation, no matter how awesome the hits were. (And yes, I did buy this game when it was new.) I'm giving the awards to the games that make me go "WOW! This game is good! And not just good for a DDR game!"

P.S. You know that mission mode feature that's been in EX1, EX2, SN1, and SN2? You've improved it every year. Never a step a back, and I've never wanted last year's version. Keep doing that.

Arcade : Extreme, Extreme, Extreme. (Can't say SN2 cause it'll probably never come out here).

Home: Extreme (JP), with SN2 JP not far behind.

Yeap.

Arcade: SuperNOVA 2, 1st Mix

Console, SuperNOVA 2 JP, Extreme JP, Universe 1

maybe getting a master mode for Universe looks for me a great idea. 

Arcade:

DDR EXTREME (I still have not played with SN or SN2 AC... I can't find them in Peru)

Console:

Japan:

DDR EXTREME/SuperNOVA2

US:

DDR EXTREME 2/DDR Universe

EU: 

DS SuperNOVA

Out of the ones I've played, Ultramix 2 is the best. Lots of trance, less americanized soundtrack in general. By americanized I mean not dance music. Like stray cats and Boyj**** Crap like that.

I have to agree with the 5th mix dancers. I really enjoyed the way the interface looked, the characters, and not to mention long version songs Fav songs; Dancing All Alone, Moonlight Shadow, and 1234007. I also miss Alice.

Konamix and Max for me all the way!

I only have exposure to Hottest Party and SuperNOVA AC.  Hottest Party has solid gameplay and fun steps, but the songlist is disappointing (concentrating too much on old licenses), lacks online, the dancers look weird, and having your settings reset every time is annoying.  SuperNOVA at the arcade was an absolute blast... sadly, in my location in Rural Idaho, finding any DDR locations is near impossible, and the ones that do exists are hundreds of miles away so I only get to play few and far between.  :(

Definitely Extreme 2.  The videos for every song made it enjoyable but I especially love the song list, though understand I love songs from every north american mix.  My wife and I both enjoy playing almost every song on that mix whereas the next most favoured mix for my wife is Extreme and the next one for me is Supernova.

We don't care for the inclusion of too many 10 foot songs because neither of us can do them and we're not getting any younger but know that many teens love them for the challenge.  I'd personally prefer more songs like Your Rain, Dragon Blade, B4U B4 ZA BEAT, and Speed Over Beethoven.

And definitely more classic dance songs from the 90's like Rhythm is a Dancer and from the 80's like 99 Red Balloons.  And classical songs too.  V is fantastic.