Pump IT Up NX2 - WorldMax

WorldMax

Aside from new songs and many aesthetic changes in the interface, the major innovation of NX2 is the USB system and the "WorldMax" station of the game. WorldMax is very different from anything previously seen in any music game in that it is reminiscent of a musical RPG found inside an arcade game. Using the game's proprietary USB system, players can play WorldMax while saving their own progress and unlocked features. Featuring eight separate worlds (Rootinia, Shantomia, Mirtain, Barharn, Harena, Morigin, and Cryomiston as well as the Prue Ocean) each complete with their own boss missions and even sub-bosses, players travel through 333 missions with various (and sometimes extremely unusual) requirements. Some later locations such as the Switch and Mystery Box add a major twist to the game, while the Warps found in each land let the player quickly travel between lands they have reached.

Players gain "miles" in the game's mileage system in each of the missions, using this mileage to alter aspects of their missions (such as the play level, speed, and a lottery system) as well as purchase unlocked songs in Special Station. Unlike NX's World Tour, WorldMax is a very personal experience for individual USB owners in that it serves as a sort of gamesave that tracks players' progress rather than the progress being a communal effort. The system also allows players the opportunity to continue their progress in any Pump It Up machine with NX2 installed.

The difficulty of WorldMax - and the game as a whole - has slightly gone down in favor of charts created for the fun factor rather than for difficulty and tech. Unlike the very harsh difficulty and unforgiving nature of World Tour, WorldMax grants players multiple chances per credit, allows greater freedom in choosing which songs to play, uses spending mileage to make missions easier, and focuses more on missions that make players have to think more than simply hit arrows. For example, many missions such as the "Hidden Parts" mission in Shantomia have several versions of its chart to confuse and challenge the player. With changes such as this, it appears that the game is going back to its "roots" in that it's focused less on difficulty, has its logo changed back to the original Pump It Up logo from the original games, and is focused more on traditional K-Pop.