X-Tream

A Pump It Up original that debuted in EXCEED, written by BanYa, X-Tream is defined by a weighty guitar riff and a rap sample with real momentum. The name itself wandered for years: the EXCEED eyecatch spelled it "X-Treme," NX switched the title to "X-Tream," yet the in-game label stayed "X-Treme" through FIESTA before reverting to "X-Tream" in FIESTA EX, a back-and-forth much like Bullfighter's Song. Several of its samples are shared with the EZ2DJ series: the rap comes from Delight, while the riffs and the floaty, zero-gravity mid-song break echo Climax, and the widely recognized "This is not a test" voice also turns up in the PIU classic Ignition Starts!. None of this is plagiarism, just the same sample loops and virtual instruments reused across tracks.

The cartoon-rendered BGA was unusually polished for 2004 and earned praise on release; even by the time of Pump It Up XX it still held up, a good example of how much care EXCEED put into its artwork. The animation tells a fast-paced chase: a group called the Resistance robs a bank and flees while Freevolt 110V and 220V give chase. The naming is a wink, since Freevolt was the name of EXCEED's development team.

S5 and S8 were added in FIESTA EX. S12 was the original hard chart, built around twists, with an early pair of side notes that can rattle your footing. Its rating crept upward over the years, sitting at level 7 in the EXCEED era and reaching 12 in PHOENIX. S15 was the toughest crazy chart at launch, defined by two bursts of twist runs, and it gradually gained a reputation for being harder than its number suggests. S18 (FIESTA EX) folds the D20 into a single. On Double, D20 was the original nightmare and stayed on the level-19 boss line through Prime 2, demanding weight-shifting runs and sharp-angle twists; D15 is a lesser-known trap chart thanks to its punishing weight movement.