From Gamespot's article on a recent Japanese Arcade trade show
I'm surprised that they only went with 3 panels for this game, I would have expected Konami to add more than in DDR, either an 8 or 9 panel machine. I guess they're trying to pull in people who thought that a 4 panel machine was too complicated. =PDance 86.4, as the title would suggest, has an atmosphere that feels as through you're dancing to the tune of a radio broadcast--with plenty of colorful announcements made by a DJ in between the stages. The game plays similarly to Dance Dance Revolution except it has only three panels to step on; left, center, and right. The game implements a new subsystem where your combo count resets if you have your foot on a panel when a bomb icon displays on the screen.