[Previous entry: "Bread"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "A gamble"]

09/19/2001 Archived Entry: "Dance Dance Revolution!"

You unfold the mat and carefully smooth out the wrinkles and creases from its surface, making sure that the arrows will correspond exactly to the wires underneath. While the loading screen is still visible, you unconsciously tap your feet on the left and right arrows, getting the feel of the surface.

It finishes loading, and after a brief moment of indecision your right leg snakes back straight behind your body and you lightly tap the down arrow, then whip it across to hit the circle button. A few practicised movements chooses the song, difficulty and type of assist, then you check that all the options are correct. They are, and you hit the start button.

The music starts up and you begin nodding along to the beat, observing closely how fast the bar lines scroll up the screen.

da di di dam dariram dariram...

Within a few seconds, the first arrow appears, but you're already prepared and have positioned your legs so that your feet are on top of the left and right arrows.

left left left left right right right right left left left left side

The 'side' move energises you after you had to hit both arrows at the same time, and you ready yourself for the next set of moves, which are another problem entirely.

side side up-down-up side side down-up-down side side backleft backleft side side backright backright left-right-left...

Now that the pace has really quickened up, you're beginning to make mistakes as you try and hit all the arrows perfectly in time. You remember what you said to your friends, "The better you're doing, the less you move," but that doesn't help you right now as you desperately jump from side to side. A twinge develops in your left foot and you flex it quicky... you think it's probably because you're tensing your muscles as you hit the arrows with the balls of your feet.

The game goes on for another minute and then you finish with a flourish. The score isn't bad, but it could do with improving. You hit the circle button twice and then start all over again...

Dance Dance Revolution is one of the few games that has ever really captured my attention, and it's completely unlike anything else I've ever played. Described by one person as 'country line dancing to electronica', DDR is an addictive 'dance simulation' game for the Playstation and arcades where you have to move in time with music to hit the arrows that scroll up on the screen.

It's harder than it sounds.

I'd been aware of DDR long before I first played it in Seattle, but I'd always dismissed it as a mildly silly game, probably because I knew that I'd make a fool of myself if I ever played it. However, I had my mind changed when we visited a GameWorks arcade in Seattle with some Microsoft guys who were pretty good at the game - it just looked so fun. And it looked quite easy. I was quickly disabused of this notion when I realised that I couldn't finish any song at any difficulty apart from the easiest one. Yet several dollars later and several failed games later I wasn't disheartened. No, the failures only strengthened my resolve to buy a Playstation and dance mats for the express purpose of playing the game.

DDR has an excellent learning curve - it's not too difficult for you to become familiar with the game and start attempting the middling songs, and even when you're trying hard for the SSR songs (the highest difficulty) you can still see that you're making some progress.

A lot of people make fun of DDR, and let's face it, it does look pretty ridiculous to see two teenagers dancing in front of a TV on a couple of mats. But just like karoake, you know full well you look ridiculous - but you also know that you're having a damned good time while you're about it.

DDR is not dancing. No-one ever pretended that it was dancing and I don't even think it's a 'dancing simulator', as if there could be such a thing. It has a few similarities to dancing, and if you ever become good enough to do DDR freestyle (doing handplants, kicks, dance routines, somersaults, etc, while also playing the game) then, sure, it's dancing. What it is is damned good fun. And really good exercise, to boot!