The emanation of the home gaming consoles in the eighties and nineties transform the video secret plan industry , but one sphere was hit with shrapnel : arcades . Thanks to the convenience and ever - increasing computation power of home system , address gambling was made well-nigh disused .
But programmer Yoshihiko Ota came up with a solution — a biz that no one could look aside from , because no one was quite sure what they were watching . It wasDance Dance Revolution , a extremely physicalrhythm gamethat drag Japan before hitting North America , and it was so unequaled an experience that no living elbow room could desire to copy it .
Stepping Out
Unless you know what you ’re looking at , the setup that make up aDance Dance Revolutionfootprint is peculiar . A raised platform is posit in front of a screen ; a support bar is installed in the back . It looks like something intended for strong-arm therapy after a knee switch .
Ota , a secret plan producer for Konami , roll in the hay something that classifiable was take in rules of order to take a breath sprightliness into the poorly colonnade cabinet market . His squad originally began develop a scrap game , but thanks to theStreet Fighter IIandMortal Kombatfranchises , Ota knew he was reheating gaming ’s remnant .
Instead , he and his ontogeny squad took note of the club they visited in their off - hour , as well as Konami ’s DJ simulation game , Beatmania . perhaps , Ota view , the solvent was in a dance simulator .
Simulatoris a bit of a misnomer , though . Unlike other game that have players adopting the identity of a soldier , warrior , or sprinting hedgehog , Dance Dance Revolutiontasked users with dancing . Cardinal directions would appear onscreen , which player would have to ingeminate on the gaming platform . The faster and more precise a player was , the high their score would be .
Games that burn down calories were n’t a new idea . Nintendohad liberate itsPower Padin 1988 , which enticed gamers to die hard and start in track and field upshot at home base . ButDance Dance Revolutionwas more of an emotional tug . With its pound off , discotheque - danced metre , player were plunge in both a game and a humor .
Konami roll outDance Dance Revolutionin Japan in November 1998 . For the equivalent of $ 1.75 , kids and stressed - out adults couldhopon the political platform and work themselves into a fury . Some would bounce for hours , sudate profusely and negating the idea that gambling was a sedentary activity . Or a solitary one .
WhileDDR , as it came to be make out , struck a chord in part because Japan was a dancing - obsessed acculturation at the time — kids were apply hip - hops move while their parent become to dance palace — it also resonated because it was a form of exhibitionism . The long people played , the more frayed they became , as they attempted to echo the biz ’s dance instructions . bunch gathered to see players give it their all before draping themselves in exhaustion across the reenforcement legal profession , as KC and the Sunshine Band ’s “ That ’s the direction ( I Like It ) ” or Carl Douglas ’s “ Kung Fu Fighting ” throbbed through sea bass - heavy speakers .
Best of all , there was no barrier for entrance . If you could move , you could play . Konami sold 1000 of the machine , a astral number for arcade equipment of the era .
Coming to America
DDRwas exported to America in 1999 , and it take after a standardised flight as thekaraokecraze that had forgo it . There was something charming about watching amateurs have a go at performing , andDance Dance Revolutionacted as its own advertising . plop down in arcades , malls , or aDave & Buster ’s , it was impossible to ignore the jumbo flashing political machine with fevered participant spiral on top of it .
“ You look atDDR , and you ’re like , ‘ What the perdition variety of game is this ? ’ ” DDRfan Cynan de LeontoldThe Ringer in 2018 . “ It ’s this ginormous cabinet , it ’s get lights , it ’s got euphony , mass are stomping on it , some people are act crazy on it , some people actually endeavor to dance . The music and the lights and everything about it — there was nothing like it in the arcades . You ’re just like , ‘ I got ta seek it , or at least I get ta express joy at these people making themselves look punch-drunk on this car . ’ ”
Any horse sense of shame was quickly eclipsed by a indigence for competition . AsDDRspread , first in California and then across the country in the former 2000s , unofficial competition dance teams formed . More experient players begin styling their move with knee plants , flips , and hand plants . In 2000,DDRenthusiast Shirene OlsentoldtheLos Angeles Timesthat she would spend up to three hour a day playing and perfecting moves , which sometimes had a regional flair .
“ In California we ’re more about manner , ” Olsen said . “ In Chicago it ’s more about truth . The single who are really , really good are from Chicago . ”
In Step Battle mode , participant could record their moves for an opponent to try and emulate ; in Trick Double , step double from four to eight . At its most advanced , DDRhad role player looking like someone was tight - send on them . One player told theTimeshe lost 50 Egyptian pound performing .
Dancing Machine
That latter welfare was something school dominion took short letter of . In the mid-2000s , C of them beganinstallinghome version ofDDRin school gymnasium in an attempt to make physical education more exciting . ThatDDRhad the flexibility to go into school day and homes was good business for Konami — it finally released versions for the Sony PlayStation and Xbox — but carry some aid off from the more elaborate arcade version . Somehow , roll in the hay up a dance episode in front of your dog just was n’t the same .
Although the game obtain infrequent updates over the years , it ’s been in the main the fanbase — not Konami — that ’s hold open theDDRflame going . tournament areorganizedby players in different area around the state , even buy their own game stations . It ’s a grassroots effort to makeDDRpart of the overall eSports play circuit .
Will that happen ? Who sleep together . But one affair is for sure : DDR , which is equal parts play and performance prowess , has to be the most spectator - friendly gaming competition around .
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A version of this story earlier ran in 2022 ; it has been update for 2025 .
