Dance Dance Revolution: An Overview and Why You Should Play

rhythm games known for their ability to attract casuals with its unique gameplay and great song list yet infamous for their intimidating nature due to their unconventional control schemes and steep learning curves and while it's great to see people play and take an interest into a genre that i love unfortunately music games are still treated like a novelty and aren't very mainstream but i don't blame them the arcade scene in america isn't as big as japan not to mention that it's generally a genre that's hard to get into and this is why i've made videos to convince or at least try to convince people to get into rhythm games i've talked about games such as dance rush and pump it up yet i haven't talked about one of the most influential music games of all time a game that helped bring the genre from the land of japan to the states a game that helped shape the genre so much that's become synonymous whenever we hear the term rhythm game a game that got me so invested that it became the only thing i look forward to whenever i go to an arcade but that's enough of an introduction the game i want to talk about today is called dance dance revolution [Music] now i'm pretty sure that everyone knows what dance dance revolution is but if you're one of the few people that haven't heard of it dance dance revolution often referred to as ddr is a series created by konami in 1998 and is the second game under the damani line of rhythm games as well as its longest running series spanning 17 mainland games 9 spin-offs and a number of home versions that usually come with a foam pad that may or may not work half of the time in any case the history of ddr is interesting to say the least it became a huge trend when it was first introduced and while it was still going strong in asia ddr actually went into a sort of decline in other places of the world as console gaming took over and arcades started to die not to mention the fact that rhythm games in general were becoming a passing fad yet with the resurgence of arcades especially with the expansion of dave and busters in round one in america ddr experienced their revival with the release of ddr ace in 2016 a full six years later after the last arcade release in north america and europe while asia got new games every one to two years and they got songs like caramel donson mimashi cadet and even a song from jojo's bizarre adventure so yeah to say that us western players were shafted would be an understatement anyway the latest release at the time of this video is ddr820 which was to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the series and feature songs from past ddr titles as well as new songs and with ddr being more accessible than ever now is a great chance to get into the series and i can only hope that more people actually get into the game how you play is pretty simple you step on a metal pad containing 4 arrows placed in the directions of up down left and right then you pick your song arrows will appear and you must step on the arrows in time of the music all while making sure that your life bar does not deplete to zero the same is true when you play doubles mode where the only difference is that now you have eight arrow panels to push instead of four in any case there isn't really a lot to say as it's a game that was designed to be easy to pick up but hard to master and i'll get into that later but the main appeal of ddr is its great soundtrack and overall simplicity making it a great choice for those who want to get into rhythm games as far as music goes ddr features a diverse song selection ranging from vocaloid and anime to j-pop which will no doubt attract the weeds however if that's not your thing then there are western pop songs that you can enjoy too and ignoring all the licensed songs ddr has a great lineup of original songs such as max 300 and sun kiss drop moving on its straightforward gameplay allows new players to get easily acquainted with rhythm game mechanics and the customization options help tailor the experience to a player's preferences not to mention its learning curve is not incredibly steep meaning that with enough practice players would be able to recognize no patterns with relative ease and even though ddr is one of the most basic rhythm games to ever exist there is still quite a bit of them the game has no crazy techniques or gimmicks like pump it up but it still offers enough of a challenge to keep you on your toes as notes start flying at you at high speed but don't let that scare you away like i said as long as you practice enough save one to two months you should be good enough to not look like a fool nonetheless ddr can become such a high skill game that one of the top players chris chike has been playing for more than 10 years and as a result he holds many records and is the current champion of the konami arcade championship ddr division being the only american to hold such a title showing the amount of dedication it takes to become one of the best in the [Music] world [Applause] aside from that i would also like to mention the more obscure but creative ways to play the game while ddr does not have dedicated charts for freestyling that does not stop players from being creative some try to play the game cooperatively no doubt drawing a crowd to see their performance like with these two japanese [Music] [Applause] [Music] dudes [Music] apart from the gameplay there are other benefits as well for one ddr is great for social interactivity and by getting good at the game you can seriously be the cool kid and flex in front of your friend as seen here also it's not a bad workout as i and many others can testify that there are times where you finish a ddr session sweating so if you'd like an alternative to exercise well there you go you have a game that is relatively casual friendly with a great soundtrack and is challenging enough to get you satisfied once you beat that one extra hard song looking cool in front of your peers while getting some exercise now if you want to play ddr there are some things that you should know you can find ddr in a lot of small arcades but if you want to experience the latest of what ddr has to offer you can find these machines at dave buster's and round one arcades moreover you can check out xenius ivanisher which is essentially a database of arcades around the world and it's a tool that you can use if you are looking to find a ddr machine also while you don't really have to do this do consider buying konami's emu from pass as it works as an online profile that tracks scores and gives extra perks such as access to event songs and extra customization options it usually costs around six bucks but it's definitely worth it if you want to play in the long term moreover you can use this card if you want to play other bomani games like dance rush pop and music and gitadora with the aforementioned perks but if you just want a safe option to try out ddr without having to wield tons of money there is a free and open source ddr simulator called stepmania where you can import charts from ddr and practice them from the comfort of your own home though sadly for legal reasons i can't really tell you how to do that but just know that your computer can theoretically become a ddr machine if you know what to do nonetheless i would still recommend going for that full arcade experience of playing on the official machines because it sends a signal to konami that we are actually interested in this game but would not like it if ddrs suddenly became japan only again that said now is the best time to get into ddr it's a rhythm game that came back from the brink and has now become more accessible than ever the core mechanics and gameplay simple enough for everyone to get into not to mention the diverse soundtrack can appeal to the weebs and the normies in addition its brand recognition can draw in new players and the sudden interest might cause konami and other developers to bring more rhythm games like beat mania and my might to the states moreover it's generally a great way to work out and have fun with friends besides if you ever get good enough you can flex on your friends and attract crowds like this guys only that you can meet new people and maybe even find some music to add to your playlist so yeah go play ddr instead of one of those rig ticket games trust me you will get more value out of playing ddr than losing the jackpot for the ninth time other than that i have nothing else to say so thank you guys so much for watching and i hope that you'll give ddr a shot if you ever find it in an arcade but until then i'll see you in the next video peace you

Channel: FNWeeaboo

Views: 33,859

Keywords: rhythm, music, game, arcade, ddr, bemani, konami

Id: L9SQ1N_9U2g

Length: 9min 39sec (579 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 20 2020