You who dance Just Dance or Dance Central, don’t even realize where all this came from. These games owe a lot to the old classics, especially to Dance Dance Revolution. Its arrow scheme and dance mats were already very popular in arcades around the world. A production by Konami, initially released for arcades in Japan in September 1998.
The idea of the game was to make you feel like a true dancer, even having to pay attention to the multicolored arrows on the screen. The songs were very upbeat and all had a certain electronic touch. The game includes a dance mat with four arrows. You must step on the arrows as they reach a certain point on the screen.
These arrows are synchronized with the rhythm of the music, leading the person to dance to the rhythm of the chosen song. After the song ends, the score is shown based on the player’s synchronization with the movements displayed on the screen.
- Video games – The history of games in Japan
The success of dance mats
In 1999, a Korean company called Andamiro created a machine called Pump It Up. This machine had basically the same gameplay as Konami’s game. The biggest difference was that instead of four arrows, the Korean machine had one more in the middle.
This machine was very successful in Latin America, as there were many songs from there, in addition to many from K-pop. Soon Konami filed a lawsuit for plagiarism. But the Japanese company lost the case, precisely because of the “central arrow” that the machine had.
Even so, the game Dance Dance Revolution continued to expand and succeed around the world. Soon after the possibility of playing in pairs, teams and groups began to organize their own events and competitions. It became not just a game, but a lifestyle. So much so that the best and most experienced players became famous and attracted crowds of fans and followers.
The success of Dance Dance Revolution
The game is also praised for functioning as an aerobic activity, with a great expenditure of energy. There are many reports of people who managed to lose weight by regularly practicing Dance Dance Revolution. In many schools and universities, the game has been included in their curriculum, and in some countries, it is officially considered a sport.
Even though the game has lost its space both in Japan and in the West today, Konami continues to produce new versions of it. New dance games with motion sensors like the aforementioned Just Dance and Dance Central gain more space every day.
Even today, the dance mat actively participates in arcade machines, and some enthusiasts try to complete even games like Cuphead and Dark Souls using these mats. Have you ever played on a dance mat? Do you like this style of game? Tell us in the comments and share the article. To finish, let’s leave the following video:
Leave a Reply