You who dance Just Dance or Dance Central, you don't even realize where all this came from. These games owe a lot to the old and classics and especially to Dance Dance Revolution. Its arrow scheme and dance mats were already very successful in arcades around the world. A Konami production, initially released for arcades in Japan in September 1998.
The idea of the game was to make you feel like a real dancer, even though you had to pay attention to the multicolored arrows on the screen. The songs were very lively and all had a certain electronic touch. The game includes a dance mat with four arrows. You must therefore step on the arrows as they reach a certain point on the screen.
Such arrows are synchronized with the rhythm of the music, thus leading the person to dance in the rhythm of the chosen music. After the music ends, the score is shown based on the player's synchronization with the movements shown on the screen.
- Video games - The history of games in Japan
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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 the Konami game. The biggest difference was that instead of four arrows, the Korean machine had one more in the middle.
Such a machine was very successful in Latin America, as there was a lot of music from there, in addition to a lot of Korean pop. Soon Konami filed a lawsuit in court for plagiarism. But the Japanese company lost the case, precisely because of the “central arrow” that the machine had too much.
Even so, the Dance Dance Revolution game continued to expand and become successful around the world. Soon after the possibility of playing in pairs, teams and groups appeared that organized their own events and competitions. Becoming not just a game, but a lifestyle. So much so that the best and most experienced players became famous and drew crowds of fans and followers.
The success of Dance Dance Revolution
The game is also highly praised for functioning as an aerobic activity, with a great expenditure of energy. So there are many reports of people who have 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 today has lost its space both in Japan and in the West, Konami continues to produce new versions of it. New dance games with motion sensors such as the aforementioned Just Dance and Dance Central are gaining more space every day.
Even today the dance mat actively participates in arcade machines and some addicts try to beat even games like Cuphead and Dark Souls using these mats. Ever played on a dance mat? Do you like this style of play? Tell us in the comments and share the article. Finally, let's leave the following video:
