Do you know what it’s all about?
No, really.
Do you know what it’s all about?
You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around.
That’s what it’s all about.
(I apologize for nothing.)
Hokey pokey dalliances aside, I thought it was important to include a proper, traditional rhythm game in this countdown of my 100 essential retro games, and well, when you think on that for more than two seconds, the best possible choice really begins to make itself obvious.
You see, I think it’s the activity level here that really sets “Dance Dance Revolution” apart. A spirited evolution of the genre that demanded its participants stand up and get moving in order to have any sort of success, “DDR” took over arcades and helped usher in a true golden age for rhythm games.
I don’t think I’m overstating that either. I mean, we can argue that certain games have come along since that have done this sort of thing even better, and we can likewise argue that the activity doesn’t mean so much as the music itself and therefore a less active game might have a case for being considered more important to the games industry at large.
My argument in this discussion is this: Why else would this concept be imitated so gosh-darn much after this if this sucker wasn’t super meaningful to people? Here, you get two things – rhythm and dance – in concert, and moreover, it’s a communal experience, encouraging people to participate in pairs. And when it works, it REALLY works.
Truly, that IS what it’s all about.
Dance Dance Revolution at a glance:
Genre: Dance/rhythm
Released: 1999
Platform: Arcade
Guinness World Record: Most Widely Used Video Game in Schools
We covered some of the history of the rhythm game here, and as per usual, I’ll stand by most of what I’ve previously written.
We can quibble over my stance that “Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest” belongs in the conversation (though if you don’t agree, I encourage you to read my case), but the main takeaway from my babbling over there is that the concept of a rhythm game sort of languished for a long time until it truly became a THING in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s.
Why did it become a thing?
DDR is what it’s all about (I promise, I’ll stop now).
But honestly, I make that silly joke because it’s based in truth. The original Dance Dance Revolution, launched in the United States in 1999, was truly innovative and really, really popular, inspiring a slew of sequels, knock-offs, and other titles that drew inspiration from the basic concept (it was really like “Pong” in that way, to be honest).
The game consists of a really goofily large arcade cabinet, which generally has a large “dance” area built in that can accommodate two players. Said dance area has a series of arrows pointing forward, backward, left and right, fixated in the proper alignment for each direction on the ground, with each arrow effectively pointing away from the gamer (who stands in the middle) serving as a button or input.
The game on the screen in front of the gamer then displays a series of these arrow inputs in real time set to music, with the gamer being instructed to step on the arrows as they scroll through the indicated areas in the game itself.
So basically, a bunch of arrows scroll through the screen and when they line up with a non-scrolling arrow indicator, in sync with the music, that’s when you, the gamer, stomp on one (or more) of the arrows on the ground.
This stomping activity isn’t really dancing per se, so “Dance Dance Revolution” actually is kind of a misnomer. It’s more like synchronized stomping.
Perhaps the best possible visual aid to explain this ridiculous thing is if you’ve seen the movie “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” there’s a knock-off version of the game, appropriately called “Ninja Ninja Revolution,” that makes a couple of hilarious cameos.
That video should be required viewing for anyone trying to understand what DDR is, in my view, because it really sums it up beautifully.
Now naturally, this activity, of stepping on the arrows with proper timing, predictably gets more and more difficult to pull off successfully as the game goes along, until eventually, the game is basically asking you to grow an extra leg (or two) to catch up.
All of this stomping around is honestly a really good workout, and it’s a fun time, so the series of games has become a workout favorite of folks who normally don’t enjoy exercise.
“I don’t like working out. Wait, I can play video games and improve my health? Okay, you’ve got me. I’m in.”
The health aspects of this sort of activity-based play became so undeniable that the game started getting pulled into schools, hence the above note in the “at a glance” section about it being the most widely used game in schools, which is sorta nuts to think about for the “Oregon Trail” generation, but hey, congrats to the new champion.
I was first exposed to DDR when I was living in South Florida in the early aughts. My girlfriend at the time and I had a few rounds at the Dave & Buster’s, and it, much like the pop-a-shot or the skeeball lanes, was a great way to burn off whatever calorie-dense meal one had just consumed at the restaurant portion of the Dave & Buster’s.
* I tend to think the food area is the “Buster’s” part, since you’re busting out of your pants with some of these gargantuan plates of food, yeah? But then again, maybe the activity area is the “Buster’s” part because you’re bustin’ a move out there playing DDR. Either way, I am confident I am overthinking this.
I do think this was actually a fun way to spend some time. Yes, the activity was part of the appeal. But it was also just a good time in general. It was kind of silly, but I’ve found that in general, engaging in silly activities is a good way to have fun. (How else does one explain basically all of Mardi Gras in New Orleans?) I have fond memories attached to stomping around in DDR.
There were home versions of the game, but I could never shake the idea that they wouldn’t work very well. I think my experience with the Power Pad a decade earlier had soured me on the potential.*
* The Power Pad was yet another peripheral for the original Nintendo Entertainment System, and it was basically just what it sounds like. It was a big mat you laid on the floor with big dots on it, and what you did was you spun the spinner and then you and your friends would have to put your hands or feet on specific color dots, and no, wait, that’s totally Twister. With the Power Pad, you tried to – you might have guessed this – STOMP on the various big colored dots. There was a track & field game for the NES you could play with this, and since most track & field games of the time were centered around mashing buttons as quickly as possible, you ended up trying to run in place as fast as possible like Jennifer Beals in “Flashdance.” As I alluded to before, none of this worked very well. It was probably amusing to watch for our parents, though.
Anyway, that’s DDR. It was really big in Japan and Korea, probably much bigger than it ever got over here. But walk into most any arcade nowadays (the ones that still exist!) and you’ll probably find a DDR machine of some kind. The success of the original DDR led to other rhythm games hitting market. And soon enough, consumers were awash in things like “Guitar Hero,” “Rock Band,” “Just Dance,” “Amplitude,” and “Thumper” at home as well. These titles varied in how truly active they were, but most of them encouraged movement of some kind, and of course, a developed sense of rhythm.
These games never really went away. And many of them were based on this idea of activity, coinciding with the peripheral, activity-based play you’d see taking off thanks to the Nintendo Wii and its competitors’ copycat imitations, the “Kinect” and “Move.”
The Wii REALLY did a lot for this genre of game, with things like “Wii Sports” bringing in a new type of “casual” gamer like grandma, a person who didn’t normally game but saw these more active options as being more approachable, like a board game.
I don’t know how correct that notion was, because honestly, I find it sorta difficult to try to hit a virtual tennis ball at someone, and I don’t know that grandma is going to do that any better than I am.
But I guess some of the thinking was that it was okay to not be 100% great at the thing. That was certainly my experience with DDR anyway – I couldn’t get the hang of it to save my life.
And yet, I didn’t need to be good at it to enjoy myself. Indeed, I can recall several instances over the course of my life of playing the more action-oriented games like this where things would go hilariously catastrophically wrong, and those situations are more memorable and probably instilled more enjoyment than doing any of it well. The spiritual successor, Just Dance, is like this. I play it with my kids, and I’m stumbling around the living room like Chris Farley, falling through coffee tables. My wife enjoys recording these sessions on her phone for posterity. And everyone has a ball. The thing is still fun.
And really, that’s what it’s all about.
(Yeah I did it again. I’m actually not sorry.)
So what makes it worth playing today?
The timing of this retro essentials series makes the inclusion of Wii titles a little dubious. They might (probably will) eventually get old enough for me to include despite my arbitrary 20-year barrier.
But I don’t want to sit around waiting for games to get old enough just so I can include them here either.
So despite the Wii’s obvious huge, gigantic contributions in this area of active play, it’s not gonna make the retro countdown. (That whole sentence is going to seem ridiculous and hilarious in about five years, but then, DDR is ridiculous and hilarious itself, so that’s appropriate.)
I don’t feel bad about this because DDR was first.
DDR was truly at the intersection of rhythm games and activity-based games, and it made a huge, lasting impact on the games industry. It’s frankly an easy call to include, especially since we won’t be going down the Wii rabbit hole here.
So yes, I fully endorse tracking down one of these cabinets at your local arcade, maybe mowing down forty pounds of burger/pasta/beer at your Dave & Buster’s while you do it, and then plunking down some money for a few rounds of Dance Dance Revolution.
I can’t promise you’ll have any sort of success at it. But you will have fun.
And really, truly (let’s all say it in unison now) … THAT’S what it’s all about!
Dave’s Score: 9/10
Check out the whole Retro Gaming Essentials list here!
How to play
- Arcade
- A gazillion sequels (also in the arcade)
- Various home ports (PlayStation, Dreamcast, Nintendo 64, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, GameCube, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360, PC)