Slashdot Mirror
A Beginner's Guide to the Dance Dance Phenomena
An anonymous reader writes "I just saw a rather interesting article over at LANParty.com about breaking into the world of Dance Dance Revolution. The article has a humourous story about going from DDR mocker to DDR fanatic thanks to a seven-year-old kid. Also, it has reviews of some home DDR equipment for those too timid to play in public. The article is written from a beginner's perspective, and has some good resources for newbies! If you've ever thought of hopping up and 'busting a move', be sure to check it out."
DDR introduced me to social situations. I mean, before DDR, I never really mingled with people at large social gatherings. But DDR has made me a much more social person, forcing you to either deal with people or play at home. Not to mention the health benefits of being able to pass Max300 on maniac (I did that once, it hurt).
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
Is that DDR is also a great way to meet the neighbors that live below you ... :)
(Score:-1, Wrong)
I've done it. I thought is was stupid. But, I guess you have to like that sort of thing. Generally speaking I don't move my feet around like that unless I'm falling down the stairs.
I work on an open-source DDR/Pump simulator called StepMania. It's almost feature identical to the DDR MAX/MAX2 and has a ton of customizable features.
Download StepMania, download some songs, and at play it with a keyboard. Slowly you'll start tapping your toes. Then, buy some pads, some USB convertors, and practice up. You'll be ready to wow everyone at the arcade!
It's usually at http://sardius.fefea.org/, but since the site is down, click my mirror of it here: http://www.rahga.com/fun/konamix/
:)
For what it's worth, Michael Jackson is involved.... and trust me, it blows every other DDR review out of the water.
Around these parts (Vancouver, Canada), the only people that play DDR are asian kids. It looks like fun, in the way that Karaoke is fun. (Which in my dictionary, is "marginally".)
The next step is for DDR to infect the minds of white folks. I expect to see long rows of these machines bringing in the line-dancing crowd in the very near future.
I've got a bad attitude and karma to burn. Go ahead. Mod me down.
We (Cryptic Allusion) are also developing a Dreamcast game with the freely available homebrew tools to go beyond the basic get-as-many-steps-right-as-you-can of DDR to something much closer to Puyo Puyo or Puzzle Fighter. Here's the link:
Feet of Fury
There's also Dance With Intensity that someone developed to play DDR songs on your PC, assuming you can track down the step files and MP3s/OGGs.
Cryptic Allusion - New Mac and Dreamcast Games!
from the slashdot readers that I know... top things they'd like to see added to a game:
10. golems
9. battle chariots
8. star cruisers
7. light sabers
6. dark elves
5. dancing girls
4. power axes
3. tanks
2. balistic missles
1. more cinematics of lara croft
things they wouldn't like:
10. calisthenics
9. exertion
8. breathing hard
7. movement
6. physicality
5. burning energy
4. working out
3. sweat
2. exercise
1. dancing
i see a critical flaw here.
There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
If, like, me, after reading the descriptions you're still having a hard time picturing just exactly what this game is about, here's a site with some videos, looks like mostly from tournaments.
http://www.ddrfreak.com/videos.php
Palaces, barricades, threats, meet promises
Nah, I think I'll stay on the mocking side of the fence. No amount of explaining or justifying is going to get me to budge from this lofty position.
fslg503-985-8686503-985-8686503-985-8686503-985-8
Dude, Dance Dance Revolution is so much more fun than Radical Advanced Moronic Bouncing Up-and-down Skating!
DDR introduced me to social situations. I mean, before DDR, I never really mingled with people at large social gatherings. But DDR has made me a much more social person, forcing you to either deal with people or play at home.
For what it's worth, regular dance lessons (of pretty much any kind. I started with swing and proceeded into ballroom) will achieve the same result, teaching you to be more sociable and courteous -- especially with the opposite sex -- while also helping you get into better shape.
I was going to say that DDR is probably cheaper than dance lessons, but at a buck for three songs, it's probably not.
Crack your paper Yellow Pages to look for dance instruction in your area, or look in the quarterly park district catalog. Learn some partner dances. Swallow your pride and practice them in public. If nothing else, it'll make the next wedding reception you attend 100% more enjoyable.
want to see what it looks like in live action:
its a java launch - so go here:
www.ehowa.com
click on enter
click on downloads at top
open "dancewhiteboy.wmv" to see a really good
white kid DDRing
FUNNNY stuff
This topic wouldn't be complete without a link to this.
That is all.
[PowerPoint] is a tool for capitalist presentation
Study the demographics that play DDR (no sources, just spend a night at your local gameworks). Having skills in DDR is a good way to hook up with the ladies as this is one of the few games they seem to like and float around the most. On a side note, I'd be more impressed with people who play DDR if they could bust their moves at random instead of the physical game of memorization DDR is.
You need a FREE iPod Nano
If you want your home DDR pads to last you need to take a trip down to Home Depot (or Lowes or whatever) get some supplies and mod your soft pad into a durable hard pad. Follow the instructions here: home modding
Ever since that strip came out, I can't walk by a DDR machine without thinking about how much better it could be...
And the brethren went away edified.
You're missing the appeal.
What's the point of playing a game? Two answers depending on who you are:
1. To have fun
2. To beat it
I'm personally in the #1 and #2 crowd. DDR songs at 9 feet (1 == beginner) are exceptionaly hard. So hard, that'd I'd challenge any "real" dancer to do a 9-footer, and get at least a B in under 20 tries. Normal people might be able to do it after 500 or so tries.
Now here's the obsession people have. Do the above, but get a AA (not missing a step and staying on-time). Ah, missed a step --> do the entire song again! It's like being able to beat Contra without dying once. Stractch that. It's like being able to beat ghost and ghoblins and not dying once. It's a real accomplishment.
Finally. If you're overweight, the game kicks ass for losing weight. Even in public, it's worth the shame to lose the pounds. I've met people who've lost over 60lbs on the machine. I doubt there are many other weight loss methods that'd compete in terms of fun.
So, is DDR worth it? Depends on who you are.
http://www.somethingawful.com/article.php?id=378
The last entry is no joke. The kids you'll find in Hawaiian and Californian arcades (in my experience) just don't mess around.
I guess every generation needs its killer app arcade game. Back in my day (said the ancient 20-something), it was 2-D fighters like Street Fighter II et al. Seeing my nieces and nephews dominate the DDR machines reminds me of when _I_ was the little Asian punk keeping everyone else off the SF2 machine. =P I guess the difference (actual non-violent physical activity vs. non-physical fantasy violence) is a good one, but I'm too set in my fuddy-duddy fighter ways ever to give DDR a shot.
I'll take a joystick or Ascii Pad FT over a dance mat/platform any day.
< tofuhead >
It is still the dark of night.
I must say this is one of the greatest arcade games ever invented.
Sure, when you are new to the game, you look like a retard who doesn't know the difference between stepping left and right on a pad, but hey, you have fun. Once you get good at the game, you can draw a crowd (seriously!) and have a lot of fun. It's one of the only games that women will actually stop and look at (yes fellow geeks, I said women, got your attention now?)
For those of you who say it is expensive, go to a place like Nickel City where games a lot cheaper. Many of these "nickel" places have DDR for you to play for around 20 cents. Now that is not expensive. It would cost you about 2 bucks an hour to just keep playing. Going to a movie is more expensive than that. And just imagine how many calories you could burn! You may actually *gasp* lose weight!
A great resource for information about DDR is www.ddrfreak.com. Go look at some of the videos.
BTW, there is DDR for the playstation if you are interested. Go to your local gaming store if you are interested in getting it.
Just a thought worth remembering:
DDR is just a dance SIMULATOR
Does as scoring a perfect mission in flight sim stealth bomber automatically qualify you for the USAF?
More to point, a high DDR score does not mean you are ready for the dance floor of your local club.
If it were anywhere near a close approximation to life it would at the very least tell you just what the fuck to do with your arms!
Are you kidding, while naked twister has the high rubbing factor, naked DDR has a higher bounce factor.
Xaotik Designs
I've been playing Dance Dance Revolution since the end of may of this year, and I can attest that it is indeed an addictive game, and a fairly fun one at that. When I started I, like so many technically inclined people, had absolutely no rhythm. DDR can be an aid for developing rhythm (most songs are in 4/4 time, there are a few exceptions). Here's a little info for those who haven't played or might be interested:
DDR is a great way to lose weight, when you get good you'll be sweating from just one song, granted it may be an expensive diet (see below for cheaper ways to play)
DDR can be basically free: there are a number of projects dedicated to bringing DDR to the PC (Konami released a version...but it isn't better than some of the freely available ones). There is Dance With Intensity, Diet Diet Revolution, and my personal favorite (also a sourceforge project), Stepmania, www.stepmania.com. You can play with the keyboard, but chances are you don't want to burn fat from just your fingers. You can build a dance pad (you even get a fun hardware project doing this!), you can find links and help on the forums on www.ddrfreak.com - ddrfreak also provides a nice little script that will spit out all the steps for a song, and another script that shows all known machine locations in the US! If you are lazy (what?) you can buy Konamix (available at www.redoctane.com or Electronics Boutique, and some other places). It runs on a PS1, so you can use the ps2 to play it. You can get a very good (IMO) dance pad from www.redoctane.com for about $100, the ignition 2.0 pad is excellent. You can go with cheaper ones if you wish, but you'll be very frustrated when your skills improve, the mat sticks to your free, and you flop around like a fish out of water.
I know people who saw others playing DDR and thought it was easy, wow, you step on a little pad when an arrow hits the template...their views quickly changed when they played the game. For new players it can be very difficult, but once you are over that little peak you can really start to have fun. I enjoy the challenge of playing more difficult songs.
Si Hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes