The Revolution That Never Left Me

Around 15 years ago, in 1998 Japan came out with a revolution that took over the gaming world (at least I think it did).  For a while, it stayed around and everyone was into it.  People lined up at arcades and crowded around the machines and some practiced and challenged others to improve their dancing skills. Do you know what I’m talking about? Dance Dance Revolution my friends!

When it first came out, I didn’t own a console but I remember my cousin owning it.  I was horrible at it, no coordination whatsoever. All I remember from a childhood experience was loathing the embarrassment of it all.  The arms flailing about trying to keep balance, the feet trying to catch up the arrows and when slow, I looked like a robot and when fast, it was just a mess of stomping in uncontrollable disorder.  Eventually I gave up and decided that these sort of games were not made me for.  However, I did enjoy watching them.  Why, I did not grasp back then. Maybe even back then, I enjoyed other people embarrassing themselves or unafraid or overconfident to not really care about it all.

 

For a while, this seemed to have died down in my world as my cousins grew older and these games were no longer everyone’s go-to game, especially girls using it to lose weight or stay fit.    It then came one day at a friend’s birthday party. There it was when we walked into the entertainment room…those dreaded colourful mats with arrows marked on it, the dance music blazing in the background, and then the birthday girl says that everyone has to do it.  Can you see me face palming? Because thats what I did and in my mind, I went in a dramatic scream, “NOOOOOOO!!”  Whats awesome though is I do have an amazing best friend and she was there.  As much her doing DDR makes everyone else look horrible, she’s also hilarious.  I survived that day with my legs untangled and no pulled muscles in my arms.  It turned out to be fun to just sit around and watch everyone trying to not make a fool of themselves. Little did I know that at the end of 2007, this party would lead to follow a revolution that never did leave in my mind…

In 2008, I started going out with my current boyfriend, and you might or might not have read about it, but he ended up giving me his Playstation 2! YES! And coincidentally, it was also the 10th anniversary of Dance Dance Revolution and they came out with DDR X.  As much as DDR X had some pretty bad songs and not like the originals.  I was obsessed with getting better, with playing it amazingly.  Days and days of practice, my daily exercise, stress reliever all went into the form of perfecting my dancing skills.  On top of that, I went searching for older versions of this fabulous game and came in possession with Supernova 2 and Extreme 2.  Eventually in 2011 they came out with a reboot, in the form of DDR X2.

Up till this past week, I had taken months off of DDR and had other obsessions that took its place but the one that always stayed was this dancing game.  I jump back in and the ambitious me pops out.  I need to win, I need to beat my records, I need to reach high levels.  I learned this week that its just who I am.  I’m really bad at gaming in general for somehow, DDR is my game.  I’m not as good as those people in competitions of course.  But, I improve everyday, it makes me happy and I can listen to hours on hours on hours of dance music a la Dance Dance Revolution style.  I can play and get angry at the stupid guy in the background making comments especially when he’s mocking me when I hit the danger zone and my legs are scorching with pain.  I can try to imitate the characters dancing during the song before and after the arrows start flowing up and after its done.

This Revolution is one that will never leave me. My matt may show signs of dying and the arrows don’t work as well and its probably time to upgrade it to the newer consoles and newer franchises like Everybody Dance for PS3 or Zumba for Xbox360 (but that would mean getting a new console), but Dance Dance Revolution will always be the one that I love even if I have to move on.  Its the one that started it all. I think they still make it on some consoles..I’ll have to research that 🙂

However, on a side note, one thing I will never do as much as I love it is to bring those moves into anywhere public 😉  If you’ve played it or seen it, you know what I mean. That’s one of the reasons why I decided to NOT scare everyone with my laughable dance moves….haha~If you want it though, I could film one tonight…just comment 😉 For you, anything! I mean I did it at the arcades once with my limited dance moves!

Dance off time! YEAH! Party anyone?

Anyone get dragged into this revolution? Or maybe you’re more the Guitar Hero phase (I am too ;))? Or maybe Duck Hunt? Maybe some other dance game on another console?