So far, this must be the most physically healthy computer game I have ever played, as well as being one of the most fun ones. It has existed for over 10 years now in Asia where it is most popular, and has sparked a whole subgenre of games generally called ‘bemani’. There are big tournaments with prizes, something which is starting to take off now finally also in Europe, where we’ll have nationals next month and then the European Championship in Norway again in the summer (2nd time that is being held).
Anyone else into this game? I currently mostly play Dancing Stage: Fusion, which is the European version of Dancing Stage: Extreme 2nd Edition or something I think in the U.S. I greatly enjoy Dance UK also (uses 8 steps instead of 4 and feels more like real dancing), but the game itself severely lacks in depth and difficulty. My level is … well let’s just say that 7 footers give me a hard time, and 8 footers are still a no go area.
If you’re worried about losing weight, this is definitely something to try.
We have DDR for the Playstation 2 and I’ve just started playing it. My boyfriend is really good at it and has played it for a long time. It is a great workout
We’re going to build a metal dance pad because the one we have now (one of the store-bought ones, mounted on plywood) is kinda cheesy.
We also have DDR for the PS2 and we love it! The girls play it all the time for hours on end. We take it to parties, after a few drinks everybody is doin it!
Yeah, when my pad wears out I’m getting a metal one. It still works, but I suspect that the obscene ammount of wear it got it’s first couple months, plus a bit of extra abuse from my roommates tossing it around, has taken its toll.
Great game though, if I had a PS2 I’d buy myself a copy (I have a PS1, but all the songs I like aren’t on those versions). As it is, I have an emulator on my computer, with some DDR songs but most aren’t in the actual game. Which reminds me, my friends and I need to organise another drunken DDR party like we did last year for the end of semester. We played DDR before getting drunk, but it was still amusing as only two of us were good at it, and only a couple of the others had even played before.
Hehe, badbadrubberfiance lost about 30-40lbs before I met him, and says it’s largely b/c of DDR! It’s hard to snack when you’re trying to keep up with the game.
At Pinball Pete’s (the arcade in Ann Arbor where I went to college), they must have had about 7 or 8 of these things lined up. They also used to have one in the Union basement for a couple of years, which was always good for some late night entertainment from studying. Not to play, mind. I never actually tried it out, which must have made me the only Asian person, not to mention engineer, who didn’t play it at U of M. Just to watch was good enough. Some guys would get dressed up and do spin moves and drop down and pop back up… I was impressed. I have no doubt it’s a good workout just from seeing how much sweat was pouring off the people playing it.
A drunken DDR party sounds like a fantastic way to get some great drunken photos. Set up a webcam or something for maximal humiliation!
I’m very interested in DDR but when I’ve visited various web sites it’s as though they’re speaking another language and I’m just completely lost. We went to Target and between the Playstation 2 and the DDR think the cost is somewhere around $250. :eek: I see where you can get the PC versiou for $59 but can’t find any system requirements. (I have an old PC running Win98 and would like to know if it is going to suck trying to run it on such an old machine)
Clue me in DDR fans! What’s my best bet? Should I shell out for the PS2 and DDR or go with the PC version. I don’t do any other type of computer “gaming” but my daughter (who’s 18) might.
I think that this would be a good way to get both me and my daughter off our rather large asses and into something fun that would get us moving.
I haven’t tried it yet either, but it is somethng that I have been wanting for a while. We have a PS2, how much money does this involve? From what I’ve read, it can get pretty expensive.
It’s not that bad to start off. The game and mat can be had for around $30.
Of course I have a normal sized metal one and Ultramix for the x-box. Not cheap.
I’m not sure if you can get it in your area, but amazon might have it - the Dance UK mat. It’s the best and most durable cheap mat out there I know of. That mat, like many other ‘soft’ mats, actually don’t set you much more than 10-20 bucks. The game (Dancing Stage: Extreme/Fusion - whichever region you live) shouldn’t set you back more than 30 bucks max, for some reason the game is sold at half the price of other games, already from release date. Probably because DDR isn’t considered popular yet over here, and it has earned itself back already in Japan so it’s cheap to get over here. So all in all costs don’t involve more than a regular new game.
It only gets expensive, when you get really really good and tell yourself your mat is really holding back your development, and you need that $100 metal pad, in which case you will end up buying something like the TX1000 or 2000, that kind of thing. Or you will build your own, some people are crazy enough to do that. I’ve seen some people work on things … pff.
Anyway, it’s usually not money but shame that keeps people from playing this. One on one, though, I’ve managed to convince nearly anyone I know to try this. In a group, it may be harder.
If you go for the PC version you can hook up a dance pad quite cheap. Just buy a regular PS2 dance pad (I got mine for $30 CND plus tax), then get a PS2->USB adapter, which are also very cheap–if you can’t find them locally, check Ebay. All told, I spent $60 to have a dance pad hooked up to my computer, including shipping, exchange rate and money order fees on the adapter.
I would get the PS2, mostly because you can play it on a larger screen, and if you have a sound system it will add to the gameplay a lot. If you have good speakers and a subwoofer on your computer then it wouldn’t matter as much. Personally, if I could have either/or I would go for the PS2. I’ve probably played DDR for 2 years now, although a LOT less this year than last, because now I have college and work full time. If you have some extra cash to throw around you might want to look into the metal pads also. The nylon ones slip around a little bit and after you use them too much they break down inside and don’t work right.
Has anyone in here beat Max 300? I haven’t played that song since last year and the highest I could get was a B
A bunch of my friends and I went there a few times this summer. Sadly, they only had four working machines lined up together, and one broken Extreme. I think the full count was three Extremes, a Max 2, and a 5th Mix.
And for a decent home pad that’s not metal, I recommend the Red Octane soft pad. They’re all foamy and don’t move around too much. Just really good for practice. That said, I do believe I spent far too much in the arcades this summer, just failing one Heavy song after another.
Can someone clue me in on exactly how DDR is played? It sounds like it could be strenuous - I’m guessing it gets worse if you want to advance beyond the basic stuff. I have a niece who’s 9, and on her school’s ‘spirit squad’. I have a feeling she might be interested in this, if it’s not already passe in her peer group. But I’m really asking for me - looking for a fun way to get at least some exercise.
Okay, so, you’ve got a pad on the floor. Four arrows on it, facing up, down, left, and right. Now on the screen, there’s music playing. To the beat of the music, arrows scroll upwards, the same as the ones on the pad.
The goal is to hit the matching arrow on the pad when the arrow on the screen when it reaches a certain point. The game starts out on beginner’s mode, where very simple arrow patterns scroll. It goes on to light mode, standard, and finally heavy. The songs’ difficulty ratings are based in feet and go from one foot to ten feet, ten being the most difficult.
Thanks for the quick reply. Now that I think further on it, I do believe the niece and nephew got some kind of copycat game this past Christmas (a CD with some un-electronic dance mats). Their uncle made quite the fool of himself trying to play it with them, but then they like that.
It’s amazing how much plywood mounting will extend the life of even the cheapest pads. Mine lasted for about two years before finally going kaput.
From your post it sounds like you’ve only got one pad. Have you ever played in double mode? It’s great! The greater range of motion takes some getting used to, but it’s well worth the cost of a second pad, in my opinion.
I love that game! Haven’t played it in ages though. I don’t have a PS2 when I’m at uni, so I’ll have to wait until next time I visit my parents to play again.
