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DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION (1998): THE PLAYER BECOMES THE STAR

At first glance, Dance Dance Revolution (Konami, 1998;¹ Arcade; other platforms and games in the series later), or DDR,² is a glorified game of “Simon Says.”³ After all, to play DDR, the gamer simply steps on one of four arrows positioned up, down, left, and right on a platform, trying to match a corresponding scrolling arrow when it reaches a specific point at the top of the screen (when the game “says”). If the player successfully steps on the right arrow at the right time, the player's score and status increases; if not, the player's status decreases (the game didn't “say”). This is of course set to any one of a number of original and licensed dance songs with a wacky disembodied DJ voice shouting encouragement like, “Yeah! Do it!” and “You're a dance animal!,” and some not-so-positive comments like, “Did you have breakfast today?” and “Are your legs okay?,” relative to your performance.

To understand what makes DDR truly a revolution, we need to first reflect on the gamer stereotype. It seems almost any time a “gamer” is represented in a film or television show, we see a pale, overweight teenager with awkward movements and stilted speech. Further, the mass media seems obsessed with vilifying the games industry for society's woes, blaming them for—among other things—the alleged crisis in adolescent and teenage obesity. Even avid gamers often deride their own favorite hobby, lamenting that they wasted so much time playing games when they should have been playing sports or enjoying the outdoors. As Dani Bunten Berry, developer of M.U.L.E. and Cytron Masters once put it, “No one ever said on their deathbed, ‘Gee, I wish I had spent more time alone with my computer.’”⁴ Part of the problem may be that, unlike most sports, watching someone play a videogame is seldom a rewarding activity for spectators, today's professional gaming leagues notwithstanding.⁵ In short, even if all sorts of wonderful things are happening onscreen, the gamer seems to be doing little more than clicking buttons from a comfy seat. Few games offer opportunities for impressive physical performances.

A sequence of two screenshots from the Sony PlayStation version of Dance Dance Revolution, describing the simple gameplay.

The brilliance of DDR lies precisely in providing such opportunities. A dedicated fan of DDR will often develop the physical prowess necessary not only to achieve high scores in the game, but to impress spectators passing by the machine. Because players are penalized only for not hitting correct dance steps and can add in their own, many DDR aficionados create intricate flourishes and routines that are intended more for fun and the audience's delight than for winning the game.⁶ In an interview with the authors, Ryan Cravens, Marketing Manager for arcade game and amusements distributor Betson Enterprises, draws a performance parallel to another phenomena—karaoke—stating, “Both came out of Japan, are music-related, and are all a more complicated version of the ‘follow the bouncing ball’ sing-a-longs from 1950s television.”

A scene from an episode of sitcom Malcolm in the Middle, entitled “Dewey's Special Class,” featuring fictional DDR clone Jump Jump Dance Party, complete with over-the-top theatrics.

In a way, Dragon's Lair (Cinematronics, 1983; Arcade; dozens of home ports later), one of the first laserdisc videogames, was all about performance as well. It certainly wasn't the compelling gameplay, which—like DDR well after it—consisted of moving up, down, left, or right at precisely the right time.⁷ Whereas Dragon's Lair's hook is in its animated film-quality visuals by former Disney animator Don Bluth, DDR draws the player in by physically involving them in the game, in fact paying little mind to its graphics.

Dragon's Lair was all about the novelty of its video quality, a fact punctuated by many arcade operators setting up additional video displays so the audience could view the play sessions.⁸ Unfortunately for future games using similar technology, it was difficult for designers to invent ways for players to interact with canned video footage in an entertaining manner.⁹ Thus, once the novelty of simplistic interactions with high-quality video wore off and profoundly interactive real-time graphics continued to improve in quality, games that took inspiration from Dragon's Lair fell out of favor. It was therefore only with a performance hook that what amounted to little more than Touch Me's game-play could be so influential.

Besides the common but unconscious habit of moving one's body in the direction one moves the controller, games that demanded more from the player than finger tapping have been, until recently, few and far between. Early products worth mentioning include Video Jogger and Video Reflex (Exus, 1983; Atari 2600 Video Computer System), a two-cartridge bundle with the Foot Craz controller; Nintendo's World Class Track Meet (1988, Nintendo Entertainment System), bundled with the Power Pad;¹⁰ and Sega's Activator (1994), a controller designed primarily for use with fighting games like Eternal Champions (Sega, 1993; Sega Genesis).

The Foot Craz is a floor mat controller used in a similar manner as modern dance pads, save for its purely horizontal layout, which registers one of four directions on each of its colored stepping circles. A green circle, which acts like a standard Atari joystick's fire button, sits above the row of other circles. Besides achieving only a limited release before “The Great Videogame Crash of 1984”¹¹ and spotty responsiveness, the cartridges that accompanied the Foot Craz were mundane. Video Jogger required the player to run in place, and Video Reflex tasked the player with stepping on the matching color or colors when a bug appeared. Although Exus should be praised for their innovative hardware ideas, it would take others to make equally compelling software for them.

Screenshot from Exus’ Video Jogger, designed for use with the Foot Craz controller on the Atari 2600.

Nintendo's Power Pad is a floor-mat controller taken to the extreme, with 12 numbered circles laid out in a 4 × 3 grid, with the circles on the left half in blue and on the right half in red. On the flip side of the large mat are eight unnumbered blue and red colored circles in a plus pattern. Though the 12-circle side of the pad allowed for two (careful) simultaneous players and 11 different total cartridges were released worldwide, with themes ranging from sports to aerobics to chasing and apprehending criminals, the now-obvious killer app of a dance game was not considered (perhaps because of the system's modest sound capabilities). Though faring better than many of the Nintendo Entertainment System's wacky add-ons in terms of support and general interest, the Power Pad failed to maintain momentum or further development beyond the lifespan of its release system.¹²

One side of Nintendo's oversized Power Pad for the NES, shown with the Street Cop, Athletic World, Dance Aerobics, Super Team Games, and Short Order/Eggsplode! cartridges.

Sega's Activator, on the other hand, was undeniably exciting and groundbreaking in theory, but poor in execution. The Activator is a hollow, octagonal platform that registers an action in one of eight directions via infrared sensors. After stepping within the octagon, the player is asked to either punch or kick in one of the eight directions to perform an onscreen move. Unfortunately, the infrared sensors were easily distorted by common room elements like lights, and there were never any games designed specifically for the device. As such, performing the complex moves of standard fighting games of the day, like Mortal Kombat (Acclaim, 1993), requiring both precision and multiple keypresses (which are sometimes difficult to pull off even on a standard controller) to be matched by the player's physical contortions, quickly made even the most dedicated player give up. It's by keeping the technological ambition level reined in and a game designed specifically for the platform that DDR provides a sharp contrast to the Activator's failings.

Box shot of Sega's Activator, a product that sounded great on paper, but disappointed in its actual execution.

With the passing of the fighting game craze by the latter part of the 1990s,¹³ increased operating costs and further interest waning in the United States in light of ever-more-powerful consoles, arcades began to morph into something akin to mini amusement parks. Arcades began to showcase games that featured specialized hardware, environmental cabinets, and multiplayer competitive setups that were not easy to replicate at home. These games included Top Skater (Sega, 1997), in which the player performs tricks and other activities on a realistic skateboard platform; Airline Pilots (Sega, 1999), in which the player was tasked to fly a commercial Boeing 777 aircraft, complete with realistic controls and three-screen cockpit; Beach Head 2000 (Global VR, 2000), a shooting game played using an immersive turret controller; Arctic Thunder (Midway, 2001), where one or more players sat on faux snowmobiles and competed in a high-speed, jump-filled race; and of course, DDR, with the arcade version's metal light-up dance pads and oversized speakers.¹⁴

After DDR’s success in arcades around the world, it was only natural for Konami to try to bring the experience home. Though Japan received home translations of DDR and other games in the Bemani series well before other territories, it was with the wide 2001 release of Dance Dance Revolution for the Sony PlayStation (PS1) that DDR's legend began to grow, opening up the game to a whole new generation of players who may have never set foot in an arcade or been intimidated by the idea of being the center of public attention. As a March 2001 review from GamePro magazine put it, “Dance Dance Revolution [for the PS1] offers all the fun of the arcade and none of the humiliation.” Further, as Cravens adds, “Players use the arcade version as a stage to show off the moves that they have been practicing at home on the console versions.”

Screenshot for Epyx's Breakdance on the Commodore 64, which featured a crude audiovisual presentation and rudimentary “Simon Says”-style gameplay throughout its various play modes.

Although DDR could be played using just a standard controller without the soft, plastic, foldable dance pad, it was with this add-on, available either bundled with versions of the game or sold separately,¹⁵ that the game transcended other attempts at similar play styles and themes. These included Epyx's Breakdance (1984; Commodore 64), which made players remember and repeat the breaking moves of their opponent using a joystick; SCEI's surreal PaRappa the Rapper (1996; PS1), in which players direct a rapping dog by pressing controller buttons in the correct sequence and timing; and Eidos’ Mad Maestro (2002; Sony PlayStation 2), which had players conduct an orchestra by tapping buttons on the controller¹⁶ with varying degrees of pressure.¹⁷ Though some of the other games in the genre were popular in their own right, their popularity never rose to the degree of DDR, which had the advantage of its specialized controller. To be fair, a dance pad, like any other controller that outputs standard signals, can be used to control other types of games—but it's ideally suited to DDR-like experiences.¹⁸

Back of the box for the first U.S. home release of Konami's Dance Dance Revolution series for the Sony PlayStation.

Where the home experience differed the most from the arcade was game modes, which were far more plentiful at home than in the arcade. The first home version of DDR included Game, Workout, Lesson, and Training modes. Game Mode is the main mode for DDR and is identical to the difficulty level found in the arcade version. Workout Mode adds fitness goals while counting the number of calories burned during play. Lesson Mode enables novice players to learn the game's basics in a more relaxed tutorial setting. Training Mode allows players to practice and master the game's more difficult songs. Future games in the series and the various clones and knock-offs would continue to expand on the intricacies of these core modes and add slightly to the play mechanics, such as requiring players to hold a foot position for a set period of time.

Screenshot from Codemasters’ 2006 Dance Factory for the Sony PlayStation 2, which allowed gamers to use their own music CDs to create custom dance steps.

The success of the Bemani series and of course DDR would inspire other attempts at using special peripherals and add-ons to enhance the gameplaying experience.¹⁹ Some, like Sega's Samba de Amigo (1999; Arcade, Sega Dreamcast), where the player used maracas to play the game, and Sony's EyeToy (2003, Sony PlayStation 2), a motion-sensing camera used with a variety of games, never really caught the public's attention,²⁰ while others like RedOctane's Guitar Hero (2005; Sony PlayStation 2), which features a guitar controller, and MTV Games’ Rock Band (2007; Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, and others), which features a guitar, drum, and microphone, have become cultural phenomena.²¹ Others still, like Konami's own microphone-based Karaoke Revolution Party (2005, Microsoft Xbox, Sony PlayStation 2, and others), allow incorporation of the basic DDR gameplay and dance pad as an adjunct to their own main modes of play.

Promotional screenshot from 2004’s Dance Dance Revolution Extreme for the Sony PlayStation 2, which—among other features—added support for Sony's EyeToy camera.

With the continued popularity of DDR and the even more popular Guitar Hero and Rock Band series,²² performance-based gaming is a genre to be reckoned with for the foreseeable future. After all, combining popular music with the fun of performing is a concept that transcends many of the social biases against the idea of videogames, particularly as games like DDR and Nintendo's exercise-centric Wii Fit game and Wii Balance Board (2008, Nintendo Wii) continue to rack up weight loss and fitness-related successes in otherwise sedentary individuals. As Cravens summarizes, “DDR is a series that is so positive, grandparents are aware of it and they can endorse it for their family. It is a wholesome game (save for a few stray lyrics) that is healthy for the players and it is not a game that was made entirely for 25-year-old men. Mainstream media have parodied it and embraced it for being an oddity that does not seem to lose much steam.”

Karaoke has proven a popular subgenre in the performance games category, with Konami's own Karaoke Revolution series of games one mainstay. Box back for Karaoke Revolution Presents American Idol Encore for the Microsoft Xbox 360 shown.

¹From Konami's Bemani music videogame division, which (besides the title game) has produced many other popular performance games, including those that use faux DJ mixing boards and musical instruments. Many games in the Bemani series have been released only in Japan.

²Some territories and later entries in the series used the name Dancing Stage instead of Dance Dance Revolution, making the abbreviation DS.

³Or Milton Bradley's Ralph Baer-designed electronic handheld Simon game (1978), with its four large iconic colored buttons arranged in a circular formation. Simon would play a tone as each one of the colored buttons were lit. The player was required to repeat the colored lighting/sound sequence by pressing the corresponding buttons. Simon succeeded where the game that inspired it, Atari's arcade Touch Me (1974), failed, by focusing on color and pleasing sounds—in other words, providing a good interactive experience to go along with the core gameplay. This was a lesson obviously not lost on the designers of DDR.

⁴See http://www.anticlockwise.com/dani/personal/biz/index.html for this and other Bunten quotations, and Chapter 6, “Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty (1992): Strategy in Real Time,” for more on Cytron Masters.

⁵It can be argued that outside of certain countries like South Korea, professional gaming leagues are geared more to masses of competitors rather than masses of spectators.

⁶Episode 103 from Season 5 of the TV show Malcolm in the Middle, entitled “Dewey's Special Class,” features the characters of Hal and Craig playing a fictional DDR clone called Jump Jump Dance Party. The half-hour comedy effectively spoofed the often over-the-top theatrics and choreographed antics that can result when the best players take to a DDR platform, even earning the show an Emmy Award nomination for outstanding choreography. A similar scenario would play out in a memorable scene from the otherwise forgettable comedy movie about a videogame tester, Grandma's Boy (2006).

⁷Dragon's Lair did have an additional “direction” as an option, an action button for use of the sword, but, like the four-way joystick, it could be used only when a specific spot in certain video scenes required it.

⁸Author Loguidice confirms this from one of his summer visits to the arcades on the boardwalk at the Jersey Shore, where arcade operators would have additional Dragon's Lair displays not only around the machine, but also occasionally facing outside to attract passersby. Dragon's Lair was also one of the first games for which arcade operators charged 50 cents versus the usual 25 cents!

⁹Later video-based games, like Sega's Tomcat Alley (1994; PC, Sega CD) and Hudson Soft's fighting game for the Japanese market, Battle Heat (1994; NEC PC-FX), did eventually offer near-real-time interaction, but the interaction still fell short of games with traditional computer-generated visuals.

¹⁰World Class Track Meet was originally Stadium Events, and the Power Pad was originally Family Fun Fitness, both released by Bandai before Nintendo bought out all rights. Naturally, today the Bandai versions are highly collectible.

¹¹The iconic name given to a period of massive financial losses, stock liquidations, and generally bad times for the videogame industry at large in the United States.

¹²Cravens adds, “You cannot take the Power Pad out of the equation as far as losing weight. As a child, I found it hard to play the game and eat Oreo cookies at the same time, so I had to lose a pound or three, playing with it … but DDR is the poster child for the ‘Active Gaming’ initiative.”

¹³See Chapter 17, “Street Fighter II (1991): Would You Like the Combo?” for more information.

¹⁴Similar to Dragon's Lair before it, arcade operators would often set up DDR machines in conspicuous locations for maximum audience impact.

¹⁵Third parties would soon get in on the act, releasing their own pads with varying degrees of quality and innovation, including hard platforms; though, as Cravens states, “The arcade version of DDR will always be a much stronger version of the game, simply because the dance pad is superior to anything any company has developed [for the home].”

¹⁶The Japanese release supported a baton peripheral.

¹⁷Though plenty of other systems, including the PC and units from Microsoft and Nintendo, received many of the same games, it's Sony's PlayStation series of consoles where the largest diversity of performance-based games have been released to date.

¹⁸See http://www.florian.ca/index.php?id=35 for one unusual alternative usage.

¹⁹Prior to the Bemani series, most peripherals that weren't included with a system, including light guns and other specialized controllers, received limited support due to too few owners, making more aggressive forays into this area by developers few and far between.

²⁰Although Sony's EyeToy has chalked up respectable worldwide sales and has a wide variety of game support, including many in the performance-based category, the concept has yet to capture the imagination of mainstream media and nongamers.

²¹As Cravens states, “Since the Bemani line of games included Guitar Freaks and Drum Mania (not just DDR), there was obviously a huge influence. Guitar Hero and Rock Band are more popular than DDR because Harmonix [developer of Rock Band] took the DDR formula and made it for a more mainstream audience. Instead of jumping around on a lit stage, you are now ‘looking cool’ with a hunk of guitar-shaped plastic or a ‘drum kit’ in front of you while you played songs that were familiar and accepted by American audiences. The Bemani line of games proved that the concept would work; it just took a company that was more in tune with American pop culture to [really] make it explode.”

²²As well as Konami's own, newer multiperipheral band game, Rock Revolution (2008; Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3, and so on).