Pop Culture Digest

By Adam Lanphier and Wyna Liu

Rumble rumble...from the arcade you hear the sound of feet trampling...bumble trumble...the noise reaches a crescendo...what’s that? Kaboom! It’s a dancer! Don’t let him near you—he’s (or she’s) having too much fun!

Dance Dance Revolution. Ridiculously simple concept, ridiculous looking players. This is not a game you look good playing unless your name is 3 like it’s Knuckles. This game teaches you rhythm and goes like this: as a song plays, arrows scroll up the screen, on top of which are four fixed arrows pointing up, down, right and left. As the scrolling arrows match up with the fixed ones, you mash the corresponding arrows on the pad beneath your feet. The scoring of the game is based on how accurately your steps follow the beat of the song. It’s not always easy though, and you’ll know pretty soon if you suck because the game will give you a “boo” for every miss, or a “perfect!!” if it’s right on. Too many missteps will give you the boot. That’s it!

Here is a story that might be told had it actually happened to either of the writers of this article (only some bits are made up—try and guess which ones): In the summer of 1998 I was a foreign exchange student in Japan. I had a lot of free time, so I would go play pachinko a whole lot. But once it ate all my quarters (called yen in Japan). I decided instead to go somewhere where even the customers don’t need quarters: video arcades!

I went there and was stunned to see a group of people gathered in a circle and shouting. I made my way through the crowdÊto find that at the center of it all were two guys, sweaty, bandannaed and jumping all around. ‘What are these jerks doing and who do they think they are, dancing all stupid?’ I wondered. I crossed my arms in anger and turned away. I had almost made it out when I was suddenly pulled back in by one sweaty and bandannaed hand. “Shite minasai!” Japanese for “Try and see!” was all I heard before being thrust in the center of 360 degrees of ecstatic youths. Guiding the game with my feet, I stumbled through a menu of Japanese dance hits to find a song called “Boom Boom Dollar.” I stomped on something that told the game, “yes,” and before I knew it the robot demanded to see how “cool” I could dance. Then my journey began.

Now this is not the kind of journey where you actually go somewhere. No, I stayed in place, jumping around in imitation of those other kids. The journey I’m talking about occurred within. Once I got on that pad and started moving, I couldn’t stop. Within seconds I was in “the zone” and I felt like a thriller. Within the next few seconds I had lost the song. I was still dancing like a maniac when I heard the same mellifluous voice telling me not to worry and that there was always tomorrow. Game Over! I was pulled out of the ring as quickly as I had been sucked in, but I was never the same again.

Dance Dance Revolution (some call it DDR) will change your life, guaranteed. Now I dance all the time. Oh great f*ck.