"Dance Dance", commonly known as "Dance Dance Revolution" in China, officially celebrated its 20th anniversary this year. In addition to launching a new dance machine "" (DRS), it also gradually unveiled new songs for the game on the 20th anniversary suspense website. At the same time, a licensed movie about "Dancing to Save the World" also frightened many players and the media.

It’s not clear whether dancing on the DDR dancing machine will save the world, but it has created a “new world”, an era of gaming and dancing where everyone can sweat as much as they want.

"Frenzy Beats" played with your feet

Before DDR appeared, the music arcade game "(Mania Beat)" was first launched in November 1997. This music arcade game has gathered a large number of fans. When DDR debuted at the Japan Arcade Game Show in early 1998, fans thought it was another version of its beat-'em-up game, only this time using feet to control input. However, they didn't expect it. Unexpectedly, DDR has since become the most influential originator of "dance machines" in the world, and has been "spreading" in the fields of arcades and home machines for 20 years.

Many people believe that November 1998 was the day it was officially launched, but what was released at this time was actually the improved version 1.5, which was the official version with the Internet ranking system added. The prototype had already attracted many people as early as September. play till. So when celebrating DDR's birthday, they are actually celebrating the birthday of the "1.5" mix, which contains all the song content from the beta to the official version, except for one song in the beta version, "Money."

The scene in front of the DDR test machine in 1998

It is worth mentioning that the song "Money" was included in the DDR version played in September, but the song was removed from the official version 1.5. The same situation also appeared in DDR 2 and DDR 3. This kind of "deletion" adjustment was not a big deal at first, but it caused all kinds of speculation and dissatisfaction in the fan community at the time, especially when the songs that were cut were later version never appears again.

Although DDR does not have many songs, there is one song that is so popular that it has almost become synonymous with DDR, and that is "" by the Swedish "Smiling Sisters". It can be imagined that in order to play this song at that time, every DDR arcade machine There are long queues in front of the game, and DDR itself is popular in arcades all over Japan, even in places where it shouldn’t be found, such as laundromats or in some rural areas. People are willing to spend 200 yen to play. Two songs, or "" played twice in a row.

With more players participating, some competition between players will emerge. The BOSS song "(Paranoia)" in DDR has almost become a status symbol for masters at that time. If you can play this song in front of everyone, the sense of glory you will get is self-evident, but with the follow-up of DDR The difficulty of the version of the song has increased, and some new players who have not been exposed to early DDR do not think "" is so great.

In addition to the difference in difficulty, two footstep gameplays have gradually formed in Japan: In the Kanto District, the player steps on the left arrow with his left foot, and then steps on other buttons with his right foot. The gameplay in the Kansai region is more common, that is, after pressing a button, quickly return to the center position. Of course there are experts in the "double board" mode, where one person plays eight keys, and such players are usually surrounded by many people during their performances.

Red-haired music genius: Naoki Maeda

The popularity of DDR is inseparable from one person, and that is the musician Naoki Maeda who participated in the production of DDR music. Maeda Naoki was born in Osaka in 1969 and graduated from Osaka University of Arts with a major in piano. Later, he joined the Entertainment Machine (AM) department in 1995 and served as the producer and composer of the last game of "Saraman Snake 2". After the release of "Saraman Snake 2", he was spotted by the team's producer Yoshihiko Ohta and became A total of 25 people participated in this project.

Unexpectedly, after the first generation, Ota Yoshihiko turned to be responsible for other projects, and Maeda Naoki suddenly became the main producer of the series. In addition to his musical skills in adapting electronic dance music, from 2001's DDR 5th MIX to 2011's DDR Ⅱ, he added two hidden characters in the game, one is himself "Naoki", and the other is the incarnation of the composer Yuichi Asami "U1". The game maker's act of putting his own image in the game seemed narcissistic, but this move allowed all DDR players to successfully recognize the musical soul of this musical genius: an eye-catching cowboy outfit, red hair, brown glasses, and There is a red scarf. While players are dancing to their heart's content, you can see the dancing figure of this red-haired cowboy.

Not only that, Maeda Naoki is also very concerned about dressing up his virtual self. In the DDR Party series, he made his game avatar have short blond hair, and his clothes style also changed with the game. This habit runs throughout the entire DDR series. If players can't tell the specific version number of DDR, they may remember it if they think about Naoki's dressing style.

After 2013, Maeda Naoki left his job of 18 years and joined Capcom to create the music arcade and mobile game "CROSS×BEATS" series. In August this year, he founded his own "Infinite" studio and announced Music mobile game "Seven's Code".

Cleaning up the smoky American arcades

The considerable profits of DDR not only made a lot of money for local arcade owners in Japan, but also attracted the attention of the American arcade market. Although the American arcade market was already in decline at the time, the emergence of DDR also set off an arcade dancing craze in the United States. .

In 1999, DDR dance machines began to enter the United States, and the American version was officially released in 2000. At that time, each machine sold for as high as 15,000 US dollars, and the cost was too high for many arcade halls to accept – but those who dared to be the first to eat crabs benefited from this, because arcade halls in the United States were already in decline at the time. Most of the arcade games are mainly violent, bloody and gambling games. This has caused many arcade players who value the gaming experience to gradually leave this land. It was the emergence of DDR that completely changed this situation.

DDR first landed on the west coast of the United States and California. Its appearance made American young people who advocated fitness go crazy for it. Many people went to great lengths and would rather drive dozens of kilometers to find an arcade with DDR dancing machines. This wave also formed American dancing social culture, the Wall Street Journal even called it "karaoke on tiptoes."

Although the demand in the United States is huge, it does not pay attention to the US market and at the same time abandons the plan to install DDR dancing machines on a large scale in the United States. Based on the situation at the time, it was believed that the U.S. arcade market was shrinking and was no longer suitable for large-scale development. In addition, numerous legal disputes left it too busy to take care of it, which led to the tragedy of DDR in the United States.

First of all, many arcades have introduced a large number of Japanese second-hand DDR and outdated products. These dance machines have component damage problems, resulting in a very poor gaming experience. Similar products and home console versions of dance machine games have diverted most users. What's even worse is that the "DDR" series of dance machines launched in cooperation with third parties after 2006 also have low quality problems, and many arcades are unwilling to update the latest versions of the arcade machines, which makes American players lose confidence in DDR. , it was not until the release of "DDR A" in 2016 that people gradually saw the importance of the US market.

DDR heat wave sweeps China

In 1999, the domestic environment was quite disgusted with the attitude of arcades and game consoles, but it was a completely different scene towards DDR. In addition to the rapid rise of DDR dance craze in Hong Kong, Taiwan and other places, due to some reasons in the mainland, more It was a huge success. First, CCTV reported on the Japanese dancing machine, allowing Chinese people to see this entertainment product that combines technology and fitness. Then the popularity of the dancing mat brought this type of game into the living rooms of Chinese families.

In 2000, Konami Software (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. was established. Therefore, there is the possibility of formally introducing DDR 2nd Mix into the country. But at that time, the streets were flooded with a magical combination machine: a PS console with a DDR arcade outer frame, and then placed in the arcade for everyone to play. The cost of this combination machine was much lower than the original DDR arcade machine. few.

Although dancing mats and PS mods were all the rage in China, this situation did not last long. In the summer of 2000, "Guangming Daily" published an article "Computer Games: "Electronic XXX" Aimed at Children", which subsequently launched a nationwide rectification campaign against arcades and related "Internet cafes". Almost most arcades The arcade halls are quickly disappearing. A small number of arcade halls have taken the risk of going downhill because slot machines and other machines are very profitable, but this obviously does not include DDR, which is about dancing for fun. This major overhaul has completely ruined the vision of the Japanese arcade manufacturers for the Chinese market. It was not until 2006 that it slowly recovered.

Nowadays, mid-to-high-end "arcade arcades" have become one of the common features of large-scale leisure plazas in China. The younger generation hangs out here, either playing claw machines, racing cars, or playing with the latest motion sensors. It is also common to see older people. People are playing "Street Fighter", "Dino Kombat", etc. on the rows of arcade machines in the corner. In the most conspicuous position of the store, there will definitely be 1 or 2 magnificent dancing machines. Come prepared. When the dancers start to perform, tourists in the "Arcade City" will surround the place, and the excitement is as if an impromptu live show is starting.

At this time, this scene seems to be as vivid as the scene 20 years ago.