Dance Dance Revolution

Going to the mall and playing in the arcade used to be a once-every-other-month activity, usually a settlement with my mother so she could get me to the mall to get new shoes. Tht was until one day, while I was there with my best friend Shawn, we encountered a new game called Dance Dance Revolution. We decided to try it, set the difficulty on easy, picked "Kung Fu Fighting," and failed miserably. We continued playing other games in the arcade, and I didn't think much else of it that day.

Shawn, however, looked into the game a bit more. On another visit to the arcade, he played again, figured out the basics, and liked it. He got me to try again, and soon we were dance dancing on medium. It didn't take much to get us completely hooked. For a lot of my 7th grade year I would go to the arcade every Saturday with Shawn and spend about $20. After playing the game for so long I would see colored arrows whenever I closed my eyes. (The DDR effect.)

We started to get to know the regulars, many of whom were a lot better than us. Heck, we started to become the regulars. There was a whole culture of DDR players that we just getting to know. We got to know the customs, like using a coin to save your place in line. We became very familiar with the neighboring Panda Express, which had free water for all the tired revolutionists.

There were even DDR groupies, like Natalie. She was one of the player's girlfriends who started hanging around. Eventually they broke up, but she stuck around, and eventually started playing with us. She became one of my close friends, somebody I hung out with a lot in high school.

It wasn't long until a tournament was scheduled. Shawn and I were so excited, but we still weren't nearly good enough. Shawn was a lot better than me, and while we were both speedily improving, we still couldn't compare to the good players. Even though neither of us did that great in the tournaments, I really enjoyed it. I've always been pretty competative, so a new outlet is always nice.

I moved away from Missoula, the town with the mall with DDR, and thought my DDR days were done. They were for a while, until I found a friend that had it for their Playstation, and decent pads! I barrowed her sistem for about two weeks and played almost non-stop. I would set the system on endless mode and play-play-play for hours sometimes, only stopping when I would occasionaly fail a song. I got to the point where I could pass almost any song.

Then the school talent show came up. I was already concidered somewhat of a goofball (I did get spunky spirit) so I thought why not do DDR for the school talent show? I practiced a lot more, and got my act down. I could even do part of a song backwards - it was great. Unfortunately the judges didn't appreciate my video-game driven dancing, but I'd like to think I was a crowd favorite.

Since then I have only played a smattering of DDR. Any time I see an arcade, I'll look for a machine, hopefully playing a song or two. It still gets me winded, I'm nowhere near the shape I was in when I used to dance, but it makes me feel good. The sound of the music, the lights, the pads - it all brings me back to that first day in the arcade. It's amazing what a silly arcade game can do for friendships.