All she wants to do is dance

[owlmoose]

Once each quarter, we have a student worker meeting, and afterwards we usually try to do something fun. So today we went out to an arcade for a couple of hours. First was air hockey; I lost the one game I played pretty badly (although not as badly as I expected to), but the others were mostly evenly matched so it was really fun to watch them. Then we played a little skee ball and a few other things, and after that we made our way to the Dance Dance Revolution machine.

I had never played DDR before. I've long been curious about it, both because I hear it's fun and I've wondered if it might be a good way to get some exercise. But I never had a chance to play until today.

I loved it. I had a blast.

And, somewhat surprisingly, I'm actually sort of good at it. Not, like, amazing or anything (the one student who plays a lot could probably dance circles around me), but compared to the other two people who hadn't played before, I did really well. Definitely better than I would have expected for a game that's so physical.

So now I'm thinking much more seriously about picking it up for myself. I know there are some DDR players out there; any suggestions about which version is the best? (Of the PS2 games; we don't have an XBox. Although if anyone has tried the Wii version I'd be curious to hear that as well.) Also wondering whether the default dance pad is good enough, or whether it's worth shelling out for a higher-end one. Any and all thoughts on the subject are welcome.

Comments

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Sounds like "Friends" for the anime set, except it's high schoolers. ;)

The song is catchy, but the animation seems weirdly low-energy next to it. Like, I'd expect a lot more jumping around, and flashing lights, and stuff.

[parron.livejournal.com]

That's true. In one episode there's a longer version, but generally, the song is better than the dance. It's based off of another anime - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - which had a similar song/dance gimmick to it. That dance was actually much better done, although I can't stand the anime: it's a case of an interesting idea, good animation, and the most grating main character I've seen in years. I wanted to hit her at least twice per episode; instead she's celebrated as one of the best anime characters of recent years.

Lucky ☆ Star is pretty low-key. XD It's cute and it's funny; a lot of it is punchlines, and there isn't a plot. At all. I'd definitely go on YouTube and check out the first episode (although the Japanese voices can be a little grating: re, the main character).



In Lucky ☆ Star, they actually admit that they were trying for a "Haruhi" feel in their dance. (Lucky ☆ Star has a lot of the same voice actors, so it's full of references to that anime)