We take a trip back into time with Throwback Thursdays! This week we get an insight into Dance Dance Revolution and how odd it is to be considered as retro.
I never thought Dance Dance Revolution as retro. The game itself, along with In the Groove, are both still active in the few arcades that exist in America. Plugging my dance pad into my Xbox the other day, I realized, Dance Dance Revolution and In the Groove are retro games, along with their dance pad.
We’re now in the era of gaming that a dance pad is no longer needed. We have Xb360’s Kinect and PlayStation 3’s Move. Both systems are able to detect our movements and that type of technology is not going away for the Xbox One and PS4. Dance pads are a thing of the past.
I got into DDR a bit later than everyone else. I was an assistant manager at a video game retailer, back in 2004. I was pestered by a fellow employee to try it out. Once the shop was closed, we pulled out two dance pads and started to play. I was terrible however I had a lot of fun playing. I’m not a pro at DDR or ITG, but I’ve come a long way since my newb days. It is a shame that DDR and ITG are retro now, a relic of better days. Just recently I had to order a DDR game for my Xbox because I was unable to buy the game locally. I’ve mostly played DDR on the PS2, but after a while, I started to miss certain songs that can only be found on the Xbox DDR games. I’m grateful that both my systems and dance pad still function properly. And even though in today’s gaming world we have Just Dance and Dance Central, my heart will always be with Dance Dance Revolution and In the Groove. Maybe I’m just being nostalgic, but I rather jump around on a dance pad than trying to dance without arrows.
