How long has it been?

[MonMotha]

So, I was playing PIU and had a kid ask me how I got so good at "dancing". Standard "it's not dancing; it's arrow smash" comment aside, my normal reply is something to the effect that, well, I've been playing it for a long time. For context, I asked him how old he was. Turns out he was 9 - nine years old.

I've been playing dance games for about 2-3 more years than that kid has been alive. I haven't even changed my avatar on here since then. It's been longer than that since the IndyDDR "great reset". I've owned a frigging PIU cabinet for about that long.

Jeesh, I'm old. ...and so are these games.

[Riot]

I started playing in early/mid 2002 I believe. I was waiting for the release of FFXI and saw a review for DDR Max for PS2 and decided that it might be a fun way to pass the time. Still playing 12 years later!

[Merk]

May 2001 on the ol' 4th mix at Putt-Putt in Fort Wayne. DDR is by far the single piece of entertainment software that has had the most profound effect on my life.

[SoDeepPolaris]

Summer of 2001 at Sony Metreon in San Fransisco.

[Ho]

Summer 2000 at the GameWorks Studio in Indy. I think I had played one time before the first picture in the photo albums which is from September. Chad now owns the machine that popped my DDR cherry.

I remember my first set of Have You Never Been Mellow, Boom Boom Dollar, and Butterfly as that was a progression of 1, 2, and then 3 feet. I then stumbled a bit when my knees started to buckle while stepping down from the stage. I think this was the first time I felt old. And here I am, 14 years later, still playing this darn thing.

I can remember getting a lot healthier in those years and then letting it slip away again. But 'm probably actually better off now than I was then. I can crank out a 7 or an 8 without much difficulty, and I could probably do most 9s if I had to.

i agree with Merk that DDR has had the single largest impact on my life.

[Fluffyumpkins]

I've always had a tough time letting go of things I enjoy. It's interesting following a lot of old timers that I'm still friends with that don't really care about DDR anymore. WhiteDragon is a pretty good example. These days people would rather play boardgames or toss a Frisbee than stomp on the ol' arrows.

[Merk]

Yeah, I can't blame people whose interest in DDR has waned. There was a huge 3+ year gap between Extreme and Supernova so people were stuck with Extreme for a long ass time or they went and played ITG and never looked back. When Supernova did come out its reception was maybe less than lukewarm compared to Extreme and the lack of eAmuse in the US only exacerbated the situation for DDR and its future iterations since many features in the game would increasingly become eAmuse only. Plus, the fact that Supernova and subsequent mixes required a hardware upgrade only further guaranteed that the US would either be playing Extreme or ITG since no self-respecting arcade would shell out the dollars for an arcade game that had peaked and was on the down-slope.

Anyway, despite the fact that I post on this messageboard and know a good amount of people through DDR, the actual game itself is very much a solitary experience for me. I don't like playing with other people and I preferred to be alone when I was at the arcade. I really didn't like sharing sets with people since they'd inevitably pick a song I was too tired or didn't like to play. I also felt like I had to hover around the machine when it wasn't my turn so that I could maintain my spot in line and I couldn't play at my own pace.

[Ho]

I picked up Pump in DDR's Extreme-to-SuperNOVA hiatus and grew to like it more than DDR. Although, oddly, I play DDR more these days--no doubt due to the little activity Merk and I have been doing here on the forums.

Merk, get a Pump machine so we can play that instead!

[Merk]

Pump is okay and there are definitely some charts on it that I really like but I've always been more of a PA person than a "hit these arrows really fast" type of person which is what I think Pump caters to.

[Ho]

I find the patterns in Pump to be much more fun overall, and the stage layout forces a lot more full-body movement. I also prefer the eye catching visual style of Pump.

[MonMotha]

You should play beatmaniaIIDX 5th Style. I has the coolest songs with fun, eye-catching graphics!

[Ho]

Is it HARD AND EXTREME?

If it is, IT'S TOO COOL!

[Fluffyumpkins]

That's Beatmania IIDX.

[Merk]

Beet is a legitimately good game for people who enjoy brutally difficult learning curves and achieving self-actualization through mastering a hard but ultimately pointless activity that doesn't improve oneself in any significant way.

[Ho]

doesn't improve oneself?

I CAN PUNCH THROUGH SOLID BONE WITH MY FINGERS!