I Can't Live Without My DDR Dance Pad

[jody sweeney]

I'll admit it I used to be kind of out of shape. No no, I wasn't
rolling over in a stiff breeze or using sailing-grade rope as a belt,
but a decent flight of stairs got me pretty winded. The culprit,
besides my affinity for Cheetos? Video games. I love video games but
unless your ideal physique is "round", most video games won't help you
very much in the fitness department.
Most. There are a few exceptions, but the one that stands out is good
ol' Dance Dance Revolution.
Most of you are probably familiar with this game; if you've been
anywhere near it it is rather hard to miss. The concept is simple,
arrows on the screen corresponding to arrows on a pad on the ground
move up the game screen and the more the player is able to hit arrows
along with the on-screen pattern and to the beat, the higher they
score. Since the game is played by using one's feet on a dance pad
instead of mere thumb-twiddling, Dance Dance Revolution is a real
workout, especially on higher levels. If you've ever wanted to have
calves thicker than your neck, this is your activity. Play this game
long enough to get good at the "nine foot" maximum difficulty levels
and you'll definitely be a few pounds lighter, as well.
When I'm in the mood to show off, I love going to the arcade, but face
it, as far as getting in shape goes, hauling oneself to the local
arcade to wait turns to play for a buck a pop isn't the most appealing
option. Even without the workout routine, it takes some practice to
get to where you can show off your moves at the local arcade and wow
the zit set. What's an aspiring AAA floormat Japanese techno-infused
button-presser to do?
The answer is, apparently, quite a bit. I started DDR back in the dark
ages when it was hideously expensive to import a flimsy pad from Japan
to play with, and don't get me started on the contraptions I cooked up
to keep the thing from becoming an indistinguishable ball of plastic
mat by the time I was done with "Paranoia 180" (most of them didn't
work too well). Nowadays if you just want a cheap pad like that to
play Butterfly on occasionally, at least you won't bust your wallet,
but if you're serious about DDR there are much nicer pads available.
http://groups.google.com/group/dancejag