Hey everyone!
Today I want to tell you about my passion, Dance Gaming! You may have seen these Dance Machines in Arcades/Bowling alleys that play music, and the player has to step with their feet on arrows to the beat. This is commonly known as Dance Dance Revolution (DDR), but there are other variations of the game too. One is called In The Groove (ITG), which still uses four arrows (Up, Down, Left & Right) - this is the game I play mostly. It has a great community of players who create custom content to keep the game fresh and competitive. Another variation of Dance Gaming is Pump It Up, which uses 5 panels (one in each diagonal corner, and one in the centre). Since its conception 20 years ago, the Dance Games community is still alive and thriving today!
-- My First Steps.. --
I first played DDR after school one day at my friend Dean's house. He had a plastic Dance Mat that plugged into the Playstation 1. The game was called Euromix1 and it had a bunch of cool music tracks. I had never played a video game before that required using the physical body in this way. Up until this point I had only played games with hand held controllers (this is before the existence of the Wii and other newer consoles). I played on the mat for a few hours and I was hooked! I went from the beginner difficulty (1) to a medium difficulty (4) in a matter of hours. Later that week my mum took me to the local video-game store and I bought my own mat, with 'Euromix1' and a newer more difficult DDR version: 'Dancing Stage Party Edition'. Now it was game on. I stomped around in my bedroom for weeks. After around 2 months I had completed all of the 'expert' difficulty charts. Aged 12, I went online and searched around for other players and I found a community called DDR:UK. I thought I was the best thing since sliced bread, and I created an account called 'DDRUK Champion'. Big headed one might say.. but I had picked the game up remarkably quickly and I wanted to make new friends and compete with other players. I found that there was a big DDR tournament taking place in Central London in an arcade called 'Las Vegas' the following weekend. I ran downstairs and showed my dad, and being my number 1 supporter he agreed to take me to it! I was super excited..
-- My first Tournament.. --
I arrived at Las Vegas Arcade with my dad on the Saturday afternoon and it was packed with people. I couldn't believe my eyes when I walked towards the DDR machine and saw 2 people playing a song called 'Can't Stop Falling In Love'. This song required the player to do 'turns', which meant that they were crossing their feet back and fourth in a fast motion. I had never seen such skilled players, and the songs on this DDR machine were much more difficult than what I had at home. Everyone was super welcoming and friendly, and they cheered me on when it was my time to compete. I came 2nd to last place, but I wasn't sad. I was excited to have met a community of like minded players who wanted to improve at the game and pass the most difficult songs. A year later, my parents allowed me to get the train into town with friends and practice DDR every weekend. This, combined with playing at home led to me improving quickly at the game, and before I knew it I was one of the top players in the UK.
-- DDR Expo: Taking The UK Crown --
Another year went by, and I was around 14 years old. By this time, I had disposed of my stupid nickname 'DDRUK Champion' and thought up a more suitable alias - 'Maxx-Storm'. This name had started to become somewhat feared in the DDR community as a force to be reckoned with! It was time for the DDR Expo.. This was the biggest DDR tournament of the year held at an anime convention in the London Excel Exhibition Centre. My biggest competitor was Kyle, aka 'KDogg'. He was the undefeated champion and I had lost to him in several tournaments between the Las Vegas tournament and now. I woke up bright and early, and my dance friends arrived at my house ready to travel to the venue with me. We were all excited and had studied the tournament songs vigoriously in past few days. Could this be the day that I take home the DDR UK Trophy? Fast forward.. I battled it out all day, and ended up taking home my first ever UK Victory. I was the DDR UK Champion, and it felt so good! Other kids played tennis, football, basketball, but I had taken on a completely different challenge. Unusual as it may be, I had excelled at it and it boosted my confidence greatly. The next day at school my Headteacher pulled me aside and congratulated me. I was featured in the local newspaper! Now that I had achieved my goal of winning the largest UK tournament.. what next?
-- In The Groove.. A New Challenge --
It was a typical Saturday afternoon. I was at the London Trocadero in Picadilly (a huge Arcade spanning about 5 floors), playing DDR with friends. Then I heard my name being called.. 'Rob, Rob.. theres this new Dancing Game!'. I grabbed my stuff and followed my friend upstairs.. and there it was. An 'In The Groove 1' machine! I had never heard of this. It was DDR gone wild. The music was fast and energetic. The steps were insanity. The highest difficulty DDR went up to was 10, but In The Groove (ITG) went up to 13. I played an 11 on my first credit and it was the hardest song I had ever attempted. Months went by, and the UK community battled to get the first ever pass on a song called 'Pandemonium', in which the name speaks for itself. It was a 13 difficulty song with almost 1000 steps in 2 minutes. KDogg became the first person to pass it. I followed soon after. The amount of stamina, timing, and dedication needed to excel at ITG was great, but I was up for the challenge. I then attended my first European Championships in Oslo, Norway aged 15 with my dad and step-mum. This was one of the most amazing and memorable tournaments I have attended to date. I got to meet all of the top European players for the first time, as well as the creators of In The Groove. I came 2nd place in this tournment, but managed to win the European Championships the following year, and many years afterwards bringing us to the present day.
-- Today --
I purchased my own In The Groove machine about 7 years ago. This has enabled me to keep practicing regularly, and improving my skill level. This has been especially beneficial through covid times as public venues / arcades have been shut. There has been no in-person tournaments in almost 2 years, but I have enjoyed competing remotely online with players in the USA. I never could have imagined when I first stepped on a dance mat aged 12 that I would still be actively playing 19 years later, and would have made some of my best friends from the community (including the co-founder of Liketu: Elmer; who is also an excellent Dance Game player). This game has kept me physically fit, enabled me to travel around Europe and the USA for tournaments, and be part of a community of players that I can truly call friends. I don't think I'll ever stop playing ITG. It's the most fun form of cardio ever (really, give it a go!). You can see videos of me playing by searching 'Maxx-Storm' on YouTube. If you've made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read my story, and I hope it inspires you to find and keep following your passion!
~Maxx