Pump-It-Up vs. DDR

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I've always been a dancer. It started when I was really little doing ballet, tap, and jazz. Then I fell in love with video games and discovered DDR. I love playing, it's extremely relaxing and I find that I constantly lose myself while playing. It's sort of that same zone that I get when I'm doing ballet. Nothing really matters but the music and the dancing.

DDR was a God-send. Now, when I wasn't doing ballet, I could lose myself in my own living room. I bought a few of the DDR games for PS2, I received one of the Metal Arcade Pads [https://host156.ipowerweb.com/~cobaltfl/sunshop/index.php?action=item&substart=0&id=1] for my birthday. I was in heaven.

 

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Original Comment by: Randall Fitzgerald
http://www.ikimashou.net
! A girl loves DDR?! *gasp!* Stop the presses!

Haha, I'm kidding. But tell me, Whitney, do you wear wide leg jeans at the local arcade? How much eye liner do you put on? What are your three favorite emo bands? BWAAAAHAHAHA

Sorry, I don't dislike DDR all that much, it's ok. But I feel dancing is far less fun than the other bits of the bemani series. My favorite is Guitar Freaks with Drum Mania coming in a close second.

Mostly I can only do 3 star songs on DDR, but I've only played it like... 3 times... because I'm not fond of looking gooby. I need to keep my gamer cred, you know? You girls can play most anything because of your "humps," your "lovely lady lumps." (How's that for fresh?!) Haha. Oh man. I should stop now. I'll be going to buy a copy of Riverdance on DVD for 10 bucks and just practice that until I can do it, and save my self a few hundred bucks.

River Dance Revolution FTW

 

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Original Comment by: Brinstar
http://acidforblood.blogspot.com/
The thing is, PIU has been around for a long while. I think it came out a couple years after DDR emerged on the scene, but Americans only seem to now be catching on. It's been in arcades for a while, though machines are not as populous as DDR machines. If you've ever seen the freestyle in a PIU tournament and compared it to the freestyle at a DDR tournament, everyone would agree that PIU is more like real dancing than DDR. The songs are more danceable as well. I've tried PIU a few times at the arcade, and I'm sure I would get it with some practice. The additional button is a challenge. I think I'll have to wait until Red Octane releases nice PIU pads to get the game on my PS2. For now, I'm happy to play DDR.

 

[Teleios]

Well, I received a beta copy of PIU for PS2 about 8 months ago. That was the first that I had heard of it, I hadn't even seen it in arcades or anything - so whether or not is has been around for a couple years is beyond me. I received an actual copy of the game from Mastiff just after it was released and that is what I've been playing.

As far as dancing is concerned, unless you're ballroom dancing - dancing isn't necessarily about following patterns. DDR revolves around patterns, where it is fun - it gets monotonous. Once you figure out the pattern for that particular song, it's over. Whereas with PIU, the patterns are definitely more difficult to come across as they are changed a bit and evolve like a usual dance might evolve. The additional button just adds to the entire dance-like element. Of course you're going to step in the middle.

I have two of the soft PIU pads, I definitely agree that I'd like a nice one. Now - let's try and find a nearby arcade with a PIU machine...

 

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Original Comment by: Brinstar
http://acidforblood.blogspot.com/
If you're in the USA, Dave & Busters seem to have PIU at their restaurants. They shun DDR.

I first knew of PIU in 2002, when I saw it at arcades, but I am sure it's been around longer than that.

 

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Original Comment by: Apreche
http://www.apreche.net
I got into DDR around 4th mix and swore by 4th and 5th mix for years. DDR Max and Extreme really turned me off. We played pump! now and then, and we realized the dancing aspect was a lot better. But I don't know what music you listen to, the music in Pump! was not hot. It was mostly weird Korean pop songs.

DDR had a revival when we discovered In The Groove 2. It was DDR made for and by fans. Sure, same four arrows, but they force you to do handplants and all sorts of crazy stuff. The music was all the awesome stuff straight from the Internet. Machinae Supremacy, MC Frontalot can't be beat. I got an Ignition pad, waiting for ITG2 home version.

 

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I dunno, the PS2 version that I have has a lot of Crystal Method and other such songs. *shrug* Must be a different version.

I'll have to check out In the Groove 2, sounds like fun.

 

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Original Comment by: Brinstar
http://acidforblood.blogspot.com/
There is a home version of In the Groove 1 available for the PS2. I reviewed it(http://www.thegamechair.com/?p=214) on TheGameChair.com.

The cabinet version of In the Groove 2 has the full title of Pump it Up: In The Groove 2, however it is a 4-panel dance game, and not a 5-panel dance game as PIU is. There's a Wiki on this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pump_It_Up:_In_The_Groove_2.

 

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Original Comment by: Andrea Appel (a.k.a. Alexandra Erenhart)
http://aerenhart.blogspot.com
My experience with DDR: My fingers are far faster than my feet, hehehe

 

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Original Comment by: Brinstar
http://acidforblood.blogspot.com/
P.S. -- Whitney: Am extremely jealous of that Cobalt Flux pad you received. ;-) They're pretty sweet, though I sort of prefer the RedOctane metal pads, only because the surface isn't completely flat (there are raised metal pieces between each panel). However, the Cobalt Flux pads are really responsive, and very very nice. Whoever gave you the Cobalt Flux is awesome.

 

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Original Comment by: Sandra
http://www.xanga.com/aznpals33
IOh Pump It Up was really awesome to me when I was eight-nine, lol, a good five years ago. I remember being a dork on that machine dancing to that Beethoven Virus song and Space Fantasy, though I only did it on "Normal" mode though...I quit play PIU after the machine in my local arcade became all crappy (Houston, Texas is a really crappy place, trust me, lol). And then this year, in June '05, I discovered DDR in a local theater (AMC). I played it on light of course, barely able to do Butterfly, but now I play on heavy mode, and god I get exhausted pretty fast, especially if you play those 9 step songs. I personally hate DDR 3rd mix because of the low amount of time they give you to pick a song and such...or maybe I'm just slow. Hmm...I have known of PUI since 2001? I don't know...it has probably been around longer than that. But of those two, DDR is absolutely my thing now, but hey, don't listen to my opinion, I'm a 13 year old weirdo, lol.

 

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Original Comment by: Jimmy James

Did someone say something about a metal pad for PIU or was that just DDR? I want AndaMiro to make one of those so bad. I've heard bad things about soft pads like they break easy and stuff, but those people might not have even got DDR or PIU (probably some cruddy one they're parents picked out on Christmas at Wal-Mart)

 

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Original Comment by: Kelvin T

I been playing PIU for a long time as well as DDR. I started playing DDR first, I played since 3rd Mix came out in a nearby arcade. I love it there, well used to hehe it crap now, but theres this special where you pay only $10, everything is free for the whole day for unlimited time!!!! There are four DDR machines and one PIU. Usually there are long lines to play DDR but no one plays PIU.... why?!?! One day I just got tired of waiting in the line and played PIU. It was hard at first but it is really fun. PIU is more rhythmic, more poppy if thats how you put it. I fell in love with PIU and retired DDR, I'm hating it now lolz sorry ddr fans. Now Im practicing free styling and learning to break dance. PUMP IS WAYYYYY COOLER THAN DDR!!!!

Oh by the way, PIU came out 4 months after DDR did.