Throughout my personal gaming history, the rhythm game genre has always had a solid place alongside puzzle games and JRPGs. I haven't seen an "And the Gamers Who Play Them" blog about it yet, so I'm going to go back to select titles in my repertoire and highlight the glory of games with phat beatz yo. I'm starting with what began it all for me:



Dance Dance Revolution

When I first heard about Dance Dance Revolution, I thought that a game that taught you how to dance was a fantastic idea. Once I saw gameplay, however, I entertained no thoughts that this game was in any way related to whatever dance steps I had preconceived. Regardless, the skill set required a sense of timing and a physical challenge.

The physical challenge was ultimately the biggest draw at the time. I loved that I could play video games and exercise at the same time. Growing up with parents who saw video games as time-wasting, brain-killing toys, it was refreshing to be able to legitimize my hobby, especially when my dad would tell me get off my butt and "go dancing." Much of DDR's recognition stems from this justification that it's okay to play this game, because it makes you sweat! It's what has gotten the game in schools.

DDR's gameplay was also different from any other game I had experienced, though admittedly, I hadn't played many games at that point. (As I said before, my parents weren't gaming fans, and I only had my Vectrex to play with until I got my first Gameboy Pocket and Pokemon Red Version at 11-years-old. DIGRESSION.) JRPGs, my primary preference at the time, had me leveling and reading text at a leisurely pace that wasn't especially demanding of my attention. The one or two shmups were better in keeping me on my toes, but DDR was the first game where timing and a sense of rhythm were essential in gameplay. This also hooked me in that I felt I actually had an edge going into the game. I was a decently athletic kid, and I also played the piano. I didn't need a strategy guide for this game. It was refreshing to feel like I had what I considered non-gaming skills that could give me an advantage in a game for once.

Though I said earlier that DDR reflects little "actual" dancing, I still felt a strong resonance from moving to the beats of each song. I wouldn't break out these steps at the next high school dance, but I still felt like I was dancing, moving to the beat. I would consciously realize that the steps were robotic, repetitive, and pretty doofy-looking, but that never totally destroyed the "feel" of dancing. This feel that you're performing this musical act overrides cognitive awareness that you're doing a watered down game version, and it's held up as a draw to similar rhythm games that followed DDR (i.e. Karaoke Revolution, Rock Band).

I haven't even touched on the music. Before DDR started pulling in modern top 40 songs, its setlist mainly consisted of Japanese dance originals made for the game alongside classic disco/dance tracks from the 70s. Even if you didn't know any of the songs, that would change quickly once you started playing. Even my friends that disliked electronic music had favorite songs after playing through them, and so DDR created a common musical link amongst my group of friends. It's not like everyone suddenly needed cheesy vocal trance or house in their winamp playlist, but the game often recontextualized those music genres for me and my friends as to make them more accessible/tolerable/stuck in your head goddammit. (Seriously, "AI YI YI I'M YOUR LITTLE BUTTERFLY" haunts me to this day.)

DDR got the longest writeup because it's the first I ever experienced and, to me, set up a precedent for rhythm games that followed.


(XKCD never gets old.)

Other Performance Games

Among these ranks stand Karaoke Revolution, Guitar Hero, and Rock Band. Like DDR, the idea is that you simulate a musical performance: singing, playing the guitar, etc. Beyond the gameplay, much of the success of these games lie in the immersive environment they create so that you feel like a performer, entertaining the virtual masses. The characters are far more customizable than DDR, which features static dancers, and other features include choices in venue and instrument model. I sometimes feel like the games mirror artists in the real music industry: the music almost falls secondary to image, though honestly, in the case of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, it's due to meticulous attention to detail on the part of the developers. The pop songs for Karaoke are crowd pleasers at parties, and the choices for GH and RB are pretty spot on for the various rock genres.



A Small Mention: Taiko Drum Master

I have to express some of my love for this game. It falls into the performance subset of rhythm games, but the presentation is completely different in that it's exuberant and near-cloyingly CUTE. As you tear into the drum peripheral, which booms pretty nicely as you hit it, happy/sad circles fly across the screen as demented animals dance around the stage. That's probably why it's always been a cult gem, as its less accessible to those without a penchant for Japanese craziness, but it stands apart from the previously discussed games for the atmosphere it creates. Which makes it a good lead-in to ...



Elite Beat Agents

FUCK YEAAH. This game is 50% rhythm, 50% sheer crack. You don't pretend to dance, sing, or play any instrument; tapping and sliding your stylus to a beat is the whole gameplay, and it's still wildly popular. Here, the appeal is a combination of the gameply and the premise, which revolves around an organization that's basically Men In Black meets the Village People meets a cheerleading squad.

Each song you play comes with a comic-like scenario that plays out according to your progress, with bad scenes if you suck and uplifting scenes if you're awesome. None of them relate to the content of the songs, which is helpful in your appreciation of the song. Seriously, Ashlee Simpson's "La La" becomes infinitely catchier as the accompaniment to helping an athlete get over his cold to win a race. Many of the songs are the aggravating hits of middle school, but that never stopped me from cracking up at the antics on the top screen of my DS. In fact, I even think Avril's "Sk8ter Boi" contributed to the over-the-top frenetic scene of driving that pregnant lady to the hospital.

EBA takes the basic rhythm game mechanics, strips them of the performance context, and dresses them up in off-the-wall antics and (often bad) pop songs.



Patapon

I only recently started playing this, and though flawed, the game definitely brings a lot of new elements to the rhythm game genre. It's currently the only rhythm game I can think of where each stage is part of a single narrative, that of leading the tribe of little men called "Patapons" to find an unknown IT. (I'm only 2.5 hours in, but I've already been spoiled about what IT is. Hint: It's Fontaine.) I feel a little uneasy leading these adorable characters into a mini-crusade where they die because I miss a beat, but the art direction is so quirky and colorful that I can't help but like it. This takes from EBA's treatment of the rhythm mechanic in terms of pulling it from the performance aspect and applies it to other genres. Even if you don't enjoy it, you gotta respect what it's trying to do for the genre.

-

Music is a unifying element. Everyone enjoys it in some form or another. Rhythm games are a different way of interacting with it, providing an accessible means for people to participate in music without having to take lessons to learn an instrument. They also have a pick up and play quality to them; you play in 2-10 minute increments, which works well as party game play; after you learn the basic gameplay, it's usually easy enough to jump in. Games like EBA and Patapon exist for those who don't need to feel like a rock star and simply want to enjoy music in different way. Anyone can enjoy rhythm games, from casual to hardcore and everything in-between, just as long as you like music.