Forum Japon

DavMax · Banni Inscrit le: 21 Sep 2003 Messages: 58 Points: -9965

Game titles like Dance Dance Revolution Extreme, Guitar Freak, Drum Mania, Keyboard Mania, Percussion Freak and Beat Mania are nowadays not only played in Japanese arcades -- they are getting more and more popular all around the world. One of the problems with Music and Rhythm games, though, is the cultural difference from one continent to another. Not all of us enjoy stepping to "Little Butterfly" or, god beware, Britney Spears (we are just making examples, ok?).

The Sony systems have been clearly leading on music games for years. All top selling music titles where released on Sony's PS One and PlayStation 2 systems. Some exceptions of popular music games on other systems are Samba Samba De Amigo (that now even inspired Nintendo's Donkey Konga) or Feet of Fury on the Dreamcast.

There is a inexhaustible range of Dancing Controllers (Dance Pads, Mats, Platforms etc) for Sony consoles, and by using Smart Joy Adapters it's possible to use them on other systems like Xbox, Dreamcast or the PC.

Step Mania, free PC software to make you happy

Hardcore fanatics among the members of the dance community won't stick with official released DDR franchise limited to a videogame console, they are going one step further. It's completely free of charge and downloadable to a PC, Mac or Linux system within just a few minutes.

StepMania is Open Source software. But this doesn't mean you have to get to work on the source code by yourself, you can just download and install it. StepMania is capable of playing many game types. Currently, it supports games similar to Dance Dance Revolution, Pump It Up, EZ 2 Dancer, and Para Para Paradise. In the future, it will support games similar to BeatMania, Guitar Freaks, DrumMania, and more.

The games played by StepMania are rhythm games. Notes scroll up from the bottom of the screen, and the player must hit the corresponding button on the controller in time and to the music. All games can be played using the keyboard, but the real fun comes when using specially designed controllers, like a dance pad.

The official web site is www.StepMania.com. Give it a try!