DESCRIPTION:
I just might have found my next obsession after DDR. This is a popular rhythm arcade game called Para Para Paradise. Although I've seen the game in the United States, I've never gotten the opportunity to play it, until yesterday!

I don't often see big guys playing these sorts of games, and big Taiwanese people are kind of rare to begin with, so I naturally had to capture it. My camera got off-center for a little bit in the middle of the video, so sorry about that.

As with DDR, this type of activity is less about actual dancing, and more about overall rhythm and coordination, which is just the kind of thing I enjoy.

I have to admit, this guy could quite possibly be the coolest traffic cop or air traffic controller in the world if he wanted to. He'd also probably cause millions of dollars in damages, and lots of serious injuries.

After he finished, I got up there and played through a game. It was my first time, but having experience with other rhythm games, I caught on pretty quickly. Afterwards, he tried to give me some pointers on playing it, but much of it was lost on me, since we were communicating entirely in Chinese, and I don't know the words for: counter-clockwise, rotation, fluid, continuous, and "Please stop recording me with your camera".

Some of the dancing in Para para is faintly reminscient of Tai chi, only sped up several times.

So, to give a brief explanation of this game, you basically have 5 sensors that respond when the hands are placed underneath them. They are attached above you in a hemispherical pattern. The screen has arrows that move up to the top, and the person needs to make sure that their hand/hands is/are in the correct position. As with most rhythm games, it's all about timing.

Unlike DDR, Para Para Paradise focuses entirely on hand motions ( don't ask me if they've ever combined DDR with Para Para Paradise, although I'd definitely play it if they did ).

It is possible to pass songs solely through Chuck Norris chops and jerky movement, but it kind of defeats the purpose of the game. Just as it is possible to play DDR by merely ignoring the music and timing your feet to slam into the sensors when the arrow reaches the top of the screen. However, most people who enjoy these types of games, already have or quickly cultivated a good sense of rhythm, and it isn't really necessary for them too concentrate too much on the screen itself. It's more about free and fluid movement using your hands, and matching your movements with the beat.

Anyhow, this game is completely mega-awesome to the max extreme, and it's one more "skill" that I can add to my arsenal. I'll definitely be back to play it some more.

They even had the Cave shmup DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou! which roughly translates to Angry Leader Bee: Peaceful Death. It doesn't work well in MAME, and I've been wanting to play it for a while now! Definitely a hard hard game.

Several 2D fighter machines were linked together, so we played some VS matches against complete strangers, and just to show how little skill is actually required when playing these sorts of games, I acted like a complete ###hole and used jump kick tactics that would have made Karate Kid proud, and proceeded to bounce around the screen, to win several games. Hahahaha. My opponent was not amused.

Of course, I played some DDR while I was there as well. They had a DDR X machine as well, but it was undergoing maintenance for most of the time I was there, so I didn't get a chance to play it. Spent some time on the DDR Extreme machine, and foolishly attempted Max 300, which kicked my a$$ up and down the arcade. I just got some cool shoes from Puma for soccer, but man, they are *way* too slippery to play some of the more difficult songs, unless you're a wuss and bar hug.