Rhythm Game Mania!

[Text and photos by student Kaveh Zamiri] 

I have been adoring rhythm games since I started playing Dance Dance Revolution back in 2011 and it has become one of my favorite games. During my journey in Japan, there’s a lot of arcades here—specifically in Akihabara, nicknamed electric town— with arcade places like Taito Station, Silk Hat, etc. Upon entering them, it was a big flight of stairs to reach the desired floors with music games. 

This was like a metropolis for music gamers like me. A lot of beatmania IIDX, Sound Voltex, Pop’n music, and my favorite, Dance Dance Revolution. All the arcades tie back to the “Japanese Economic Miracle” after World War II, a time when the economy of Japan expanded rapidly and eventually led to video and computer gaming. This era saw electronics become a prime focus of the Japanese economy, especially with companies like Taito and Namco, even Nintendo despite the very latter founded in 1989.

Upon starting the game, I had scanned my e-amusement pass which can give you access to more features like extra stage, unfortunately that wasn’t the case in the J-Cabs because you need to have what it’s called PASELI which is digital currency in your KONAMI ID linked to your e-amusement pass, and because my KONAMI ID is registered in America, it’s near impossible.

Aside from all that, I can still save my scores throughout gameplay and played a lot of songs in a difficult to expert range, some charts were tough. 

I am happy to achieve my rhythm game exercise in Japan.