Editing Dance Dance Revolution (section)

==''Dance Dance Revolution'' today==
Tournaments are held worldwide, with participants usually competing for higher scores or number of Perfect/Marvelous steps (referred to previously as "Perfect Attack" tournaments, now more commonly known as "Marvelous Attack" or "MA tournaments"). Less common are "freestyle" tournaments, where players develop actual dance routines to perform while following the steps in the game.<ref>IGN Staff [http://psx.ign.com/articles/084/084175p1.html IGN: Dance Dance Revolution Tournament Report], Retrieved on 2008-05-23.</ref>

===Playing styles===
Many ''DDR'' players, in order to get better scores by focusing on timing and pattern reading, will minimize any extraneous body movement during gameplay. These players are commonly referred to as "technical", "tech" or "perfect attack" (PA) players. These technical players usually play the most difficult songs on the highest difficulty levels in an attempt to perfect their scores, and the most elite players are able to get perfect or near perfect scores on all of the hardest songs in the game. The more "technical" a song gets the more the player must use minimalistic movements in order to hit all the arrows with perfection. These players perfect using their heels as well and often hold on to the bar to take weight off their feet enabling them to move faster and tire more slowly. This style of play is the focus of most competitions.

Other ''DDR'' players choose to incorporate complex or flashy techniques into their play movements, and some of these "freestyle" players develop intricate dance routines to perform during a song. Freestyle players tend to choose songs on lower difficulty levels, so that the player is not restricted in their movements by large quantities of required steps. Some players can even dance facing away from the screen.

A freestyling act can also involve performing other stunts while playing. On an episode of [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]'s short-lived series ''[[Master of Champions]]'', Billy Matsumoto won the episode when he played 5th Mix's "Can't Stop Fallin' In Love (Speed Mix)" on Heavy mode while juggling three lit torches.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8KztFy6QYwC&q=Master+of+Champions%2C+Billy+Matsumoto+torches&pg=PA865|title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present|publisher=Random House Publishing Group|year=2009|isbn=978-0307483201|pages=865}}</ref>

===As an esport===
In 2004, ''Dance Dance Revolution'' became an official sporting event in Norway.<ref name="DDRNorway">{{Cite news|title=Positive Gaming: Machine Dance as Fitness and Sport|url=http://www.positivegaming.com/company/index.php?id=fitness|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011214904/http://positivegaming.com/company/index.php?id=fitness |archive-date=2007-10-11|access-date=2007-09-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://cie.acm.org/articles/international-survey-on-the-dance-dance-revolution-game/|title=International survey on the Dance Dance Revolution game|first=Johanna|last=Hoysniemi|access-date=January 29, 2015}}</ref> The first official club, DDR Oslo, was founded in 2004. The tournaments in Norway were divided into two parts. First there was a group play where the two or three best players from each group went to the final rounds. Elimination of the player with the lowest game score was used for each round in the finals. The scoring system used was based on people dancing to two or three songs. Some of the songs were selected randomly and had to be played by everyone.  The others were player-chosen, which introduced some strategy into the game, as some songs had higher possible scoring than others. ''[[Dancing Stage EuroMix 2]]'' was used for the Norwegian tournaments.

In recent years, ''Dance Dance Revolution'' has been promoted by Konami as an [[esport]], mainly through their own competitive tournament, the ''Konami Arcade Championship''. The tournament allows players in different regions around the world to sign up and play in specific online events to earn a spot in the grand finals, typically held in [[Tokyo]], Japan. The first iterations of the tournament were limited only to competitors in Japan. In subsequent years, players from Korea, Taiwan, and other Asian countries were allowed to enter. The 6th Annual tournament, which concluded on February 11, 2017, was notable for being the first time that competitors from the United States were eligible to enter. The 7th Annual event, which concluded on February 10, 2018, added Indonesia and Canada as eligible competitor regions.

The 9th Annual Konami Arcade Championship added eligibility for players in Australia and New Zealand. The finals took place on February 8, 2020, and resulted in [[Chris Chike]] winning the global tournament.

Community-run ''DDR'' esports tournaments have gained traction since 2017, and have been growing in popularity and participation every year since, particularly in North America after the release of ''[[Dance Dance Revolution A]]''. Recently, ''DDR'' has been featured as part of the [[Community Effort Orlando|CEO]] game tournament event. ''DDR'' is also the main event in the annual rhythm game tournament event, ''The Big Deal'', taking place in Dallas, Texas. The 2019 event was historic for being the largest in-person ''DDR'' tournament in the game's history. The 2025 event has already broken the record, with 162 current in-person participants pre-registered for the tournament. In March 2023, the first ever ''upbeat'' tournament was held at [[Round One Corporation|Round1]] in [[Denver]], Colorado, with a $10,000 prize pool, the largest in any ''DDR'' esports competition to date. ''upbeat'' also set the record for the largest ever viewing audience on [[Twitch (service)|Twitch]] for any ''DDR'' tournament on the streaming platform at the time.

In 2022, Konami announced a big expansion to its official BEMANI esports organization, the ''BEMANI PRO LEAGUE''. It was confirmed that ''DDR'' would be included in the future as a tournament league. The league held a pre-season exhibition in February 2023, with announcements of sponsor teams and player drafts to commence in April 2023. Later on, the regular season took place in late Spring and Summer of 2023, with team [[Round One Corporation|ROUND 1]] winning the finals. The following season of the league took place in the latter half of 2024, with team [[Taito|TAITO STATION Tradz]] winning that season's finals.

===As exercise===
Many news outlets have reported how playing ''DDR'' can be good [[aerobic exercise]]; some regular players have reported [[weight loss]] of 10–50 pounds (5–20&nbsp;kg). In one example, a player found that including ''DDR'' in her day-to-day life resulted in a loss of {{convert|95|lb}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://getupmove.com/weightloss/tanya.asp  |title=Welcome to Get Up Move! |date=2007-10-11 |access-date=2010-09-13 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071011193120/http://getupmove.com/weightloss/tanya.asp |archive-date = 2007-10-11}}</ref> Some other examples would be Matthew Keene's account of losing upwards of {{convert|150|lb}} and Yashar Esfandi's claim of losing {{convert|85|lb}} in four months through incorporation of ''DDR''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.getupmove.com/weightloss/matt.asp |title=Welcome to Get Up Move! |date=4 December 2005 |access-date=5 November 2016 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051204022559/http://www.getupmove.com/weightloss/matt.asp |archive-date=4 December 2005 }}</ref> Although the quantity of calories burned by playing ''DDR'' have not been scientifically measured, the amount of active movement required to play implies that ''DDR'' provides at least some degree of healthy exercise, and is an effective part of a balanced workout routine.

Many home versions of the game have a function to estimate calories burned, given a player's weight. Additionally, players can use "workout mode" to make a diary of calories burned playing DDR and any self-reported changes in the player's weight. The latest arcade release, DanceDanceRevolution WORLD, tracks calories burned per song, as well as the total calories burned by the player for the day. Additionally, the game's interface showcases the equivalent food to the amount of burned calories (such as a [[banana]], a bowl of [[rice]], and [[spaghetti carbonara]]).

===Use in schools===
At the start of 2006, Konami announced that the ''DDR'' games would be used as part of a fitness program to be phased into [[West Virginia]]'s 765 state schools, starting with its 103 middle schools, over the next two years.<ref name="MTVNews">{{Cite news|title=West Virginia Adds Dance Dance Revolution to Gym Class|publisher=MTV|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1521605/20060125/index.jhtml?headlines=true|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060211112129/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1521605/20060125/index.jhtml?headlines=true|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 11, 2006|access-date=2007-09-22}}</ref> The program was conceived by a researcher at [[West Virginia University]]'s Motor Development Center.

[[California Institute of Technology]] allows its students to use ''DDR'' to fulfill part of its [[physical education]] requirement, as students may design their own fitness program.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://pr.caltech.edu/catalog/courses/listing/pe.html#mytarget|title=Caltech Course Catalog- Physical Education|access-date=2010-10-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100604131028/http://pr.caltech.edu/catalog/courses/listing/pe.html#mytarget|archive-date=2010-06-04|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[University of Kansas]] has a class for ''Dance Dance Revolution'' open for students to take as a 1 credit hour course.<ref>{{cite web|last=Weslander |first=Eric |url=http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2007/aug/11/dance_dance_revolution_cyberculture_ku_offers_dive/ |title=10 cool classes / LJWorld.com |publisher=.ljworld.com |date=2007-08-11 |access-date=2010-09-13}}</ref>

[[Cyber Coach]] has sold in excess of 600 systems in schools in the UK and features the ''DDR''-inspired game ''Disco Disco 2''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.Cyber-coach.co.uk|title=Home - Cyber Coach Smart|access-date=5 November 2016}}</ref>