Night Fever

August 24th, 2006 at 07:44pm Grey

It’s late at night and I’m lying in my bed, drifting towards the bliss of sleep. My thoughts are blurred and random, but through them comes the sound of music – a steady rhythm and the high-pitched vocals of the Gibb brothers. “Listen to the ground,” they tell me. “There is movement all around. There is something going down, and I can feel it. On the waves of the air, there is dancin’ out there. If it’s somethin’ we can share, we can steal it.” My mind floats around the tune, absorbing its funky beat, feeling every note and every lyric. I’m soaring high into the sky, twisting and turning with my arms outstretched. “Here I am, prayin’ for this moment to last, livin’ on the music so fine, borne on the wind, makin’ it mine.” The landscape flies past beneath me, a myriad of scintillating colours and flashing lights that sends my senses elevating further. I see arrows floating up from below me, marching forward in a summons to the music! Pointing in the four directions of the compass they approach in a steady line, advancing relentlessly towards my feet. I know what must be done… “^Night >Fever, ^Night >Fe>ver, <We know ^how to >do it… Gimme that ^Night <Fever, ^Night <Fe<ver, >We know vhow to <show it.” Suddenly I feel a jolt through my body, and with a gasp of breath I’m jerked from my dream. My foot had just twitched, trying to step on one of the arrows and waking me up. “Bloody Stepmania!” I mutter, before turning over and trying to get back to sleep.

Although I’ve obviously known about the DDR craze for years, I first found out about Stepmania last June from a friend online who liked to use it as a form of regular aerobic exercise. After a few weeks of intense dancing I’ve managed to drag myself up to the same level as he, so we had a little song-swap a few nights ago. Previously I wasn’t willing to accept any direct assistance with the game, but since I’m now more practised I figure there’s no harm in enhancing my experience with some extra songs from a trustworthy source. I also wanted to know what he thought of the songs I’d been trying, in case they were all easy as pie and I was a pansy for having any difficulty with them.

What he gave me was mostly a mix of anime and video game themes, and I had to swallow my pride and bias to dance to what were essentially J-pop songs. His choice of music was based on what he uses for an aerobic workout – with extra emphasis on the “aero” it seems. These songs involved a lot more jumping about than I’m familiar with, and that took some getting used to. But I did rather well overall, I’d like to think – got As and Bs on almost all 4 and 5-foot songs. I was significantly better at the Final Fantasy tunes that I recognised well (getting close to AA on some but not quite making the cut). My biggest surprise came today when I decided to try out the 6-foot difficulty on One Winged Angel. My first couple of attempts resulted in Cs, but I was determined that I could do better, and on my third go I pulled off an A. Further tries got me better and better, and I think with enough practice I can achieve an AA on this song.

My confidence was boosted by this, and so I decided I was ready to master other 6-foot songs, but my delusions were quickly shattered by pathetic fails in other tunes. Evidently this version of One Winged Angel is extremely easy for the 6-foot level. Still, I have some comfort from the fact that my friend considered the songs I found hard to be challenging too, and he thinks I have now managed to exceed him on skill at the game. I’m not sure I agree with that, but it’s nice to know that after a few weeks I can at least be on a similar level to someone who has been playing a lot longer. I should stress though that he uses the game purely as regular light exercise, with little interest in game ratings, whilst for me it’s all about challenge, and throughout I’ve been pushing myself to do better and better.

And better I shall get. I have asked around a bit and from what I can tell the level I’m at can be considered “decent”. But that’s not good enough for me. My next session will be centred around pushing myself into the 6-foot difficulties, and I’m determined not to stop there.

Some have said that my pad may not be good enough for the higher difficulty levels, but for now it’s holding up. However, once I showed someone a picture of my mat they came to the conclusion that it was potentially the source of all my hatred for the genre and my inability to fully enjoy the game. Not for any technical aspect to it, but due to its atrocious colour scheme – what I have previously described as “clown vomit” and “the results of a paint factory explosion”. You may find here a picture of its full glory:

http://www.geocities.com/darrenjohngrey/dancemat.jpg

For those interested in the DIY amendments I have made to improve the pad, you may observe the base of the pad thus:

http://www.geocities.com/darrenjohngrey/dancemat2.jpg

The polystyrene squares under the left and right arrows are taped on, and have worn down quite a bit through heavy usage. On the top and bottom are an old art pad and some physics magazines, giving firm support to the ever treacherous up and down arrows. Lately I’ve been doing without the latter since I find I can play well enough au natural, and my padding on the top and bottom tends to slip a bit at times.

This pad cost me £5 (roughly $8), and for that price I think it’s done pretty darn well. However, those interested in serious long-term play are probably much better off investing in a foam-filled pad that won’t slip as much, whilst also being considerably less unsightly.

Positives: I’m not crap! Well, not too crap at least. I have more songs I like now, for which the step-charts are well-timed to the music and at a nice level of challenge. Having fresh songs helps take away the tedium, though obviously that only works in the short-term.
Negatives: Disturbing my sleep has got to be one of the worst things a game can do to me (asides from having a bulky cartridge stuck up an uncomfortable area – or even worse, a Superscope). Basically I went to bed thinking about how I’d like a step pattern to go to the classic Bee Gees song, and as I was drifting off my feet twitched to the steps I was imagining, waking myself up. This is simply infuriating!
Overall so far: Meh. Can’t say I’m hating it, can’t say I’m loving it. The challenge is still the only real motivation to keep playing. I’m perhaps not as negative about the genre as a whole now, and not as biased against the players either, but I do still find the concept worthy of ridicule, especially the idea of playing alone. I’d perhaps be tempted to keep playing if I knew others who played and could compete directly with them – I can certainly see an attraction there. That’s notably more of an attraction than I had 3 weeks ago.

Entry Filed under: StepMania