In 1998 Konami introduced the world to Dance Dance Revolution, or DDR. After appearing at the 1998 Tokyo Game Show, they released it for the Japanese arcades, which took the world by storm. The first game only had a small collection of songs -- all created by Konami -- and gave people an enjoyable experience. In 2000 the United States received their first taste of the game, and it was sweet. Over twenty-four arcade versions have since been developed, not including the versions for consoles. The game is a fad, but how long will this fad last? I believe so long as new music is created, this car may never run out of gas.

If you have ever owned a dance mat, or gone to a local arcade, you probably know what Dance Dance Revolution is. I look like quite the fool when playing, but others have made it into an art form. Just watching others play can energize you, while making you feel that you can do this. Sadly when you first try it out -- and fall flat on your face like I did -- you realize the level of skill that is required. It is a great way to exercise and have fun, whether using a dance mat, or just a controller to play.

The idea of the game is simple. You move to the beat of the song while stepping on corresponding arrows. The arrows will stream upwards, and you will match them with the home arrows, which stay localized to the top of the screen. The more precisely you step on an arrow, the higher score you get for the move. At the end of the song, you are graded by your performance, given a grade between AAA and E. Perfect, great, good, almost, ok, and bad, are all the score levels you can get for each step. If you chain perfects and greats together, you can create a combo that will further fuel your score.

Because most Dance Dance Revolution games do not offer much innovation, the games are best known by their music. The song list in Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 2 is not the best collection of songs that the series has had in the past. In this game, there are a lot of slow songs, which is nice for beginners, but these slow songs are enjoyable Once you get better at playing DDR they lack as much enjoyment as some of the faster paced songs.

There are a lot of good songs in this game. "Cartoon Heroes", "Genie in a Bottle", "Oops… I Did it Again", "Play That Funky Music" and "Get busy" are the most popular songs in this game. These are all nice alternatives to bubble gum j-pop that Dance Dance Revolution is known for. While it doesn't match the play list of the first DDR Extreme game, there are a lot of diamonds in the rough that you will come across and love. For those whom played previous DDR games there are a bunch of remixes of prior songs, including one for Afronova, as well as returning favorites like Boom Boom Dollar. Since there are quite a few of them and it is great to re-experience out these refreshed songs.

They have revised the game's challenge mode, to become the dance master mode. In this mode you need to complete certain course objectives, which adds considerably to the difficulty of the game. Some of those objectives involve not using the down arrow for an entire song, or playing it while the speed increases, but there is a solid variety with these changes which facilitates a very enjoyable experience. It is also set up like a branching tree, so you will choose on which limb to climb. While it is mandatory to use this feature to unlock all the songs on the game, it is so enjoyable that you will not mind.

They've also incorporated a store into the game. At the end of each level you will receive credits depending on how well you did. After playing a song in "Dance Master" mode, they get put into the store for you to buy. You could then purchase them and use them for any other mode in the game. The shop also allows you -- for the first time on a PlayStation game – to change the arrows on your screen. You also can find hints for the dance master mode, which helps you unlock even more songs, and challenge modes.

The endless mode is back, where you do as many songs as possible in one standing. The punishing Oni mode, where you have a set limit of mistakes before the game ends. If you were looking for a challenge, then these would be the areas to find them. From theses challenges, fatigue hits you rather suddenly, but that adds even more to the pleasure of the game.

If you want to get this game, and you do not have the dance mat, I urge you to pick up the combo. The dance mat is awesome as it has a rubber bottom that grips to the floor, so unlike other dance mats out on the market, this one stays in one spot. It's very responsive, sturdy, and the best dance mat I've ever used. It also folds up with ease for easy storage. The price in the combo deal makes it competitive with those third party dance mats, so even if you do have a dance mat, this is a great addition.

Also, for the first time on a PlayStation 2 game, you are able to go online and play against other people. This is great because you can be in contact with other DDR players, especially if you like staying up all night to play. Sadly it is also quite difficult to try to get set up for the Internet. I was constantly bombarded with errors, while I haven't had a problem connecting to other online games.