While Konami hasn’t been absent producing arcade machines over the years, they have occupied a strange place in the North American market. This is because they do not have a real US arcade division anymore, with people dedicated to sales, development & support across distribution networks here. When a new title receives an English translation and is made available for our market, the problem becomes one of minimum order quotas, effectively putting games like DDR A or Dancerush out of the reach of smaller venues. Thus, the Konami name hasn’t been a common sight in modern arcade spaces.
That said, larger arcade chains can and have got their hands on some of Konami’s more recent games. The latest title to join the fray is Konami’s unique evolution of the DDR concept, DanceRush Stardom. We’ve covered the game in the past, but if you aren’t familiar with it, here’s a video (showing the Korean version in action). It’s the kind of game that easily stops people in their tracks.
Now for the news of the headline, last week I heard from a local gaming group that the Round1 USA here in Salt Lake City had received a pair of DanceRush Stardom machines. The local rhythm gaming community was understandably excited about this and posted images on social media. Then, Round1USA confirmed that all of their locations are receiving 1-2 units via this tweet:
https://twitter.com/Round1USA/status/1049379360723988480
By the anecdotal reviews I’ve heard, DDR fans are loving the game, all giving it high marks. Whether or not any other big chains plan on picking this up is unknown at the moment. We’ll keep an eye out for any news regarding additional distribution for DRS in case it expands.
