Dead Rhythm Games - ParaParaParadise

ParaParaParadise was a short lived arcade game made by Konami to capture the hype from the ParaPara dance trend in Japan in the early 2000s. A fun and jammin rhythm game based around Eurobeat sounds like a smash hit waiting to happen, so what went wrong? Find out!
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[@disposeable1]

Para lives on in the heart.

[@aaronmerkel5216]

And in the arms

[@DJruslan4ic]

in the hearts of Japanese people who liked parapara

[@choux8372]

I never played the game itself, but I have been a fan of Para para since the 2000s. Still, I never gave the dances a shot myself until quarantine hit and I decided why not. Now I'm hooked and i have at least 15 different routines under my belt.

[@BiFoxxo]

Seeing a Nagito Komaeda cosplayer dancing to Para Para routines warms my heart and makes me laugh uncontrollably at the same time Great video as always!

[@yoshisarethebomb]

Hello everyone! It's me, Nagito Komaeda playing Parapara Paradise!! AHAHAHHAHAAH!!!

[@DJruslan4ic]

​@@yoshisarethebomb"I'm Kaito Moto, luminary of the stars! today I'm playing SDVX! **firestorm deep-fried mix plays in the background**

[@deshaunicus]

There was an arcade near me that used to have the Korean version of this game, ParaParaDancing. The cabinet difference you described was that it had sensors that faced away from the cab as well as facing the screen, so you could essentially perform directly to a potential crowd if you had memorized the pattern. It also had eurobeat remixes of songs from popular K-pop artists at the time (BoA, H.O.T., S.E.S). It was definitely a unique game. Hopefully that cab is thriving somewhere.

[@KimberlyArcherandJustinPhan]

Well, too bad, back then I can just dance parapara in 360*, everyone is amazed how I remembered all of the routine lol

[@dvaliker]

i wish para para paradise was still alive it looks so fun

[@not1goodname]

Great video summarizing some of the history of para para paradise! I especially appreciate the attention to detail to the cult following the game has. I first discovered this game at a gaming convention and was totally hooked on it and there is such a unique energy to the people that form a line behind the cabinet. I think the only thing that you didn't seem to capture in your video is that the machine never really taught you how to do the dance routines. You basically had to memorize the routine from whatever other para experience you were familiar with and then you could play them on the cabinet. This to me is the biggest barrier to entry because if you're just someone walking up to the cabinet for the first time and you didn't already have the routines memorized basically can't play it. There was a way where you could sacrifice all three plays for one tutorial play of a single song where it would basically teach you the routine. But the 3D animation character made it really hard to tell what you were supposed to actually do and It ultimately was kind of waste of time. The freestyle mode was there to address this but without the "para" style movements it just became a floaty way to hit buttons on an IR sensor. Also because the infrared sensors were mediocre at determining your actual body position the notes that you hit where only a loose interpretation of the dance move required. Like there might just be a single left arrow on screen, but in the routine you might spin around, clap your hands twice, and kick your leg out to hit that note. This made a game play not super tight and also meant that you could do the routine perfectly and sometimes the cabinet would just not read your movements. I just find it funny that the game manages to somehow be one of the most casual games Konami has even made gameplay wise, yet has one of the largest barriers to entry requiring that you know the music and routines already.

[@fernandanascimento5712]

I really want to play this game one day, Konami should do a revival or a anniversary version of the game. There's a lot of people who still like to dance para para so maybe if they re release the game today more people will be interested

[@AbsoluteRandomnessYT]

Part of the reason the game got killed is due to the fact that the 3rd parapara boom slowly fading in late 2001, not to mention the ParaPara AllStars who are featured in the PS2 version (and 2ndMIX arcade with a dedicated terminal beside the arcade cabinet to display actual video routine for other spectators to see) announced their disbandment after ParaParaParadise 7 (their last of parapara instruction video series) released in 2002, which you can see at the end of the video saying their goodbyes (and performing their last dance as a group in Club Velfarre in Roppongi on the same year, which is the same venue used on the videos where the 2ndMIX dedicated video terminal and the PS2 version was shown). Though there's a 4th boom in 2005, the parapara scene will never be the same again with the introduction of techpara (parapara dancing using hyper techno instead of the usual eurobeat). The other part of the reason it got killed is the very same Konami tradition of killing franchises they deemed no longer profitable just like other BEMANI games that got axed. Oh yeah, the Hinoi Team clip you've shown performing Ike Ike, the dance routine was originally performed by Satoko Yamazaki with ParaPara Black (Rina Kuwano & Ami Ito) on ParaPara Paradise 2 (the instructional video, not the game). Hinoi Team is known for cover songs for popular eurobeat songs in japanese, and is a contracted artist/group of Avex.

[@1stTiger]

PP All-stars disbanding didn't have anything to do with ppp game stopping

[@iambryan1234]

There was a 4th boom?

[@AbsoluteRandomnessYT]

@@iambryan1234 yep, with the advent of "Gazen ParaPara!!" and "We Love TechPara" during 2005 after ParaPara Allstars disbanded in 2001 with ParaParaParadise 7 being the last of the series.

[@absurddive]

oh my god, six months?! sheeeeeeesh I thought it'd lasted like a year at the very LEAST lmao I remember seeing a PPD 2nd cab here in Argentina, but the arcade owner inmmediatly regretted his decision and it disappeared after like 2 months he even purchased the thing a couple of months after its release

[@MikuAppendCV01]

hablas de dinos no?? yo fui por al menos 2 años porque mi secundaria quedaba a una cuadra y siempre le pedia al dueño que la prenda nomas por mi xq nadie mas jugaba, la tenia al fondo jaja que recuerdos 🥲 me pregunto quien habra sido el afortunado que lo compro cuando cerraron

[@absurddive]

@@MikuAppendCV01 Capaz es la misma maquina, pero la locación que yo recuerdo es 501 (Av.rivadavia entre Boedo y Colombres) Los únicos que la usaban seguido (al menos que yo veía seguido) era totodile y 3 personas mas que estaban re enganchados Recuerdo haber visto una PPD en Dinos también jajajaja Aaah, que lindo lugar era ese. Tenían como 6 maquinas de PIU jajajajajaja

[@TheRegularRyan]

Para was big for a little while. In the height of the early 2000s Bemani/DDR scene, you would often find crowds of 10-15 people surrounding the para machine all doing the routines. It was a sight to see.

[@sallybranchyt]

Wish this game didn't die out, my arms were so toned back then. ;(

[@Deadsphere]

I remember seeing one of these in a local arcade that imported international games. Immediately fell in love with it because at the time I was going through my Initial D phase, and seeing my favorite Eurobeat tracks as music in a rythm game was probably the best fucking thing ever at the time for me.

[@zxc930213]

2:34 The machine in the footage is still up and running. I've played it few months ago. BTW, this machine is in NewCity Arcade, Zhongli, Taiwan.

[@zxc930213]

oh and I bought the ps2 controller for the game on amazon.

[@iambryan1234]

The quick demise of PPP can really be pinned on one single reason. Konami released the game with the worst possible timing when Para Para was starting to fall out of trend. Wikipedia will tell you that there are 'booms' but there really wasn't any boom like that. Around the time of the so-called third boom, Para Para was gaining traction in limited regions when Aaron Kwok released the song Para Para Sakura in the Chinese market, even that fell out of favour within one year. and while ageha x velfarre regularly features Para Para floors, its mainly attended by a much older crowd than the rest of the event.

[@Akshuls]

for ParaParaParadise v1.1 the other difference besides removing the ENOJOY mode was that they moved the Normal, Hard, and expert difficulties to a new folder called FREESTYLE.

[@CasioMaker]

Ah, PPP. A game that became sort of a "pink unicorn" in my country (Chile). An arcade operator called Diana, had a cabinet back in the day when music&rhythm games were on the top of popularity, but unfortunately due a series of problems (mainly rude customers) and the fact that the location the machine was put into operation wasn't actually catering to the sort of players interested in this type of game, made it extremely difficult to turn a real substantial profit, so after a year or so, it was put into storage and it's been there ever since, without any sort of possibility of ever coming back (not to mention that as far as I've heard, it need a serious rebuilding process).

[@spastroboy]

Used to play this all the time in 1999 at the arcade in Sydney Australia

[@saludsinfiltros6854]

I still hope that someday soon i'll go to a para para rave night in japan.

[@Neor3b3l]

Home release is great, I have it with 2 sets of sensors! Works way better than expected

[@ZenokweiAka]

I remember seeing the cabinet in a mall in Indonesia, I have no idea it became a commercial failure. I wished I played it back then…

[@topdamagewizard]

Saw this in the wild at Okinawa's Sega world. One look and I was like "Nah.... I'm good"

[@CrimmiSkye]

So this is basically what Dance Evolution / Dance Master was before. On top of Enjoy Mode (My arcade oddly has 1st Mix) Enjoy Mode is like a Freestyle mode where can play freely at your hearts content.

[@darktetsuya]

so many fond memories of this one! my circle of friends had it and we definitely played the hell out of it when we got together to play all the BEMANI stuff. and then there were days hanging out at the arcade playing that version, so many good times! (also anyone else remember 'no shadowing' signs on the machine? no way that was exclusive to our arcade, haha. now that I own a JPS2 that game is definitely my holy grail at the moment, hope to add it to the collection someday! I had no idea the simulation scene for it got as far as it did, that's super cool!

[@klzyxcixen]

I played the 2nd mix in our local arcade from 2003/4 to 2010/11 i can't exactly remember, the other modes where hidden but you can easily access it in the arcade if you know what buttons to push, you can even unlock the hidden weird mascot dancer. Players usually play it in either para para mode for beginners or extreme mode coz it was actually more fun to play in that mode so most of us play that mode.

[@GimmeTOKYO]

Couple of little fun tidbits: - It's not para, like in parallel or paramedic, but more "pah-rah pah-rah" You can hear a good pronunciation in the song Para Para Paradise by DOMINO, featured in IIDX 6th Style! So the videos seen in the PS2 version of the game (I still own the game and controller, funny enough) wasn't shown on the machine itself, but there was a dedicated machine attachment that was a CRT and DVD player that had the dances playing next to the machine. My friends in KCK still have a copy of the machine as well, it's fun to go back and play Tora Tora Tora (which I recognized in a heartbeat from the person playing with the blonde hair.) At one point, Konami was indeed working on a 3rd Mix/Deluxe version of the cabinet, that actually allowed for three dancers simultaneously. (three octagonal stages connected at an obtuse angle, think a wider triforce.)

[@DJDTHTRP]

People are doing their best to keep para para alive ever since. It's great for exercise, that's for sure! I believe the most recent release of Stepmania has support for the controller and there's talks for making the sensors anew from more recent technology if someone wanted to solder, construct them. I personally love to commit to learning routines and then seek to pass on the love of it to all whom come after me. Victor Xenolosophy is big on performing them & providing the reverse views, and there's even a VTuber in Izumi Mizuha whom performs routines. Both of these even cover some techpara. I'm NOT touching the techno & trance as that's all on a whole different, higher level. Not unless I'm well practiced on the eurobeat side.

[@arbi9506]

WHY IS NAGITO KOMAEDA SO FUCKING GOOD AT PARAPARA

[@diatomos8]

The subterranean influences of Para Para Paradise would eventually give birth to Beat Saber in a manner not easy to unfold.

[@timfebz1600]

got that enjoy pm

[@bobbackward6461]

I liked the songs, they really embody everything we love about modern Japan.

[@GUCFan]

And then it came back as DanceEvolution or Dance Masters in the US before it died again. By then though there was no more needs for hand sensors since the Kinect was pretty much the best fit for the game.

[@RobertsBrainIsGone]

Para Para Paradise kinda became Dance Evolution \ Dance Masters and uses the Kinect hardware. Still see Dance Evolution in arcades in Hong Kong to this day! There was a bootleg version of Para Para Paradise for Sega Dreamcast as well. It came with sensors too. It was called Dream Para Para and used the same logo and font for the box. Not sure what I did with my copy of either PPP or DPP, but I spent hundreds of dollars getting those imported to the US when I was a teenager working at an arcade. Definitely want to find them again, or get a hold of new copies.

[@aaronmerkel5216]

I love para. I modded my ps2 to play the game at home. The dances are so fun and are great exercises.

[@pr0newbie]

Para Para was big in East Asia for a year or 2. There's even a HK movie of Para Para Sakura.

[@robsonmartiliano7351]

I saw an arcade of this first version in a shopping mall here in Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro.

[@DonnyKirkMusic]

I remember being young and seeing X-Play review the PS2 version of this game.

[@LAZY-RUBY]

The one where they show a guy talking about how it's a fun party game that brings people together regardless if they're any good at it or not and then they just shit on him for no reason? God that show was trash.

[@xitrum1902]

I remembering playing the 2nd mix every time I go to the specific supermarket that has it. It was fun waving arms around to the music and pretty sure my sister and I were the only ones to know how to play it. Shame that it was removed long ago...

[@costsonecent]

1:48 komaeda killin' it tho :O

[@Tommy_Wimmer]

At least Coldplay made a song about this video game.

[@manulittle]

NAGITO DANCING PARAPARA

[@2009stardusts]

one day i will find the arcade verion and play it, the ps2 one is probably my fav game i own

[@dzulk9]

I had so much fun with this machine!

[@silvieluna]

this was super interesting, great video!!!

[@ArcTrail]

If the bemani pocket version is anything to go by the ENJOY mode is a mode where you always clear the song

[@pengawalkeselamataninternet]

I was main para para paradise,I play when I was 12 I wish I could play again 😭

[@DoNotHireForever]

There was Para Para dancing in The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift

[@ViraRiva]

does anyone know if theres an arcade with the machine in japan still?

[@HalfBreedMix]

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and now I have an urge to play Initial-D !

[@michaeljosephmercado6522]

Paraparadise,,still my best Favorite Dance rythm game until now,, compare to Dance Central, Just dance, Dance evolution, ive ever played,, Paraparadise & DDR, both are my best Arcade Dance rythm game, at all time,, 👌👌👌👌

[@Darmani2MB]

My local arcade got a ParaParaDancing machine somewhere around 2004. I played DDR at the time, but the ParaPara dance was too much for me 😅 however, some of my fellow DDR players enjoyed the game while we had it and it wasn't uncommon to see them jumping back and forth between one game to the other.

[@Imaproshaman7]

Neat!

[@yoshisarethebomb]

Nice video!!! Could you do Reflec Beat? I think it's dead because it's not in KAC anymore. There's also Otocadoll but I have no clue if it's dead.

[@losermanwins4338]

Reflec Beat will get a video, but technically service for Reflec has not ended yet. It's a weird one, it's been in limbo for a long time. Otocadoll I have... not heard of. I will look into this.

[@yoshisarethebomb]

@@losermanwins4338 thanks!! Your name should me Winnermanwins tbh because you're so cool and epic

[@nate567987]

fyi you can run the arcade game in mame

[@wilsonvega7700]

Today I still love parampara songs and dancing with my best moves jajaja a little bit feme but doens't matter to me , am happy with that ❤

[@huggleskuishy]

How do I get my hands on this game I need it

[@DJruslan4ic]

just shadow it lol (shadowing is when you pretend to play an rhythm game (usually arcade) to practice for the real deal)

[@jasondatura9243]

PS2, import the controller and game disc

[@diminuendo7525]

i dont even know what parapara dancing is... theres no way this game couldve lasted nowadays

[@CasioMaker]

I could see PPP coming back in the modern days, being that Eurobeat music has become somewhat popular once again due to the whole "Deja Vu'" meme fad and related things. Then again, the appeal of the music style used in the game, is somewhat limited to those who lived through the first years of its popularity and those who are discovering it for the first time.

[@theadmiral4625]

Para Para Paradise loses...... TikTok WINS!!!! GAME OVER................................. CONTINUE?

[@-Poka-]

rhythm game dedicated for the Eurobeat genre? Yup, just be glad ya don't play it while driving! xD

[@partycake666]

capitalizing off of a dance trend wasn't a bad idea in itself but parapara was probably the worst dance trend to choose. most people doing parapara were gyaru--young women and teenage girls. why would they spend money on the game when they already had so many expenses from their tanned skin, hair, nails, clothes, and partying? they could've just gone to a real club. parapara was the thing that made you cool while being gyaru anyway so im sure the licensing for eurobeat was super expensive as well... the most important thing to do if a game company wants to capitalize off its audience is consider what this audience is already giving their money to. konami did not do that lmao

[@sak_1017]

Who are you? Why am i subbed to you? Edit : ok so i checked his videos and now I remember

[@isovas_og]

Look at the channel and figure it out yourself

[@sak_1017]

@@DonnyKirkMusic ?

[@djtomoy]

Looks like crap to me

[@TobiasBallePetersen]

Watching the video, one gets the impression that Para Para was a short lived fad. That's not completely true. It has come and gone several times over the years en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Para_Para

[@nate567987]

it is a fad just with 4 burns

[@iambryan1234]

The English article exaggerates the popularity of Para Para past 2001. Read the JA language article, it has a much more accurate depiction.

[@bobbackward6461]

I liked the songs, they really embody everything we love about modern Japan.