All About ParaParaParadise

ParaParaParadise (PPP) was an arcade rhythm game released by Konami in their Bemani series of dance games that also includes DanceDanceRevolution, Beatmania, and Pop'n Music.
It was based off of the late 80's Japanese fad dancing style, ParaPara, which saw a resurgence at the turn of the century. ParaPara is characterised to western audiences as similar to line dancing, having specific routines for each song that are performed in sync with other people.

As ParaPara dancing primarily utilises upper body movement, the ParaParaParadise arcade game involves a ring of five motion sensors above the player that can be triggered by moving your arms to hit the arrows onscreen, coinciding with the song's ParaPara routine.

In total, four versions of the game were released.
In reality, the first release of ParaParaParadise, which was released September 21st, 2000, was quickly superseded by an update only a month later, called ParaParaParadise V1.1. V1.1 rearranged some menus and recharted some songs.
Again, only two more months later, ParaParaParadise 1st Mix Plus was released, introducing a brand new navigation menu and a new difficulty, labeled 'Another'. This harkens to the 'Challenge' difficulty in DanceDanceRevolution, which is often easier than Expert difficulties, but introduces a confusing gimmick. (For example, shock arrows in DDR, which forces the player to step off of the dance stage or miss.)

Finally, on March 15th, 2001, ParaParaParadise 2nd Mix was released, which would come to be the final installment in the ParaParaParadise series. The console version of ParaParaParadise on PS2 was also released on the same day.
As usual for a ParaParaParadise release, the menus were rearranged, and introduced a new mode called Para-kou, which taught the player how to dance ParaPara.
2nd Mix includes almost all of 1st Mix's songs, only missing four of them. In total, twelve new songs were introduced for 2nd Mix, with the vast majority of 1st Mix's songs being recharted.
In another move similar to DanceDanceRevolution, CG dancers were introduced, who danced behind the stream of arrows to the music while in a level. Visit the Characters section in Extras to learn more about the CG dancers!

Here's an example of the arcade game in action!

Sadly, the main reason the game came and went so quickly was due to the fickle nature of ParaPara and fads themselves - it quickly left the mainstream, and left ParaParaParadise without the same playerbase that DanceDanceRevolution and Beatmania had cultivated on their own.

This isn't to say that ParaParaParadise and ParaPara as a whole doesn't still have it's fans, however. ParaParaParadise has endured repeated attempts to be emulated by the MAME team, and still recieves support from fan-made dance game engines Stepmania and Outfox. ParaPara groups and individual Paralists continue to exist and create new routines and simfiles for these games, attending conventions and recording their own videos. There's room for everyone, no matter where or who you are, in ParaPara!