9-year-old sets 'Dance Dance' record

HERNDON, Va., Feb. 1 (UPI) -- A Virginia boy set a Guinness World Record for "Youngest Gamer to Achieve a Perfect Score on 'Dance Dance Revolution'" at the age of 9.

Ted Wada of Herndon said his son, Ryota Wada, 10, attempted the perfect score on the "Expert" level of the song "Heavy Eurobeat" and perfectly executed all 223 steps and 16 combinations last year, when he was 9, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

Wada said his son made the attempt at the request of a Guinness editor who saw a YouTube video of the boy playing the game when he was 5. The record is now part of the "Guinness Book of World Records 2011 Gamer's Edition," the father said.

"It is a great honor for him," Wada said.

Ryota Wada said he has spent hundreds of hours on the game after first taking it up with his father, who used it as a tool to loose weight.

"Other kids say DDR is an adult game and it's very hard," the boy said. "I can do it very well. Why, I don't know. I think maybe because I can catch rhythm easily."