The arrows are synchronized to the general rhythm or beat of a chosen song, and success is dependent on the player's ability to time and position their steps accordingly.

However, in recent versions the game has shifted to focus more heavily on "technical" players, expanding the vast array of high-difficulty songs, step charts, and title-based achievements.

The first game was known simply as Pump It Up (PIU), and it was released to South Korean arcades in September 1999.

A home version known as Pump It Up The Fusion: The 1st N' 2nd Dance Floor was released at the end of 1999 for Microsoft Windows computers.

At the same time, Andamiro sued Konami in the state of California, claiming that DDR violated their patent for Pump it Up.

That same year, Pump It Up: The Evolutionary Dance Floor was released for Windows computers in North America.

The sequel, Pump It Up The PREX: The International Dance Floor, was released to arcades in November 2001.

A sequel, Pump It Up 2017 Prime 2, was released in November 2016, while a 2018 update features future improvements.

Prime 2 and the 2018 update are the final versions to support standard definition SD, SX, DX and GX cabinets.

Zero contained a brand new interface, now featuring previews of background videos and the ability for two players to play on separate difficulties.

Generally the difficulty of Another charts range from easy to extremely hard, with some songs being impossible to complete without a second player.

Pump It Up New Xenesis, or NX, was released in December 2006 with new tracks and a mode with nonstop remixes.

In addition, a new cabinet style has been added to the lineup featuring a futuristic design and a 42' plasma display.

Unlike in earlier games, the difficulty level of a song in NX is not visually represented by a number.

NX2 released in December 2007, added support for Andamiro's proprietary USB flash drives, which save player progress and worldwide ranking.

[7] The game utilizes a heavily modified build of StepMania 4 for its engine and was purchasable as a cabinet or as an upgrade for existing Pump It Up machines running MK6 or MK7 hardware.

Kyle Ward is the project lead and is responsible for many of the songs and step charts in this series.

The good will fostered by Kyle Ward working with Andamiro to create cabinets for In the Groove 2 led to him being given a position within the company as a project creator, lead, and creative consultant.

[9] The Revision 5 patch added Half Double mode as a difficulty which uses the 6 panels on the inside of the pad layout excluding the outer corners from play.

Pump It Up Infinity (2013) was intended as a reboot of the original Pro idea and introduces a "Basic Mode" to encourage new players.

Premiere 3 and Exceed were the only versions to put a greater emphasis on international pop music due to its branching into other markets such as North and Latin America.

After Exceed, the focus shifted back to K-pop as the players worldwide generally favored the game's original Korean music.

Two of the main members, Yahpp and Msgoon, recently became independent artists (and as of NX and Fiesta respectively, all of their songs are now branded using their aliases).

Some of BanYa's songs include covers of classical pieces such as Canon in D (in which it become notorious), mostly performed in a symphonic rock style and has a tempo of 160 beats per minute.