New Dance Emotes in 'Overwatch' Are References to Classic Moves
From Volton to the Fresh Prince himself, Blizzard knows how to animate groovy moves.
On Tuesday, Blizzard kicked off Overwatch’s first birthday celebration by unleashing a whole new wardrobe of fantastic skins for some of the game’s most popular heroes like Genji, Mei, and D.Va. More notably, however, was the addition of a new collection of dance emotes for every single hero in the game’s roster, and all of the dance routines are clearly inspired by some of history’s best moves from all corners of the world.
As you might expect, every dance emote is a blast to use with your friends in-game while waiting for a match to start. Since the Overwatch Anniversary event launched, I’ve experienced my fair share of dance parties — with some even taking place during a match as some sort of peaceful resolution to quell the usual competition between teams. If you haven’t seen all the new Overwatch dance emotes yet, be sure to head over to our collection of the new anniversary loot box items and do so.
What’s great about each of Blizzard’s new dance emotes for the heroes of Overwatch is that they are almost all directly referencing a popular set of moves ranging from Volton on Robot Chicken all the way to Will Smith from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. There are homages to Pulp Fiction, Gene Kelly, Friends, and more too — further showing us how much Blizzard respects the essence of dance.
Naturally, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen Blizzard implement iconic dances in one of their games, with World of Warcraft’s various playable races all sporting a specific set of moves embracing the beat of a popular tune from somewhere around the world. But that hasn’t stopped us from getting excited about jamming in Competitive Play next season.
Here’s a look at the iconic dances each of Overwatch’s new dances are influenced by, courtesy of Dorkly’s Tristan Cooper.
(However, other music fans noted that the dance probably originated with the late singer Selena.)
