The DDR thread. Yep.

[luiqui]

I've seen DDR mentioned around here a few times, but I have tried and failed to find a specific thread for it. Naturally, both shock and horror coursed through my mind! I hope this thread isn't too late. I hope.

So! How long have you been playing? How often do you play? Would you describe your skill level as good, or awesome? What are your top songs? Got any screencaps of particular successes? Are you part of a local DDR 'scene'? If so, are you feared in it? Do you play at home? Play Stepmania or Flash Flash Revolution? Got a metal pad? Built a metal pad? Have you, heaven forbid, wasted £1000* buying an actual machine? Intimidated by this constant string of questions? I know I am.

Well, about me. I been playing for many years, probably about 5 or so (I think) when I just played the arcade machines on occasion on holiday. I started playing at home to lose weight, and became decent at the game. Then, at the beginning of this year, I got Serious and started training in the arcade on weekdays. Nowadays I can do 9-footers, but I still look like an angry monkey whilst playing My fave songs are probably Tsugaru and Afronova at the moment. I suppose I am known 'in the scene', considering that it consists of two guys. And I'm the worse of the two

* Yes, I'm British. The secret's out. You... you can still talk to me... 

[Kitsune Ascendant]

I've been playing for... about a month, now, I think. I'm already up to doing the ocasional six footer on standard. and if I try REALLY hard, I can just eek past captain jack on standard. that's hard, though. I play the ddr extreme machine we have on campus.

[Supercheese]

Whoooo! I am all over this thread.

Since April (when i first started playing), I have become somewhat addicted. I just today finished downloading Dancing Wipeout 2 and the In the Groove 2.2a theme for Stepmania 3.95 CVS. I want to do SMOnline, too, with my dual Ignition 3.0 pads.

I started off with the ultimate n00b DDR: Mario Mix. The max difficulty rarely pushes a 7-footer, with the hardest being called a 9 when ported to Stepmania (it's more of an 8.) Holds are nonexistent and there are no modifiers available. So, I got good and was soon getting AAAs on nearly all the songs. (every arrow "perfect"). This is because the timing window is, quote, "Large enough to drive a truck through." unquote. (Taken from some DDR forum. Dunno which.)

So, June rolled around, and with it, my birthday. My mom got my DDR Extreme 2 for the PS2, as well as a PS2 compatible dance mat. I proceeded to go all out with Extreme 2, getting introduced to the greats like Speed over Beethoven, Butterfly, Afronova, and more. It was hard for me to do 7-footers, but I kept going.

Then, my mom gave my In the Groove for PS2. I was somewhat disinterested at first, what with it not being DDR, but after I started playing it I was all "ZOMG, the arrows... have color! For note placement! Hallelujah!" I became more of an ITG player at this point than a DDR player, mostly due to the fact that DDR SuperNOVA sucks, IMHO, lacking any of the songs I liked from the other games. Plus, there's also an ITG2 cabinet at the local arcade, and it's infinitely better than the SuperNOVA machine 10 feet away.

ITG modifiers are also funky, and I appear to be rambling and have lost my train of thought...

*Ahem* Currently, I can do most nines and some tens. I haven't grasped the whole "using the bar" concept, and I'm not sure I ever will. (Some say that's cheating, and I can neither agree nor disagree.) I also am in love with doubles (8-panels, two pads) and solo (6-panels, one pad) modes. It depends on the songs - I can do around 7-8 difficulty on these modes.

I've tried my hand at making my own simfile, but got bored and decided there were enough others out there that do it. 'Sides, I'm no good at background graphics...

I've just registered at ITGfreaks, and there's a $&#^load of talent over at those forums. Most of the .crs technicalities go WAY over my head.

Erm, that's all my brain has decided to spew out for now. I now want to go try out some of the new songs I downloaded.

Run: Stepmania.exe ...

[insanekaosx]

I've been playing for about 4 years now, maybe a bit less. I'm decent on heavy, passing most 8 footers, and some 9. And Breakdown. Breakdown is my song. I've recently learned I can get Tsugaru on heavy as well.

I need to play more, but can't play at home anymore because my brother *the bastard* sold his PS2, so all I have is Mario Mix fro playing at home >> It is really no challenege at all. I try to go to the arcade at MIT campus on friday nights to play some, its cool.

[Miaka]

I've been playing on and off for about 3 or so years, and I suck complete and utter ass. ohyay.
Well... Not too horrible. Like I can pass. But that's on beginner/maybe light so that doesn't really say much. >>
*totally hasn't only been playing even this much 'cause Kaos made me...*

[luiqui]

I've been playing for about 4 years now, maybe a bit less. I'm decent on heavy, passing most 8 footers, and some 9. And Breakdown. Breakdown is my song. I've recently learned I can get Tsugaru on heavy as well.

Oh yeah, Tsugaru is the best. It's what got me onto the hard stuff (and that kinda sounds as if I'm talking about drugs). Try Can't Stop Falling In Love; it's a bit of a wokout though

I wish I could play all those exciting variations that you american types have, like In The Groove. We don't even have Extreme; we're stuck with Euromix 2 mostly. We have SuperNova, and SuperNova is great, but I've only been to one place that has it, which was in London. No-one else can be bothered to upgrade. I'm a little worried that they'll take the local one away actually, considering that it's been there for quite a while, but it does still seem to be a hit with the teenage girls.

[Kitsune Ascendant]

I just discovered that absolute is the best game on ddr extreme to learn crosovers. it's medium speed ('bout 140ish), and is full of five-stepers that need a crossover, like < V > V <. also, the music is awesome.

[Supercheese]

For higher speed crossovers, Boom Boom Dollar (the K-something mix) is good. I think that's on Extreme...

It's hard, though. I got murdered trying it when I was learning.

[Nimrods Son]

DDR = Deutsche Demokratische Republik (German Democratic Republic) = Former Eastern Germany
I'm not sure if this is fun, or just doesn't matter anymore in the year 2006.

[luiqui]

DDR = Deutsche Demokratische Republik (German Democratic Republic) = Former Eastern Germany
I'm not sure if this is fun, or just doesn't matter anymore in the year 2006.

Yeah, I reckon that's why they changed it to Dancing Stage in Europe.

It does make me wonder what an actual DDR themed DDR would be like...

[Howru]

I got started around 2001, stopped around 2004, and trying to get back into it since SuperNova came out at my local arcade.  I'm trying to get my stamina back up to what it used to be, as well as the faster paced songs.  I can pass almost everything up to heavy 9-footers (except for fast songs with harder step sequences, like Cartoon Heroes...I'm working on that)

I'm a decent singles and doubles player on heavy mode.  My favorite doubles songs so far on SuperNova is Flowers and Himawari.

Favorite mix was 3rd Mix Korea v2.  It had SSR Mode (only heavy mode), some korean songs, and lyrics to many of the songs (I know what they're singing!).  At least Stepmania lets me play those songs.

I haven't tried ITG yet, but heard many great things from the other players.

[Zedd]

 I like the song Waka laka for a reason O.o

[Nimrods Son]

DDR = Deutsche Demokratische Republik (German Democratic Republic) = Former Eastern Germany
I'm not sure if this is fun, or just doesn't matter anymore in the year 2006.

Yeah, I reckon that's why they changed it to Dancing Stage in Europe.

It does make me wonder what an actual DDR themed DDR would be like...

I'm pretty sure it would be all about not-too-wild-but-mild '70s disco stuff and German schlager (= superficial disco-equvalent sung in Bavarian-flavoured German, which emulates American hillybilly pronounciation pretty well).
Oh, an for the occasional regime-critical dissident, there'd be acoustic guitar songs by Wolf Biermann (= kinda folk music, "liedermacher" music)

[RJ]

I've been playing for ages now, yet I'm lucky if I can even keep up with Standard mode >.< My two fav songs are Love Love Shine and Kind Lady.

I just wish that the only time I could play the arcade version wasn't whenever I go see my grandma or go to Sydney. There's no good arcades anywhere near my area.

[Kitsune Ascendant]

huh. been a bit since people have posted in here. anyways, I've gotten to the point where I can do a few songs on heavy (love shine, hyper eurobeat, nori nori nori), and I'm wondering what's a good song to practice on hard.

[Supercheese]

Hmm, what an intriguing time to revive this thread. I just completed some steps for the song 'Cubi Fight by Tapewolf (as mentioned in this[/url] thread.) I'm still working on the background and banner, but I'm quite happy with the steps as they are now.

The song is designed with and for Stepmania. I'm having my friend (who is just as good as I) test the steps. So far he seems to be doing quite well.

Oh, hey, he just passed the hardest version with a 60%. He failed his first three tries. I think that's sufficiently hard enough. 

[DigitalMan]

Jeez, I just got DDR Extreme 2 a couple weeks ago... does that make me a n00b?

I've got four AA's on beginner songs, and A's on a few Light modes... but Standard is still entirely out of the question. And now I have to get used to it again, because I figured out today that the beat was out-of-synch and changed it to -1.

My favorite songs are... most of them, really. Especially Butterfly, Speed Over Beethoven, Captain Jack, Boom Boom Dollar, and Wonderful Night. I think this version has the best song list. But I want to "collect them all," as they say, because other versions have unique songs that I'd like the chance to dance to. *shows off his MP3 collection of probably every song from every DDR version ever*

And I have a year to prepare before I get the chance to use the Solo 4th Mix at Geauga Lake... I intend to be a god by then...

[Supercheese]

But I want to "collect them all," as they say, because other versions have unique songs that I'd like the chance to dance to. *shows off his MP3 collection of probably every song from every DDR version ever*

I'm pretty sure I have them all... stepcharts, songs, backgrounds, etc. You can download them from a number of sites and play them on your computer via Stepmania.

[DigitalMan]

Yup, those are the sets I have, but I was just aiming for the music My controller can't plug into the PC, and even if it could, the screen is way too small x.x

[Kitsune Ascendant]

you know? something kinda weird happened today while I was playing. I was playing a song on heavy (hollic, I think), and it had this crazy long stream, and I nearly get lost. In fact, I do conciously get lost, but I sort of defocus, and all of a sudden I'm staring at the screen without making any concious connection between the arrows and my foot movement. yet somehow I'm hitting all of the steps perfectly. my guess is some weird subconcious thing. this happen to anyone else?

[DigitalMan]

you know? something kinda weird happened today while I was playing. I was playing a song on heavy (hollic, I think), and it had this crazy long stream, and I nearly get lost. In fact, I do conciously get lost, but I sort of defocus, and all of a sudden I'm staring at the screen without making any concious connection between the arrows and my foot movement. yet somehow I'm hitting all of the steps perfectly. my guess is some weird subconcious thing. this happen to anyone else?

That probably means you've actually memorized the song  Memorization is key... especially for people who have to repeatedly look down at the pad to make sure they're centered on it x.x Or perhaps you play it so much that your mind knows how to react automatically, which happens to me occassionally (but not nearly enough )

And for those looking for an arcade version, don't forget about http://www.ddrfreak.com/! It has a locator, and you'd be amazed at where those things will pop up.

[Kitsune Ascendant]

actually, I'd never played the song before on that difficulty. it was kind weird, but so freakin cool. it was probably the latter thing you mentioned. I do play a fair amount.

[luiqui]

Well, on the really hard songs, it become harder and harder to actually process the steps without doing that automatic thing. That's why Paranoia is so evil; it's got such a random step sequence it's very hard to do this.

Oh no, I'm out of practice... I've just gone off to uni, and there are no arcades here

[insanekaosx]

you know? something kinda weird happened today while I was playing. I was playing a song on heavy (hollic, I think), and it had this crazy long stream, and I nearly get lost. In fact, I do conciously get lost, but I sort of defocus, and all of a sudden I'm staring at the screen without making any concious connection between the arrows and my foot movement. yet somehow I'm hitting all of the steps perfectly. my guess is some weird subconcious thing. this happen to anyone else?

That probably means you've actually memorized the song Memorization is key... especially for people who have to repeatedly look down at the pad to make sure they're centered on it x.x Or perhaps you play it so much that your mind knows how to react automatically, which happens to me occassionally (but not nearly enough )

And for those looking for an arcade version, don't forget about http://www.ddrfreak.com/! It has a locator, and you'd be amazed at where those things will pop up.

Thats how I beat Breakdown on Heavy, I kept playing it over and over until I memorized it *not for that purpose, but I liked the song and the speed of the steps*.  Now I can A it pretty easily >>

Even just memorization helps with getting good at other heavy songs though, my reaction time had to hit up a bit to catch all th ebreakdown arrows to memorize them after all.

[Supercheese]

Whoah. Looks like Konami acquired ITG's intellectual rights.

http://www.inthegroove.com/page/Press_Release

Funky... majorly owned. There's discussion all over the ITG and DDR boards.

[Draksaith]

The world of DDR is changing... For better or for worse we know not...

One can only pray...

[DigitalMan]

Derr... Intellectual property rights... What does that all mean, exactly?

[Tapewolf]

Derr... Intellectual property rights... What does that all mean, exactly?

Nothing:  http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.xhtml


By the way, how did it go with the 'cubi fight song, Supercheese?

[Supercheese]

By the way, how did it go with the 'cubi fight song, Supercheese?

It's all good - just need to find a place to host the .rar file, since I can't seem to access my webspace...

[Draksaith]

He also made it very... very... hard, a nine-ten footer.

My Second run through merited me a 61.00 percent.

*Supercheese's friend In Real Life*