Improving your DDR skills

MugsyGoten · Trick Member Joined: 17 Jul 2002

plus, if I were to full combo a song, i still get about 30% Greats. What the heck? How do I fix this?

_Sushi_ · Trick Member Joined: 08 Feb 2003

I have a question for you peeps that can play Maniac Double Mode 8x Speed Shuffle: ...well, really for anyone that plays on trick or maniac.

Consider the following simple patern: L-D-R. On instinct, I use my left foot for L, right for D, and left again for R. But sometimes going from that ending stance leaves me unprepared for quick changes in stance. Does anyone on instinct use your RIGHT foot for L, left foot for D, and then right again for R? This leaves your body in a better position to tackle the next set of arrows, but it also takes more time to set up because you'll probably have to swing your right foot over the L. I have tried this on songs like AM-3P but occasionally since I'm not used to it I end up failing. Anyone know which is better in the long run in terms of passing the Maniac level songs?

mistakooll · Trick Member Joined: 20 Oct 2002

same problem
EXAMPLE
i can full combo some of the 8 and 9 songs without putting in much effor(including hot limit ~long version~)
but during a simple song like THE CUBE (maniac)
i can full combo every thing but theres one part where i just cant get it.
i tried tdoing it like tigger eugeine and ver2 do it but itsa just not comfortable
it goes
u d u l r l r u d r d u d l u d r
all of those being 8th notes
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if anyone has any information about freestyle tournaments in the bay area, san mateo or san fransisco, im me please

wallthehero · Trick Member Joined: 04 Feb 2003 Location: Atlanta GA

A lot of choosing which foot to start with depends on the song. For example, Look to the sky maniac has a L D R L D... run in it, which is best done starting with your right foot on the left, though this isn't instinctual and I see a lot of people drop combo here trying to start it with their left foot. Of course, if you don't know the song, you can look ahead a bit and plan out or just not alternate feet - that is, hit L D R with Left, Right, Right.. I do it at the end of Paranoia Rebirth cuz I always drop combo doing it the 'correct' way and alternating.

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Wompa164 · Trick Member Joined: 02 May 2002 Location: Dallas, TX

Would you guys like it if I posted a video of my footwork on R&P?

Soul of Ignorance · Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2003 2:19 pm Post subject: Question

Anyone have any tips on improving reading and reaction speed? I've been capping it off at 450 - 588, but getting past anything else is madness...the Speed Booster jumps too high in most cases after one breakthrough (side for Stepmania, they actually put in a 4x, thank God).

Example, in order to jump from Remember You (5x) to Remember You (8x), you have to compensate for an extra 300 bps of reaction time.. and that is one the songs with the lowest bpm in DDR! Songs like Healing Vision (either mix) (3x) is 588... run that at (5x) and thats bumped to 980! Can you say what the hell...

It just seems too much of a level adjustment to be able to pull off.. Just wanted to know if anyone had any tips on how to compensate for the huge increases in bpm reaction speed.. Thank you for any and all advice.

P.S. Please, nothing saying to memorize the song.. All songs are played on Shuffle or Super Shuffle.
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My In the Groove Scores
Ninth Player to AAA EXTREME
Second Player to AAA SuperNOVA

RagePenguin · Trick Member Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Location: Bremerton

having a difficult time keeping up in era (DDRMAX - usa) am-3p and spin the disc heavy

also hvam, orion civ mix, max 300, and paranoia dirty mix in standard. out of those 4, the hvam is the one I get the farthest on, do I just need to improve stamina or learn to read better?

GRADiUS2049 · Basic Member Joined: 10 Feb 2003

for me, i use some very simple tricks in order to get better PA. 1) practice easier songs and then work your way back up. 2) count to yourself in your head i.e. - 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2..... 3)relax, if you get too tense you're more likely to make fast spastic movements. 4)keep stepping even when arrows arent coming up, this way you'll keep the rhythm better than if you were to just stop moving when a pause came up. 5) pay attention to the stationary arrows at the top of the screen!!! make sure that you're pressing the esignated arrow just as it fits perfectly into the ones at the top of the screen... those are all the things that i've learned from my personal experience to work really well. hopefully they'll help some of you out there too.

RAVER_X · Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2003 9:53 pm Post subject: Improving your DDR skills

First I would play something easy on basic level for a warm up like Healing vision remix, then I would play Dead-End on Trick for the 2nd stage and Finally go ALL OUT again on Dead-End on Manic. A lot of my friends play Dead-End song and all of us die out at the close ending of it but pass it sightly cuz it takes alot out of ya. I'm a trick DDR person on most songs but not for Songs like Paranoia and Maxx Unlimited

an0maly · Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2003 9:40 pm Post subject: Oh boy . . .

Whoa, whoa, hang on a minute, I've been playing (only DDRMax for PS2, no arcades, on a homebuilt metal platform) for about two months, and I can only pass 6 feet! I practice every day! Some of you learned how to do 10 feet in a week! How is that possible?!

Kaz BirD · Basic Member Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Location: MD

Even though i've been playin' for a while 7 months and I can get to beat some heavy songs, I dunno how to beat some of the easy slow songs. I can get to beat almost everything on standard, on ddr Max, I need to still finish Max 300 on standard with a C, but I beat on heavy like some songs like I'm for real, midnite blaze, and sandstorm.
I just need to finish the rest then I can start on freestyle what should I do?
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"Kaz bird? what the hell is a bird?" Dan said.
"Don't start with the nick names..." Bert said.
"So you going to fly away now?"

Flow wit it don't stop music as u go to.

dracokain · Trick Member Joined: 23 Feb 2003 Location: Texas

something that i am doing for myself that seems to be working is to play nonstop heavy all random songs...(extreme only)it makes you work harder and you play songs that you dont normally play because i notice that people like to get into a routine to play 5 or 10 diff songs and thats all...

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wallthehero · Trick Member Joined: 04 Feb 2003 Location: Atlanta GA

I started keeping a notebook and I listed all the songs from 7th mix in it and made sure I played them all at least once. That's a good way to improve your general abilities at the game (replace 7th with the mix of your choice), and it makes you feel more comfortable going into tournaments because you've at least been exposed to every song in the mix.
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Lotus-6 · Trick Member Joined: 23 Feb 2003 Location: Side-7

Aithne, I believe it has do mostly with age/music preferance. Younger people tend to progress faster than anyone over 22, just a trend I've noticed. I'm 16, I've been playing for exactly one week, and I can FC some 4-Footers, B most 5 footers pass some 6 footers, and pass one 7-footer already. I've listened to primarily techno, trance, and dance music all the time for years now, and I find the beat pretty easy to pick up on. I don't know, but I as well am trying to figure it out. I'm also 155 pounds, 5 feet 11 inches, and am a martial artist. Tell me about yourself, I wanna know as much as I can so i can draw better conclusions

kex_2k3 · Basic Member Joined: 11 Feb 2003 Location: UNKNOWN

i've only been playing for 12 days every weekend but iam only up to 5 step and even at that i barely or dont pass the level .i play with 2 of my friends and anybody who else doesent care like looking like the lord of the dance but iam still not getting better and i was wondering if anybody could helpme

how do u do dis

1. rightleftupdown downdownup leftrightdown going 190bpm's?[/img]
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fuzz

xKenshinx · Trick Member Joined: 05 Mar 2003

YATTA!

*1337-Ninja* · Basic Member Joined: 05 Mar 2003 Location: USA, CT

I'm having trouble going from standard to heavy, i'm especially having trouble with pressing out 1/8th notes and 1/18th notes. im not looking to A or AA stuff, i just want to be able to pass with a C on heavy songs. (i can d Abyss on heavy, but i get REAL screwed up after the gallop with those eigth notes)
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Trylan (Another) · Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2003 5:49 pm Post subject:

I can pass the majority of songs 1-9 foot difficulty, but the best i can do is an A on a precious few, B on a few more, and C and D on most. I also fail most fast songs like max 300, maxx, even on standard. I'm pretty good at reading at any speed too, seeing as how on dwi with the step timings set 15 ms down i can still AA most any song i have...

Anyone know what i can do to improve my technique?
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Dreaming Xenon · Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2003 7:30 pm Post subject:

What I want to know is what techniques u guys do to nail AAA's. I want to inprove my PA, which is stuck somewhere in the early90% late 80% area for most maniac songs.

Graham · Trick Member Joined: 05 Nov 2002 Location: Alameda, CA

Well I'm by far an "expert" but I think I'm qualified now to share my techniques for getting better at DDR. I've been playing for about 5 months now and I can AA 9 foot songs now. I got better through mad amounts of practice. I played 3 hours a day almost every day for the last 5 months. I started running too to build my stamina level, this isn't necessary unless you want to have an easy time on songs like Afronova, Healing Vision and be able to beat the Max songs.

When I say beat the Max songs I mean actually beat them without playing for over a year. I'm about to beat Max Unlimited and Max 300 I'm so close to doing it, had I started my running earlier I'd have beaten them a month ago I think.

Play stepmania a lot to learn songs. You don't always have the energy to play Paranoia rebirth 5 times in a row or So deep 15 timesin a row, but with stepmania you can learn to read them easily.

Summary:
Run to gain stamina and foot speed.
Play a lot.
Play a lot of stepmania on 1x and with speed modifiers too for PA practice.

Graham
P.S. I am mid 20s and I haven't done any exercise activities in the last 10 years before playing DDR. So Age and health isn't an issue in getting good, it helps you get good faster but there is no limit dont let people tell you you're too old.