Dance Dance Revolution Secret?

[Tempest]

Ok for all you DDR gurus out there, what's the secret to getting good at this game? I can do the first 5 songs or so (on DDR MAX), but once I get into the mid-range songs I start dying. I mostly get screwed up on those "air" moves that require a up/down or left/right combo. What's the secret to keeping up with the game? How do you react quick enough to the arrows?

Now for all who know me, I'm not a small guy. I go about 6' 2" and about 250 pounds, and I know I'm not the most cooridinated guy in the world (I'll never be doing heavy mode), but there has got to be something I'm not doing right. Is it all about practice? Any secrets that might help?

Tempest


Incidentally I did survive Rhythm and Police K.O.G G3 Mix somehow, but it wasn't pretty.... @_@

[Sylentwulf]

We gotta collaborate on the games we buy Tempest, seriously. Every damn post you make is exactly what I think. We both LIKED firday the 13th on the NES, Gitaroo Man and final fantasy 8 (among others I can't name off the top of my head) and we all have the same damn problems with other games.

At any rate, I didn't have MUCH of a problem with the up/down and left/right jumping moves, it's the up/left down/right, etc.. jumps that I couldn't ever get at ALL. Basically, practice makes perfect, and don't be afraid of looking like a moron or knocking everything in the house off of it's respective shelf from the floor shaking when you jump 2 feet in the air :)

[kevincure]

Number one tip: Don't jump.

I could only beat a few 8's when I played, but a few of my friends are knocking off Maxx Unlimited and songs like that. The secret is
a) The songs 9+ you need to memorize, more or less, the pattern
b) On any hard songs, you need to conserve energy, especially if you're a big dude. That means don't jump - go to the arcade and watch the better players, they slide their foot from arrow to arrow. It's relatively easy, but the timing takes a little bit of time to get right. Also, don't slam your foot down - just a tap will do, and it will make you much less tired.
c) Of course, you have to be on beat - it's absolutely critical to catch the beat and pick out which arrows are synthline and which are bassline on the harder songs. Below 5 stars, it's almost all on the bass or the 1/8 note opposite. After 5 stars, the arrows follow the synth a lot more, so you should listen and try to pick it out.
d) An easy way to catch the songs is to practice on one of the computer ddr simulators - it's a lot easier to hit the arrows on your keyboard, cuz you don't get tired, but it gets the synth ingrained in your head for when you hit the arcade.

Hope this helps,
kev

[WiseSalesman]

You don't have to memorize 9+ songs to pass them. I walked into the arcade the otherday and passed both Tsugaru and Stay, both nines, my first time ever seeing them.

In any case, I think the actual problem tempest is having mimics my first major roadblock in DDR. You've got it down where you can keep up and follow all the single arrows, but they throw a jump out and it confuses you, right? Unfortunately, the only real cure for that is practice. You have to just get used to seeing what it looks like and translating it into foot movement. Keep trying, and I'd be willing to bet that you'll be comprehending it sooner than you think. Also, while sliding does help, it's more of an advanced technique, and I'd hold off on it, if I were you, as trying to do it now could really screw you up (like it did to me). For the sorts of songs you're doing, jumping into the air shouldn't fatigue you enough for it to be a problem.

Oh, and don't give up on heavy. I thought I'd never do heavy, given that I'm even larger than you are, but I'm passing nines now, and almost passed a ten (sakura) the other day. So, now you have no excuse! LOL

[Kroogah]

Number one tip: Don't jump.

Um...no. I jump when I play and I've beaten about 2 dozen 9-foot songs....^^;

The secret to getting good is practice. Seriously. Of course you probably wanted a more detailed description...so here.

1) Use Lesson Mode. It helps a LOT with basic technique.

2) Try playing songs you don't think you can pass, like maybe a few 5-foot or even *gasp* 6-foot songs. Even if you fail you'll still get good at reading the arrows. You survived Rhythm & Police? More power to you! If you can't do the 6-foot Light songs yet, try some easier Standard songs first.

3) If you have an arcade with DDR near you (www.ddrfreak.com has a machine locator, by the way) go there and just watch people play. Try and pick up some of their techniques.

4) For diagonal jumps, Dynamite Rave basic on Konamix is the way to learn. I suppose Share My Love standard on DDRMAX would be good too. It took me a while to learn to read those....

5) To reiterate what Sylentwulf said, (perhaps this is the most important thing): Don't be afraid of looking stupid. Everybody looks stupid playing DDR (except for the people that actually work out entire freestyle routines to songs, and not all of those are good LOL )

One last thing: I'm 5' 11" 230 lbs. (used to be 260 before DDR, heh) and I can still pass stuff like exotic ethnic Heavy and Rhythm & Police Heavy. Which I never thought I could do. So hang in there. ^_^

[Kroogah]

Oh, and don't give up on heavy. I thought I'd never do heavy, given that I'm even larger than you are, but I'm passing nines now, and almost passed a ten (sakura) the other day. So, now you have no excuse! LOL

Damn, you beat me to it. ^_^ Sakura....I got to the gallops/machine gun steps and died on that. Passed Oni steps first try though....

[Tempest]

At any rate, I didn't have MUCH of a problem with the up/down and left/right jumping moves, it's the up/left down/right, etc.. jumps that I couldn't ever get at ALL

Yes those are evil. My problem is that I can get hose jumps, but then I can't react quick enough. I also seem to have trouble with rapid left and right rhythms because it makes me straddle the pad. I think my main problem is that I want to remain in the middle of the pad for everything and the demo mode shows that sometimes you have to stand off center to keep the pattern going.

Thanks for all the tips, I'll give them a try. I'm definetly stomping which isn't good, so I'll try and lighten up. Thank god I love Cutie Chaser because it looks like I'm not going very far past it and keep ing an A. I just tried Rugged Ash and it kicked my butt!

Tempest

[Kroogah]

I think my main problem is that I want to remain in the middle of the pad for everything

Bingo! One of the first hurdles that beginners have to jump!

[WiseSalesman]

Damn, you beat me to it. ^_^ Sakura....I got to the gallops/machine gun steps and died on that. Passed Oni steps first try though....

Likewise, I died not too far into the first slowdown, and I also passed challenge on the first try. One of the easiest nines I've ever done. Also, I guess I have passed a ten (I forgot), but given that it's Bag, and I did it on 3x, I don't think it really counts. I can do exotic ethnic, too, but r&p still kills me, not the rhythyms, but the chaos of the steps, and the fact that I just plain get tired.

[Sylentwulf]

NEVER return to the middle of the pad. (OK, not NEVER, but really, try your damnedest to not return your feet to the middle of the pad, do the lesson tutorial if you haven't yet, it teaches you how not to return to the middle.)

By returning to the middle of the pad you're losing an entire step on each foot that goes back to the middle. If you got some downtime (meaning 2-3 seconds) then go ahead and middle it, but other than that, if I remember correctly, you shouldn't ever return to the middle of the pad (I actually start in the left/right position, you never HAVE to hit the middle, so why memorize it?)

[davidbrit2]

There are two very major points of improvement to watch for:

1. You'll suddenly be able to read the arrows, and recognize what they mean, with fairly consistent accuracy.

2. After that, the spinal cord reflexes pretty much take over, and you don't really have to think too much about how and where to step. When you can do the 8th note run at the end of Paranoia Max without missing, you know you've hit this point.

[WiseSalesman]

Thank god I love Cutie Chaser because it looks like I'm not going very far past it and keep ing an A

You don't have to pass every song with an A, so if you restrict yourself only to song you can ace, it's going to be very hard to move on to more difficult songs. Just concentrate on passing songs, not necessarily getting an A.

[Anonymous]

As a very recent DDR initiate, the one thing I've found helps more than anything when just starting out is (surprise surprise) moving to the beat. This is the most important thing I've learned (second most important is don't force yourself to return to the middle). if you bop up and down to the beat, it's not only easier to move you feet physically, but it's more intuitive.
Another thing that helps is to try alternating your feet for every arrow. when I first started, I wound up always hitting up with my left foot and always hitting down with my right foot, and this is bad.
Finally, once you've gotten fairly good, try playing facing away from the TV and looking over your shoulders. This will help prevent you from associating the arrows with a particular direction/foot, and in the long run will allow you to hit the right arrow with your left foot, and vice versa. This becomes very important in the later stages when your right foot is busy holding the down/up pad and you need to hit right.

[kainemaxwell]

I just can't get the timing down yet. :(

[FlashStash]

I think my main problem is that I want to remain in the middle of the pad for everything and the demo mode shows that sometimes you have to stand off center to keep the pattern going.


Tempest

I see one person caught this, and this is the first thing I was looking for in your posts...

All of this advice is good, but the very FIRST THING you have to do (and I can't stress this enough) is get off the center! :-D

You need to be comfortable with stepping on an arrow and LEAVING your foot on that arrow. That's the only way you'll be able to keep up on the higher difficulty songs. By going back to the center, you're doing double work for every arrow (step to arrow, step back to center) rather then just stepping on an arrow and staying there.

FS

[RetroYoungen]

I'm pretty good if I do say so myself (I've almost gotten through MAX 300 a few times) and I've played my share of 8 and 9 footers. I don't think there are a whole lot of secrets to getting good, just learn the song and the beat, and you're pretty well off. Unless it's a song like either MAX or Tsuguru (that one screws me up sometimes...). :/