In The Groove - Strategy Guide (Page 01)
Below are the cheat codes, hints and help for In The Groove - Strategy Guide (Page 01).
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In The Groove (PS2 Version)
A FAQ/Walkthrough by CyricZ
Version 1.1
E-mail cyricz42 at yahoo.com
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. FAQ
3. Basics
3A. Controls
3B. Menus/Displays
3C. How to Dance
3D. Modifiers
3E. Dancing Tips for the Beginner
3F. Dancing Tips for the Intermediate
3G. Dancing Tips for the Advanced
3H. Dancing Tips for Doubles
4. Default Songs (Part 1)
4A. Bend Your Mind
4B. BOOGIE DOWN
4C. BOUFF
4D. CHANGES
4E. Charlene
4F. CRAZY
4G. Da Roots (Folk Mix)
4H. DAWN
4I. DELIRIUM
4J. DISCONNECTED
4K. Do U Love Me
4L. DON'T PROMISE ME
4M. DREAMS OF PASSION
4N. DRIFTING AWAY
4O. Driving Force Classical
4P. EUPHORIA
4Q. Fly Away
4R. Fly With Me
4S. Flying High
4T. HAND OF TIME
4U. HARDCORE OF THE NORTH
4V. Hip Hop Jam
4W. HYBRID
4X. I think I like that sound...
4Y. I'll Get There Anyway
4Z. July
5. Default Songs (Part 2)
5A. Kagami
5B. Kiss Me Red
5C. Land of the Rising Sun
5D. Lemmings on the Run
5E. LET ME BE THE ONE
5F. LET MY LOVE GO BLIND
5G. MELLOW
5H. Mouth
5I. My Favourite Game
5J. MYTHOLOGY
5K. NO 1 NATION
5L. NORMAL
5M. NOT WORTH THE PAPER
5N. OASIS
5O. ON A DAY LIKE TODAY
5P. PA THEME SONG
5Q. Perfect
5R. QUEEN OF LIGHT
5S. REMEMBER DECEMBER
5T. ROM-eo & Juli8
5U. SOLINA
5V. Tension
5W. THE BEGINNING
5X. The Game
5Y. Torn
5Z. Touch Me
6. Default Songs (Part 3)
6A. Tough Enough
6B. Turn it On
6C. UTOPIA
6D. VerTex
6E. WALKING ON FIRE
6F. Which MC Was That?
6G. While Tha Rekkid Spinz
6H. WHY ME
6I. Zodiac
7. Unlockable Songs
7A. ANUBIS
7B. BUBBLE DANCER
7C. DISCONNECTED -HYPER MIX-
7D. DISCONNECTED -MOBIUS MIX-
7E. DJ PARTY
7F. DON'T PROMISE ME -HAPPINESS COMES MIX-
7G. FUNK FACTORY (from ITG2)
7H. incognito (from ITG2)
7I. Infection
7J. Liquid Moon
7K. PANDEMONIUM
7L. Tell
7M. TRIBAL STYLE (from ITG2)
7N. WAKE UP (from ITG2)
7O. Xuxa
8. Marathon Mode
9. Other Modes
9A. Fitness Mode
9B. Practice Mode
10. Secrets
11. Standard Guide Stuff
11A. Legal
11B. E-mail Guidelines
11C. Credits
11D. Version Updates
11E. The Final Word
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1. INTRODUCTION
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Hi! Welcome to my FAQ/Walkthrough for Roxor Games new hardcore dancing game:
In The Groove for the Playstation 2! Similar to Konami's famous Dance Dance
Revolution series, this dancing game uses the same kind of mechanics, brings
an entirely new list of songs into play, and extends the difficulty to
astronomical proportions.
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2. FAQ
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Q: What is In The Groove?
A: This is a new dancing game made by Texan company Roxor Games, published
by RedOctane.
Q: Isn't this just like Dance Dance Revolution?
A: Yeah, pretty much. A group of fans were sick of how the Dance Dance
Revolution series was put on indefinite hiatus in the arcades, and decided
to make a dancing game of their own along the same lines. The game was
developed around the existing DDR emulator for the PC called StepMania.
Q: Wow. This is an obvious rip-off. Can't Konami sue Roxor for this or
something?
A: Nope. Konami doesn't own the dance mechanics setup.
Q: But I heard about a lawsuit! What was it about?
A: The lawsuit was Konami suing Roxor because the arcade version of ITG
didn't have its own cabinet, so Roxor decided to use Konami's DDR cabinets,
without asking them. They were only burned on this recently. Anyway, the
lawsuit has yet to be resolved, but will probably end in settlement. At any
rate, the lawsuit has nothing to do with the console version of ITG, nor
the new arcade version, ITG2, which has its own cabinet.
Q: How many songs are in this game?
A: 76. 61 open by default, and 15 unlockable. The game has all 72 songs
from the arcade version of ITG, and four songs from the new ITG2.
Q: Hey! The lyrics you give don't match the lyrics in the game! What gives?
A: Several of the lyrics in certain songs were censored to keep the ESRB at
bay. I give you the original lyrics where I can.
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3. BASICS
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This covers most of the stuff you can find in the instruction booklet, but
we all know how often people hang onto those.
==============
3A. Controls =
==============
Directional Buttons: Moves your selection on all the menus or steps in that
direction.
X: Confirm selection
Triangle, Select: Cancel selection
Start: Start game
Start and Select at the same time: Hold to return to title screen
====================
3B. Menus/Displays =
====================
Main Menu
Dance Mode: Select for standard arcade-style ITG play. See "How To Dance"
for more info.
Battle Mode: This is a head-to-head mode for two players, or one player
versus the computer. In this mode, the better you do, the more modifiers
you'll unleash on your opponent.
Marathon Mode: In this mode, you select a course consisting of four or five
songs to play in a row. Some courses will also feature modifiers that get
thrown in during song play.
Fitness Mode: A fitness-oriented way to play. See Section 9A for more info.
Tutorial: This will start the Tutorial so you can learn how to play In The
Groove.
Practice Mode: This mode allows you play songs as you want without worry
of playing hard parts or failing. See Section 9B for more info.
Records: Use this to check your high scores on the songs and courses.
Options: Basic option stuff. Check below for more info.
---
Options Menu
Game Options:
Control Type: Select "Dance Pad" if you're using a dance pad controller,
or "Controller" if you're using a Dualshock controller.
Doubles Mode: If you set for "One Controller", then the L buttons will be
used for the right pad on Double Mode. If on "Two Controller", each
controller will operate as a normal controller.
Songs Per Play: Select the number of songs to play in a Dance Mode game,
from 1 to 8, or set EVENT for continuous play without returning to the
Main Menu.
Song Sort: Use this to change how the song list is setup when you start the
game. You can sort by Title, BPM, Popularity, Top Grade, Artist, Easy
Meter, Medium Meter, Hard Meter, or Expert Meter.
Default Difficulty: Set the difficulty that the game starts on when you
start the game.
Life Difficulty: The higher number you set here means how quickly the Life
Meter will deplete if you miss or hit a mine.
BG Brightness: Adjust the brightness of the background video.
Timing Sync: Adjust the timing if your speakers have any kind of delay
between the video.
Autosave:
Load Game: Load up an ITG file from your Memory Card.
Save Game: Save the game to your Memory Card.
Credits: View the game's credits.
Restore Defaults: Set the game back to the default options.
==================
3C. How to Dance =
==================
Pick The Step Mode
1 Player Mode: This is a 1-player mode using the pad you used to start the
game.
2 Player Mode: This is a 2-player mode where each player uses a pad.
Double Mode: This is a 1-player mode where the player uses both pads. Every
song has different steps for Double Mode than Single.
---
Pick A Tune
Use Left and Right to switch songs. Double tap Up or Down to change the
difficulty. Press X or Start to select.
Press Up, Down, Up, Down to bring up the Sort Menu, where you can change how
the song list is displayed.
While your selection's on a song, you'll see a little graphic for the name.
Below the picture, you'll see the artist name, the BPM for the song (which may
be dynamic), and the song's popularity. Below that will be the difficulty
set for the song. The higher the number, the harder the song is to play. In
the lower corners, you'll see stats for the song, including the current
difficulty, the number of steps, jumps, holds, mines, hands, and the best
record.
Difficulties:
Novice (NOV): All songs have a difficulty of 1. This is for those who've
never played a dance game before. However, I wouldn't play this for long if
you wish to get better.
Easy (ESY): Songs range from 2 to 6 in difficulty. This is pretty simple if
you're getting used to ITG.
Medium (MED): Most songs range from 4 to 8. Largely, you'll find that steps
reflect how the music goes, as opposed to just being on the beat.
Hard (HRD): Most songs range from 6 to 10. These are the tough ones where
they focus on two things: matching the song's notes exactly, and/or kicking
up the difficulty to give you pains.
Expert (EXP): Songs range from 9 to 13. Beyond Hard lies this mess. In
addition to massively difficult stepcharts, this difficulty also throws in
plenty of Hands and Mines, which fans of other dance games aren't very used
to.
Highlight RANDOM and the game will pick a song for you. You're not committed
to this song, mind you, but it's an option.
Pick CHANCE and the game will also pick a song for you, but you can't back
out on your choice. You can play songs you haven't yet unlocked through this.
Once you make your selection, you have the option of pressing START to
access the Modifiers, which are explained in the next section. Otherwise,
you'll continue right on to the song.
---
Get Your Groove On!
The main field consists of the arrows and the Targets, which is a line of
arrows on the screen. As the song plays, arrows will begin scrolling along
the screen. As the arrows reach the Targets, you need to step on those
arrows. If you see a long Hold Arrow, you need to step on that arrow and
hold it until the Hold Arrow ends (you don't need to remove your foot when
it ends, just stay on it until it ends, and move your foot at your leisure).
If two arrows appear at the same time, you need to step on both at the same
time. On some difficult tunes, you may have to step on three or four arrows
at the same time. For that, you'll need to use your hands, or potentially
some other appendage.
Also, on difficult songs, Mines may be thrown into the mix. Don't have
your foot on the arrow when mines come up or else your Life Meter will
decrease.
Above your Targets are the Percentage Score. The better you step, the
higher your score will be. Naturally, 100% is the maximum.
On the top of the screen is the Progress Bar, which fills as you go through
the song, so you know how much time you have left to finish it.
On the side of the screen is the Life Meter. It starts about half full. As
you step properly, it'll fill more. If you misstep or step on mines, your
Life Meter will start emptying. If it empties completely, the game will end
after you finish the song.
Also in the middle of the screen, you'll see words pop up as you step:
FANTASTIC: This is the perfectly exact step on the arrow. Combo continues,
the Life Meter increases, and you get the maximum possible score for that
step.
EXCELLENT: You stepped more or less precisely on the arrow. Combo continues,
the Life Meter increases, and you get a medium possible score for that
step.
GREAT: You just about stepped on the arrow. Combo continues, the Life Meter
increases, and you get a smaller possible score for the step.
DECENT: You're off on the step by a bit. Combo stops, but the dance meter
doesn't change. You get no score.
WAY OFF: You're off on the step by quite a bit. Combo stops, and your dance
meter decreases. You get no score.
MISS: You completely missed the step. Combo stops, and your dance meter
decreases. You get no score.
YEAH!: You stepped on the entire Hold Arrow. You get the normal maximum score
for a step.
BAD: You stepped off the Freeze Arrow before it ended. Combo continues, but
your Dance Meter will decrease. You get no points.
Also marked on the screen is your combo, which is how many FANTASTICS,
EXCELLENTS, and GREATS you have in a row. This combo carries across songs,
regardless of what mode you play.
---
Check Your Stats
Once you complete the song, you'll see a Stats screen giving you a letter
grade based on your Percentage Score. You'll also see your individual results
based on steps, jumps, holds, mines (scored for NOT hitting them), and hands.
Also, there's a chart that shows how your Life Meter looked throughout the
song. Your max combo for the song is marked in blue on that chart.
Each step is worth five points, and every hold is worth five extra points for
the hold part. The maximum score for each song is the total possible points.
Here's how each step breaks down:
FANTASTIC: +5
EXCELLENT: +4
GREAT: +2
DECENT: 0
WAY OFF: -6
MISS: -12
And for holds:
YEAH!: +5
BAD: 0
Each mine you hit docks you 6 points as well.
So, you'll be given a final percentage based on that point total, and given
a grade based on it. Here are the possible grades:
****: 100%
***: 99%
**: 98%
*: 96%
S+: 94%
S: 92%
S-: 89%
A+: 86%
A: 83%
A-: 80%
B+: 76%
B: 72%
B-: 68%
C+: 64%
C: 60%
C-: 55%
D: <55%
Thanks to ThunderBird for giving me these stats nice and quick-like.
At the end of your play, if you manage to average an S+ or better through all
the songs, you'll get a "bonus" ending, featuring pictures of the developers
and people who made the game possible.
===============
3D. Modifiers =
===============
One of ITG's main selling points over other dancing games is its vast
(and I mean VAST) set of arrow modifiers. Press START after you select your
song and you can access them.
Speed: Use this to adjust the speed of the arrows on-screen. Adjust this if
you need to speed up the arrows to space them out to be seen better. This
will not change the playback speed of the song, however.
x1 - Default scroll speed
x1.5 - 50% speed increase
x2 - Double speed
x2.5 - Speed boosted by 2.5 times
x3 - Triple speed
x4 - Quadruple speed
x5 - Quintuple speed
x6 - Sextuple speed
C# - These are speeds that set at a constant BPM#, and adjusts the song if
there are changes in tempo. Using these on a song that has BPM changes
or stops won't allow you to record high scores.
Perspective: This changes how the arrows come to the target in a 3D manner.
Overhead - Entirely 2D. The arrows start at the bottom and maintain the
same perspective. This is the default setting on DDR games.
Hallway - The default ITG perspective. Arrows start from some distance and
move up to the targets, as if you were tilted looking over the top of the
stepchart.
Distant - The perspective is tilted so that it's normal-sized at the bottom,
and further away at the top.
Incoming - The targets are a lot closer to the screen than at the bottom.
Space - The perspective is very low, starting big at the bottom, and quite
small at the top, like a Star Wars crawl.
Notes: This changes how your arrows look.
Metal - This is the default stylized ITG arrow.
Cell - This is a more solid-colored arrow without the extra lines in it.
Flat - These arrows are all the same color regardless of where they fall in
the rhythm.
Scroll: This changes how arrows scroll. Default has none turned on. You
can turn on any number you wish.
Reverse - Activating this will make the arrows all go from the top to the
bottom.
Split - Left and down arrows go up. Up and right arrows go down.
Alternate - Left and up arrows go up. Down and right arrows go down.
Cross - Left and right arrows go up. Up and down arrows go down.
Centered - The targets are placed in the center of the screen. How the
arrows move are based on which of the above mods you've selected.
Acceleration: Sudden speed changes while arrows move.
Accel - The arrows move faster as they approach the targets. Known as
"Boost" in DDR.
Decel - The arrows move slower as they approach the targets.
Wave - The arrows move in a constantly shifting pattern of speed, as if in
a wave.
Expand - The entire stepchart bounces around as if the speed mods were
constantly changing.
Boomerang - The arrows enter the screen from the side of the targets, pass
them, then "boomerang" back and go for the targets.
Effect: Other goofy effects.
Drift - The targets (and arrows) drift left and right as you play.
Dizzy - Arrows spin around individually as they scroll up.
Mini - Arrows are a lot smaller than they normally are.
Flip - Arrows and targets are flipped left to right. In other words, the
targets go right, up, down, left.
Tornado: Arrows travel up to the targets in a spiral pattern.
Float - The targets float up and down independent of each other.
Fade: Arrow visibility effects.
Fade In - Arrows appear only halfway up the screen. Also called "Sudden" in
DDR.
Fade Out - Arrows disappear halfway up the screen. Also called "Hidden" in
DDR.
Blink - Arrows appear and disappear as they scroll at various intervals.
Invisible - Arrows do not appear at all. Also called "Stealth" in DDR.
Handicap - Makes the song easier. With the exception of "Simple", using these
will not allow you to get high scores.
No Mines - All mines are removed.
No Holds - All holds will become normal arrows.
Simple - Removes all steps that aren't colored red (on the beat). Also known
as "Little" in DDR.
No Jumps - All jumps and hands are converted into single arrows.
No Hands - All hands are converted into jumps.
Turn: Adjusts the stepchart by changing arrows.
Mirror - Turns the stepchart 180 degrees. In other words, all ups are now
downs.
Left - Turns the stepchart 90 degrees to the left. In other words, all ups
are now lefts, and all lefts are downs.
Right - Turns the stepchart 90 degrees to the right. In other words, all ups
are now rights, and so on.
Random - All arrows of one type are changed to arrows of another type. For
instance, all ups can become downs, and all downs can become lefts. Also
known as "Shuffle" in DDR.
Blender - All individual arrows are given a new direction. For instance, one
up can become a down, but the next up could be a left.
Insert Steps: Adds arrows to the existing stepchart.
Stream - Adds eighth notes in between quarter notes, creating more streams.
Quick - Adds sixteenth notes in between eighth notes.
Skippy - Adds a sixteenth note before quarter notes, creating more gallops.
Echo - Adds an extra eighth note in the same direction after a quarter note,
making more taps. Will not allow you to recored high scores.
Wide - Adds random jumps, mostly of adjacent arrows (up and left, or up and
right).
Stomp - ALL non-hold steps will become jumps of up and down or left and
right.
Insert Other: Adds other effects to the stepchart. The first three will not
allow you to record high scores.
Planted - Converts some steps to holds, which will only require you to hold
one arrow at a time.
Floored - Converts some steps to holds, which will require you to hold up
to two arrows at a time.
Twister - Converts some steps to holds, which can require you to hold up to
three arrows at a time.
Hide: Removes some things from the screen.
Hide Targets - Removes the the targets from the screen, known as "Dark" in
DDR.
Hide Judgment - The combo counter and step judgment notifications are
removed.
Hide Background - The background video is blacked out.
Difficulty: Simply allows you another chance to change the difficulty.
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3E. Dancing Tips for the Beginner =
===================================
KEEP PRACTICING!
So, you've just got into ITG, eh? Good for you! You've made a good choice
in music games, and will probably sweat off a lot of pounds! This game will
probably seem quite overwhelming to you at first, especially if you watch
people play it and watch them do difficult songs. Don't sweat it. You CAN be
as good as them with the proper practice and effort.
If you really want to get into this, definitely use the a dance pad. There's
no PS2 controller to use in the arcades, so learn the pad nice and early.
Most game stores have a few of these tucked away (possibly more, if
RedOctane's hyping this game like they should). If you're truly a beginner,
you may just want to start with a nice cheap pad. That way, if you find it's
not for you, you're not out a huge investment.
So, to begin, use the Tutorial the game provides you. It will walk you
through the basics and coach you to be a better dancer.
Despite the Tutorial, here are some tips I can give you as a beginner:
1. Get a good feeling for the beat. People who have performed with music have
an advantage. People in marching band have a serious advantage. ~_^ You'll
be stepping to the beat in these early stages, so get used to it now.
2. Now that you have the beat, you must "find the arrows". Yeah, sure. I
know they're right there in front of you, to your sides, and behind you, but
can you hit them without looking? Early on, you'll find that's your biggest
problem: taking a step and not landing on the arrow. If you have to look,
look, but that tactic won't last forever, so before a song takes off, take
some cursory steps to make sure you're hitting arrows.
3. Keep your center. I KNOW the Tutorial tells you immediately to get off the
center, but this game was made by hardcore players who don't remember being
bad at the game. Especially on cheap pads with no definition, you'll find
yourself often taking leave of the center of the pad as you continue stepping.
If there's a break in the song, look down to make sure you're in the center.
4. Use the balls of your feet. You may notice, after some days of a lot of
playing, that your ankles will start hurting. That's normal, and it's
happened to most everyone I know that DDRs. This is your feet telling you to
not step with your heels, but with the front of the foot. Get into that
habit.
5. Now that you have these basics, play Novice Mode and start tackling songs.
In particular, get used to the speed of the songs, as well as the speeding-up,
slowing-down, and stopping some songs do. When that just gets too easy, take
a deep breath and head into the real ITG world with Easy Mode. Try to keep
your songs at difficulties of three or below, but don't be afraid to venture
out into the great unknown.
=======================================
3F. Dancing Tips for the Intermediate =
=======================================
KEEP PRACTICING!
Well, you're definitely not a n00b anymore (pardon my French). You're at the
point where you wouldn't completely humiliate yourself at the arcades, but
you probably won't impress many people there. In fact, you may just bore them
with your simple steps. It's time to go to the next level.
At this point in your career, it's time to consider a new pad. For me, this
meant going to redoctane.com and ordering their standard soft pad. This pad
has a soft bottom which won't slip or bunch up as much. It's still not a
serious pad, but you could do worse with fifty bucks.
So, first tip is to KNOW THE SONGS. You don't necessarily need to memorize
the steps, but have a basic understanding of the song before you go into it.
Even memorize the music itself, the lyrics, etc. so you can whistle along.
Know where the tempo changes may occur, where stops are. Most importantly,
know where the songs musical notes occur in the melody, because these will
be mostly what you step. Practice Mode can help you here, immensly.
Now that we're heading into dangerous territory, there is one big rule that
I have to stress right away:
Remember how in the last part I told you to "find your center"? Well, you've
found it by now, so now it's time to GET OFF IT. That's a crutch that's
let you into the game, but it will hold you back later on. What you have to
learn is to return your feet to the center as rarely as possible, if at all.
Move your feet from one arrow to the next, and don't move them unless you have
an arrow to go to. This is probably the hardest thing you'll ever have to
learn as an ITG player. Once you've relinquished your grip on the center, you
only stand to improve up to the highest reaches of ITG-dom.
This actually leads to the other major point of going intermediate:
Eighth notes. Those are those blue-colored ones. You'll have to deal with
a lot of them, so learn to love them now. This is actually a good first step
to leaving the center, because you are absolutely required to step three or
more arrows in succession, and you'll have no time to return to the center at
all. Use groups of three eighth notes to figure how to properly move between
arrows; combinations such as up-left-down, where your right foot goes on up,
left foot goes on left, and your right foot is already carrying back towards
the down arrow, for example. Once you get strings of three down, you'll be
ready to tackle longer strings, of four, five, seven, even nine if they're
not too tangly.
So, for this end, you'll want to go for songs of four to six in difficulty, as
well as treading into the yellow (ick) waters of Medium Mode. Just about all
songs of this difficulty have at least several eighth notes to give you
practice. Take these opportunities to develop your step combinations for
your own style, so you'll be ready to use them when they appear again in
harder songs.
Also, it may behoove you to get into Fitness Mode and repeatedly hammer some
songs, particularly those of a brisk pace. This is a good first step to
building up all-important stamina.
===================================
3G. Dancing Tips for the Advanced =
===================================
KEEP PRACTICING!
All right. You're through messing around, and through getting condescending
looks from your peers at the arcade. It's time to show them what you can
really do and kick it up a notch or three.
If you're really serious now, it's once again time for a new pad. Although
7, 8, and even some 9's are possible on a soft, flimsy pad, you just won't get
the high scores you cherish. For this, I turned to RedOctane's Ignition 3.0.
It's also a soft pad, but the thick foam insert, soft gripping bottom, and
raised step platforms make it a good pad for aspiring champions, all for a
paltry 100 clams.
Of course, if you have the money to blow (approximately $300), you may want
to take it even further and buy the Cobalt Flux pad, which is a custom-made
hard metal pad. It's VERY resilient, and much like pads you'll see in the
arcades.
Anyway, pads aside, it's time to get down to business:
First, you better have mastered the stuff from the previous sections. I want
to be able to yell out a song title and for you to hum it right there so you
know what it sounds like. I don't wanna see your feet touch that center,
soldier, or you'll drop and give me fifty. At this point, you should also
have quick enough eye-foot coordination so that matching arrows on the screen
with proper steps is second-nature.
Now, for some new tactics:
Chaos. You'll soon find as you reach the higher levels, that not all arrows
are quarter notes and eighth notes. You'll find sixteenths, twelfths, and
thirty-second notes thrown in to mess you up. Very rarely will they be in
random. Almost always, they'll match up with how the song goes, so you'll
at least have that going for you. So, a thorough knowledge of the songs will
allow you to surmount this hurdle with little difficulty.
Taps. This is the name I like to give eighth notes all on the same arrow.
These are always a pain, because you have to train your foot to tap rapidly on
the same arrow for a possibly long time, and it can really wear you out.
There's no easy way to get around this, you just have to learn it as you go.
Gallops. This is the popular name for a series of steps that has two
sixteenth note steps together, then two sixteen notes of dead space, then two
note steps together, and so on. When you step these notes, you'll feel like
a horse gallopping, which derives the name. Oftentimes, these notes will be
strung so that the last note in one gallop is the first note of the next
gallop. To properly step these, leave your last-stepping foot in place, so
it'll be ready to step the next gallop while your other foot moves to the
next note. This leads to the final tactic.
Axis of Rotation or "crossovers". Contrary to popular belief, you do not have
to have your upper body directly facing the screen at all times. A very
important tactic for the toughest songs is turning your body so that making
truly difficult steps becomes easier. Using alternating feet on long series'
of eighth notes is far less taxing than taking two or more eighth notes with
one foot. The best way to start turning your body is with left-down-right
eighth note combos. Left foot on the left arrow, right foot on the down, and
turn so that your left foot hits the right arrow. It'll be very disorienting
at first, but the hard songs will really take it out of you if you don't
learn. After learning a basic turn, learn to maintain your body at a 90
degree angle to the screen for extended periods of time, and then taking it
further by rotating 180 degrees, or even 270 and 360, if you're brave enough
to take your eyes off the screen.
Hands and Mines. If you've played DDR all your life, this will be
completely new to you, but don't panic. For Hands, just be ready to flex
your legs into a squat so you can get close enough. Mines, naturally, are
just a simple matter of keeping your eyes open for them, and being able to
launch yourself off the pad if need be.
Finally, it's important to be in relatively good shape for this. You have to
have the proper stamina and leg strength to pull off the toughest ones,
because rather dexterous and tiring feats will be required of you, so keep
pounding at it, do hard songs repeatedly to build up strength, and push
yourself harder and harder to go all the way up to the great red Heavy
Mode, then on to Expert, if you dare.
And lastly, never tackle double digit songs without a good insurance plan
backing you up. ^_^
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3H. Dancing Tips for Doubles =
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