Pi in the Sky

Most Difficult DDR Songs

Publicado el 18 de Julio, 2007 a las 9:34am por Pi.
Categorías: Juegos.

Since it seems that I’ve stopped playing DDR for a bit, and I’m not reaching the first million of steps in Dance With Intensity on this 2007 iteration (I started in February), I’m already making this list of the most difficult songs in Dance Dance Revolution games. Note that I play with the keyboard, so it is different in nature compared to a list of most difficult songs played with feet; although most of the really hard songs should be the same.

I use the DDRUK.com bumper packs, slightly distilled and merged. I only play with 939 different songs, where either the maniac or smaniac steps (heavy or challenge difficulties) are different, or where the song mix is different (even if steps are the same).I included Bantu’s Originals, because they are probably the best original steps I’ve found. I don’t play Edit data or mission modes, nor the GameBoy versions, so from the 2000-some songs of the bumper packs, I got down to these 939 songs.

Over these almost five months playing, some days a lot, and other times a week without touching DWI, I’ve made about one thousand full combos in maniac and smaniac modes from these songs. However, there are 39 songs where I’ve not made full combo yet. Since playing with keyboard doesn’t allow freestyling, playing with keyboard is always a Perfect Attack. My target was making all maniac and smaniac full combos except 64 songs (the size of the Player’s Best list), but one last pass throught the not yet done list left the mark at 39.

I’ve made all the songs from the weaker mixes, so there aren’t any songs from 1st Mix to 5th Mix, nor Tokimeki/Oha/Disney, nor Euromix (almost). Note that I did full combo on many of these songs the first time I played with DWI (althought it took me a looooooong time), just that I’ve not repeated the achievement yet.

Take into account that I used some tech jargon; if you don’t understand something, you need to read more about DDR.

Special Cases

First of all, there are three special cases. The two first are wrong steps. Uh La La La, from Dancing Stage 1.5, has a triple step. That means you need to step on three arrows at the same time. I’ve seen this error since I started playing DWI.

The challenge steps of Skulk, from DDR Ultramix 2, also contain a triple step, although a bit different. You need to hit a double (two arrows at the same time) while you are making a freeze on a third arrow. Since you can leave a freeze and not fail it if you’re back in less than 1/8th of a beat, theorically this can be done; and I’m not sure if the steps are wrong. But I think they are and this is basically impossible. The song is still very hard without that handicap.

The third special case is the challenge mode of Last Message, from DDR 8th Mix Extreme. While they seem to be the right steps, they’re awfully hard and strange. You spend half of the song staring at the empty screen, and then you get a stream of single and double 8ths. After it, you get like 100 left arrows on a row, and that’s all. I barely survive the 8th stream once out of ten times… Sure these steps are special, but I think they’re plain absurd.

Coming from special mixes

From Dancing Stage featuring Dreams Come True, I have four songs with really hard challenge steps: Nante Koi Shitandaro, It’s So Delicious, Go On, Baby! and Opening Theme (The Monster Is Coming). The first three are slow songs with lots of 8th action; special mention to It’s So Delicious for having also heavy steps with a really hard 8th combination. Opening Theme is a fast song with some quirky steps. I did all these full combos years ago, so they are doable - but they are really hard. Go On is one of the hardest 9 feet songs IMHO.

From Bantu Originals, I have three songs. The challenge steps of Baby Baby are very hard, with lots of 8th triplets. Doop is similar, although if you get the rhythm, it’s easier than Baby Baby. Finally, Freak is a ten-footer at 292bpm, only having challenge steps, and really hard. Some of the streams at those speeds are on the verge of improbability. I think I could do the other two, but Freak is as hard as Max300, for example (although I’ve not put it in the hardest category, it should be).

The ‘possible with practice’ songs

There are a few songs I consider that I could do just with some more tries and practice. They just need more tries and practice than the other 900 songs I’ve played. No song here has 10 feet.

Yozora No Muko (Thieve in the Night) from DDR 6th Mix Max is one of those fairly easy songs with one or two sections extremely difficult. The first 8th stream is very hard with fingers.

Secret Rendez-Vous from DDR 7th Mix Max2 has had new challenge steps added recently, and it’s quite hard. I’m not very good with slow songs, and these steps are really hard, with double-single 8th combinations. Drop Out (From Nonstop Megamix), also from 7th mix, has a long 8th stream at 130bmp. Not impossible, but requires many tries. The hard parts of Flow (Jammin’ Ragga Mix) from DDR Supernova PSX are similar to the challenge steps of Rendez-Vous, but with speed changes to make things funnier.

Fly Away (Mix Del Matador) from Supernova PSX and the challenge steps of Un Deux Trois from Dancing Stage Fusion have some resemblance. Both are fast songs with some 8th double-single action which makes them need some more practice to get them.

The ‘possible with too much practice’ songs

These songs, while not impossible, are extremely difficult. Depending on your playing skills, you might agree with their inclusion here or you might think they belong to a harder category.

So Deep (Perfect Sphere Remix) from 6th Mix had the dubious fame of being the hardest of the 9 feet songs. It’s certainly very hard: a long stream of 8ths, without any rest. Sakura from Extreme is on the other side: often called the easiest of the ten feet songs (well, the ‘real’ ten feet songs, should we remember Disney’s). Actually Sakura is doable once you get the hang of it, but it has some combinations which make me always fail the full combo. Cartoon Heroes also from Extreme is a 9 feet song with very hard steps. I did it once, so I can do it again.

Mad Blast, specifically the version in DDR Festival, is a ten-footer, but I think it’s just slightly harder than the version in Ultramix. I would only give it 9 feet actually.

The DDR Ultramix versions have plenty of really hard songs. They are Giudecca (the challenge steps are unrated, but they could easily be ten feet), In My Eyes (Midihead Remix), Ready Steady Go, e-Motion Romantic Style, and Love Me Do (The Acolyte’s Remix) are exceptionally hard, although doable. All of them feature lots of 8th combinations or long streams, with some evil gallops and high speed.

The real ten footers

All the following songs are ten footers, and they are IMHO the hardest songs in the games. Not only because they’re labeled with ten feet, but because they’re truly a challenge even for expert players. Most of them are really fast songs, mostly at or over 300bpm. First, there’s a subcategory of ‘really really hard, but somehow possible’:

• Max300 from 6th Mix
• Maxx Unlimited from 7th Mix
• Paranoia Survivor from Extreme
• The Legend of Max from Extreme
• Paranoia Respect from DDR Party Collection
• Outer Limits from DDR Festival

Max300 was the first 300bpm song, and a classic. I was once very close to the full combo. Unlimited is very hard, but I’ve played it so many times that I think I can do it in one or two years more of practice. Same goes for Legend of Max and Paranoia Survivor. The two last songs are relatively new to me, but I think they are within the realms of my possibilities.

Now these are the seven capital DDR sins:

• Bag from Extreme
• Paranoia Survivor Max from Extreme
• Max. (Period) from Extreme
• Trim from Supernova PSX
• G2 from Ultramix
• Outer Limits from Ultramix
• Max 300 (Super-Max-Me Mix) from Ultramix

Bag is a 65bpm song made entirely of 1/24th steps. The real difficulty is not playing it, but reading the screen at 1x. At 8x it’s perfectly doable, at 4x is hard, at 1x it’s impossible. On the other side, Paranoia Survivor Max is rated at 290bpm with many speed changes and long hard fast streams. Once rated the hardest DDR song, not only for its heavy steps, but for its challenge impossible steps. Although I know someone who said that his brother can do PSM challenge with fingers!

Max Period is a hard 300bpm song with a 600bpm ending which is doable but impossible to read. All in all, I think this song is harder than the heavy steps of PSM, and maybe harder than the challenge steps of PSM. Additionally, Max Period also has challenge steps… Impossible.

Trim is a new song, half of it is fairly hard but doable at 170bpm, but then it has a hard part like PSM but at 340bpm… Ugh. G2 is always at 170bpm, but it’s too dense for me.

Outer Limits (the steps from Ultramix) is a very fast very hard song with lots of freeze arrows which make it really difficult. I don’t know it enough yet to judge if it’s really impossible for me.

And finally, a very new song for me, the Super-Max-Me Mix of Max 300, with speed changes, freezes, double streams… I can’t even full-combo the standard steps, the heavy steps look impossible, and the challenge steps are a nightmare.

Conclusion

I’m not saying that these 39 songs are impossible, but I say that 900 other aren’t. These are maybe doable by an expert. But since my fingers are like a bunch of white morcillas…

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