Attempting a Marathon World Record on DDR Extreme

What am I doing?

I am going to play DDR Extreme (Arcade) to attempt a marathon world record which hasn't been broken since 2007. The current record stands at 13 hours, 9 minutes, and 40 seconds, and my goal is to reach 16 hours.

Is this the same record attempted by someone in the community a few years ago?

To avoid confusion, this is not the same record that Daiz attempted a few years ago; he was attempting the Guinness world record for "Longest Videogame Marathon on a Dancing Game". The record I'm going for is officiated through Twin Galaxies and not Guinness. Twin Galaxies has different rules on the performance for this record as well as rules on the settings of the game hardware.

In the same spirit as Daiz did for his attempt, I will be planning to do a charity fundraiser while I attempt the record.

What are the rules?

The songs I play will all have to selected using "Random"; after each song, I have 20 seconds to start the next song. In the marathon I can only fail 3 songs, after which the marathon ends. Speed mods can only be used during play, so no solo, shuffle, sudden, etc. are allowed for songs. The difficulties I can play are as follow:

0-5 hours: (or higher)
5-10 hours: (or higher)
10+ hours: only

Five-minute breaks are allowed after each hour. I can choose to save breaks for use later; for example, if I had 3 breaks (15 min.) saved, then I could take 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or the whole amount if desired. The breaks cannot be used to continue the marathon if I have failed 3 songs.

The machine has to be set up with 5 stages, difficulty 4+ (normal or higher), and auto-fail ON.

When will it happen?

My planned date is to start on Friday, March 13, 2015. I will reveal the location later.

Can I watch it online?

I am planning to livestream it on my UStream account but still need permission from the location to use their internet. I will have to record it regardless of streaming for Twin Galaxies to verify the attempt.

Thanks for your interest, and I'd appreciate any training tips or ideas.

Details/rules of the run would be nice, maybe I could throw in a few tips or tricks based on that?

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The record is done by selecting all the songs using random. Only speed mods can be used on songs, so no hidden, solo, shuffle, etc. I can take advantage of the song previews to know what speed mods to use. After I've finished a song, I have 20 seconds to start the next song.

The rules say I can start by playing (or higher) for the first five hours, after that I can play or higher for the next five. After the 10th hour, I can only play .

There's a 5 minute break each hour, which I can choose to save up later. The maximum I can save up is 24 breaks (2 hours of break time).

EDIT: Forgot to mention; I can only fail 3 songs. After that, the marathon is over.

Don't worry too much about accuracy of the steps. Greats don't matter when you're playing for 24 hours.

Take advantage of those 20 seconds you have, as well as the break time(Which I'd recommend only using if you get a lot of difficult songs in succession).

Step lightly to conserve stamina, and don't be afraid to miss a few steps intentionally in a tough song if it'll help you keep going.

Hope that you get some momentum going into hour 10 where you're forced to play on Heavy, so that you can blitz through a good amount of songs.

As opposed to what many people will say, eat and drink EVERYTHING YOU CAN about an hour and a half before the run. You need a lot of energy if you're going to play DDR for a day nonstop.

The most important thing is actually practicing before the attempt. Practice the Max trilogy and also any tough nine-footers as getting those songs 18 hours in a marathon will be fucking draining.

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Staying conservative with my steps is going to be a tough one to handle. I often expend a lot of energy when I start exercising or playing DDR. I step toes first on the pad and never step with my heels, so that could be ideal for me to start practicing on.

You forgot the rule that it has to be done on an arcade machine so make sure both player pads work and that there is someone there to wipe up one of the pads so you can switch pads.

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Beverage containing electrolytes and one or more sets of dry clothes to change in to.

Sorry, I thought I made it clear that it would be done in the arcade.
I'll notify the vendor that maintains the machine in advance. I've contacted them before about the state of the machine and they did a good job with fixing it. One of the employees said that the location "rents" the machine, but I don't know if a tune up comes at the expense of the location.


Definitely taking advantage of different shirts.

Are they actually okay with you staying overnight? My arcade would never let me do that.

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It's at a bowling center that's open 24/7, so I should be okay. My only concern is if the owners think I could interfere with their arcade profits in some way.

Won't it be on event mode? I feel as if that's a must.

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I agree, try and make this into a fundraiser for something Daiz got the newspapers involved so it increased exposure for the venue and he raised donations for a cause.

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Possible yes from reading the rules, but it doesn't explicitly say Event Mode has to be on. Some of the machine settings include 5 songs (excluding extra stages), normal difficulty ( 4), and auto-fail is set to on.

Edit: No. You cannot fail in Event Mode, so the machine will have to be on Free Play.

Source: http://www.ddrfreak.com/library/contributor-article.php?postID=7818281 (Ctrl+F for "Event Mode")

The guiness world record for longest time on a DDR machine is currently 21 hours, 56 mins and 20 s set by Carrie Swidecki. Beat that and you could be in the book of world records. Good luck to you! Will be attempting this as well once im finished losing weight. Try to record it as well!

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I'm considering doing a charity fundraiser, but I'll get to that when I work closer with the owners. One possible charity I can think of donating to is the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, since my 5-year-old cousin is going through chemotherapy from leukemia at the moment; I would donate in her honor.


I am planning to livestream it via UStream; I have to record it anyway as proof to have the record verified.

FYI, the record Carrie holds (and Daiz attempted) is the Guinness record for "Longest Videogame Marathon on a Dance Video Game", so the record is for any dance video game. Since then she rebroke her record for about 24 hours on Dance Central 2, and last July she put 76 hours into Just Dance 4. The one I'm going for isn't as prestigious as her record, but Guinness and Twin Galaxies announced a partnership to where I could get a better hint of exposure (not much). It would be great to beat her record for DDR, but I have mad respect for Daiz who tried to break it at 40 hours.

I'd donate to that, also Daiz wasn't doing songs on random keep that in mind.

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So there's a rule that means failing one song will end the run? Harsh.

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See my edit in Post #3 of this thread, I already mentioned how many times I can fail a song.

I also updated my first post for newcomers to this thread

Are you going to find one of those Guinness people to sit and watch you play so it becomes legit?
Streaming doesn't mean anything to them.

I won't need to, even when Twin Galaxies has done verifications through referees in the past.

Twin Galaxies has overhauled their verification process to where it's basically peer review. I can stream then have it saved (along with other proof I have) for verification. Members vote on it and discuss whether it's a valid record or not. There are restrictions on who and how one can vote, so it's not as if someone can manipulate votes to accept or decline a record.

Figuring out the current rules is going to be the biggest obstacle since the referee who used to regulate the music games, Tim Stodden, is no longer working with them. I have already sent a PM to the head at Twin Galaxies to see about the rules and who will be in charge.