improving at DDR?

i've been playing DDR of all versions for practically my entire life, even as a wee boy. but now, i never really get a chance to play much of it nowadays (i live in an apartment on the top floor, and the closest dave & busters is a drive away -- don't exactly have a driver's license or a car yet).

when i do play it though, i think i do...okay? i'm not the best.

in terms of difficulty, i like playing around 6s to 8s. the hardest thing i think i've ever passed was a 10 -- MAX. (period) BASIC. i admit, i do like playing boss songs, but i tend to play on the easier difficulties since i'm not that great.

my main pick of songs tends to be from 1st-EXTREME, if that remotely matters. a lot of the songs i seem to enjoy come from that entire slew of games, before it went to the more modern cabinets (AKA not using CDs -- pretty sure that was one of the main changes going to SuperNOVA).

so...how would i go about getting better at DDR? i know it's not just 'you play to get better' sort of deal, even though that is kinda what you have to do. i mean more what techniques should i do, things i should improve on, etc. etc.

for reference, here's what i usually do when playing:
- rainbow noteskin for mods, usually around 400-500 in speed for most songs (as in i set my speed mods to be around that)
- can't really do heel and toe so i just move all around the pad. i know that's really bad but i don't know how to practice it with no real way to @ home
- i always seem to hold onto the bar even on pretty easy songs. i don't know if that's bad, but i feel like it is and i should probably just no bar it
- i sorta jump when doing jumps. i'm pretty sure that's the equivalent of a sin at high skill levels

and...that's really all i have to say. any advice would be pretty nice. i could go on and on about other games i'd like to improve on, but personally, i'd like to improve on DDR more.

thanks for any assistance and advice. it's greatly appreciated.
(apologies if this is the wrong section for this -- this seemed like the right place since it was for BEMANI games)

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Well, Many people plays like you, even expert players. I think there is not technique, it's only practice to improve.

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Going about improving one's self in Dance Games is a rather long road. I've been fairly crap at Dance Games since I started but I think I can fill in what I can about Dance Games to be of some assistance.

In these examples, I will be referencing In The Groove/Stepmania a lot, since that's the dance game I am the most antiquated with right now.

Difficulty: I would say warm up by going a few difficulty meters down before you really start to push yourself in your session. For instance, if your peak difficulty is at level 14, play one to two level 11-12 songs before you start really amping up your sessions. You should decide to exceed your difficulty limit if you can consistently pass your max difficulty on any song with any BPM.

Song pick: I would say go with what you know for warmups (see difficulty) and challenge yourself to songs you have been meaning to pass but either barely fail or outright fail when going to push yourself in terms of difficulty.

Noteskin/Mods: Do what works for you. When I play ITG, I usually go for picking Metal or sometimes Cel for noteskins, but do what you think works. For speed mods, guesstimate it before you go in. Unless you're playing on Simply Love, (where it tells you how fast the notes will scroll) the game will usually never tell you how fast you will be going so take the given BPM and quickly figure out where you would want to be in terms of BPM. Or if you are playing ITG, you could use CMod (and get disqualified for ranking) which allows you to play at a constant BPM with no stops or Speed Changes. (I highly recommend this for higher-level ITG) There's also MMod but I have no idea how that works.

Technique: I can barely heel and toe myself but it's all a matter of foot control. Personally, I seem to have issue with one of my leg/foot being able to do small note streams fast and the other one lags behind in terms of speed. I would remedy this by doing drills that involve playing songs that have patterns like this if you need to: (numbers that equal direction on a keypad) 4 8 4 6 4 2 or 6 8 6 4 6 2

Bar usage is fine but I would try to no bar some easy stuff for warmup. (i.e. I would do this on Hustle Beach Hard) You don't need to do a full jump on jumps, and like I said, it's a matter of foot control of the most part. Also, PROTIP: Hit the left arrow with your right foot! (crossovers are fun, but sometimes are hard)

Other tips: Water. Drink a lot of it since hydration is important, especially when playing dance games. Do not overexert yourself when playing as well, and be sure to take frequent breaks. Bail if you need to, I would much rather not have an injury or faint while playing versus a lost credit. Practice as often as possible.


I would say it's a matter of both Technique and practice. Especially in ITG where having some skill sets within that game are necessary in order to move fast.

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You just need to find your way to learn

In this case just keep playing in your upper limit, play more 8s and some 9s, the difficulty number is just a reference, you could find a 7 harder than an 8, some times the level number is subjective.

For the set's of music just play the songs that you want or you like, I;m sure that you could find some on the AC versions the idea of the game is to have a good time. You could take one day with good time, and play a complete game in the difficulty that you are now, don;t worry if you don't clear all the songs, but you will meet some new arrow patterns and could find nice songs on the way.

About the details of playing, those items are from my personal experience:

-Higher speeds like 2x up to 3x are more related to ITG because the charts have more arrows and they are sometime difficult to see, like playing BAG at 1x. Also slower speed, could help you with the step timming. You could practice oni courses for example, is a good and hard way to train timming, but that will help you a lot.
-About the feet position, you need to practice a lot this for the hardest levels, charts that require speed and some scpecific patterns would be hard if you don't have the agility to react in time, again, play lower difficulties and when you have mastered the using of heel and toe and recognize how to step some arrow patterns you will increase a lot your experience.
-The bar can be used as help, it let's you to maintain stability and avoid an accident, if you feel that you need it, just use it. The main idea is to try to play without it, but is a process like everything, like with almost all the tings, if you wanna try to plat without the bar, play on lower difficulties first and later increment the difficulty when you feel fine to.
-And for the jumps is easy, just practice small jumps, try to do them small, they reduce a lot the stamina if you do exagerated jumps, to learn to jump and step in general terms, I have practiced a lot to try to make not sound, you will need a good pad for practicing, but is a nice technique, at least for me.

Summarizing all of this, learn to play on lower difficulties first, try to play at 1x, use the bar if you need to, use heel and toe, and the most important thing, enjoy it!

Hasn't been said before but the best way to improvement is to have fun and experiment. You can get technical and play this way or that way, bar or no bar, speed or 1x flat... but at the end of the day if your having fun, and playing here and there and going outside the comfort range once in awhile... you will improve at your own pace and at the end of the day your the one playing and you should enjoy something you do.

Worst thing you can do is to play the same subset of songs aiming for better timing... and timing is something that will naturally come so experiment with song choice. Find a song that sounds cool, pick roughly your difficulty level, and just give it a whirl. Best thing that could happen is "I love that song, and the chart is kidna hard but not making me panic" Worst is you fail and lose a credit...

PS: First thing I did when I opened this page was did a word find for fun and it was only mentioned ONCE... and I was sad

Try not to think of relying on how to read certain speed mods (2x, 3x), but moreso trying to find a comfortable BPM range to read. For me, my preferred range is 550-600 BPM, so I adjust my speed mods for the songs and charts I play to get that sweet spot. It's kinda hard to do that with older DDR mixes, but with A, it's easy peasy.

When it comes to song choices, my dude, broaden your horizons. Don't be afraid to play stuff that's out of your comfort zone, especially if you happen to play DDR A at some point. If you really want, I can come up with a list of charts I think you should try. Another thing you could also try to do is study on the X-Scale and make comparisons to the classic 1-10 scale, just so you know what you're dealing with.

One thing I cannot stress enough: work on your form. Look up videos of some of the best DDR/ITG players and study their posture and how they play. You have to find that balance where you can play more complex and/or stamina-draining charts while conserving energy and getting high scores. Keep your body straight, don't exert too much energy in each step, and keep focus. This also applies to going no-bar as well. (Don't even worry about using the bar on easy stuff, because I do that, too.)

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yeah, i guess that is true as well.


this is a lot of very useful information, thank you so much!


i bring a water bottle w/ my backpack every time I go to dave and buster's. thankfully, there's a water fountain at the barnes & noble next door that gives out really cool water from their water fountain lol
most of the time i do a session, break off for a bit and maybe play a couple other things, then wait until i can get a chance to play again. i wish i could practice often, but until i get a decent method of transportation i don't think that's gonna be possible


seems like this might be the way to go for difficulty. so pretty much, if i'm able to clear 8s at any BPM, but 9s aren't something completely proficient, i should warm up with 8s and then move onto 9s for 3rd & EXTRA STAGE?


my speed range is about 400-500 when it comes to pad. on keyboard i can read a lot faster, but i'm assuming it's because i have to use my feet instead of my fingers that makes my reaction time slow down a bit.


this is probably a good idea. my form kinda sucks ass and i feel like i step too hard at times. might have to check out people like CHRIS4LIFE and others and see how they do things.
(also thank god i'm not a weirdo)


trust me, i don't find DDR as just some kind of sport or anything. i actually love playing it, it's one of my favorite video games of all time! i especially love having fun playing with other people (when someone's not just playing one side), even if my skill level isn't the same as theirs. something just feels right about 'dancing' with other people, no matter how good you are.

the main reason i wanted to improve was so i could be able to burn more calories and lose more weight -- it's a decent exercise/workout for me, and losing weight is something i really wanna do. i tend to not like doing some other forms of workout, but DDR is fun and something i can do well since i know rhythm.

but trust me -- don't think i don't find DDR fun. DDR is as much fun as any other video game i've played. (that is to say very fun)

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I honestly think people fit into tiers in terms of how good they can get and unfortunately no matter how much you practice if you play an 18 and your legs don't work, you probably won't be a top player.

If anyone has ever played a fighting game and/or competitively play Pokemon with Smogon formats (OU, UU, etc), you'll know what I'm talking about. Yes, you can be a "Lucario" (base, not Mega). You can TRAIN to have the EVs to be a better Lucario. But you won't suddenly turn into a Mewtwo (also base, not Mega). Mewtwos and Rayquazas (Jeff LLoyd, Chris Chike) can play 18s all day long, for example.

The good news is that it's better you focus on having fun yet challenging yourself. I can PFC more 14s than 15s (I can probably PFC 3 or 4 15s and there're probably 20 of them), and I have to bust my behind to PFC them. I play 16s and 17s for stamina SO I can do better at 14s and 15s (and anything below). It's definitely a gateway workout for me and I get to hang out with friends.

I hope this helps you in some way.

Disclaimer: everything I said is of my opinion. Any unintentional insults are just that: unintentional, and I should not be ganged up and attacked.

As the usual answer is, practice.

But for a more in-depth answer on how to practice, it's to continue pushing yourself to play harder songs.

The only thing is that DDR is a unique game, because practicing does not only refer to getting better at reading harder charts or bettering your technique as most other rhythm games. This game also has a huge fitness factor. This is very important because harder charts requires higher levels of fitness to keep up with them, as the game require more effort on your body.

If you play on DDR A and have premium mode enabled, take advantage of it and don't be afraid to try harder charts in earlier stages, since you won't lose the rest of your turn in this case.

All in all, I think the best thing I can say is to push yourself more and try to get out of your comfort zone, and work on your fitness if you feel that may also be an issue. Though for me, the fitness came with it as I kept pushing myself to harder charts anyways.

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Don't be afraid of failing higher levels. You'll only succeed on higher-level stages by failing them first. Probably a dozen times on slight upper difficulties... but when you start hitting 16s and 17s, it's not uncommon to fail a chart 300 times or more before you finally get it down. 18s-19s are even WORSE.

Play 2-player games, and take turns being the "safety player" if you aren't on a machine that lets you fail without game over. The safety player plays on easier difficulties while the other player plays a level up from that, until they're consistent with their passes.

Don't try to FC hard stuff right away - there's a thing I used to use called "measured misses" - where I would deliberately drop a few steps from a chart that were particularly hard/jarring transitions, breaking up the bigger streams into more manageable chunks. Sure, I wouldn't be setting record scores like that - but it DID make me the first person at my arcade to no-bar charts like MAXX UNLIMITED and PSMO.

Clearly you have to be sparing with this during Extra Stage/Challenge Mode; but it worked for raw clears, and then after I could pass them consistently, I could work the transitions back in.

Acquire the soundtracks and just LISTEN to the songs a lot. This is really major - just knowing and understanding how the song sounds, analytically, will help your accuracy tremendously.

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No. This is wrong. Please do not play any charts 300 times. Yes, it can take a few tries to clear a chart, but if you're really struggling that much, maybe you're moving through the ranks too quickly and need to get some more practice at your currently skill level.

If you have an e-amuse pass, you can actually do this by yourself because you won't fail until the end of the third song. If you choose to do this with another player, don't do it too often, otherwise you'll be playing songs at too easy of a level a good part of the time.

I'd also recommend picking a chart you want to clear, and watching videos of the chart a few times and learning the chart before you try it. That way, you're more likely to do well and won't run into any surprises while playing.

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I agree with the above statement - it should never take 300 times to clear a chart. It may take that to AAA/PFC/MFC certain charts, but definitely not pass them.

In terms of improving at the game, I use a sort of scaffolding system like this for the more difficult songs (typically 17's and above): Play song using keyboard with CMOD > Play song using keyboard without CMOD > Play song on machine with CMOD > Play song on machine without CMOD. This helps tremendously with getting to know the songs in terms of utilizing your stamina, stop/starts/gimmicks and so forth.

C-MOD stands for cheat mod. Don't do it folks. If you use C-MOD to pass charts, it'll make you lazy, it's way easier to learn the gimmicks.

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DDR has songs with BPM ranges like 23-840. CMods are excusable in such a dumb game.

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Or you could utilize CMOD's to learn gimmicks, like I mentioned. I'm personally more successful approaching CMOD's as a learning mechanism, not as something to rely on. Playing a gimmicky song like CHAOS with CMOD's and then immediately playing it one or two times afterwards without them works really well for memorizing all of the shitty stops, for example.

Of course, this works best for me. Other people can and will learn differently. There's no 100% solid way of improving that works for everyone.

-Practice technique and posture. Literally anyone can get on a DDR pad and flair their legs to the notes, especially on heavy and hit notes if they try hard enough, but it amounts to nothing if you don't have good posture while playing so you don't hurt yourself (lower back). Learning and practicing different techniques is useful to help yourself flow around the pad more naturally instead of doublestepping patterns you would otherwise. Crossovers, Walks (LRDLUD), Footswitches (not always easy to identify in DDR, much moreso in ITG/community charts), half spins, ect. If you can remember even a couple of these, when you see them pop up in-game, you'll know what to do.

-Push yourself to improve, but remember your form. Everytime you play, try to do a little better each time, know what your limit is and try to get even the slightest bit beyond that. Don't throw technique out the window while doing this, if all you do to progress is flail to barely pass a song, are you genuinely making progress or are you cheating yourself? Works the same with general exercising, don't cheat yourself to get an extra rep, know your limit and work to push past it, but do it while keeping proper form.

-Stay cool. Don't worry if you find yourself hitting the wall at a certain level, say for example 12s -> 13s or 14s -> 15s. Time and practice along with patience will get you past that wall and as long as you keep working towards improving, you'll surprise yourself at how fast it can be accomplished.

-FITNESS GOALS. If you've got fitness goals, yeah I guess this is helpful for cardio purposes. You'll have to do quite a bit to burn calories, but it's certainly a viable option as far as fitness goes, especially if you do it regularly.

-Bar? Bar is there for support, and if it helps you play better, use it. It's certainly helpful for higher difficulties where maintaining a sense of stability becomes nigh impossible and you need that support to keep your technique and form going.

-Find a good BPM range. Everyone has different reaction speeds, some people can read 700 BPM like it's no problem, I struggle to read 600 BPM so I stick to about 500-550; Whatever you can read, adjust the BPM scroll so it fits what you are comfortable reading, and not the other way around.

-Play Everything. Don't be overly picky about song choice, dive in and see what each track has to offer.

-The Right Shoes. Something that doesn't grip the pad, your feet sit snug inside of. That's about it. Don't buy expensive shoes, cheap stuff is good, there is no "ultimate rhythm game shoe". I saw someone PFC Dynamite Rave in Crocs, are we all gonna wear Crocs at tourneys now?

-Memorization. Speaking as someone that genuinely cannot memorize charts, if you are able to do so, I highly recommend being proficient at memorizing stepcharts so you aren't wondering what comes next everytime you play something. Know what's coming, whether it's 300+ BPM or some sort of 150 BPM song that suddenly speeds up, but you remember this part and you know what foot to start with when the speedup ends.

-Stay hydrated. Like of course, duh, but you wouldn't believe how many people forget to bring water with them when they play DDR or ITG or whatever. It's a game, don't pass out while having fun. Oh, speaking of, one more thing.

-Have fun. It's a rhythm game with bright colours and cool music, enjoy yourself while you're playing it. There's no point in playing if you don't have a good time.



Just have fun and do the very best you can every time. Don't get flustered if you don't do as well as you did a previous session, there's ups and downs just like in life, keep at it and you'll see the results of hard work soon enough.

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Have you practiced patterns and chart "gimmicks" until you have a good grasp of them? Here's what I mean:

Back in the day I had trouble with crossovers. They were really a challenge for me and I would always do them improperly by double stepping with my Left or Right foot instead of "crossing over". This would cause me to not have the correct orientation to successfully hit the next series of arrows in the stream. To get better at this, I would load up DDR Max on my PS2 and play the practice mode and kept playing songs that had crossover sections for as many times as it took to "get it" and do the crossovers without stumbling.

This is just one example of dozens or perhaps hundreds of techniques that are critical to becoming a great DDR player. My advice is to take note of a song you struggle with and identify what element of that song is giving you trouble. Then go and train on that song (or other songs with similar elements) and get good at that.

The last thing I'll note is accuracy. I don't know how important accuracy is to you, but if you want to improve this, I recommend you play songs that are NOT at the upper limits of your ability to pass. Play songs you're comfortable with and really focus on how your foot is landing on the pad. You want to make sure your entire foot is landing on the arrow at the same time. I wrote a whole guide on how to do this. Feel free to check it out:
https://www.pnwbemani.net/articles/dance-game-techniques/flat-foot-technique/21

Anyways, I hope this helps. Good luck with your future progress.

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For myself, I usually play a specific hard song for quite a bit of time. I don't consider myself a technical player, but rather a person who enjoys playing the "hard" songs in DDR. To improve, I would say just play a lot, maybe for than 8 hours a week. I have a lot of stamina, so I can usually get away with playing 18s in a set (and failing, but its all in fun for me.)

I also am a distance runner, so I guess that is also why I have quite a bit of stamina. I think even playing with someone at, above or near your level helps. They can give you advice or having someone to play with is a nice feeling. (No one likes to play with me because I play all the hard songs )

Do you have any tips to get more stamina?
Maybe it's just playing a lot but I also saw that you run long distance.
Do you or anyone else have tips to help me get more stamina?

I find I am running low on stamina for a lot of the 16-17s.
I know I could beat them if I had more stamina.

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Well you could try playing them often. I usually play one song that I am struggling with maybe 10 times in a row. That will get your stamina up. It builds over time. Just like how you got to 16-17s. And I would day to have long sessions too (with a rest day in between). Proper water intake, etc.