Need some help with DDR

Hi. I've been playing DDR for about two months now and am at a crossroads where I find difficult to pass. Currently, I can get easy A's and AA's on 8 footers and maybe occasionally on 9 footers. I've been having problems trying to improve upon this level where I'm at. What would be some methods to better improve my performance on DDR? Oh, I've also been having problems with doing crossovers. I have a tendency to trip over attempting one. Thanks!

Eheh this remembers myself few years ago.

8feet -> 9feet was a little wall 9feet -> 10feet was >.<

First, few questions for you :

- Do you play at arcade or at home ?
- How many tokens/games in a week ?
- What are the 9' that you can pass ?

For crossovers, i learn a bit on Sync. It's repetitive and the easiest ones.
You can also try Air for exemple.

Also, more you play, more you will improve your skill.
Tried to play a lot of different song. Some easy, some hard.

After your answer i could maybe add some advices :p

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I was at this same spot only about a year ago! It's not easy going from 8's to 9's.

Here are some ideas that helped me progress:

>> I was fortunate enough that X AC was out for a little while before I hit this wall. A friend suggested that I use the X-ratings to choose songs instead of the SN2-and-earlier scale. X ratings are more fine-grained and tend to be better fit to the songs. Z-I-v has a list of new scale ratings here.
For example, if you can pass Two Months Off S- (8 old scale, 10 new scale), you might try 321STARS S- (8 old scale, 11 new scale) instead of, say, CaptivAte～誓い～ S- (8 old scale, 13 new scale).

>> I play no-bar - this helped me learn more complicated maneuvers, like crossovers, wrong foot start, and the Afronova walk. Most 9-footers use these patterns at least a couple times. Try not to doublestep, and see how far you can get purely alternating feet until you begin to face away from the screen (very few 9-footers make you turn entirely away). This is really tricky to get the hang of, but you'll blast through most 9's once you get a feel for it. Plus you'll gain more stamina and balance.

>> Lots of lower charts also have crossover patterns at much slower rates. I don't know enough to give recommendations, but practice a few of these to help you get the muscle memory down.

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Do you play on your toes, or is your playstyle more flat-footed? I found that I was stuck at your level until I switched to flat footing. It'll take some getting used to, but you'll definitely improve.

Find some songs that you're comfortable on, and try playing them while facing to the left or the right (starting with your right foot on up, and your left foot on down). It'll give you a better sense of where your feet are, at all times.

Once you get used to playing entire songs with your body turned to the side, and your torso twisted, you won't have to worry about ever tripping up, and weird things like Afronova and Arabbiatta will make more sense, once your "muscle memory" is used to the idea of contorting your body to the side.

As for crossovers, In The Heat Of The Night and Kick The Can are really fun and intuitive, if you have a means to play them. Which machines or home setup do you have access to?

Sound advice so far. The most important thing for 9/13-footers is stamina, so try a lot of the easier fast songs. Here are some good stamina builders:

Era (Nostalmix)
Synchronized Love (Red Monster Hyper Mix)
Paranoia MAX (Dirty Mix) - the last stream will be a pill, but it's the only really painful part of the song, and good practice.
Gentle Stress (Sensual Mix)
Healing Vision -Angelic Mix-
Holic
Trip Machine -Luv Mix-
There You'll Be
Boom Boom Dollar (K.O.G. G3 mix) - Some good crossover practice in that one as well.
Dive
Sana Mollette Ne Ente - I'm not fond of this version of the song, but it has some healthy long streams at a faster pace.
Afronova (from Nonstop Megamix) - the speed of the other two Afronovas without all of the crossovers and shorter streams.
Dragon Blade - This is a boon for getting used to speeds approaching the boss level.
Legend of MAX
The Least 100sec - Very tricky rhythms, beware.
Maximizer
GiriGili (Burning 24H!)
Mars War 3

I tried to list at least one from every PS1/PS2 mix, since I'm not sure exactly what DDR you play most.

Next, some of them have intense chaos. Some recommendations for that:
El Ritmo Tropical
Insertion
22Dunk
Electro-Tuned (The SubS Mix)
Ghosts
Can't Stop Falling In Love
AM-3P (AM East Mix)
Lovin' You (Rob Searle Club Mix)
Radical Faith
Do Me (H.I.G.E.O. Mix)
Infinite Prayer
Block Rockin' Beats
Brazillian Anthem
Tierra Buena
Baile La Samba
Angelus
Taj He Spitz (Tommy Sunshine's Brooklyn Fire Retouch)
Dance Celebration
Moonster
La Receta

As for crossovers, learning to recognize the patterns when you're in the heat of your dance is the challenge. I remember when I was learning them, I tripped over myself many a time because I realized at the last minute that I should be using crossovers. It's awkward at first, but once you get the hang of it, a whole new world will open up to you.

And lastly...practice, practice, practice.

@PanStyle

I play at both. More so at home than arcade though. I play maybe around 10 games a week at arcades, and way more at home. Some 9 foot songs that I can pass are

volcano
TSUGARU
TRIP MACHINE Survivor
TRIP MACHINE CLIMAX
The legend of MAX
TEARS
SO DEEP (but just barely)
桜
SAGA
PARANOiA -Respect-
PARANOiA Rebirth
ORION.78 (civilization mix)
ORION.78 (AMeuro-MIX)
Fascination ~eternal love mix~
Fascination MAXX

and a few more easy 9's... my memory isn't the best.

I have access to SuperNOVA, SuperNOVA2, and X for AC's. I have SuperNOVA, SuperNOVA2, X, X2, and Extreme for CS. I also have StepMania for the remaining songs that I don't have access too.

I've been practicing a bit... I don't stink as much as I do in exotic ethnic. Thanks for all the advice so far.

It seems that you can cleared a lot of stuff.
Also, you have acess to a lot of games (arcade and console) that's great, you will improve faster

Maybe you should try easy 10' or hard 9' (14' on new scale).
For exemple, PARANOiA survivor (this one is on all the stuff that you have acess). It was the first 10 that i could clear.

Also, if you want to bluid some stamina. Make some run with hard 9' only (13' on X).

I saw that you can clear PARANOiA Rebirth . This chart have a lot of crossovers, do you did it ?

On extreme, there is some hard 9.
Rythm' n police is hard and have a lot of crossovers.
Cartoon Heroes is one of the hardest 9' in the all ddr games.
On SN/SN2/X you can try V and N13 for exemple.

Also, you can try marathon/nonstop. But with at least songs who are 8' on old scale.
Doing 4 songs in a row with no rest, can help to build your stamina.

And more stamina you'll have, more easy will be the hard 9' and 10'.

Btw, you can post here too : The Official DDR Accomplishments Thread if you want to share your new good scores and other stuff.

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I have cleared PARANOiA Rebirth but it's far from any good score. I certainly hope I can tackle 10 footers very soon.

Oh PARANOiA Rebirth is annoying if you're not used to crossovers. If you're playing at home, play on practice mode and try to half memorise the crossover bit before the break. After that you should be able to read almost any crossover.

So try to clear it again. And other 9' like i said before.
More you'll be comfortable with 9', more you have chance to cleared 10' :p

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Can anyone recommend a song that has crossovers, but not double-stepping?

With a song like that, you could just plunge in at the deep end, knowing that every step will alternate between your left and right foot, and won't make you spin around or trip over.

Once you've played enough of the "safe" crossover patterns, you'll be able to tell instantly which patterns are safe, and which require you to double-step?

I think the end of Healing Vision (Angelic Mix) has crossovers and no spins/double-steps. The beginning definitely does have very obvious spins though, and there is that stop toward the end that you have to get used to as well.

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NOOOOOOOOOO Not that shitty Angelic Mix (sorry, i almost hate this one).

This have a LOT of double steps. The only part with real crossovers are the part... hmm how can i explain that... the part that you can hear on the select screen song.

Better try Sync . Easy crossovers.
Also, even on easy songs like Golden Sky, there is crossovers.
If you really don't know how to make any crossovers, i recomand to play Golden Sky with lower speed mod than usually and nobar.
Also, force you to hit every arrow with a different feet.

I learn a lot of crossovers while playing nobar. With bar, i tend too much to double step for preserve my Perfect attack.

A good think for learn nobar if you don't want to spent that many token at the arcade :
I do all my extra stage, nobar. Most of them are also random.

Serioulsy, nobar is a good way to learn some moves/paterns.

I think there is way better songs than Golden sky and Sync to learn crossovers (maybe sunkiss drop).
Paranoia Rebirth and Exotic ethnic are very good song with nice crossovers (but it's harder than the one i named before).

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Let me pick my brain a little here. Let's see, crossovers...

Wonderland (UKS Mix) - The song starts you with a 64-step-long, predictable crossover pattern, and at a relaxed pace. Also some good practice in the middle with shorter streams.
Sunkiss Drop - Fast and sometimes wild crossovers in this one, but very predictable.
Can't Stop Falling In Love (Speed Mix) - I believe there are several crossovers at the beginning and the end, also a very good stamina builder.
Ghetto Blasta Deluxe
Trip Machine Survivor - Practice this one, it has good crossovers, too.
Drop Out - A lot of the quarter notes can be done with crossovers. Of course, the hard parts of the song don't contain many of them. I would say that this is one of the best songs for getting your foot in the 10-foot door, because it gets you used to high voltage and rapidfire jumping, two elements you frequently find in the 10/15+ range..
Leading Cyber - It has a healthy dose of tough crossovers, and they're pretty much necessary for FCing the middle portion of the song with the crazy chaotic rhythm.
Sacred Oath
La Receta

For a real crossover challenge, you may want to try La Libertad. It's another good doorway song, but I'd say it's in a league with Cartoon Heroes in difficulty, so use your discretion.

Lastly, Rhythm And Police is probably your best training for Exotic Ethnic, as its crossovers are ALMOST as intense and at a slightly easier tempo...and once you're acing E.E., try Übertreffen, which takes crossovers yet a degree further than Exotic Ethnic. Once you're able to successfully crossover for those steps, you know you've arrived in that area, and you can start taking on songs like Paranoia Survivor, and maybe even Paranoia Survivor MAX...but, don't consider the latter until you can faithfully pass, preferably FC, its little brother.

I'd like to mention Brilliant 2U (OG) Oni, similar to Ubertreffen but at 170.

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Or...you can put Mirror on Paranoia Survivor and practice that.

We can't forget Afronova, there's a separate thread about that going on now. Or Boom Boom Dollar KOG G3 mix, on both (!) and .

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I'd echo the recommendation for Sync Heavy (lots of simple crossovers), and also try Rhythm & Police Heavy (helps with semi-quick gallops and crossovers), and eventually Exotic Ethnic when you feel ready (tons of crossovers).

B2U Orchestra Groove Oni has a lot of complex crossovers, so I would not recommend that yet in terms of trying to turn the whole thing (you can double-step it instead of doing the up-turns and down-turns).

In terms of scoring, just set some goals and shoot for 'em. Scoretrackers can help to mark your improvements, so that might be a help.

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Thanks for all this, guys. It's where I'm currently stuck as well.

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