DDR X2 (AC) (International)

Mei laughs at this post.

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Hm, I like MEI Challenge so far from that video. It makes sense and yes, they're trying to make it an 18, but it's fairly reasonable and well-done as far as the 18s go. There's much worse for sure, and it fits the song well. I think it's a successful chart!

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I remember those days. =w=

I actually then remember being at the local 3rd Mix Korean v2 machine, and hearing how on DDR MAX 2 up the street at Mountasia, there were songs with 8th note runs at 300 BPM. I remember saying "okay, that's not even humanly possible, that's just retarded."

I mean Mei's Heavy chart was solid, suited the song, and was hard enough to be fun and challenging. I don't think they needed to make another, harder chart for it.

I'm a bit annoyed, because I thought Mei's heavy chart was perfect, and I was happy with that being the "primary" incarnation of Mei. The new chart looks silly, but as I said, I'll try it as soon as someone steps it.

I don't remember Afronova ever seeming impossible, because we'd already seen Drop Out, but that's another story. Mei Challenge doesn't seem impossible, either, it just looks excessively hard, and not very fun.

That final 16th run is JUST on the verge of sanity. There is no fucking way I will ever be able to do that one, ha.

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I mean actualli LIKE A REAL BGA ...no just part of the puppets choreography,

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while you're technically right about drop out preceding afronova, come on man. how many solo machines were REALLY around back then? a very small amount, most of us HADN'T seen drop out until 4th+, especially without the internet being as huge as it is now, no youtube, no videos everywhere. i dont remember seeing videos online until 6th mix, actually.

so yeah, afronova, paranoia rebirth, those songs seemed ridiculous back then. also, drop out is faster but significantly easier patterns than both of them.

edit- oh snap, a good 18! that chart is perfect.

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Edit: took back my statement of Drop Out not being out by the time 3rd mix was around. Either way, there are songs i can do today that 5 years go would of worn me out. People will continue to push the limits. At least the steps flow 8)

This is a huge derailing, so I hope nobody minds us arguing, while we wait for Met to get stepped ^^;


Sorry, I'm making a huge assumption, there. All of my local arcades had imported Solo cabinets ASAP, because they were cheap, and didn't require anywhere near the sort of space as a 2nd Mix. We didn't see DDR 3rd Mix on the west coast for weeks after it was out in Japan, and even then, we had no idea how to turn on Step Step Revolution mode, so the hardest song we'd seen in 3rd Mix was the Trick steps to Dead End.

By the time we had 3rd Mix machines, and the code to play Afronova on maniac, we'd already had weeks of playing Drop Out, and I think The Monster Is Coming was out as well, which I remember being much harder than Afronova.

I don't think DDR's difficulty curve was anywhere near as hard back then, as it is now. The only "holy fuck, we can't pass this" song I remember was Max 300, and that was because you had to read it at 450 BPM. Everyone seemed to get better at the same rate that the games got harder.

I can't imagine seeing Afronova Maniac without having played DDR at the time, though. That must be terrifying... But I don't think many Maniac players thought there was a huge jump from Paranoia KCET Maniac to Afronova Maniac?


I don't remember videos, either. I remember A-Team and Pumpstreet videos being around from 1999, but never videos that were just showing the steps on the screen. I think we got DWI just before DDRMAX, and Beatmania simulators with DDR skins just after 5th Mix (which had much easier songs than 4th Mix Plus), so DDRMAX was the first chance I remember being able to practice on a computer, before playing something in the arcade.


This isn't really about pushing the limits of difficulty for me. I agree that Boss Songs need to continually push the limit a little further, so that we always have a goal to chase after. That makes DDR really fun for me, and while I'm glad that I can reach some of those goals, I'm also happy that there are even harder songs off in the distance, like Pluto The First and Valkyrie Dimension, which I can't pass, and can push myself towards.

One of the most fun boss songs for me was Pluto Relinquish. It's a song which is written for DDR, and it's written to be HARD. Everything about the song and the steps is designed to create a unique challenge. You can't just step up and bullshit your way through it. You have to play it again, and again, and again, until you learn to play the slowdown, and understand how the streams work. You need to know which direction to face on certain streams, and which leg to put all of your weight on, in order to swivel into them.

I put hours and hours into trying to pass it at home on a mat, learning all the speed changes, and committing the death run at the end to muscle memory. I've still never passed it at home, but the moment I got a chance to play it on a Betson DDRX cabinet, I passed it on my first attempt, and felt like a million bucks. I'd sweated for it, and taught my body to do something that 99.9% of people cannot do. That was awesome. It really felt like I'd beaten the game. (albeit, a year later and on the wrong cabinet)

If Mei Challenge feels that good, I'll happily sing it's praises. It doesn't look that way, though, it just looks overcharted, and possibly easier than it's rating suggests. It just looks like an intense test of the skills you need in order to play the Heavy steps of the same song.

I haven't played it yet, though, so I don't know. I might love it, but my initial reaction is that I'm dissapointed that they seem to have tried to ring every ounce of difficulty out of it, instead of creating steps which were felt true to the song. (The Heavy chart, to me, felt perfectl for the song, and I can't see how they can improve it with difficulty.)

Well, this is the beauty of Challenge. It's an opportunity to have an extra challenge beyond Expert, it's not the "de facto" representation of MEI, nothing is (or, if there was, it would be its IIDX Another). And yes, being a transplant, it's meant for key smash, not arrow smash, but I feel it was executed well and it really does work with the song and doesn't invent crap that shouldn't be there. The ending stream is kind of a last-ditch attempt to crank it up, sure, but without it it would feel more like a 17.

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I know that you're a fan of BGAs and stuff, but look: BALLAD THE FEATHERS' BGA consist mostly of abstract imagery that isn't really that interesting to watch. The same could be said for Leaving..., FUCHINKAN CANDY and the crossovers that got their video at the background instead of being displayed at full screen.

However, going up, smooooch and She is my wife (to name some examples) are fun to watch, because their videos show more than just abstract imagery.
What's important in the end is that the videos are present.

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I love you! Thanks!

[youtube]FdLCMQ05biw&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL[/youtube]

Wait, Going Up is also changed to a Chinese version in Challenge? This will the Stepmania charter's nightmare...

An 18 that's not BS or full of gimmicks!? if I wanted to nit pick, I would say the jumps in the slow down don't fit. Other then that it's a great chart.

If the OST is close to coming out, then is X2 almost if not fully unlocked?

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I don't think Mei is a good chart at all. The difficulty is WAAAAAY too inconsistent, and the fact that it's a bit longer than a lot of previous 18s does not justify that.

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We're still missing Replicant songs, and Extra Stage as well, also, Vanessa and Zeta for full play too, and some other surprises of course would be appreciated!

With the number of actual 18s out there and the length of time we've been exposed to the 18/20-foot ratings, I don't think we can really justify what an 18 is or what they should be.

Edit: This actually looks like a fun 18 to do. I'd like to try it if/when we get X2 here in the west coast.

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Pie already posted my going up video on the other page. If you missed it check my channel or the other page.

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I wouldnt rate it an 18, its unbelievably easy compared to pluto relinquish + valkyrie dimension, infact if the last weird crossover wasnt included in the chart i would think rate it an easy 17 or so? I dont know my new scale ratings that well but if FAXX is a 17 (I think?) Then this definitely is because id rate this significantly easier than FAXX.

Charts not bad though at least they are trying to not make gimmicky boss songs now...

From what I saw of Mei , at least if you're using the bar, it is definitely NOT an 18. It doesn't come close to Valkyrie dimension or Pluto Relinquish .

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