The DDR Dictionary: Terms, acronyms and such.

We need one.

Any kind of term or acronym that you can think of that most people use to describe patterns, scores and such on DDR, post them here and I'll update this.

* = Credit to DDRFreak

Scoring Terms

FPC = Full Perfect Combo
PFC = Perfect Full Combo
SDG = Single Digit Greats
FC = Full Combo
Black Flag = 1 great, the rest are perfect or marvelous.

Common Song and Chart Abbreviations/Terms

Boss Song = Songs that make baby Jesus cry. Noted by their blood-red song name in the current mix, these songs are the hardest of the hard, forcing you to tap into all of your skills and stamina acquired as a player or die trying. They usually run at a clip of 270 BPM and higher.

Their beginner charts usually aren't anything to write home about (except FELM ) but their Basic charts make newbies cry, their Standard charts crush many a sophomoric player and their Expert charts kill. The ones that have Challenge charts should not be attempted by mere mortals lest you collapse in a seizure from the amount of arrows that pass by at a high rate of BPM.

Boss Song TL;DR version = The hardest songs DDR has to offer. usually feel like , feels like .
TL;DR = Too long, didn't read.

FELM = Fascination ~eternal love mix~
FAXX = Fascination MAXX
PSM = PARANOiA Survivor MAX
HDV = Healing D Vision
HVAM = Healing Vision ~Angelic Mix~
CH = Cartoon Heroes
CSFILSM = Can't Stop Falling in Love -Speed Mix-
PH = PARANOiA Hades
PR = Pluto Relinquish
SMMM = MAX 300 (Super-Max-Me-Mix)

FS = Final Stage
ES = Extra Stage
EES = Encore Extra Stage
OMES = One More Extra Stage a.k.a EES

O = Oni, known as Challenge nowadays and used in conjunction with song names (I.E FELMO, HDVO, PSMO)
H = Heavy, known as Expert nowadays and is used in conjunction with song names (I.E FAXXH, PSMH)

Foot Rating = The rating a song is given on a certain difficulty, ranging from 1-10; changed to 1-20 with the release of DDR X
Beginner = The easiest difficulty for guess who? Beginners. Usually contains around 100 notes; major exceptions are FELM and PH.
Basic = The next step up from beginner. Usually contains quarter note streams in succession. Nothing too hard.
Difficult = The next level from Basic. 8th note streams become common.
Expert = The difficulty that simulates true dancing and movement following the song's rhythm. Basically, anything goes.
Challenge = For "pros" only. Previous uses have been for remixes of songs or and easier difficulty for certain songs. Currently is used as a way to say "Stay the hell away from me or die" as these charts are usually much more difficult than their Expert counterparts.
*Footer = Short for "Foot Rating"
*Catastrophic/Cata = 9 footer chart
*Exorbitant = 8 footer
*Maniac = Expert
*Heavy = Expert
Light = Basic
Standard = Difficult

Step Pattern Terms

*Quarter Notes = 1/4 steps placed on the beat of the song. Most basic songs are composed entirely of quarter notes. Colored Red when Note skin is in place; Gold when Rainbow skin is in place.
*Eighth Notes = 1/8 steps placed exactly halfway between the beats of the song. Colored Blue when Note or Rainbow skin is in place
*Sixteenth Notes = 1/16 steps placed exactly halfway between 1/8 steps. Colored Yellow when Note skin is in place; Purple when Rainbow skin is in place
*32nd Notes = 1/32 steps placed exactly halfway between 1/16 steps. Colored Green when Note skin is in place; A different shade of purple is used when Rainbow skin is in place.
Triplets = 1/12, 1/24, or 1/48 steps. Colored Green when Note skin is in place; A different shade of Purple when Rainbow skin is in place.

Blue/Yellow/Green/Orange Note Syndrome = When a part of the chart's arrows are the same color when Note or Rainbow is in play, making it harder to read the arrows, occasionally caused by bad stops or the song's erratic rhythm. Or bad stepchart writers, but I digress.

BPM = Beats per minute. Shows how fast the song will be scrolling at.
Stops = Places where the chart movement's and rhythm stop for a moment.

*Groove Radar = A map measuring the elements of each song; Voltage, Stream, Chaos, Freeze, and Air.
*Voltage = Peak density of steps
*Air = Number of jumps in a song
*Stream = Overall density of steps
*Chaos = Irregularity of steps
*Freeze = Number of freeze steps; also refers to the step that requires the player to hold an arrow for some defined time.

L = Left
R = Right
D = Down
U = Up
Staircase = LUDR, RDUL, LDUR or RUDL
Jacks = 2 or more consecutive arrows that require you to step on the same panel (I.E. DD, RRR, UUUU)
*Crossover = A step pattern that requires you to turn your body in order to alternate feet (I.E. LDR, RUL,). Also refers to crossing between two pads during doubles play.
Pseudo Crossover = a step pattern that mimics a crossover in execution but doesn't require you to turn your body. (I.E URD, DLU)
Candle = see pseudo crossover
Death Run = A long stream of notes going at high speed filled with an assortment of crossovers, staircases, candles, and/or jumps usually at/near the end of a song
Trills = A stream of arrows requiring you to alternate feet on the same two panels (I.E DUDUDU, LRLRLRLRLR, ULULUL)
Jackhammer stream = See trills
Spins = Step patterns that force you to spin (I.E LDRU, RULD)
*Gallops = Any isolated pair of successive 16th notes and sounds like a horse "galloping" when hit properly. In faster songs, gallops are 8th notes instead.

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FPC= Fully Protected Carrier
FC= Foreign Currency
Candle= An early light bulb

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You mind giving us the the DDR definition of a candle?

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A candle is just ULD, DLU, URD, DRU, 3 steps, not four. What you listed for it is another form of staircase. You listed it as a pseudo crossover.

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FMC = Full MARVELOUS!! combo

I'll put some common song abbreviations in.

FAXX: Fascination MaxX
FELM/FELMO: Fascination MaxX -Eternal Love Mix-
"What do you really want?": See "FELM"
CSFILSM: Can't Stop Fallin' In Love -Speed Mix-
PSMO: Paranoia Survivor Max Oni


Cata/Catastrophic: Any pre-DDRX 9-footer
Oni course: Another name for challenge courses
SDG: Single Digit Greats
AAAA: Fictional rating for a full marvelous combo

Equivalent difficulty ratings:
Light/Easy/Basic
Trick/Standard/Difficult
Heavy/Maniac/Expert
Challenge/Oni

which one is correct? FPC or PFC ?

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Stepjump: A pattern where a step is followed by a jump (or vice versa) an 8th measure or smaller after.
Carpet Mode: Playing without using a pad, to get a feel for the chart without being graded.
S4R: Short for Sudden Shuffle Step Step Revolution. Playing a chart on Heavy with the Sudden and Shuffle mods turned on.
Matrix Walk: A move used in freestyling, in which the player holds the bar and practically 'runs' across the screen. Can lead to severe machine damage, so is frowned upon.

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DDR Freak Dictionary

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Since it was written in like... 2004 I think, many of the terms in the DDR Freak dictionary are outdated. For example, who uses the term "Bong Thomas", "Koshiru Shuffle", "S4R" or "Maniac" in current parlance?

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Sure, a good handful of the terms are outdated, but most are still in use. I mainly just linked just so people can pick out ones that are still being used.

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Thanks for the link. I'll fill in the gaps later.

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Apocalyptic: The new name of a 10-footer, originally Catastrophic+.
Also, can't PFC also mean "Previous Full Combo"?