# Ask the DDR Player **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 30, 2003, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-ddr-player/185274 "2003-06-30T02:49:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-ddr-player/185274/21 "2003-07-01T10:51:59Z")
holy crap that is a lot of questions, and I have to be to work in less than an hour. I’ll take care of these when I get home. ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_Holmes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a5b964/32.png) [@Mycroft\_Holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_Holmes)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-ddr-player/185274/22 "2003-07-01T14:33:37Z")
[hijack] You know when I read this title I thought DDR stood for ‘Deutsche Demokratische Republik’ (former East Germany), and I was hoping you were one of the players on the pitch when the DDR beat the ‘Bundesrepublik’ (former West Germany) in the first round of the 1974 World Cup. I guess I was wrong. 😃 [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Koffing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@Koffing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koffing)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-ddr-player/185274/23 "2003-07-01T17:02:27Z")
Okay, I have one. I detect a certain disdain from you regarding freestyling. Is it your opinion that freestyling is old or somehow lame? If so, why? ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-ddr-player/185274/24 "2003-07-01T20:33:34Z")
> [@](#): > > At about what level are you playing? Your comments seem to suggest that you play on Maniac. On the 1-9 foot rating, what’s the difficulty rating of the songs you usually play? Do you play them with random, stealth, or any of the other special settings? I usually play 9-foots, I’m working on beating some of the hardest ones, and I’ve beaten 2 10-foots, so far. Random - sometimes. I don’t really memorize the arrows anyways, but I can usually recall rhythms, which don’t change with random. Stealth - no. Never. Too much memorization. I suppose, however, that if I ever get bored enough I might try to memorize a song. Other: dark and boost are usually the only other 2 I ever play with. I use speed modifiers every once in a while, but I try not to use them to pass a song. I’ve only done that for one song. > [@](#): > > What’s the hardest song (in your opinion) that you can pass with a decent grade? hmm. Probably PARANOiA Rebirth maniac. That song used to be crazy hard, but I liked the steps/song, so I worked on it a lot. > [@](#): > > What’s your favorite song to play? Right now, probably either Saint Goes Marching or Rhythm and Police. I’ve never had a 4th mix anywhere near me, so I tried these songs and liked them a lot. > [@](#): > > Do you ever play easier songs/modes and try to freestyle? Any handslaps, knee-drops, etc? Not often. I can’t dance well enough and all of my handslaps/knee-drops are too isolated. If I get bored, I might do one or two just to be a smart-ass. > [@](#): > > What do you think of Pump It Up? Surprisingly, I don’t dislike it. It’s just different from ddr. I don’t like a lot of the music… so when I play, there are about 10 songs I choose from. I’m also not as good, having spent less than 20 dollars on it… but thankfully, some of my ph334fu1 DDR skillz did carry over to PIU. > [@](#): > > What’s your opinion of the freestylers they show on DDRfreak? Smooth or show-offs? Some of them are OK. Others are really neato. I just don’t like the routines that I’ve seen too often. (Grab bar. Turn around. Knee-drop.) or (Lift foot up way too high. Lift other foot up way too high. Repeat. ) I like it when people put a lot of effort into getting it just right, and it looks creative, like the 2 player backflip switch pads thing. That’s crazy. > [@](#): > > What mix do you usually play? Do you play competitively? I play the newest mix available to me at the time. I used to only have 3rd mix, then no mixes, then 7th mix, then 7th and 6th at the same time, then just 6th, then just 8th. I don’t know if the 7th machine works again, it’s at a different place, and I haven’t been there since the other one got 8th 🙂 Competitively, I’m trying to. We’ve only had one tournament here, which I missed… Someone told me it started at 5:30 pm, but it really started at noon :(. I don’t drive long distances to go to tournaments, though. > [@](#): > > Have you played Max300? Is it as insane as it looks? Yes. Not quite. I’m better at reading arrows than most people, but my endurance isn’t very good. I’ve gotten to the freeze arrow in the middle before failing before, I just run out of gas really quickly. I guess that’s what happens when you pack 555 steps into somewhere around a minute and a half of a song. :eek: > [@](#): > > As for spinning around in circles, check out Beethoven Virus on Pump It Up if you have access and haven’t already seen it. You have to spin around if you want to pass it. Already have. It’s actually my favorite PIU song. I never really had to turn around, though… I can do it withoug it :p, but yes the turning makes it easier. > [@](#): > > How good are you? What, in your opinion, is the hardest song you can pass, and the easiest one you cant. _Pass_, period? Probably either Sakura or… I don’t know. There are a lot of 9-foots that I can pass… Easiest one I can’t, wow, that’s a good question. Probably Exotic Ethnic. That song is just one big pivot. However, I haven’t played it in a while, and I have gotten better at pivots in the last few months. > [@](#): > > ]Do you play doubles, or just singles. Yes, but not as actively. (It costs twice as much lol) > [@](#): > > When did you start? What mix? Almost 3 years ago… but I haven’t been able to play constantly. There was about a 6 month period where our fair city didn’t have DDR. ☹ 2nd question: 3rd mix. > [@](#): > > What is your favorite song for just playing around on? Butterfly basic. Heh. > [@](#): > > Does it piss you off when songs (mostly newer ones) have those long pauses in them where the arrows stop moving so that there’s no way you could ever hit them unless you had the song already memorized, instead of actually having new or challenging features, in what is clearly a blatant grab for more money? Not really. There aren’t many new play mechanics they can invent. It’s just like the sudden tempo shifts… hard to sight read. > [@](#): > > At any rate, as for my question, do you play the non-dancing Bamani games, specifically the ones that require you to play pseudo-musical instruments (keyboard, drums, guitar)? Does your DDR experience, or any music-playing experience, translate to those games at all? AAH I want to really badly, but as far as I can tell, keyboardmania/drum (second word)/guitar freaks, etc aren’t even in my state. They look really interesting. > [@](#): > > And is or is not Classic Party some of the damn coolest music ever? Whoosh. Right over my head. > [@](#): > > What got you into it? Is there a subculture Like I answered above, I thought… whoa, that game looks cool. Subculture? I think so. But with the advent of the internet, there are places where people who are interested in many different things can gather. I don’t know if it would be considered a subculture though. Like you never hear anyone say “Have you heard about the new subculture dealing with answering random peoples’ questions and flaming people and having opinions, etc.? I hear they have a message board… they call it the SDMB…”. I guess you can call it what you like. > [@](#): > > What do you think of Pump it Up? I know a lot of DDR freaks who absolutely abhor the game, but frankly I think its jealousy because the console is overall superior (better sound, bigger speakers) and the arrow movements are much more natural feeling (diagonals with a center button). Yes the sound/speakers (bigger screen, too) are true… I learned to play on DDR, so I favor it more… I don’t know how much more natural PIU is… I don’t do much real dancing. Read above for more PIU opinions. > [@](#): > > Do you hold the bar when dancing? Do you consider it a ‘sissy’ thing? Personally I try on work on balancing myself to the point that I don’t need to hold on to anything. This applies to both games. No, I don’t. A ‘sissy’ thing? Probably not. It doesn’t look as good as doing it without, and I don’t like it when people use it throughout an entire song because they can’t pass it otherwise. However, I could see how grabbing it for a couple of measures could help you catch your balance and make or break your song. However, one of the best players in the world used it throughout an entire song to AAA (every single step perfectly) Max300 maniac… lets see… fish fish fish for a link… [Here it is.](http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~trspangl/files/aaroninjapan/yasu_max300_aaa_wholebody.mpg) > [@](#): > > You know when I read this title I thought DDR stood for ‘Deutsche Demokratische Republik’ (former East Germany), and I was hoping you were one of the players on the pitch when the DDR beat the ‘Bundesrepublik’ (former West Germany) in the first round of the 1974 World Cup. I guess I was wrong. Nein, leider nicht. 😛 > [@](#): > > Okay, I have one. I detect a certain disdain from you regarding freestyling. Is it your opinion that freestyling is old or somehow lame? If so, why? No. I thought the hand-slap/knee drop joke I made about (That’s so 3rd mix) etc. was funny. It’s just I haven’t really seen anything innovative in a while. ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-ddr-player/185274/25 "2003-07-02T01:03:36Z")
Do you play any non-dancing rhythm games? I gave up DDR after merely one game, because (1) I sucked and (2) I looked stupid. However, one day the arcade managed to get its hands on one of Korean mixes of Percussion Freaks (aka Drum Mania), and I was instantly hooked. I became even more jealous when I read on the internet about Guitar Freaks and Keyboard Freaks. Ever give those a shot? ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-ddr-player/185274/26 "2003-07-02T01:26:51Z")
Aw, you ignored my question. Next question: Have you ever considered playing Samba de Amigo _while_ playing DDR? I would bear the child of the person who can do that. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-ddr-player/185274/27 "2003-07-02T01:32:09Z")
**ElwoodCuse** : Read my above post. **Ino** : yes, I did ignore it. I guess I’ll humor you and say that I have indeed been mellow. I’ve never even seen a Samba de Amigo machine. The only music games we have here are DDR and PIU, if you can imagine that :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_Holmes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a5b964/32.png) [@Mycroft\_Holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_Holmes)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-ddr-player/185274/28 "2003-07-02T07:48:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by chaoticdonkey \* > \*\* > Nein, leider nicht. 😛 > \*\* What? Do you mean I wasn’t wrong and you actually did play for the DDR on that infamous night? I mean you people were bragging about the fact that you were the only team to beat Germany during that World Cup up until the very day the Wall came down. But then again, the actual winner of that World Cup should have been Holland anyway. **Coldfire** knows what I’m talking about, and if you’d like, he can explain why the Netherlands were the better team in a 60 page manifesto. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-ddr-player/185274/29 "2003-07-02T09:39:36Z")
No, the “leider nicht” was referring to the fact that I didn’t play on the DDR soccer team. i guess I should put a location on my profile… I’m in the USA, and I would have been about 3 when the wall fell. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-ddr-player/185274/30 "2003-07-03T03:52:49Z")
I’m guessing no one needs to know anything else about DDR. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-ddr-player/185274/31 "2003-07-03T17:13:17Z")
What’s so revolutionary about dance dance? The fact that there’s two "dance"s in it? ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-ddr-player/185274/32 "2003-07-03T18:42:58Z")
The title is actually taken from a previous japanese ruler, who when faced with revolters leading a revolution tried to say “dance revolution” to get them to dance instead, but they didn’t pay attention the first time he said “dance”. It came out something like “Dance, \ Dance revolution!”. There isn’t a comma in the font that “Dance Dance Revolution is printed in on the machine”. In short: nothing is revolutionary 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-ddr-player/185274.md?page=1)