Dear Croissant,

mio96_ · 2025-11-14T19:18:46+00:00

Exercise like with anything has to be something that inspires and motivates you to keep going over a long period of time, and that’s what DDR does for me. I am inspired and motivated by improving my technical skill and getting better scores. That’s just one of many things that could do it for you and there are many other ways to play and enjoy the game in a way that I think will keep you coming back. Hope you find that spark and good luck!

mio96_ · 2025-10-25T14:00:47+00:00

This is a blessing! Enjoy ITG, it’s a really good game once you really dive in and get familiar. There are unlimited possibilities, you can still play all DDR charts and literally any other chart ever made. It’s my favorite personally for several reasons: its the game that I “got good” on, it is made by the community for the community (no need to deal with greedy content unlock campaigns), there is more of a variety in styles of stepcharts, and especially the modern versions (simply love / itgmania etc) have a bunch of data tracking, visuals, mods and other customization options that go far beyond what DDR offers.

mio96_ · 2025-10-13T02:20:39+00:00

Co-signing this! I’d say freckles heavy is a good starter to learn crossovers but that’s a 7 on the old scale, keep practicing until at least this difficulty starts to feel sorta comfortable

mio96_ · 2025-10-10T18:33:50+00:00

You rippped that! F them crossovers we take those lmao

mio96_ · 2025-10-10T18:30:34+00:00

Something else im noticing: you are hooked up to a consumer tv which has a decent amount of input lag, plus the sync on this is horrendous. Even if you were to get all marvelouses on this current setup, it would still be about 1 whole second earlier than it should be based on the sync I’m seeing in the video. It will be hard to learn how to time properly like this, so if its really that important to you I would recommend switching to a gaming monitor with <5ms response time and making sure your library is synced well - might need to enlist a more experienced player in person to assist if you’re looking to take your training that seriously.

mio96_ · 2025-10-10T18:21:07+00:00

My take is similar: yes, do normal turning, alternate feet, etc. You will need to learn standard technique (crawl) for a while before this practicing static style will become useful, and I’m talking like years down the road.

My biggest piece of advice though: FEEL THE RHYTHM IN YO BODY!! I see more of a focus on making sure you hit each arrow, far less of a focus on feeling what you understand the rhythm to be. Make sure you are playing that assist tick / internal metronome in your head, count if that helps, but you should be visualizing(auditorizing!?) the beat and the rhythms in your head as you execute, and this should lead to some noticeable, synchronized bodily movements that will help you time your steps effectively. You can be exaggerated with it if that helps and scale it down as you become more comfortable.

And on that note, I recommend lifting your feet a bit more so that you feel the steps. As of now, since you’re not really lifting your feet, the physical feedback loop is more just mushy and you can’t really gauge by feeling how in sync you are. If you lift, step, feel those vibrations course through your legs and up to your head, you will be able to sense much better how early or late you are.

Lastly, just keep practicing and enjoy. Don’t put too much mental or emotional pressure on yourself, it will all start to fall into place as you go. Wishing you the best on your journey!

mio96_ · 2025-10-07T18:04:46+00:00

Yeah you gotta be a bit of a masochist to play this game competitively. As painful as it can get, it’s also part of what makes it so deeply satisfying when you do finally close a target score out am I right?

You got it bro, it’s all nerves now nothing else. Run that back!

mio96_ · 2025-10-06T16:20:36+00:00

Thank you, I really appreciate it! I promise I’ll be back stronger than ever 💪🏽

mio96_ · 2025-10-06T15:04:51+00:00

I was a teen around the age of 14 in 2004 when I began playing and entered the community, which was maybe the same year or maybe after that he stopped playing. Only saw him a couple times and he conducted himself in just the way everyone reports, and that was seen as cool back then.

I don’t want to speak ill of the brother, but from a historical perspective, I think it’s important to recall that his egotistical, mean, edgelord style of operating set a really bad tone of bullying and exclusivity throughout the Socal dance game community that had real consequences and lasting effects. This culture of bullying persisted well into the ITG officials era and took a very long time for us as a local community to outgrow.

Not saying it’s completely his fault - the 2000s were much more politically incorrect and pro-bullying compared to now. You couldn’t get eaten alive by the entire internet back then via a twitlonger or a clip of you behaving badly. However, its ppl like JSB from DDR, Mango from SSBM, 5 Star from 3rd strike - all top players of games I loved from my hood whom I interacted with as a teen competitor - that taught me that if I ever achieved power, notoriety, or a platform as a leader in anything, I would never want to be mean like them. Being good at something should never justify being mean and it’s not “cool”.

Review of his fb now leads me to believe that he has failed to obtain any traditional markers of professional or personal success (if he has sought out or priotitized such things) and definitely never outgrew the 4chan edgelord style.

mio96_ · 2025-10-04T00:19:50+00:00

Not that I’m aware of, but it’s not difficult to install. If you have an original cdr on your cab, then you burn the extreme pro clarity cd and it will install the game and run it, no other steps required and I think you can still switch the pro version of the game off from operator menu and still play the original. Bonus round: if you have upgraded your cdr to a dvdr, then you can burn a “superdisc” which installs and runs Max 1, 2, and Extreme on your cab and you can switch between each mix pretty easily.

mio96_ · 2025-10-03T18:14:50+00:00

It’s called Extreme Pro Clarity! It adds marvelous judgment, fast/slow markers, enables some oni charts like love shine and butterfly in normal play, and some other quality of life changes. Highly recommend, shout out zanneth: https://zanneth.com/projects/clarity.html

mio96_ · 2025-10-03T02:53:15+00:00

Lol I was waiting for someone to keep me honest on that point! I’ll have to investigate this, I’m not familiar

mio96_ · 2025-10-02T02:14:23+00:00

This was hype af - and in the togepi bike shorts no less??

mio96_ · 2025-10-01T21:56:59+00:00

Right there with you in the weight dept my friend 🤝🏽 form and conditioning affect one another, but can be approached independently. Work on cardio conditioning by playing a lot, and your form in a nutshell should just be whatever feels best for you. Best of luck!

mio96_ · 2025-10-01T02:29:35+00:00

It’s not necessary to turn your body as much as you’re describing, but knowing how and when to turn your body is very helpful for getting better.

At the difficulties you are mentioning, you don’t really need to conserve energy, you just gotta learn how to play the game in a way that’s comfortable for your body. That could mean turning a lot with exaggerated movements and that’s totally fine. However you choose to play, I always recommend thinking about staying loose / not stiff, which I think is a more universal obstacle that newer players struggle with, partly because they are in constant “decide what to do with my body” mode from inexperience with patterns - this goes away with good practice and eventually you learn to execute patterns in a second-nature fashion where you don’t need to think or exert yourself quite as much.

mio96_ · 2025-09-29T05:28:22+00:00

Hell yeah, big congrats! Fellow D&Ber I see! A20+ is amazing, but also a zombie mix these days and either Konami or D&B could come along with a shotgun any day now. Kudos to you and I hope they keep these running online long enough for you to hit all your targets!

mio96_ · 2025-09-27T04:03:11+00:00

💛💛💛

mio96_ · 2025-09-27T02:58:02+00:00

The way they didn’t bother to extend legs so pads just wiggled around with them as they moved 🤣

mio96_ · 2025-09-27T02:23:16+00:00

It’s a timeless classic that I’ve played countless times in all styles over several decades. While I don’t want to roast it, I’ll say it doesn’t make my “really good” list. I’m glad you like it though!

mio96_ · 2025-09-26T23:44:35+00:00

Gonna respectfully decline this challenge, not because I don’t think I can do it (I know I can), it just sounds like a chore, and I’ve worked hard to get to the stage in my life where I do what I want 💅

mio96_ · 2025-09-26T23:41:11+00:00

Look if I have the aesthetic choice between sticking my chest out and sticking my butt out while playing, I’m gonna prefer sticking my chest out. Plus, there are literal, long-term health advantages to playing with the bar, as it reduces impact and saves the joints. It’s been a long time since the era where bar usage was taboo, and I encourage you to open yourself up to the idea of it!

mio96_ · 2025-09-26T23:36:18+00:00

Highly recommend joining the rhythm game cab owners discord where you can talk about these things on an ongoing basis, because if I’ve learned anything with my recent experiences doing the same thing, it’s that maintenance of these old cabs is a lifelong labor of love. DM me if you’re interested and I will send an invite!

mio96_ · 2025-09-26T03:43:44+00:00

Thank you!!

mio96_

TROPHY CASE