BRACKET 1 - Public Review
BRACKET 1 - Public Review
All registered users (whether you entered or not) will be able to vote or judge the files based on choosing one of the 3 following options. No matter which option you chooise, you must equally evaluate all of the songs in a bracket to provide fairness. The reviews that take longer will grant more points to the files.
PR Option 1: Write a Complete Review of all songs in the bracket (assigning 25 points/song)
- Expert chart (10 points) Write a description of what you liked and disliked with the charts, explaining your score.
- Hardest non-Expert chart (10 points)
- Presentation (5 points) Write a description of what you liked and disliked with the artwork.
- Tilt / Preference (±1 point) for ANY reason, but you have to explain it.
NOTE: "Presentation" includes REQUIRED artwork as stated in these rules. Optional additions (videos, cd titles, etc) can only ADD to a score. You cannot take away points from a file because it didn't include enough extras compared to another file.
PR Option 2: Write a Partial Review of all songs in the bracket (15 points/song)
This is the same as above, but only for the EXPERT chart. This is NOT the "hardest" chart.
- Expert chart (10 points) Write a description of what you liked and disliked with the charts, explaining your score.
- Presentation (5 points) Write a description of what you liked and disliked with the artwork. (SEE NOTE ABOVE)
- Tilt / Preference (±1 point) for ANY reason, but you have to explain it.
PR Option 3: Approval Vote (5 points/song)
This is the quick route. You vote for as many songs from the bracket as you want.
Each vote = 5 points for each song you vote for.
CREATE ONE POST FOR YOUR BRACKET 1 PUBLIC REVIEW HERE.
[I make the rules around here]
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Re: BRACKET 1 - Public Review
some qualifiers:
- i play keyboard so i'm playing on feet in my head, but i will still assess for phrasing and overall interest [aka does it keep me playing]
- i will rate presentation 5/5 unless there's a particular reason to deduct points [the edit is too long, badly cut, or the graphics are bad/incongruous to the actual file. reasons will be given].
[edit: removed tilt for world coming down as it was not supposed to be there. apologies for the oversight]
HERE WE GO!
Up & Down 12 / 15
7 / 10 - Heavy
there are some neat rhythms here, that hold my attention, and i understand where you were going. on the flip side, this kinda feels like a hottest party 9 - where they just threw everything at a song to make it a 9-footer. i don't dislike it, it just feels harder than it needs to be.
5 / 05 - Presentation
0 / 01 - Tilt
Oops I Did It Again (Rise Team Euro) 15 / 15
9 / 10 - Heavy
very authentic, this feels "right", it doesn't follow every single note in the song and has a good balance of voltage and breathing room.
5 / 05 - Presentation
took my slow ass a second to understand the graphics - neat callback!
1 / 01 - Tilt
i like the BG videos chosen!
Be With You 10 / 15
6 / 10 - Heavy
considering the edit is over two minutes, i would have hoped the steps kept pace - unfortunately that wasn't the case, it just feels a little ho hum, like a dancing stage CS licence. there just wasn't a lot happening here, and it kind of suffered.
4 / 05 - Presentation
good graphics but a point comes off for the edit itself here.
0 / 01 - Tilt
Booty Me Down 12 / 15
7 / 10 - Heavy
i thought this was alright, the "light" production on the song doesn't lend itself to much diversity, but i was grateful for the 16th bursts to mix things up at times.
5 / 05 - Presentation
0 / 01 - Tilt
Fly On The Wings Of Love 13 / 15
8 / 10 - Heavy
i hate pan pipes so much. but this is a great file. the temptation is there to follow the song, but you mixed things up quite nicely, there were some fun rhythms - i enjoyed it!
5 / 05 - Presentation
0 / 01 - Tilt
Umbrella Beach 14 / 15
8 / 10 - Heavy
this is nice. just a nice file. the steps are fun, staying interesting, and the freeze use is just chef's kiss.
5 / 05 - Presentation
1 / 01 - Tilt
nice video usage.
World Coming Down 12 / 15
8 / 10 - Heavy
i normally don't like "boss" songs, BUT every pack needs one, and i thought this was pretty cool. i thought the use of rhythm was pretty cool, and it wasn't *crazy* hard. this is probably a 10 footer because of the BPM, and not the actual technical, which feels like a hard 9. i'm a keyboard player, and i can't play max/maxx/maxxxxxljnasd songs, but i could keep up with this.
3 / 05 - Presentation
the artwork is not it for me, i'm sorry - it's too simple.
0 / 01 - Tilt
Who The Hell Are You? 14 / 15
8 / 10 - Heavy
god this was the first cd single i ever bought. takes me back. ANYWAY, this was a fun file! i liked the phrasing, and good use of 16ths to add some variety. it's interesting but not difficult, which i would expect for a song like this.
5 / 05 - Presentation
1 / 01 - Tilt
music video is a vibe, i would also have accepted the ARIAs performance with the water glass!
BAAM 15 / 15
10 / 10 - Heavy
YES this was a longer edit than i expected but your steps were so good i am at peace with that. it's fun. it's just a really solid file with good rhythm, good phrasing, and a perfect song choice.
5 / 05 - Presentation
0 / 01 - Tilt
i would tilt for music video but this is 15/15 so no need
Hallucination XXX 13 / 15
8 / 10 - Heavy
this should have been a 10 footer for sure, the steps are quite technical and are definitely consistent with the song itself. it doesn't feel like you were milking every note out of the song...if that makes sense. i thought based off the song itself i wasn't going to like this file, but i enjoyed it well enough.
5 / 05 - Presentation
0 / 01 - Tilt
Mirror Prism 11 / 15
6 / 10 - Heavy
i definitely think given the lower energy of the song that there were way too many jumps. the freezes on their own were enough - i think it hurt in the long run, it feels like waka laka steps on put your faith in me.
5 / 05 - Presentation
0 / 01 - Tilt
Quake 14 / 15
8 / 10 - Heavy
okay this gave me so deep vibes at the start, but then morphed into something else with the tempo change. wasn't expexcting it...despite it being on the song select screen in black and white. decent rhythms, and the speed up was very nicely handled.
5 / 05 - Presentation
1 / 01 - Tilt
nice video.
Sunshine (Wippenberg Mix) 9 / 15
5 / 10 - Heavy
i feel like the steps suffer as a result of the longer edit. makes them unnecessarily complex, and it really impacted my enjoyment of this file...but they don't vary or mix up in the synth sections, and it just feels like the chaotic runs of twilight zone for like 2 minutes
4 / 05 - Presentation
the edit really tries to include too much - it could have done without the build up section altogether.
0 / 01 - Tilt
それは花火のような恋 15 / 15
9 / 10 - Heavy
this was really quite good, i enjoyed the whole thing - i really liked that you didn't lean on the vocals during the verses, which works way better on higher tempo songs!
5 / 05 - Presentation
1 / 01 - Tilt
i like the music video.
Count What You Have Now 12 / 15
6 / 10 - Heavy
this file felt like it got away from you at several points. the jump use feels at times perfect but also too gratuitous for a house song, as well as the 16ths.
5 / 05 - Presentation
1 / 01 - Tilt
i'm giving you one of these because the freeze usage was outstanding, extremely DDRMAX feeling.
Itsuko 14 / 15
9 / 10 - Heavy
what a barebones song - and you did really well keeping it interesting, building some very good patterns and alternating between streams, jumps and 16ths use.
5 / 05 - Presentation
0 / 01 - Tilt
- i play keyboard so i'm playing on feet in my head, but i will still assess for phrasing and overall interest [aka does it keep me playing]
- i will rate presentation 5/5 unless there's a particular reason to deduct points [the edit is too long, badly cut, or the graphics are bad/incongruous to the actual file. reasons will be given].
[edit: removed tilt for world coming down as it was not supposed to be there. apologies for the oversight]
HERE WE GO!
Up & Down 12 / 15
7 / 10 - Heavy
there are some neat rhythms here, that hold my attention, and i understand where you were going. on the flip side, this kinda feels like a hottest party 9 - where they just threw everything at a song to make it a 9-footer. i don't dislike it, it just feels harder than it needs to be.
5 / 05 - Presentation
0 / 01 - Tilt
Oops I Did It Again (Rise Team Euro) 15 / 15
9 / 10 - Heavy
very authentic, this feels "right", it doesn't follow every single note in the song and has a good balance of voltage and breathing room.
5 / 05 - Presentation
took my slow ass a second to understand the graphics - neat callback!
1 / 01 - Tilt
i like the BG videos chosen!
Be With You 10 / 15
6 / 10 - Heavy
considering the edit is over two minutes, i would have hoped the steps kept pace - unfortunately that wasn't the case, it just feels a little ho hum, like a dancing stage CS licence. there just wasn't a lot happening here, and it kind of suffered.
4 / 05 - Presentation
good graphics but a point comes off for the edit itself here.
0 / 01 - Tilt
Booty Me Down 12 / 15
7 / 10 - Heavy
i thought this was alright, the "light" production on the song doesn't lend itself to much diversity, but i was grateful for the 16th bursts to mix things up at times.
5 / 05 - Presentation
0 / 01 - Tilt
Fly On The Wings Of Love 13 / 15
8 / 10 - Heavy
i hate pan pipes so much. but this is a great file. the temptation is there to follow the song, but you mixed things up quite nicely, there were some fun rhythms - i enjoyed it!
5 / 05 - Presentation
0 / 01 - Tilt
Umbrella Beach 14 / 15
8 / 10 - Heavy
this is nice. just a nice file. the steps are fun, staying interesting, and the freeze use is just chef's kiss.
5 / 05 - Presentation
1 / 01 - Tilt
nice video usage.
World Coming Down 12 / 15
8 / 10 - Heavy
i normally don't like "boss" songs, BUT every pack needs one, and i thought this was pretty cool. i thought the use of rhythm was pretty cool, and it wasn't *crazy* hard. this is probably a 10 footer because of the BPM, and not the actual technical, which feels like a hard 9. i'm a keyboard player, and i can't play max/maxx/maxxxxxljnasd songs, but i could keep up with this.
3 / 05 - Presentation
the artwork is not it for me, i'm sorry - it's too simple.
0 / 01 - Tilt
Who The Hell Are You? 14 / 15
8 / 10 - Heavy
god this was the first cd single i ever bought. takes me back. ANYWAY, this was a fun file! i liked the phrasing, and good use of 16ths to add some variety. it's interesting but not difficult, which i would expect for a song like this.
5 / 05 - Presentation
1 / 01 - Tilt
music video is a vibe, i would also have accepted the ARIAs performance with the water glass!
BAAM 15 / 15
10 / 10 - Heavy
YES this was a longer edit than i expected but your steps were so good i am at peace with that. it's fun. it's just a really solid file with good rhythm, good phrasing, and a perfect song choice.
5 / 05 - Presentation
0 / 01 - Tilt
i would tilt for music video but this is 15/15 so no need
Hallucination XXX 13 / 15
8 / 10 - Heavy
this should have been a 10 footer for sure, the steps are quite technical and are definitely consistent with the song itself. it doesn't feel like you were milking every note out of the song...if that makes sense. i thought based off the song itself i wasn't going to like this file, but i enjoyed it well enough.
5 / 05 - Presentation
0 / 01 - Tilt
Mirror Prism 11 / 15
6 / 10 - Heavy
i definitely think given the lower energy of the song that there were way too many jumps. the freezes on their own were enough - i think it hurt in the long run, it feels like waka laka steps on put your faith in me.
5 / 05 - Presentation
0 / 01 - Tilt
Quake 14 / 15
8 / 10 - Heavy
okay this gave me so deep vibes at the start, but then morphed into something else with the tempo change. wasn't expexcting it...despite it being on the song select screen in black and white. decent rhythms, and the speed up was very nicely handled.
5 / 05 - Presentation
1 / 01 - Tilt
nice video.
Sunshine (Wippenberg Mix) 9 / 15
5 / 10 - Heavy
i feel like the steps suffer as a result of the longer edit. makes them unnecessarily complex, and it really impacted my enjoyment of this file...but they don't vary or mix up in the synth sections, and it just feels like the chaotic runs of twilight zone for like 2 minutes
4 / 05 - Presentation
the edit really tries to include too much - it could have done without the build up section altogether.
0 / 01 - Tilt
それは花火のような恋 15 / 15
9 / 10 - Heavy
this was really quite good, i enjoyed the whole thing - i really liked that you didn't lean on the vocals during the verses, which works way better on higher tempo songs!
5 / 05 - Presentation
1 / 01 - Tilt
i like the music video.
Count What You Have Now 12 / 15
6 / 10 - Heavy
this file felt like it got away from you at several points. the jump use feels at times perfect but also too gratuitous for a house song, as well as the 16ths.
5 / 05 - Presentation
1 / 01 - Tilt
i'm giving you one of these because the freeze usage was outstanding, extremely DDRMAX feeling.
Itsuko 14 / 15
9 / 10 - Heavy
what a barebones song - and you did really well keeping it interesting, building some very good patterns and alternating between streams, jumps and 16ths use.
5 / 05 - Presentation
0 / 01 - Tilt
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- Joined: Wed May 21, 2008 2:04 am
Re: BRACKET 1 - Public Review
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BAAM! [Chmurek]
Expert Steps: 10/10
I'm like one track into this pack and already I've stumbled upon a shining gem of a file. The song itself gives you plenty of options to work with, and you make the very best use of them. The placement? Impeccable. It feels momentous, yet structured; smooth, yet varied, with just the right number of crossovers, not to mention jackhammers fittingly utilized on the bam-bam-bams. The use of jumps punctuates all the right notes to break up the stream-focused approach. There are even a few cleverly inserted freeze arrows to keep the player engaged further. I cannot knock a single thing against this entire chart. Kudos!!!
Moderate Steps: 8/10
These are also technically very sound, however I wish they were a bit more challenging. Although you rated the chart 6 feet, it could honestly pass for a hard 4, as there are never any long streams of 8ths, placement is simple throughout, and the only use of air is isolated. All that said, the chart flows quite slickly and fits the track well. Special mention goes to the jumps, which accentuate some of the notes and break up the monotony. This could've been another easy 10/10 if more monentum had been built up, especially from the chorus onwards, and wasn't so conservative.
Presentation: 5/5
Loving the comic book theme to the graphics; the bevel is a little more intense than I would've gone for, but the artwork is still very pleasing. The video secures a perfect score here.
Tilt: +1
I personally care more about Expert than Moderate, and this file very much delivers where it counts.
Final Score: 24/25
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BE WITH YOU [Pie-Kun]
Expert Steps: 9/10
Considering this chart abstains from 16ths despite its slow tempo, the variety here is exceptional. Heavy use of freeze arrows and crossovers ensure the player is challenged by the placement throughout, while every phrase approaches the song differently while still transitioning from one another smoothly. I like that while the first 8 chorus measures are mostly karaoke, the latter half of the first chorus, plus the reprise at the end, use completely different patterns that still fit. I'd be hard-pressed to admit these steps floored me completely, but they definitely exhibit some real skill as a chart designer.
Moderate Steps: 9.5/10
This is simplicity done right. In spite of this chart's accessibility, it almost never feels too redundant or underwhelming. Careful use of quarter-sequenced double-steps and jumps ensure there's plenty of texture of throughout, while more difficult notes are appropriately introduced later on in the chart. There are a few moments where I thought you could've done more than just basic quarter notes (i.e., the breakdown before the final chorus), but that strike is nitpicky at-most. Really great job!
Presentation: 4/5
Graphics are exceptional, but I'm knocking off a point due to bad sample start and syncing so early that it forced me to alter the gap before I judged the steps themselves.
Tilt: 0
Final Score: 22.5/25
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BOOTY ME DOWN [Air]
Expert Steps: 4/10
For such a sparse song, this is way overdone. You'd expect this type of chart to go along with a jolty eurobeat track or hard trance club anthem, not some minimalist ringtone jingle. The patterns themselves are at least playable, but their dependence on austere karaoke makes them extremely unimaginative.
Moderate Steps: 5/10
A redundant chart for a redundant song. While most of the patterns suit the song okay in themselves, the overall arc of the chart is all over the place. Most of the time, the second half of a phrase is more difficult than the first, while only the sparsest section of the song uses 8th notes, which I plain don't get.
Presentation: 2.5/5
The graphics are a pretty big mess. Aside from the black border surrounding the title, the text looks pretty good, but everything behind is unprofessional in the worst way possible. The Dancemania Bass #9 cartoon looks too flat to match the more detailed text, while the overlay-effect duplicate looks rotten, as does the blurry rear image. Another strike goes against this track for having an obviously doubled BPM.
Tilt: -1
I despise the song itself and frankly I'm shocked it wasn't disqualified due to the offensive lyrics.
Final Score: 10.5/25
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COUNT WHAT YOU HAVE NOW [ThreeFish]
Expert Steps: 7/10
The forced 8th double-steps are generally more tolerated by modern DDR players, but the really aren't for me; I find they hurt the polish of the chart. Other than that, the use of 3-note 16th sequences, extensive crossovers, and freeze notes give this chart a pretty distinct identity, but at times the placement feels a tad improvised, and I'm not sure if the long stream approach is the most effective for a song with a thick disco groove. I do really like the breaks with jumps and 16ths, however.
Moderate Steps: 8/10
This is highly serviceable and uses all the perfect rhythms for a Standard chart. What holds it back the most is that the placement, while smooth, feels predictable after awhile. While the rhythms have decent variety, there could be more surprises in some of the placement, and some extra jumps might have spiced things up along the way.
Presentation: 2/5
The graphics are rough and unappealing and look like they were ripped from an early '90s computer, aside from the highly detailed cartoon in the center. The text is bland and jagged, while the backdrop is rather basic. The artwork also fails to match the posh disco flair of the song itself. On the bright side, nothing else feels technically off.
Tilt: 0
Final Score: 17/25
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FLY ON THE WINGS OF LOVE [RaverAce]
Expert Steps: 5/10
This chart relies a lot more on karaoke than I would've liked; there's enough substance to the beat itself that you could've gotten a lot more creative with how you interpreted the track. The worst part by far is the bridge leading up to the chorus, where you abruptly abandon the full karaoke approach when it was needed the most. The chart does at least offer a decent challenge and settles the player into a sort of zone, but its lack of variety prevents it from impressing me a whole lot.
Challenge Steps: 6.5/10
As an ITG Expert stepchart, this works pretty decently. However, it's still lacking in variety, and the chaos is a little overdone during the pre-verse phrases of the track, as the most difficult 16th patterns follow notes that aren't very prominent in the mix. This might have worked okay, if not for the frequent use of step-jumps that disrupt the flow the early notes and prevent me from ever being able to settle into the subtler 16ths being followed.
Presentation: 2.5/5
Aside from "Presents Annia", the text is extremely too difficult to read, as the bright and busy backdrop distracts from the rather simple text. Winona fits the track fine enough, but the overall blend of the graphics needs a lot of work, and I would've preferred something glossier for a song like this.
Tilt: 0
Final Score: 14/25
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HALLUCINATION XXX [jammitch!]
Expert Steps: 8.5/10
These are really nice and well-strucutred boss steps. They make for a calorie-burning challenge all the way through, yet there's just enough variety to make every section feel distinct without disrupting the deep zone the player is supposed to enter playing it. The only major gripe I have is that I wish the hip hop sections were toned down a bit, allowing the gabber phrases to pop a bit more. Also, the Afronova ending caught me off guard and is considerably harder than everything else, even if it's at the conclusion.
Moderate Steps: 9.5/10
This was great. Like Expert, there's plenty of variety between each section, yet you always feel like you're in a zone. I still wish the first hip hop phrase was lighter, or at least better distinguished from the preceding section, but the second iteration of the hip hop phrase is more effective in its context.
Presentation: 4/5
Not really your best graphics; the backdrop in the banner is kind of blurry and the large white text with rainbow borders is a bit over-imposing. Still not bad though, and I like that the background is distinct from the banner rather than being a cut-and-paste job.
Tilt: 0
Final Score: 22/25
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ITSUKO [aurae]
Expert Steps: 8/10
Despite the song's nonexistent melody, the steps here do an excellent job of not being monotonous. There's quite a bit of syncopation to follow, but while the chaotic rhythms inevitably drive the chart's style, at no point do the steps ever feel overdone, nor are they ever too underwhelming. Some of the placement can be a little dodgy, especially when the forced 8th double-steps come in, but this still makes for a pretty fun experience out of a song that you wouldn't expect to feel so colorful.
Moderate Steps: 8.5/10
Another surprisingly varied showcase of patterns for a song that has no tune to speak of. Like Expert, the creativity here is a bit limited by the song itself having such complicated, spontaneous rhythms, but this still ends up feeling quite focused without ever seeming redundant. I definitely get 1st/2nd/3rd Mix Trip Machine/PARANOiA vibes from the design here.
Presentation: 4.5/5
I like the graphics as a whole, although the solid black shadow blends a little awkwardly with the light glow within. The backdrop is basic abstract art, but serviceable nonetheless. The unique text orientation gives the artwork some nice flavor.
Tilt: 0
Final Score: 21/25
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MIRROR PRISM [Foxytail]
Expert Steps: 8/10
For the first third of the song, the placement feels really stiffled and unplanned. Due to the conservative movement, the player mostly faces either left or right for a really long time, and the few moments where they have to reorient their direction come from out of the blue and don't flow well with the chart's development. The last two thirds, however, are awesome. I really dig the creative use of jumps, freezes, and 16ths with frenetic, yet fitting placement, while the conservative moment during the final phrases of the track are more appropriate because there's much more variety in the note patterns themselves than the early stages. Definitely a mixed bag overall, but the strength of the later sections do ultimately leave me with a positive final impression.
Moderate Steps: 10/10
For such an easy chart, this is quite creative! 8th notes don't really show up until late in the song, yet the plentiful spins, jumps, and freezes add so much flavor that the arrival of 8ths feel like another one of the chart's unique quirks, rather than something taken for granted. Nothing to knock here!
Presentation: 4/5
This artwork is rather basic, but it's pretty pleasant and fits the title well. The one major issue I have is that the dark, crimson artist text blends poorly into the rest of the image, which is shiny and colorful.
Tilt: 0
Final Score: 22/25
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OOPS! I DID IT AGAIN (Rise Team Eurobeat Bootleg) [lrxevan]
Expert Steps: 10/10
OOF! You did it again, lrxevan! I can hardly imagine a eurobeat chart getting any better than this. Everything feels so punctuated, so distinugished, and so measured that there isn't one moment that feels off. The only little note that doesn't follow the song perfectly is one of the 16ths during the sabi, but that honestly passes off as a cute gimmick more than anything else because everything surrounding it is so polished.
Moderate Steps: 9/10
Also really well-done. It's a little on the simple side, but a few long 8th streams, such as during the middle of the verse and during the final sabi, do make it pretty dynamic nonetheless.
Presentation: 5/5
It would be nice if the song itself had more bass, but I'll let that slide, since the graphics are really good, and you cleverly used stock DDR background videos while still showcasing your original artwork in the middle of it.
Tilt: +1
As was the case with "BAAM!", I'm increasing the overall score here because of how good Expert is, and despite the simplicity of Moderate, the most important parts of this file are absolutely nailed.
Final Score: 25/25
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QUAKE [Aki]
Expert Steps: 7/10
Competent throughout, but it interprets the song in the most obvious and predictable way, holding it back from true greatness. Still, the placement works and it does provide a nice challenge.
Moderate Steps: 9/10
Perhaps it's because this is forced to scale back a bit, but I felt much more creativity here. The smooth-yet-varied placement and diverse note patterns make for a really enjoyable experience throughout. The one major gripe I have is that during the speedy finale, the step-jumps that require sharp foot movement are really awkward and out of place.
Presentation: 5/5
The music video for this is breathtaking and very much enhances the experience for me personally. The graphics themselves are also good enough to ensure a full score for this section.
Tilt: -1
It's good, but due to the only okay Expert steps, I don't think it's truly deserving of a 22/25 score as a whole.
Final Score: 21/25
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SUNSHINE (WIPPENBERG REMIX) [Silver]
Expert Steps: 9/10
I was a little scared by the somewhat bloated groove radar, but fortunately, this chart is actually quite measured and fun. Despite the recurring synth riff, occasional varied placement with clean movement ensures it never feels tiring. The use of freeze notes and breaks is also quite effective. The chart doesn't quite have the creativity to reach the staggering heights of "BAAM!" or "OOPS I DID IT AGAIN", but it's still quite a solid effort.
Moderate Steps: 9/10
Pretty similar sentiments as Expert, except the variety is achieved differently here. I really like the progression towards more difficult patterns by the end of the chart, and the early use of 16ths distingusihes the phrases that have less of a beat to follow. The placement includes some double-steps during the later sections, all of which are fun and manageable. The one nitpick is that the sudden abandonment of 16th triplets in measures 24 and 25 doesn't fit the rest of its section; it would've just been better to stick to the same rhythm as before, but with different placement, as you did during the subsequent measures.
Presentation: 4.5/5
Graphics look great, but the background's resolution could be better.
Tilt: 0
Final Score: 22.5/25
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UMBRELLA BEACH [Juku]
Expert Steps: 8/10
Like "Mirror Prism", this is much better during the last two thirds than the first third. These steps start on a rough note with the inconsistent rhythms during the opening measures, and then during the verse, there are too many notes for such a minimalist part of the song, and that ends up hindering the impact of the upbeat chorus once it drops. Still, things do become quite fun in the long run, even if the occasional placement feels like it could've been polished a tad more.
Moderate Steps: 8.5/10
For variety's sake, I would've personally added a few 16th triplet patterns, since the isolated 2-note 8th patterns jump out kind of rigidly alongside the rest of the more casual patterns. Still, this is quite satisfying.
Presentation: 5/5
As a whole, these are amazing-looking graphics, however the multilayered title text looks much better in the background than it does in the banner, where the orange border sticks out awkardly despite working better up-close. Still, I'm giving this full marks, since it has background clips.
Tilt: 0
Final Score: 21.5/25
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UP N DOWN [will-i-am]
Expert Steps: 9/10
Experimental, but for the most part, it pays off. The only section I dislike is measures 20 through 26, where the 16th gallops follow a part of the song that's too subtle, when I think a more straightforward karaoke approach would've worked a lot better and contrasted nicely from the more chaotic phrases elsewhere.
Moderate Steps: 10/10
Tricky for a Standard chart, but definitely really colorful and never off in its approach. I have trouble finding anything to mark off for it, so yeah, full score here!
Presentation: 5/5
Really great graphics. The transparent shadow behind the artist tag is a bit harsh, but the artwork is so dynamic and flavorful regardless that I don't feel right docking off anything.
Tilt: 0
Final Score: 24/25
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WHO THE HELL ARE YOU (Original Mix - Edit) [tammie, a.k.a. Ebisumaru, a.k.a. Jesterline]
Expert Steps: 9.5/10
Boy have I missed you! Much like "Doctor Pressure", this chart succeeds by offering a ton of flavor despite its relative simplicity. The long, crossover-heavy streams and bursts of 16ths spice up the arc of the steps, while everything else is sharp and effective, even though the patterns as a whole are very relaxed.
Moderate Steps: 9.5/10
These are very clean and simple, but thanks to a few cleverly inserted quarter-sequenced double-steps, as well as more difficult patterns later on that create a sense of development, the result is quite marvelous.
Presentation: 5/5
Yummy graphics, fun video.
Tilt: 0
Final Score: 24/25
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WORLD COMING DOWN [Braeden47]
Expert Steps: 6.5/10
For the most part, these are solid, if not exceptionally creative calorie-burner steps. The one seriously flawed section is the verse, where there's too much left-facing syndrome.
Challenge Steps: 5.5/10
Again, these are okay, but could be more creative. The most variety we get is some 2-note jackhammers that mostly don't feel appropriately inserted. I also really would've liked something much more distinct during the phrase following the first chorus, as that would've broken up the monotony while likely fitting the prominent drum hits a lot better.
Presentation: 1.5/5
Graphics are weak and unappealing, sample start is off, and once again, you're back to your old habit of abruptly splicing the song file at the end, rather than fading out or just cutting to the end of the original track.
Tilt: 0
Final Score: 13.5/25
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それは花火のような恋 [forcednature]
Expert Steps: 4.5/10
Despite the cleanliness and competence, this chart feels like it has extremely little character or variety throughout. Very little of the song feels punctuated, and the placement has the same general all-around-the-pad structure all the way through, without enough jumps, crossovers, or other patterns to break things up. Because of this, the experience ends up being rather boring, unfortunately.
Challenge Steps: 4/10
Technically, there's more variety here, simply because the chart is allowed to follow the 16ths a little more closely, but it still lacks vision throughout, so all of the phrases blur together. It just seems like the only focus here was adhering to the 16ths wherever possible, but not much is done to make anything pop out, so once again my impression is rather blah.
Presentation: 3/5
I don't like the blurry backdrop in the banner, nor do I feel the soft shadow blends well with the hard, solid white outline. As a whole, this section is alright, but still not phenomenal enough to get a full score, even with the video.
Tilt: 0
Final Score: 11.5/25
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Final Standings:
1. OOPS! I DID IT AGAIN (Rise Team Eurobeat Bootleg) - 25/25
2. BAAM! - 24/25
2. UP N DOWN - 24/25
2. WHO THE HELL ARE YOU (Original Mix - Edit) - 24/25
5. Be With You - 22.5/25
5. Sunshine (Wippenberg Remix) - 22.5/25
7. Hallucination XXX - 22/25
7. Mirror Prism - 22/25
9. Umbrella Beach - 21.5/25
10. Quake - 21/25
10. Itsuko - 21/25
12. Count What You Have Now - 17/25
13. Fly On The Wings Of Love - 14/25
14. World Coming Down - 13.5/25
15. それは花火のような恋 - 11.5/25
16. Booty Me Down - 10.5/25
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BAAM! [Chmurek]
Expert Steps: 10/10
I'm like one track into this pack and already I've stumbled upon a shining gem of a file. The song itself gives you plenty of options to work with, and you make the very best use of them. The placement? Impeccable. It feels momentous, yet structured; smooth, yet varied, with just the right number of crossovers, not to mention jackhammers fittingly utilized on the bam-bam-bams. The use of jumps punctuates all the right notes to break up the stream-focused approach. There are even a few cleverly inserted freeze arrows to keep the player engaged further. I cannot knock a single thing against this entire chart. Kudos!!!
Moderate Steps: 8/10
These are also technically very sound, however I wish they were a bit more challenging. Although you rated the chart 6 feet, it could honestly pass for a hard 4, as there are never any long streams of 8ths, placement is simple throughout, and the only use of air is isolated. All that said, the chart flows quite slickly and fits the track well. Special mention goes to the jumps, which accentuate some of the notes and break up the monotony. This could've been another easy 10/10 if more monentum had been built up, especially from the chorus onwards, and wasn't so conservative.
Presentation: 5/5
Loving the comic book theme to the graphics; the bevel is a little more intense than I would've gone for, but the artwork is still very pleasing. The video secures a perfect score here.
Tilt: +1
I personally care more about Expert than Moderate, and this file very much delivers where it counts.
Final Score: 24/25
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BE WITH YOU [Pie-Kun]
Expert Steps: 9/10
Considering this chart abstains from 16ths despite its slow tempo, the variety here is exceptional. Heavy use of freeze arrows and crossovers ensure the player is challenged by the placement throughout, while every phrase approaches the song differently while still transitioning from one another smoothly. I like that while the first 8 chorus measures are mostly karaoke, the latter half of the first chorus, plus the reprise at the end, use completely different patterns that still fit. I'd be hard-pressed to admit these steps floored me completely, but they definitely exhibit some real skill as a chart designer.
Moderate Steps: 9.5/10
This is simplicity done right. In spite of this chart's accessibility, it almost never feels too redundant or underwhelming. Careful use of quarter-sequenced double-steps and jumps ensure there's plenty of texture of throughout, while more difficult notes are appropriately introduced later on in the chart. There are a few moments where I thought you could've done more than just basic quarter notes (i.e., the breakdown before the final chorus), but that strike is nitpicky at-most. Really great job!
Presentation: 4/5
Graphics are exceptional, but I'm knocking off a point due to bad sample start and syncing so early that it forced me to alter the gap before I judged the steps themselves.
Tilt: 0
Final Score: 22.5/25
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BOOTY ME DOWN [Air]
Expert Steps: 4/10
For such a sparse song, this is way overdone. You'd expect this type of chart to go along with a jolty eurobeat track or hard trance club anthem, not some minimalist ringtone jingle. The patterns themselves are at least playable, but their dependence on austere karaoke makes them extremely unimaginative.
Moderate Steps: 5/10
A redundant chart for a redundant song. While most of the patterns suit the song okay in themselves, the overall arc of the chart is all over the place. Most of the time, the second half of a phrase is more difficult than the first, while only the sparsest section of the song uses 8th notes, which I plain don't get.
Presentation: 2.5/5
The graphics are a pretty big mess. Aside from the black border surrounding the title, the text looks pretty good, but everything behind is unprofessional in the worst way possible. The Dancemania Bass #9 cartoon looks too flat to match the more detailed text, while the overlay-effect duplicate looks rotten, as does the blurry rear image. Another strike goes against this track for having an obviously doubled BPM.
Tilt: -1
I despise the song itself and frankly I'm shocked it wasn't disqualified due to the offensive lyrics.
Final Score: 10.5/25
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COUNT WHAT YOU HAVE NOW [ThreeFish]
Expert Steps: 7/10
The forced 8th double-steps are generally more tolerated by modern DDR players, but the really aren't for me; I find they hurt the polish of the chart. Other than that, the use of 3-note 16th sequences, extensive crossovers, and freeze notes give this chart a pretty distinct identity, but at times the placement feels a tad improvised, and I'm not sure if the long stream approach is the most effective for a song with a thick disco groove. I do really like the breaks with jumps and 16ths, however.
Moderate Steps: 8/10
This is highly serviceable and uses all the perfect rhythms for a Standard chart. What holds it back the most is that the placement, while smooth, feels predictable after awhile. While the rhythms have decent variety, there could be more surprises in some of the placement, and some extra jumps might have spiced things up along the way.
Presentation: 2/5
The graphics are rough and unappealing and look like they were ripped from an early '90s computer, aside from the highly detailed cartoon in the center. The text is bland and jagged, while the backdrop is rather basic. The artwork also fails to match the posh disco flair of the song itself. On the bright side, nothing else feels technically off.
Tilt: 0
Final Score: 17/25
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FLY ON THE WINGS OF LOVE [RaverAce]
Expert Steps: 5/10
This chart relies a lot more on karaoke than I would've liked; there's enough substance to the beat itself that you could've gotten a lot more creative with how you interpreted the track. The worst part by far is the bridge leading up to the chorus, where you abruptly abandon the full karaoke approach when it was needed the most. The chart does at least offer a decent challenge and settles the player into a sort of zone, but its lack of variety prevents it from impressing me a whole lot.
Challenge Steps: 6.5/10
As an ITG Expert stepchart, this works pretty decently. However, it's still lacking in variety, and the chaos is a little overdone during the pre-verse phrases of the track, as the most difficult 16th patterns follow notes that aren't very prominent in the mix. This might have worked okay, if not for the frequent use of step-jumps that disrupt the flow the early notes and prevent me from ever being able to settle into the subtler 16ths being followed.
Presentation: 2.5/5
Aside from "Presents Annia", the text is extremely too difficult to read, as the bright and busy backdrop distracts from the rather simple text. Winona fits the track fine enough, but the overall blend of the graphics needs a lot of work, and I would've preferred something glossier for a song like this.
Tilt: 0
Final Score: 14/25
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HALLUCINATION XXX [jammitch!]
Expert Steps: 8.5/10
These are really nice and well-strucutred boss steps. They make for a calorie-burning challenge all the way through, yet there's just enough variety to make every section feel distinct without disrupting the deep zone the player is supposed to enter playing it. The only major gripe I have is that I wish the hip hop sections were toned down a bit, allowing the gabber phrases to pop a bit more. Also, the Afronova ending caught me off guard and is considerably harder than everything else, even if it's at the conclusion.
Moderate Steps: 9.5/10
This was great. Like Expert, there's plenty of variety between each section, yet you always feel like you're in a zone. I still wish the first hip hop phrase was lighter, or at least better distinguished from the preceding section, but the second iteration of the hip hop phrase is more effective in its context.
Presentation: 4/5
Not really your best graphics; the backdrop in the banner is kind of blurry and the large white text with rainbow borders is a bit over-imposing. Still not bad though, and I like that the background is distinct from the banner rather than being a cut-and-paste job.
Tilt: 0
Final Score: 22/25
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ITSUKO [aurae]
Expert Steps: 8/10
Despite the song's nonexistent melody, the steps here do an excellent job of not being monotonous. There's quite a bit of syncopation to follow, but while the chaotic rhythms inevitably drive the chart's style, at no point do the steps ever feel overdone, nor are they ever too underwhelming. Some of the placement can be a little dodgy, especially when the forced 8th double-steps come in, but this still makes for a pretty fun experience out of a song that you wouldn't expect to feel so colorful.
Moderate Steps: 8.5/10
Another surprisingly varied showcase of patterns for a song that has no tune to speak of. Like Expert, the creativity here is a bit limited by the song itself having such complicated, spontaneous rhythms, but this still ends up feeling quite focused without ever seeming redundant. I definitely get 1st/2nd/3rd Mix Trip Machine/PARANOiA vibes from the design here.
Presentation: 4.5/5
I like the graphics as a whole, although the solid black shadow blends a little awkwardly with the light glow within. The backdrop is basic abstract art, but serviceable nonetheless. The unique text orientation gives the artwork some nice flavor.
Tilt: 0
Final Score: 21/25
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MIRROR PRISM [Foxytail]
Expert Steps: 8/10
For the first third of the song, the placement feels really stiffled and unplanned. Due to the conservative movement, the player mostly faces either left or right for a really long time, and the few moments where they have to reorient their direction come from out of the blue and don't flow well with the chart's development. The last two thirds, however, are awesome. I really dig the creative use of jumps, freezes, and 16ths with frenetic, yet fitting placement, while the conservative moment during the final phrases of the track are more appropriate because there's much more variety in the note patterns themselves than the early stages. Definitely a mixed bag overall, but the strength of the later sections do ultimately leave me with a positive final impression.
Moderate Steps: 10/10
For such an easy chart, this is quite creative! 8th notes don't really show up until late in the song, yet the plentiful spins, jumps, and freezes add so much flavor that the arrival of 8ths feel like another one of the chart's unique quirks, rather than something taken for granted. Nothing to knock here!
Presentation: 4/5
This artwork is rather basic, but it's pretty pleasant and fits the title well. The one major issue I have is that the dark, crimson artist text blends poorly into the rest of the image, which is shiny and colorful.
Tilt: 0
Final Score: 22/25
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OOPS! I DID IT AGAIN (Rise Team Eurobeat Bootleg) [lrxevan]
Expert Steps: 10/10
OOF! You did it again, lrxevan! I can hardly imagine a eurobeat chart getting any better than this. Everything feels so punctuated, so distinugished, and so measured that there isn't one moment that feels off. The only little note that doesn't follow the song perfectly is one of the 16ths during the sabi, but that honestly passes off as a cute gimmick more than anything else because everything surrounding it is so polished.
Moderate Steps: 9/10
Also really well-done. It's a little on the simple side, but a few long 8th streams, such as during the middle of the verse and during the final sabi, do make it pretty dynamic nonetheless.
Presentation: 5/5
It would be nice if the song itself had more bass, but I'll let that slide, since the graphics are really good, and you cleverly used stock DDR background videos while still showcasing your original artwork in the middle of it.
Tilt: +1
As was the case with "BAAM!", I'm increasing the overall score here because of how good Expert is, and despite the simplicity of Moderate, the most important parts of this file are absolutely nailed.
Final Score: 25/25
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QUAKE [Aki]
Expert Steps: 7/10
Competent throughout, but it interprets the song in the most obvious and predictable way, holding it back from true greatness. Still, the placement works and it does provide a nice challenge.
Moderate Steps: 9/10
Perhaps it's because this is forced to scale back a bit, but I felt much more creativity here. The smooth-yet-varied placement and diverse note patterns make for a really enjoyable experience throughout. The one major gripe I have is that during the speedy finale, the step-jumps that require sharp foot movement are really awkward and out of place.
Presentation: 5/5
The music video for this is breathtaking and very much enhances the experience for me personally. The graphics themselves are also good enough to ensure a full score for this section.
Tilt: -1
It's good, but due to the only okay Expert steps, I don't think it's truly deserving of a 22/25 score as a whole.
Final Score: 21/25
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SUNSHINE (WIPPENBERG REMIX) [Silver]
Expert Steps: 9/10
I was a little scared by the somewhat bloated groove radar, but fortunately, this chart is actually quite measured and fun. Despite the recurring synth riff, occasional varied placement with clean movement ensures it never feels tiring. The use of freeze notes and breaks is also quite effective. The chart doesn't quite have the creativity to reach the staggering heights of "BAAM!" or "OOPS I DID IT AGAIN", but it's still quite a solid effort.
Moderate Steps: 9/10
Pretty similar sentiments as Expert, except the variety is achieved differently here. I really like the progression towards more difficult patterns by the end of the chart, and the early use of 16ths distingusihes the phrases that have less of a beat to follow. The placement includes some double-steps during the later sections, all of which are fun and manageable. The one nitpick is that the sudden abandonment of 16th triplets in measures 24 and 25 doesn't fit the rest of its section; it would've just been better to stick to the same rhythm as before, but with different placement, as you did during the subsequent measures.
Presentation: 4.5/5
Graphics look great, but the background's resolution could be better.
Tilt: 0
Final Score: 22.5/25
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UMBRELLA BEACH [Juku]
Expert Steps: 8/10
Like "Mirror Prism", this is much better during the last two thirds than the first third. These steps start on a rough note with the inconsistent rhythms during the opening measures, and then during the verse, there are too many notes for such a minimalist part of the song, and that ends up hindering the impact of the upbeat chorus once it drops. Still, things do become quite fun in the long run, even if the occasional placement feels like it could've been polished a tad more.
Moderate Steps: 8.5/10
For variety's sake, I would've personally added a few 16th triplet patterns, since the isolated 2-note 8th patterns jump out kind of rigidly alongside the rest of the more casual patterns. Still, this is quite satisfying.
Presentation: 5/5
As a whole, these are amazing-looking graphics, however the multilayered title text looks much better in the background than it does in the banner, where the orange border sticks out awkardly despite working better up-close. Still, I'm giving this full marks, since it has background clips.
Tilt: 0
Final Score: 21.5/25
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UP N DOWN [will-i-am]
Expert Steps: 9/10
Experimental, but for the most part, it pays off. The only section I dislike is measures 20 through 26, where the 16th gallops follow a part of the song that's too subtle, when I think a more straightforward karaoke approach would've worked a lot better and contrasted nicely from the more chaotic phrases elsewhere.
Moderate Steps: 10/10
Tricky for a Standard chart, but definitely really colorful and never off in its approach. I have trouble finding anything to mark off for it, so yeah, full score here!
Presentation: 5/5
Really great graphics. The transparent shadow behind the artist tag is a bit harsh, but the artwork is so dynamic and flavorful regardless that I don't feel right docking off anything.
Tilt: 0
Final Score: 24/25
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WHO THE HELL ARE YOU (Original Mix - Edit) [tammie, a.k.a. Ebisumaru, a.k.a. Jesterline]
Expert Steps: 9.5/10
Boy have I missed you! Much like "Doctor Pressure", this chart succeeds by offering a ton of flavor despite its relative simplicity. The long, crossover-heavy streams and bursts of 16ths spice up the arc of the steps, while everything else is sharp and effective, even though the patterns as a whole are very relaxed.
Moderate Steps: 9.5/10
These are very clean and simple, but thanks to a few cleverly inserted quarter-sequenced double-steps, as well as more difficult patterns later on that create a sense of development, the result is quite marvelous.
Presentation: 5/5
Yummy graphics, fun video.
Tilt: 0
Final Score: 24/25
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WORLD COMING DOWN [Braeden47]
Expert Steps: 6.5/10
For the most part, these are solid, if not exceptionally creative calorie-burner steps. The one seriously flawed section is the verse, where there's too much left-facing syndrome.
Challenge Steps: 5.5/10
Again, these are okay, but could be more creative. The most variety we get is some 2-note jackhammers that mostly don't feel appropriately inserted. I also really would've liked something much more distinct during the phrase following the first chorus, as that would've broken up the monotony while likely fitting the prominent drum hits a lot better.
Presentation: 1.5/5
Graphics are weak and unappealing, sample start is off, and once again, you're back to your old habit of abruptly splicing the song file at the end, rather than fading out or just cutting to the end of the original track.
Tilt: 0
Final Score: 13.5/25
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それは花火のような恋 [forcednature]
Expert Steps: 4.5/10
Despite the cleanliness and competence, this chart feels like it has extremely little character or variety throughout. Very little of the song feels punctuated, and the placement has the same general all-around-the-pad structure all the way through, without enough jumps, crossovers, or other patterns to break things up. Because of this, the experience ends up being rather boring, unfortunately.
Challenge Steps: 4/10
Technically, there's more variety here, simply because the chart is allowed to follow the 16ths a little more closely, but it still lacks vision throughout, so all of the phrases blur together. It just seems like the only focus here was adhering to the 16ths wherever possible, but not much is done to make anything pop out, so once again my impression is rather blah.
Presentation: 3/5
I don't like the blurry backdrop in the banner, nor do I feel the soft shadow blends well with the hard, solid white outline. As a whole, this section is alright, but still not phenomenal enough to get a full score, even with the video.
Tilt: 0
Final Score: 11.5/25
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Final Standings:
1. OOPS! I DID IT AGAIN (Rise Team Eurobeat Bootleg) - 25/25
2. BAAM! - 24/25
2. UP N DOWN - 24/25
2. WHO THE HELL ARE YOU (Original Mix - Edit) - 24/25
5. Be With You - 22.5/25
5. Sunshine (Wippenberg Remix) - 22.5/25
7. Hallucination XXX - 22/25
7. Mirror Prism - 22/25
9. Umbrella Beach - 21.5/25
10. Quake - 21/25
10. Itsuko - 21/25
12. Count What You Have Now - 17/25
13. Fly On The Wings Of Love - 14/25
14. World Coming Down - 13.5/25
15. それは花火のような恋 - 11.5/25
16. Booty Me Down - 10.5/25
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- Posting Member
- Posts: 325
- Joined: Fri Jun 08, 2007 6:06 pm
Re: BRACKET 1 - Public Review
Here are my reviews. This was overall one of the best contest brackets I've ever played. Well done everyone.
BAAM
This was really good. The first half of this is virtually the perfect stepchart. The second half I had a few more problems with. During the bridge there's some 'dead air' that was filled with freezes and stuff, but I think this is more of an issue with the cut than anything else. I probably would have cut the bridge out to avoid having to put arrows to that. I really liked the jackhammers in the second part, but think the runs got less creative as time went on. It also feels pretty long to me in general. Anyway, this is overall a strong entry, nice job. 8/10
Presentation:
These are cute graphics but I don't know if they match the energy of the song. And I think there's a little too much black stroke. The video was a great touch. 4/5
Tilt:
The first half of this was really as close to perfect as DDR steps get. +1
Total: 13/15
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BE WITH YOU
I really like how you used freeze arrows here, and I think you always use them really well. Generally I think these felt good and fun to play, but I did have a couple of issues. I am obviously a fan of double steps and complex turns but I think there are a few of them here that left the player facing away from the screen without giving them any time to adjust, because you're coming right off of a freeze arrow into an 8th note run. You can adjust ahead of time if you know it's coming, but in the first playthrough it was very awkward at times. I also think it lost a little energy as time went on. That's not to say this wasn't fun, it was. 7/10
Presentation:
These graphics were very cute. I like the vector sparkles attached to the stroke. I also really love the color scheme. No major complaints, and a lot of personality. 5/5
Tilt:
I'm gonna give a +1 here because as much as I thought the heavy chart had a couple of minor issues, the freeze arrow use was really next level and even gives me a few ideas for future stepcharts. +1
Total: 13/15
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Booty Me Down
More than a little repetitive. I sort of feel like the steps could have ended after the first set of 16th notes. But I really liked the novel use of freeze arrows here. I don't have a lot to say except that I just wish there was a little more variety. 6/10
Prsentation:
I'm not a huge fan of the font choices or colors here, but the idea is definitely novel. 3/5
Tilt:
N/A
Total: 9/15
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Count What You Have Now
This was really nice. It's not without issues (lots of freeze arrow into 8th note run when the player is facing away from the screen which is kind of a pet peeve of mine) and there were times when it didn't feel like you'd considered where the player would be facing in general. With that said, there's a ton of good here. I *really* enjoyed the repeated patterns that were used to give this chart an identity. If it were a DDR chart in a real arcade cabinet, everyone would know this stepchart and play it all the time. The best charts have a sort of memorable pattern or *thing* of their own, and this one is very memorable indeed. 8/10
Presentation:
The graphics are cute, but I wish the bottom of the BG wasn't cut off by many themes' UI elements. This is something to keep in mind for the future but not a dealbreaker. Very nice banner. 4/5
Tilt:
N/A
Total: 12/15
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Fly On The Wings Of Love
This stepchart is a little bit crowded IMO. It would have really benefit from being pulled back some. I feel like a lot of the jumps are included almost for no reason. This had its moments and was fun to play. But I didn't find it especially exciting or novel. 6/10
Presentation:
Seemingly an anime screenshot? The text is hard to read and the text gets cut off by stepmania UI elements in the BG. Recommend centering it next time and making the text easiesr to read. 2/5
Tilt:
N/A
Total: 8/15
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Hallucination XXX
This was great! Very well done and distinctly with your style. Really evoked that sort of hard 9 (arrabiata, exotic ethnic, etc). If I had any criticism it would be that I think the lower energy portions of the music should have had steps that accompanied their energy level a little more, the song slowed down but the steps just kind of kept going. Slick afronova throwbacks. 9/10
Presentation:
Simple but effective. I'm not familiar with the source material. Never been a huge fan personally of anime girl+text but I assume this is inspired by the game it came from. Nice background. 3/5
Tilt:
N/A
Total: 12/15
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Itsuko
First I wanna say I appreciate the choice of a unique genre of music. It's hard for me to really know how to judge these steps because I frankly don't know what I would have done myself. My gut feelings: I liked the intentional double-stepping in combination with the weird rhythms. DDR charts often had this combination in an attempt to throw the player off balance. It's time-honored and it works. However I also feel personally like the steps are a little busier than they needed to be. It's not "overcharted" or anything, it just kind of keeps going and keeps going and follows the song's rhythms very closely. Since it's so varied that kind of works, but it does end up feeling "karaoke," dare I say it. Anyway, this was cool and I liked it. 7/10
Presentation:
These graphics are nice and really do kind of evoke a banner and bg from the extreme era in a way. Good colors and contrast. I'm not blown away but they work. 3/5
Tilt:
Novel song choice and took on a real challenge, and largely succeeded. I think that deserves a little extra credit. +1
Total: 11/15
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Mirror Prism
I'm not sure this will be the case for everyone but this is one of my favorite charts from this bracket. I love the challenging rhythms. I love that I had to play it twice to get it right but not because it felt awkward to play. I love how you took creative liberties with how the steps worked with the music. I like that they feel clean and effortless. This feels very authentic, like a Konami chart or something from the old days. Extreme Home Version vibes. The middle section IMO was a little *too* jumpy. But this is really excellent. 9/10
Presentation:
These graphics are like, so DDR. Color choices rule. Artist logo is a little hard to read, but otherwise great. A lot of people think of "presentation" scores as being a form of gatekeeping but graphics like these are what we're talking about when we say it's not true. These are exhibit 'A' for why you don't need to be a graphic design wizard to make nice graphics for a DDR contest. 4/5
Tilt:
+1 for nostalgic authenticity. Love.
Total: 14/15
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QUAKE
These are pretty good. I think my favorite part is that it didn't overstay its welcome, and I don't mean that as a dig. This is exactly the right length for a chart like this, because the rhythms repeat a fair bit and there are only so many ways to dance to this music before it starts to overstay its welcome. I'm not sure I think this was the best song choice and it's not because I don't like the song. But I think you did about as well as you possibly could have. I also have a soft spot for "So Deep"-style steps and wish we saw more of it. 7/10
Presentation:
I like that you included the video. I don't know where the graphics come from (ie if you made them or if they're from the source material's game) but I admit I'm not a huge fan of them, lol. They're a little, uh, animated gif on a geocities page, if you know what I mean. With that said they're functional, legible, and don't get in the way of any UI elements. 3/5
Tilt:
N/A
Total: 10/15
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SUNSHINE (Wippenburg Remix)
This file has a syndrome with no name that I struggle to describe. The arrows are correctly place and the rhythms it follows make sense. In a technical sense it's good, and there are no major problems. But it's still a litte bit stale by the end, and the arrows just kind of keep going until the song is over. There is potential here but IMO there needs to be a progression of pattern and difficulty that makes the file feel memorable. I have a soft spot for steps like these, but they're very hard to do right. This is a good effort but could be better. 6/10
Presentation:
They don't wow me but they get the job done. They're legible and don't get in the way of anything. A point in their favor is that I think you got the mood right. 3/5
Tilt:
N/A
Total: 9/15
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UMBRELLA BEACH
Steps were a little karaoke and weird to follow at the beginning. I liked the parts most that followed the song's rhythm elements rather than the vocals or main melody, as those feel strongest in the mix. I would have liked it if the steps felt relatively simple but then during the chorus there was like an explosion of energy and difficulty. I did not enjoy this the first few times through but the more I play it, the more I appreciate them and think you did a pretty good job. It did get better toward the middle and end. Something I'd say is similar to what I said above: "There is potential here but IMO there needs to be a progression of pattern and difficulty that makes the file feel memorable." 7/10
Presentation:
Beautiful graphics and great video choices and syncing. With that said, you should try to start the video with the first arrow and end the video when the last arrow so that we can see your beautiful artwork. 4/5
Tilt:
+1 because there is an obviously high taste level here. good song choice, art work, video choices.
Total: 12/15
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UP N DOWN
This is really chaotic, but I can't say it isn't warranted. I sort of wish there was a pattern refrain it came back to in order to help ground it in something. This chart is fun but in my opinion it really does need a theme of some kind. I think the whole synth ending section was really good. I also thought the last beat was pretty genius. 6/10
Presentation:
Beautiful graphics. Did you happen to make Juku's? They're gorgeous. 5/5
Tilt:
+1 because honestly the standard steps are pretty rad (although definitely not a 6
).
Total: 12/15
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WHO THE HELL ARE YOU
Ummm go off sis. I think everyone knows by now that I'm like kind of a fan of tammie's stepcharts. Like jammitch above you definitely a style that is immediately disintctive. These steps are musical, fun, and have an excellent difficulty progression. The patterns chosen are intentional and emphasize the song's phrasing in a very clever way (for example using the same pattern for parts of the music that repeat later). A little like a US home version chart. Intentional double-steps between 8th note sets that trip you up the first time but are really fun to do properly the second time around. Very little to complain about here. 10/10
Presentation:
Simple, clean graphics and a cute video. Functional and very authentically DDR. 5/5
Tilt:
N/A
Total: 15/15
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World Coming Down
Well, it's definitely a workout. I liked the streming parts well enough but I'm not sure I agree with jump placement. The slowdowns are both a bit chaotic (and sudden, although I try to play everything twice, and it made sense the second time through). Something I have said a couple times before is that I wish there was a pattern refrain in your arrows that glued everything together. As it is now it does kind of feel like a lot of 8th note patterns were chosen somewhat arbitrarily. But overall this is functional and good. Not great, but good. 7/10
Presentation:
The song cut is very sudden, lol. Graphics work but look a little like they were made in MS Paint but are functional and do the job. 3/5
Tilt: N/A
Total: 10/15
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それは花火のような恋
These are obviously very competent and your knowledge of how to place arrows in 4 player arrow game is solid. These are squeaky clean. At the end though I was surprised the cut was just over 2 minutes when it felt so much longer. There's just very little character to the steps and as a result it just felt like I was going through the motions and waiting for it to end. What might have helped from my perspective is a shorter cut which might have helped a few of the pattern refrains (step->jump, the little dotted quarter sections) pop out a little more as features instead of feeling like they were just inevitably going to come back. I can't say this is bad, I just feel like there's not very much character. JMO though. 6/10
Presentation:
The graphics are simple but effective. The song title gets in the way of the UI elements for several themes in the BG which is sort of a pet peeve of mine. I like the included video, so props for that. 3/5
Tilt:
+1 for the steps flowing very well. Maybe the best raw flow of any steps in the bracket. This isn't everything, but it's definitely worth props.
Total: 10/15
BAAM
This was really good. The first half of this is virtually the perfect stepchart. The second half I had a few more problems with. During the bridge there's some 'dead air' that was filled with freezes and stuff, but I think this is more of an issue with the cut than anything else. I probably would have cut the bridge out to avoid having to put arrows to that. I really liked the jackhammers in the second part, but think the runs got less creative as time went on. It also feels pretty long to me in general. Anyway, this is overall a strong entry, nice job. 8/10
Presentation:
These are cute graphics but I don't know if they match the energy of the song. And I think there's a little too much black stroke. The video was a great touch. 4/5
Tilt:
The first half of this was really as close to perfect as DDR steps get. +1
Total: 13/15
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BE WITH YOU
I really like how you used freeze arrows here, and I think you always use them really well. Generally I think these felt good and fun to play, but I did have a couple of issues. I am obviously a fan of double steps and complex turns but I think there are a few of them here that left the player facing away from the screen without giving them any time to adjust, because you're coming right off of a freeze arrow into an 8th note run. You can adjust ahead of time if you know it's coming, but in the first playthrough it was very awkward at times. I also think it lost a little energy as time went on. That's not to say this wasn't fun, it was. 7/10
Presentation:
These graphics were very cute. I like the vector sparkles attached to the stroke. I also really love the color scheme. No major complaints, and a lot of personality. 5/5
Tilt:
I'm gonna give a +1 here because as much as I thought the heavy chart had a couple of minor issues, the freeze arrow use was really next level and even gives me a few ideas for future stepcharts. +1
Total: 13/15
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Booty Me Down
More than a little repetitive. I sort of feel like the steps could have ended after the first set of 16th notes. But I really liked the novel use of freeze arrows here. I don't have a lot to say except that I just wish there was a little more variety. 6/10
Prsentation:
I'm not a huge fan of the font choices or colors here, but the idea is definitely novel. 3/5
Tilt:
N/A
Total: 9/15
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Count What You Have Now
This was really nice. It's not without issues (lots of freeze arrow into 8th note run when the player is facing away from the screen which is kind of a pet peeve of mine) and there were times when it didn't feel like you'd considered where the player would be facing in general. With that said, there's a ton of good here. I *really* enjoyed the repeated patterns that were used to give this chart an identity. If it were a DDR chart in a real arcade cabinet, everyone would know this stepchart and play it all the time. The best charts have a sort of memorable pattern or *thing* of their own, and this one is very memorable indeed. 8/10
Presentation:
The graphics are cute, but I wish the bottom of the BG wasn't cut off by many themes' UI elements. This is something to keep in mind for the future but not a dealbreaker. Very nice banner. 4/5
Tilt:
N/A
Total: 12/15
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Fly On The Wings Of Love
This stepchart is a little bit crowded IMO. It would have really benefit from being pulled back some. I feel like a lot of the jumps are included almost for no reason. This had its moments and was fun to play. But I didn't find it especially exciting or novel. 6/10
Presentation:
Seemingly an anime screenshot? The text is hard to read and the text gets cut off by stepmania UI elements in the BG. Recommend centering it next time and making the text easiesr to read. 2/5
Tilt:
N/A
Total: 8/15
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Hallucination XXX
This was great! Very well done and distinctly with your style. Really evoked that sort of hard 9 (arrabiata, exotic ethnic, etc). If I had any criticism it would be that I think the lower energy portions of the music should have had steps that accompanied their energy level a little more, the song slowed down but the steps just kind of kept going. Slick afronova throwbacks. 9/10
Presentation:
Simple but effective. I'm not familiar with the source material. Never been a huge fan personally of anime girl+text but I assume this is inspired by the game it came from. Nice background. 3/5
Tilt:
N/A
Total: 12/15
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Itsuko
First I wanna say I appreciate the choice of a unique genre of music. It's hard for me to really know how to judge these steps because I frankly don't know what I would have done myself. My gut feelings: I liked the intentional double-stepping in combination with the weird rhythms. DDR charts often had this combination in an attempt to throw the player off balance. It's time-honored and it works. However I also feel personally like the steps are a little busier than they needed to be. It's not "overcharted" or anything, it just kind of keeps going and keeps going and follows the song's rhythms very closely. Since it's so varied that kind of works, but it does end up feeling "karaoke," dare I say it. Anyway, this was cool and I liked it. 7/10
Presentation:
These graphics are nice and really do kind of evoke a banner and bg from the extreme era in a way. Good colors and contrast. I'm not blown away but they work. 3/5
Tilt:
Novel song choice and took on a real challenge, and largely succeeded. I think that deserves a little extra credit. +1
Total: 11/15
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Mirror Prism
I'm not sure this will be the case for everyone but this is one of my favorite charts from this bracket. I love the challenging rhythms. I love that I had to play it twice to get it right but not because it felt awkward to play. I love how you took creative liberties with how the steps worked with the music. I like that they feel clean and effortless. This feels very authentic, like a Konami chart or something from the old days. Extreme Home Version vibes. The middle section IMO was a little *too* jumpy. But this is really excellent. 9/10
Presentation:
These graphics are like, so DDR. Color choices rule. Artist logo is a little hard to read, but otherwise great. A lot of people think of "presentation" scores as being a form of gatekeeping but graphics like these are what we're talking about when we say it's not true. These are exhibit 'A' for why you don't need to be a graphic design wizard to make nice graphics for a DDR contest. 4/5
Tilt:
+1 for nostalgic authenticity. Love.
Total: 14/15
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QUAKE
These are pretty good. I think my favorite part is that it didn't overstay its welcome, and I don't mean that as a dig. This is exactly the right length for a chart like this, because the rhythms repeat a fair bit and there are only so many ways to dance to this music before it starts to overstay its welcome. I'm not sure I think this was the best song choice and it's not because I don't like the song. But I think you did about as well as you possibly could have. I also have a soft spot for "So Deep"-style steps and wish we saw more of it. 7/10
Presentation:
I like that you included the video. I don't know where the graphics come from (ie if you made them or if they're from the source material's game) but I admit I'm not a huge fan of them, lol. They're a little, uh, animated gif on a geocities page, if you know what I mean. With that said they're functional, legible, and don't get in the way of any UI elements. 3/5
Tilt:
N/A
Total: 10/15
------------
SUNSHINE (Wippenburg Remix)
This file has a syndrome with no name that I struggle to describe. The arrows are correctly place and the rhythms it follows make sense. In a technical sense it's good, and there are no major problems. But it's still a litte bit stale by the end, and the arrows just kind of keep going until the song is over. There is potential here but IMO there needs to be a progression of pattern and difficulty that makes the file feel memorable. I have a soft spot for steps like these, but they're very hard to do right. This is a good effort but could be better. 6/10
Presentation:
They don't wow me but they get the job done. They're legible and don't get in the way of anything. A point in their favor is that I think you got the mood right. 3/5
Tilt:
N/A
Total: 9/15
------------
UMBRELLA BEACH
Steps were a little karaoke and weird to follow at the beginning. I liked the parts most that followed the song's rhythm elements rather than the vocals or main melody, as those feel strongest in the mix. I would have liked it if the steps felt relatively simple but then during the chorus there was like an explosion of energy and difficulty. I did not enjoy this the first few times through but the more I play it, the more I appreciate them and think you did a pretty good job. It did get better toward the middle and end. Something I'd say is similar to what I said above: "There is potential here but IMO there needs to be a progression of pattern and difficulty that makes the file feel memorable." 7/10
Presentation:
Beautiful graphics and great video choices and syncing. With that said, you should try to start the video with the first arrow and end the video when the last arrow so that we can see your beautiful artwork. 4/5
Tilt:
+1 because there is an obviously high taste level here. good song choice, art work, video choices.
Total: 12/15
------------
UP N DOWN
This is really chaotic, but I can't say it isn't warranted. I sort of wish there was a pattern refrain it came back to in order to help ground it in something. This chart is fun but in my opinion it really does need a theme of some kind. I think the whole synth ending section was really good. I also thought the last beat was pretty genius. 6/10
Presentation:
Beautiful graphics. Did you happen to make Juku's? They're gorgeous. 5/5
Tilt:
+1 because honestly the standard steps are pretty rad (although definitely not a 6
).Total: 12/15
------------
WHO THE HELL ARE YOU
Ummm go off sis. I think everyone knows by now that I'm like kind of a fan of tammie's stepcharts. Like jammitch above you definitely a style that is immediately disintctive. These steps are musical, fun, and have an excellent difficulty progression. The patterns chosen are intentional and emphasize the song's phrasing in a very clever way (for example using the same pattern for parts of the music that repeat later). A little like a US home version chart. Intentional double-steps between 8th note sets that trip you up the first time but are really fun to do properly the second time around. Very little to complain about here. 10/10
Presentation:
Simple, clean graphics and a cute video. Functional and very authentically DDR. 5/5
Tilt:
N/A
Total: 15/15
------------
World Coming Down
Well, it's definitely a workout. I liked the streming parts well enough but I'm not sure I agree with jump placement. The slowdowns are both a bit chaotic (and sudden, although I try to play everything twice, and it made sense the second time through). Something I have said a couple times before is that I wish there was a pattern refrain in your arrows that glued everything together. As it is now it does kind of feel like a lot of 8th note patterns were chosen somewhat arbitrarily. But overall this is functional and good. Not great, but good. 7/10
Presentation:
The song cut is very sudden, lol. Graphics work but look a little like they were made in MS Paint but are functional and do the job. 3/5
Tilt: N/A
Total: 10/15
------------
それは花火のような恋
These are obviously very competent and your knowledge of how to place arrows in 4 player arrow game is solid. These are squeaky clean. At the end though I was surprised the cut was just over 2 minutes when it felt so much longer. There's just very little character to the steps and as a result it just felt like I was going through the motions and waiting for it to end. What might have helped from my perspective is a shorter cut which might have helped a few of the pattern refrains (step->jump, the little dotted quarter sections) pop out a little more as features instead of feeling like they were just inevitably going to come back. I can't say this is bad, I just feel like there's not very much character. JMO though. 6/10
Presentation:
The graphics are simple but effective. The song title gets in the way of the UI elements for several themes in the BG which is sort of a pet peeve of mine. I like the included video, so props for that. 3/5
Tilt:
+1 for the steps flowing very well. Maybe the best raw flow of any steps in the bracket. This isn't everything, but it's definitely worth props.
Total: 10/15
Last edited by lrxevan on Sat May 01, 2021 8:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: BRACKET 1 - Public Review
Approval Votes (+5):
WHO THE HELL ARE YOU (Original Mix - Edit)
Itsuko
OOPS! I DID IT AGAIN (Rise Team Eurobeat Bootleg)
Quake
UP N DOWN
Be With You
Mirror Prism
Honorable Mentions:
Sore wa Hanabi no you na Koi (それは花火のような恋)
Count What You Have Now
Booty Me Down
WHO THE HELL ARE YOU (Original Mix - Edit)
Itsuko
OOPS! I DID IT AGAIN (Rise Team Eurobeat Bootleg)
Quake
UP N DOWN
Be With You
Mirror Prism
Honorable Mentions:
Sore wa Hanabi no you na Koi (それは花火のような恋)
Count What You Have Now
Booty Me Down
-
- Posting Member
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Sat Aug 30, 2008 5:32 pm
Re: BRACKET 1 - Public Review
Some disclaimers:
~Because I have limited access to a pad, some of this will be judged with
a keyboard and me "shadowing" some patterns to check if my feet would get
caught up. If that cheapens my reviews, then that's our unfortunate reality
~Some songs did not have the best offsync. This happens because we all sync
our games to our own monitors and having it be off by .010th of a second is
normal. No scores where reduced because of this, and if I mention sync issues
then please be assured I attempted to adjust this viable beforehand
~I tried to be fair and consistant with my ratings. Not all of these where played
at the same time / in the same frame of mind. I did check previous scores to
determin placements and I did end up adjusting some previous scores to be consistant,
but if it seems like I was too hard or too easy on a file compared to a different
one, it's probably because Stepmania at 1AM hits differently, y'all.
~Posting this first draft without checking for format or spelling errors because
of time restraints. Can edit this later.....oh spoilers don't work here? well fuck me
[Spoiler=BAAM]
BAAM
I love guilty pleasure pop and Korea is good on delivering that--I never get
tired of seeing a K-Pop track in a music game and this is no different.
THE PRESENTATION - Banner and background have this nice old-school comic book
vibe you use to see in the official mixes, and the inclusion of a video is
awesome. I am really jealous that Chmurek got the filesize down to 50MB as
I personally had to cut mine. It helps give the song it's own idenity that isn't
tied to the chart being X or Y. [5/5] here especially because of the video.
THE HEAVY CHART - Not overstepped, not understepped, I love the use of crossovers
and spins and feel pad files traditionally have been really hesitant to use them.
[Note from future self: These will be featured in plenty of files haha]
[so many files]
this is the exact kind of chart I would use a slower speed mod on and just play
no-bar back in the day for the fun of it. Flows with the song nicely. Possibly
overrated at an 8, but I can see the crossovers just edging it out (And it's not
like Konami was any good determining between 6s, 7s and 8s themselves haha)
I'll give high marks [9/10] for this; I don't realistically know how it could be
better unless we went full ITG here.
THE STANDARD CHART - I appriciate Chmurek putting jumps on most of the BAAMs in
the song, because otherwise this chart would be horribly generic. There was a
stretch where it just seemed a little too bare. I wonder if freezes would have
helped here, but I regonized that Chmurek was trying to keep freezes to one certain
part of the song for effect. I'm being a little too nitpicky though; I can
testify that people who play at this skill level and lower don't think much about
patterns the way some of us do. As long as the chart is on sync and doesn't trip
the player up, it's good. [8/10] no serious complaints.
TOTAL SCORE: 22 out of a possible 25
[/Spoiler]
-------
[Spoiler=Be With You]
Be With You
I've never heard this song before but damn it feels nostalgic to me. This is the
kind of music I'd unironically jam to in the car on my way to the beach.
THE PRESENTATION - Simple design that fits the retro vibe of the music. Nothing
much to comment on but it works and looks sharp on my screen so it gets a solid
[4/5] here. I appriciate that the jacket is a unique design and not a resized
banner or background. It's a shame my SKU doesn't use them.
THE HEAVY CHART - Oh boy was there a crossover revival and I just didn't hear
about it? The patterns actually tripped me up the first time I attempted them
but was much easier to properly do after you kind of know what's what. I'm a
little torn because on one hand the patterns are involved enough but on the
other, I kind of wish we had gotten 16th busts throughout this. The absence of
an Oni chart here can't be held against this one, but I still can't help but
feel parts of this could have gone just a little further. Still, Great song
and great use of the freezes to really force the crossovers for a satisfying
stage so I'll give it a high [9/10]
THE STANDARD CHART - I appriciate that the chart gives the players crossovers
in a safer enviroment, but the pattern yields to having more jumps about a third
of the way in. I don't really think all the jumps have business here, but it's
not really weighing down the file or anything. I think [7/10] is probably the
default "That was good" score, and I do think this was good.
This sim also has Double Charts but I have no real way to properly test/comment
on those. Just thought I'll mention that it's neat they where included.
TOTAL SCORE: 20/25
[/spoiler]
-----
[spoiler=Booty Me Down]
Booty Me Down
In an alternate universe where American censorship doesn't presuade Konami to shy
away from E-Rotic as their main act, Booty Me Down premiers on DDRMAX US and is
the reason every kid buys one of those shit DDR ION Metal pads on eBay for 150 bucks.
The Beatmania IIDX team learns of this more adult song selection and never censors
the Last Message video in an effort to still compete.
THE PRESENTATION - Jesus Christ that women's neck is as big as her head. also LMAO
this background is next level not what Konami would have in their games ever. I love it.
It's slightly low rezed like Lar made these or something (tsk tsk) but I'll be the last
person to deduct points for that. Point up for a unique jacket cover, but point down
for the jacket playing it safe---shoulda stuck with the weirdly drawn girl and the
booty to keep selling the vibe. [4/5]
THE HEAVY CHART - Dawg this shit is great. I'm a little on the heavy side so jumps are
always going to tire me out but these simple patterns make it more fun and less "throw
that weight around booiii" like other patterns can be. Gallops are fun and work, the
16ths are fun and keep this from feeling understepped---this just works. Reminds me of
what 4th Mix and DDRMAX would do with their charts, Fusion-Ha'd together to make some
sort of weird combonation of Love to Me and Yozora No Muko. Not entirely sure what
even could be done different for DDR stye charts, let alone if it'll even be better.
[10/10]
THE STANDARD CHART - This chart doesn't come together like the Heavy one did. Simplified
patterns like 4->3->jump->repeat clash with the half pad spins that come after it, and I
swear there's an unintentional spin right before the 100th note that tripped me up 3 times
in a row. It comes off like there wasn't really a mission for this chart beforehand which
works fine for most low level charts but since we are trying to judge 30 something files
total, we're gonna have to get picky sometimes. It's still synced, and it doesn't have
anything that makes it worth steering clear of, so [6/10] seems fair.
TOTAL POINTS: 20/25
[/spoiler]
-----
[spoiler=Count What You Have Now]
Count What You Have Now
This is another bop of a song choice and I'm happy to see some City Pop in here.
Actual DDR was pretty sparse on the genre (I can't think of a single song that really
fit the label) and this wasn't widely picked for SM back when I was active, so good
choice for a song that's a little different but still feels like it fits right in.....
...the slowdown at the end got me however and that causes The Big Sad(tm)
THE PRESENTATION - Hello Kettle, it's me the Pot; that banner looks jagged as they come.
Granted, I don't think that should determine if a file is good but I want to judge fairly
here, so it has to be mentioned. The CDTITLE is a little big for my theme, but I won't knock
points off for it---at least you have one, and I appriciate that. The artwork is very
80s inspired retrofit and works, but doesn't really speak to me. [3/5]
THE HEAVY CHART - There's a lot to like but I feel this chart is plagued but slight over-
stepping and awkward patterns. It's tought to really comment without going through the song
almost measure by measure but I feel there are several unintentional spins (clearest example
is at the end) and a few crossovers don't safely lead the player back (around the 130 to 140
combo mark). If I had to go uber sn00b and nitpick, I'd also say that I think the ending
8th note stream is slightly overstepped for what we hear. This is almost an excellent chart,
it's already damn good for someone claiming to be new to the hobby (I certainly did not make
something this fun in my first Best-Mix, and I had been charting keyboard for years prior)
and I think after this contest ThreeFish should give this some tweakin'---a few arrows swapped
around and this'll be a classic. Until then, [6/10].
THE STANDARD CHART - This is not a 5, actually this is a hair's breath from a proper HEAVY
chart. It's good stuff though, and even though it almost ventures into Karaoke steps, it
manages to avoid it and come back to what a Standard chart should ideally be. Reminds me
of the non-Boss songs from SuperNOVA 2, which is good. There is no rule that states that
a certain chart has to adhare to a difficulty range, so I won't dock points for any
preconceived notion that this is a little hard for the difficulty. As such, [7/10] seems
fair.
TOTAL SCORE: 16/20
[/spoiler]
--------
[spoiler=Fly on the Wings of Love]
Fly on the Wings of Love
Oh wow, I actually do remember this song--although I don't think it was this particular mix.
It was neat to read it's history in the readme as well.
THE PRESENTATION - The purple lettering blends in the banner in this weird way that doesn't
really work and makes it hard to read. The background is much better but with no other flourishes
in the presentation I feel a [3/5] is fair.
THE HEAVY CHART - This chart doesn't seem super focused; I'm not sure if we're following the
vocals or the flute or just the 8th notes at any time but it's simple enough to not get <too> lost.
I swear some of these 16ths should be 8ths; at around the 135 combo (the first verse) there's
this 16th that made me break combo twice and I had to really look for it on the third run.
I just wasn't feeling this one the way I was some of the others and feel it could use another
pass in the editor. [6/10]
THE ONI CHART - This one feels way better, even though I'm way too out of practice to really
nail some of these sections on foot. I'm reminded of the 9s that DDRMAX2 and EXTREME had,
which is a very good thing. Slight karaoke steps but personally it felt needed for the
varity and idenity of the chart so I'm considering it a plus. Easy [8/10]
TOTAL SCORE: 17/25
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Hallucination XXX]
Hallucination XX
Ah, the hardcore [proper genre noun here i guess] song, a stable of music games through
all ages. I find these are more fun in games like IIDX then dance games, but the community
loves them for a good reason: they absolutely get your blood pumping
THE PRESENTATION - Uses the cute girl aesthetic that works, especially sense I'm certain
it's from CrossxBeats. According to the ReadMe, the background is the cover art of the
album which explains the unrelated text. It works in concept (I mean it's the album's artwork
which normally relates to the song somehow) but here it feels kinda lazy, like "take this
png and now slap some black bars and the title in there". The ReadMe is very detailed for
the file and probably the best one so far. The inclusion of an alternate gimmick version
is nice, but I won't be judging that as it would probably just compel me to give a lower
score for being too ITG for a DDR Stepfile Tournament Although I have no doubt I'll
be switching to them exclusively after the fact, but I can't award more points for thier
inclusion now. [3/5]
THE HEAVY CHART - This was exactly the kind of chart I expected when I heard the song,
which I suppose is a solid plus for the sake of the tournament. These crossovers are
getting cheated to hell though, as I'm not near quick enough to want to do them properly.
I have a bias against 9s like this, as even in my prime stamina was the one area I
wasn't as good as my peers and this chart is a very straightforward, SuperNOVA style
stamina run, but I won't dock points for it here as it's very onbrand for a Pre-X Mix.
I kind of have to talk myself up to giving it an [8/10], but I think if it was a song
that I enjoyed as much as some of the others I would justify an 8, so I'll remove my
bias and give it here on the grounds that this song benefits from this chart and vice
versa, regardless on how I feel about either.
THE STANDARD CHART - This is kind of a retrend of what I said above, except the chart
is very obviously just toned down from the heavy one. [7/10] is my defacto score for
a chart that I like alright/think works fine so I'll award that here. Nothing wrong
or out of place, and the ending is much more fun without the AFRONOVA jumps.
As per the rules, the Edit chart was omitted from judging.
TOTAL POINTS: 18/25
[/spoiler]
[Spoiler=Itsuko]
Itsuko
This song sounds like the weirder sound of Drum and Bass the later Beatmania 5keys
and early IIDXs would have, and I'm pretty ok with it.
THE PRESENTATION - The artwork comes off as really generic which I feel bad for
saying because it seems to be an homage to theartist's other works....but you
could of told me it was an homage to ITG Customs from 2009 and it'll still work. It
doesn't make me <not> want to play it, so I'll still give it a [3/5]. Blue is my favorite
color, after all.
THE HEAVY CHART - This chart is old school, perhaps slightly too old school; the patterns
sometimes seem a little sporadic and I'm not entirely sure if every one of these crossovers
were intentional or not. The spin at the end clearly was intentional, but not sure if it
really fits? This comes off as a chart that would be in 4th or 5th and everyone would just
double-step their asses off, which does have it's own charm. Freeze steps modernize it
to a degree, but this could of probably worked without them and been a pre-Max chart.
16ths are fun, and the chart isn't so fast you can't handle what it's throwing out there.
I think I would have stepped this very diffrently, but also think it's good for what it
wanted to be so [7/10]. The repeating steps almost made me lower the score, but it's very
onbrand for the era being emulated.
THE STANDARD CHART - Tad more then I expected for the Standard chart. Other then more
doable crossovers this is your tried and true chart to a song. Hard enough to had been
an easier Heavy, so if the 16ths are too much you can get your kicks here. Not much to
really comment on here so [7/10]
TOTAL SCORE: 17/25
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Mirror Prism]
Mirror Prism
Sega Sound Team called and told us to stop stealing their retro racing jams.
THE PRESENTATION - Not a lot of varied artwork, has a bit of a 4th Mix vibe to it except
4th Mix would have chosen a worse shade and tried rendering it out in like 10 pixels.
With the sound of the song, I wish the graphics where rendered with Blast Processing but
that's a personal nit pick. This ReadMe is now the current nicest ReadMe, and as an aside:
I actually do remember that file, Spark XD [3/5]
THE HEAVY CHART - I appriciate that we have a file that's trying to use freezes creatively,
but I don't think this works. I'm not sure what's happening half the time and I swear it looks
like the file wants me to like 180 at parts. Early crossovers go nowhere, and at the 100 combo
marker the freeze pattern is either demanding too much from my overweight butt or just isn't
thought out as well as it should be. It's a shame because I like the ideas at play here: Freezes
with crossovers and maybe a spin here and there suits this very well but this chart doesn't
pull it together like it should. It's sync well, it isn't a train wreck, but it does seem a
little sloppy. [5/10]
THE STANDARD CHART - This one wasn't near as bad until whatever that spin was at around 170-ish
combo marker and then it got hella awkward hella fast. Think the same critisms apply here as
above but this is slightly better. [6/10]
TILT SCORE - [+1] Dude COMMISSIONED a new song for this contest. That's awesome. Tell your bud I
loved it.
TOTAL SCORE 15/25
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Oops! I did it Again]
Oops! I did it Again (Bootleg)
I'm glad to see the general air around Brittney Spears change back to something more positive. I
can't say I was ever a huge fan (I only know the singles and can't say I like every one of them)
but for a hot minute people were just laying on the hate for no real reason. Well ok, she was
really bad at PR but still, it was a litte much and I'm glad nostalgia is letting us enjoy her work
again. This remix was done by the stepartist, so we have a unique situation where the step artist
had a say in every aspect of the file.
THE PRESENTATION - The background videos sell the presentation and makes this fee like an official
CS Exclusive from like Max or Max2, and it put a hardcore smile on my face. I thought "all that's
missing is the DDR Dancers and this'll be exactly as Konami would have done it" right as the DDR
dancers started to pop up in the background. Banner/BG/Jacket/etc are simple and safe, but very
onbrand and with the video pulling on my nostalgia, they don't have to be anything complicated.
Is [5/5] too generous? Perhaps. Am I giving it that score anyway? Ya bet.
THE HEAVY CHART - My only complaint here is that I feel the repeating patterns at the very beginning
probably could of been something else, but otherwise this is exactly the kind of chart you'd
hope would be with a song like this if you picked it on a machine. Fun crossovers, a few easy
16th trills for flavor, freezes and jumps in all the right spots. Solid [8/10].
THE STANDARD CHART - Unlike some of the previous songs, this feels like what a standard chart should:
mostly 4ths with some 8th burst, and jumps to highlight certain beats. If BAAM's Standard is an 8,
then this also gets [8/10] with no further questions.
TILT: [+1] It's lame to award a point because a song tugs at your nostalgia but....That's what I'm going to
do. The style of remix, the backgrounds, the actual steps---it just works. Max and Max 2 CS mixes where
the hotness when I first started DDR seriously and Britney Spears was very popular and omnipotent when I
was still young and impressionable; even if I don't go out of my way to play those mixes or listen
to her songs they still leave a positive emotion with me. If this base score ties with any of my
other reviews I probably edge this one out, so an extra point seems appropriate here.
TOTAL SCORE: 22/25
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=QUAKE]
QUAKE
Not gonna lie, if this is a remix from the games it's been way too long since I've heard
the originals to pick up on it.
THE PRESENTATION - I love the ReadMe's flavor, and I love having the background videos.
I'm getting really jealous that everyone but me found a way to get their videos in
their files without going over the filesize limit. I read the ReadMe first, so when I
saw that it had a video I was half expecting QUAKE Gameplay and that didn't happen.
The vdeos are nothing but positive, though. Come to think of it, the banner doesn't
use the Quake logo/font either....is it, not suppose to remind me of the game? Aw well
Medal of Honor Underground was more my jam. [4/5]
THE HEAVY CHART - "Chaos" 16ths and triplets make this a pretty fun experience that
makes me wish I had the knees of a younger man. It's actually really fun on keyboard
even though I can't give more points for that for this contest. The speed up was hype
tho and I like that while the first half was single, melody driven notes the last part
after the speed increase was much more stamina and jump focus. [8/10]
THE STANDARD CHART - Like the Heavy Chart, but easier. Perhaps a little too hard for
Standard but I already commited to not lowering scores for that. Nothing really to
say. [7/10]
TOTAL: 19/25
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=sore wa hanabi no youna koi]
Sore Wa Hanabi no Youna Koi
Alphabetically (using Hepburn Romanization), this should be next on the songwheel, but
the romanization of the title was added so it defaults to the very bottom of the page
instead.
Allow me to use this space and be a little mean (in a non-serious, non-angry way) in a
response to the ReadMe.
It is absolutely fair to let the song choice affect your score.
I try not to. I'm pretty sure I had to admit a previous song deserved a higher score then I
really wanted to give it because the song is objectively fine and the chart fit well, but not
all songs are created equal and not all songs are suited for music games. If I submitted the
(admittedly extreme example) first 3 bars of I Love Beijing Tiananmen on loop like it's heard
in Hong Kong '97 The SNES...game..?...then I expect to get roasted for that pick. Absolutely
no one owes it to me try and look past something that has no business being here. Obviously, I
don't think Hanani no Youna koi is that bad. I don't think it's bad. I kinda like it if I'm
being honest, but preemptively trying to swat away criticism of the song choice just feels....
...not fair? Like ok clearly if someone gives really low scores across the board just because
they didn't like the genre that'll be overly shitty, but the music is kind of a big part of
the files. If a song that just doesn't connect appear in the contest then it deserves the
criticism of not connecting. Konami had to carefully pick songs and deal with the backlash of
covering Lips of an Angel: I don't see how anyone here should somehow be immunued to that.
Anyway, I don't think this is going to really be an issue in this bracket.
THE PRESENTATION - Another file with a background video--I'm extremely pleased to keep finding
these, as they where kinda rare back in the heyday (well, so was bandwidth). The animation
reminds me of the old Touhou flash animations and I thought the karaoke parody was pretty funny.
Was kind of hard to enjoy the video doing gameplay, but that's the sign of a good video.
Banner/BG/Jacket all use the same image but again, the video gives the file character so that
isn't an issue. Easy [4/5], was tempted to lower it to a 3 because a transliteration wasn't added
but I think that's probably not what's being asked about in this category. Plus, the official
games never had that feature so it's shitty to demand it here too.
THE HEAVY CHART - This is about what you'd expect when you hear the song's demo: 8th notes.
lots of 8th note streams. It's fun and reminds me of the 7s and 8s that where in
SuperNOVAs 1, 2 and DDRX. I feel like there's a bit of double stepping required for this though,
which is sorta accurate to the faster DDR song experience but still unfortunate and best
avoided. I don't think this is the worst offender though, so I'll give it a [7/10]
THE ONI CHART - Oh shit, yeah I'm in no shape to do this. On Keyboard and looking at the
chart in editor it looks fine, this was the exact type of stuff I would avoid at the arcade
around a crowd of bystanders. Composition wise, this is much tigter then the Heavy chart;
doublestepping seems to be less of an issue here and every notable part of the song is
represented holy shit that word has a lot of Es. Anyway this would of been a tournament
stable had it been in an offcial mix 10 years ago. [8/10]
TOTAL SCORE: 19/25
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Sunshine Remix]
Sunshine
If there's a 10 minute version of this song I need that shit in my Jammin' playlist now.
THE PRESENTATION - I grew up on the beach, so I appriciate the vibe this is going for.
Nothing too fancy; the graphics know what they're about and do just that. [3/5] standard score.
THE HEAVY CHART - First half felt very DDR Extreme which, looking at the ReadMe, makes total sense.
In theory I'd love the crossover section with the 16ths, but damn I'd be tired out by then
and have to cheat XD I want to give props that this has a proper crossover SECTION so that if
the player trips up, they know the pattern will happen again and anticipate it. This is
much better then just throwing a crossover or two in and then moving on IMHO, although sometimes
the song kinda forces the issue. I'm glad this one didn't, and the step artist seized the day.
The ending pushes what a 9 can do on DDR Extreme, but there's a place for that here.
If you liked So Deep and Irresissiblement then you'll probably dig this. Tad much for my feet tho.
[8/10]
THE STANDARD CHART - This is gonna out how old I am but I am way more likely to return to this
chart before the Heavy one. This is what would have been the Heavy in the older DDRs---has a very
DDRMAX License Chart feel to it. I'd probably make this Heavy and make the other one the Oni chart
if it were my call, but that's too nitpicky to affect the score. [8/10]
TOTAL SCORE: 19/25
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Umbrella Beach]
Umbrella Beach
FILE DOES NOT CONTAIN A README AS REQUIRED BY THE RULES
However, as I am unsure how to reflect this in the scores, so I won't be docking any points.
ReadMe's are overrated anyway
Owl City always seemed ripe to be featured alongside the BEMANI artist, a shame that never became
a thing either officially or in the Stepmania community.
THE PRESENTATION - I was not expecting to see The Flying Dog background in such high quality
Jesus Christ I had to end the song and restart. Like Oops!..., this is hitting my nostalgia pretty
hard. Very good editing/timing on this. Banner isn't cropped from background but very consistant.
Every choice feels like what Konami would have done for Max 2/ Extreme. [5/5]
THE HEAVY CHART - As early as the 28th step, we got what seems to be mandatory double-stepping. It's
a consistant issue along with maybe too many crossover for the song/difficulty that this is trying
to be. I think this probably needed more time to smooth it out and switch a few of the notes around.
[6/10] because I think this is slightly better then Mirror Prism (the slower pace and lack of any real
voltage certainly makes it less of an issue) but not by much.
THE STANDARD CHART - There's not much to really say here. No issues, no fanfare. [7/10] is the score
for charts that do the job and do it well enough.
TOTAL SCORE: 18/25
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Up n Down]
Up n Down
I don't really know Charlie XCX's discog or whatever, but if this is what she normally sounds like
then I'm a little surprised that this stuff hasn't worked it's way into more music games.
I won't pretend like I'll ever listen to this outside of Stepmania, but it's pretty fun sounding
and that goes a long way sometimes. Anyway, shout outs to a fellow BEST-MIX 5 contestent that went
misunderstood---Our files wheren't <that> bad T-T
THE PRESENTATION - I am running out of ways to say that the file does contain the requirments and
that gets you a shinny [3/5]. They admittedly look pretty generic but not so much that I would
consider lowering the base score.
THE HEAVY CHART - Will-i-Am thinks that we can't complain about double stepping on heavy.
Will-i-Am is very, very wrong
Except that isn't really a big issue with this chart. It happens but not near as bad as some of the
other songs. This is another chart that tries to use freezes to spice it up and I think it's working
as the step artist intended it to work. There are a few nitpicks (that first 16th jump feels weird
even on the replays) but te big issue is that the difficulty isn't consistant: The first part feels
somehow understepped, then we have the crossover with freezes and those are challenging but then the
16th trills start poppin' off and the chart is no longer playing with the logic that it started off
with. I much rather it either crank it up to a high 9 all the way or tone it down to an 8 instead,
leaving the crossovers as the main challenge. I can absolutely sympathize here as I'm constantly making
the last part of my files way harder then the rest of it; I think Konami was guilty of this too.
This realistically is probably a high 6, but I'll go ahead and give it a [7/10] because I think part
of me not feeling this is just that I don't have the body for charts like these anymore (it's why I
play IIDX now lol) although I do think this could have benefitted from another pass or two.
THE STANDARD CHART - These patterns are a little much for a 6-footer, but I guess they ain't offensive.
Was that a spin at the end? I kind of messed it up and I don't really wanna go back and check. Ok I
checked anyway and no, just kinda weird double stepping. I probably like this just as much as I do
the Heavy chart but I'm more inclined to not cut it as much slack because of it not being a 6,
so [6/10]
TOTAL SCORE: 16/25
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=The Best Song in the Bracket]
Who The Hell Are You?
This shit has been my jam for years and if that bias makes you think my score isn't pure then
so be it. It's a dirty, filthy score that's been getting down to the tune of Madison Avenue.
Also this is a good cut of the song and as someone who also had to edit their entry, I see you
*Raises Fist in Brotherhood*
There will be a point for the TILT category, it will be for this reason. You have been warned
THE PRESENTATION - How in the blue blazes do people keep getting the movie file so small? I swear
my video was like 100 MBs on it's own. Song uses a cut of the actual music video and that's awesome
in itself, and the banner/bg/jacket ain't just different crop jobs of the same image so that's neat.
The video flashes a lot. I'm in no danger of getting a seizer but this might call for a warning all
the same? The original video had the flashes but I don't remember them being this bad.
Might just be overthinking it, especially since you can darken the movies in newer Stepmanias and
turn them off if it absolutely came to it. [4/5]
THE HEAVY CHART - Take notes folks: This is how you make a song that evolves around crossovers and
make it casual fun. This would have been played to death when I was at the arcade as a kid because
I just find this sort of thing fun. Add just a dash of gallops for flavor and *chef's kiss* we got
what ever license song strived to be in the early 2000s: Easy, fun, ideal for warming up or cooling
off after a long session. What I don't really understand is the repeating notes of three that happen
several times. I don't know what else to put there to still keep it a 7 but I feel...wait that's an 8?
That is no 8. That's way too easy for an 8 when crossovers are that consistant. Speaking of 8s, [8/10].
It's probably gonna be my favorite file in this bracket, but the only other 9 I have of writing this
particular review is BAAM! and I think BAAM!'s chart just sells the song so much better and is better
composed overall, so I can't really justify giving it higher then an 8.
THE STANDARD CHART - This is probably a 4 and not a 5. Nothing really special here, probably
could have been a litte adventurous with the patterns. Almost rated this a 6 but it doesn't
deserve to be in the same category as the other 6s so it can have a very optimistic [7/10] standard
"did the job" score.
TILT - +1 because when I was a little girl my momma sat me down and told me
told me all abou the world
TOTAL SCORE: 19/25
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=World Coming Down]
World Coming Down
It's past midnight as I write this. I think I forgot to eat and I have one last song left before I pretend I
rested enough for work tomorrow. I highlight this song, hear the demo, see the BPMs, look at the difficulty,
and realize there is no way I am about to enjoy myself. Alright lets get this over with...
THE PRESENTATION - A set of Banner/Background/Jacket filling out the requirment. Not near as generic as some
of these have been but still probably a [3/5]
THE HEAVT CHART - This was not near as bad as I thought it would be. I feel parts of the slowdown are kinda
like arrow salad and don't really follow as closely as I'd like though but that may be on me. I kinda wish
this wasn't set to 222 BPM as I feel the song isn't actually going that fast, but I get a step artist can
play with speeds for effects, I just wouldn't make this particular call. This is a really easy 10; I feel
some of the 9 where a harder challenge physical where the speed changes is what's making this a pain.
[7/10]
THE ONI CHART - See this was what I was dreading, lol
The only complaint I'll present here is that the mini jacks are not welcomed by me. They also don't seem to
have like a tangible logic to them--I couldn't figure out how to predict them or why they where there. The first
one set a expectation for the opening 8 or so bars but then it didn't repeat with the rest of the pattern so
I wondered if it was a mistake. I feel the rest of the file answered for me.
This is clearly meant to be one of the boss songs, and that means it's gotta be tough and for the most part
I think this earns it's 10-footer rating. Those minijacks tho, I don't like'em. It's really the only
sin that this chart has objectively though. [7/10]
TOTAL SCORE: 17/25
[/spoiler]
Overall as a pack this is very good stuff--way more positives then negatives. Assuming the base, default,
"inoffensively average" score would be 3+7+7=17/25, most of these score above average so that's awesome.
I assume, since this is a discussion thread that we are allowed to discuss and debate these reviews and possibly amend them before
the deadline? If so, give me feedback on these reviews and I will happily engage anyone on them. After sleep
and work
and more sleep.
~Because I have limited access to a pad, some of this will be judged with
a keyboard and me "shadowing" some patterns to check if my feet would get
caught up. If that cheapens my reviews, then that's our unfortunate reality
~Some songs did not have the best offsync. This happens because we all sync
our games to our own monitors and having it be off by .010th of a second is
normal. No scores where reduced because of this, and if I mention sync issues
then please be assured I attempted to adjust this viable beforehand
~I tried to be fair and consistant with my ratings. Not all of these where played
at the same time / in the same frame of mind. I did check previous scores to
determin placements and I did end up adjusting some previous scores to be consistant,
but if it seems like I was too hard or too easy on a file compared to a different
one, it's probably because Stepmania at 1AM hits differently, y'all.
~Posting this first draft without checking for format or spelling errors because
of time restraints. Can edit this later.....oh spoilers don't work here? well fuck me
[Spoiler=BAAM]
BAAM
I love guilty pleasure pop and Korea is good on delivering that--I never get
tired of seeing a K-Pop track in a music game and this is no different.
THE PRESENTATION - Banner and background have this nice old-school comic book
vibe you use to see in the official mixes, and the inclusion of a video is
awesome. I am really jealous that Chmurek got the filesize down to 50MB as
I personally had to cut mine. It helps give the song it's own idenity that isn't
tied to the chart being X or Y. [5/5] here especially because of the video.
THE HEAVY CHART - Not overstepped, not understepped, I love the use of crossovers
and spins and feel pad files traditionally have been really hesitant to use them.
[Note from future self: These will be featured in plenty of files haha]
[so many files]
this is the exact kind of chart I would use a slower speed mod on and just play
no-bar back in the day for the fun of it. Flows with the song nicely. Possibly
overrated at an 8, but I can see the crossovers just edging it out (And it's not
like Konami was any good determining between 6s, 7s and 8s themselves haha)
I'll give high marks [9/10] for this; I don't realistically know how it could be
better unless we went full ITG here.
THE STANDARD CHART - I appriciate Chmurek putting jumps on most of the BAAMs in
the song, because otherwise this chart would be horribly generic. There was a
stretch where it just seemed a little too bare. I wonder if freezes would have
helped here, but I regonized that Chmurek was trying to keep freezes to one certain
part of the song for effect. I'm being a little too nitpicky though; I can
testify that people who play at this skill level and lower don't think much about
patterns the way some of us do. As long as the chart is on sync and doesn't trip
the player up, it's good. [8/10] no serious complaints.
TOTAL SCORE: 22 out of a possible 25
[/Spoiler]
-------
[Spoiler=Be With You]
Be With You
I've never heard this song before but damn it feels nostalgic to me. This is the
kind of music I'd unironically jam to in the car on my way to the beach.
THE PRESENTATION - Simple design that fits the retro vibe of the music. Nothing
much to comment on but it works and looks sharp on my screen so it gets a solid
[4/5] here. I appriciate that the jacket is a unique design and not a resized
banner or background. It's a shame my SKU doesn't use them.
THE HEAVY CHART - Oh boy was there a crossover revival and I just didn't hear
about it? The patterns actually tripped me up the first time I attempted them
but was much easier to properly do after you kind of know what's what. I'm a
little torn because on one hand the patterns are involved enough but on the
other, I kind of wish we had gotten 16th busts throughout this. The absence of
an Oni chart here can't be held against this one, but I still can't help but
feel parts of this could have gone just a little further. Still, Great song
and great use of the freezes to really force the crossovers for a satisfying
stage so I'll give it a high [9/10]
THE STANDARD CHART - I appriciate that the chart gives the players crossovers
in a safer enviroment, but the pattern yields to having more jumps about a third
of the way in. I don't really think all the jumps have business here, but it's
not really weighing down the file or anything. I think [7/10] is probably the
default "That was good" score, and I do think this was good.
This sim also has Double Charts but I have no real way to properly test/comment
on those. Just thought I'll mention that it's neat they where included.
TOTAL SCORE: 20/25
[/spoiler]
-----
[spoiler=Booty Me Down]
Booty Me Down
In an alternate universe where American censorship doesn't presuade Konami to shy
away from E-Rotic as their main act, Booty Me Down premiers on DDRMAX US and is
the reason every kid buys one of those shit DDR ION Metal pads on eBay for 150 bucks.
The Beatmania IIDX team learns of this more adult song selection and never censors
the Last Message video in an effort to still compete.
THE PRESENTATION - Jesus Christ that women's neck is as big as her head. also LMAO
this background is next level not what Konami would have in their games ever. I love it.
It's slightly low rezed like Lar made these or something (tsk tsk) but I'll be the last
person to deduct points for that. Point up for a unique jacket cover, but point down
for the jacket playing it safe---shoulda stuck with the weirdly drawn girl and the
booty to keep selling the vibe. [4/5]
THE HEAVY CHART - Dawg this shit is great. I'm a little on the heavy side so jumps are
always going to tire me out but these simple patterns make it more fun and less "throw
that weight around booiii" like other patterns can be. Gallops are fun and work, the
16ths are fun and keep this from feeling understepped---this just works. Reminds me of
what 4th Mix and DDRMAX would do with their charts, Fusion-Ha'd together to make some
sort of weird combonation of Love to Me and Yozora No Muko. Not entirely sure what
even could be done different for DDR stye charts, let alone if it'll even be better.
[10/10]
THE STANDARD CHART - This chart doesn't come together like the Heavy one did. Simplified
patterns like 4->3->jump->repeat clash with the half pad spins that come after it, and I
swear there's an unintentional spin right before the 100th note that tripped me up 3 times
in a row. It comes off like there wasn't really a mission for this chart beforehand which
works fine for most low level charts but since we are trying to judge 30 something files
total, we're gonna have to get picky sometimes. It's still synced, and it doesn't have
anything that makes it worth steering clear of, so [6/10] seems fair.
TOTAL POINTS: 20/25
[/spoiler]
-----
[spoiler=Count What You Have Now]
Count What You Have Now
This is another bop of a song choice and I'm happy to see some City Pop in here.
Actual DDR was pretty sparse on the genre (I can't think of a single song that really
fit the label) and this wasn't widely picked for SM back when I was active, so good
choice for a song that's a little different but still feels like it fits right in.....
...the slowdown at the end got me however and that causes The Big Sad(tm)
THE PRESENTATION - Hello Kettle, it's me the Pot; that banner looks jagged as they come.
Granted, I don't think that should determine if a file is good but I want to judge fairly
here, so it has to be mentioned. The CDTITLE is a little big for my theme, but I won't knock
points off for it---at least you have one, and I appriciate that. The artwork is very
80s inspired retrofit and works, but doesn't really speak to me. [3/5]
THE HEAVY CHART - There's a lot to like but I feel this chart is plagued but slight over-
stepping and awkward patterns. It's tought to really comment without going through the song
almost measure by measure but I feel there are several unintentional spins (clearest example
is at the end) and a few crossovers don't safely lead the player back (around the 130 to 140
combo mark). If I had to go uber sn00b and nitpick, I'd also say that I think the ending
8th note stream is slightly overstepped for what we hear. This is almost an excellent chart,
it's already damn good for someone claiming to be new to the hobby (I certainly did not make
something this fun in my first Best-Mix, and I had been charting keyboard for years prior)
and I think after this contest ThreeFish should give this some tweakin'---a few arrows swapped
around and this'll be a classic. Until then, [6/10].
THE STANDARD CHART - This is not a 5, actually this is a hair's breath from a proper HEAVY
chart. It's good stuff though, and even though it almost ventures into Karaoke steps, it
manages to avoid it and come back to what a Standard chart should ideally be. Reminds me
of the non-Boss songs from SuperNOVA 2, which is good. There is no rule that states that
a certain chart has to adhare to a difficulty range, so I won't dock points for any
preconceived notion that this is a little hard for the difficulty. As such, [7/10] seems
fair.
TOTAL SCORE: 16/20
[/spoiler]
--------
[spoiler=Fly on the Wings of Love]
Fly on the Wings of Love
Oh wow, I actually do remember this song--although I don't think it was this particular mix.
It was neat to read it's history in the readme as well.
THE PRESENTATION - The purple lettering blends in the banner in this weird way that doesn't
really work and makes it hard to read. The background is much better but with no other flourishes
in the presentation I feel a [3/5] is fair.
THE HEAVY CHART - This chart doesn't seem super focused; I'm not sure if we're following the
vocals or the flute or just the 8th notes at any time but it's simple enough to not get <too> lost.
I swear some of these 16ths should be 8ths; at around the 135 combo (the first verse) there's
this 16th that made me break combo twice and I had to really look for it on the third run.
I just wasn't feeling this one the way I was some of the others and feel it could use another
pass in the editor. [6/10]
THE ONI CHART - This one feels way better, even though I'm way too out of practice to really
nail some of these sections on foot. I'm reminded of the 9s that DDRMAX2 and EXTREME had,
which is a very good thing. Slight karaoke steps but personally it felt needed for the
varity and idenity of the chart so I'm considering it a plus. Easy [8/10]
TOTAL SCORE: 17/25
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Hallucination XXX]
Hallucination XX
Ah, the hardcore [proper genre noun here i guess] song, a stable of music games through
all ages. I find these are more fun in games like IIDX then dance games, but the community
loves them for a good reason: they absolutely get your blood pumping
THE PRESENTATION - Uses the cute girl aesthetic that works, especially sense I'm certain
it's from CrossxBeats. According to the ReadMe, the background is the cover art of the
album which explains the unrelated text. It works in concept (I mean it's the album's artwork
which normally relates to the song somehow) but here it feels kinda lazy, like "take this
png and now slap some black bars and the title in there". The ReadMe is very detailed for
the file and probably the best one so far. The inclusion of an alternate gimmick version
is nice, but I won't be judging that as it would probably just compel me to give a lower
score for being too ITG for a DDR Stepfile Tournament Although I have no doubt I'll
be switching to them exclusively after the fact, but I can't award more points for thier
inclusion now. [3/5]
THE HEAVY CHART - This was exactly the kind of chart I expected when I heard the song,
which I suppose is a solid plus for the sake of the tournament. These crossovers are
getting cheated to hell though, as I'm not near quick enough to want to do them properly.
I have a bias against 9s like this, as even in my prime stamina was the one area I
wasn't as good as my peers and this chart is a very straightforward, SuperNOVA style
stamina run, but I won't dock points for it here as it's very onbrand for a Pre-X Mix.
I kind of have to talk myself up to giving it an [8/10], but I think if it was a song
that I enjoyed as much as some of the others I would justify an 8, so I'll remove my
bias and give it here on the grounds that this song benefits from this chart and vice
versa, regardless on how I feel about either.
THE STANDARD CHART - This is kind of a retrend of what I said above, except the chart
is very obviously just toned down from the heavy one. [7/10] is my defacto score for
a chart that I like alright/think works fine so I'll award that here. Nothing wrong
or out of place, and the ending is much more fun without the AFRONOVA jumps.
As per the rules, the Edit chart was omitted from judging.
TOTAL POINTS: 18/25
[/spoiler]
[Spoiler=Itsuko]
Itsuko
This song sounds like the weirder sound of Drum and Bass the later Beatmania 5keys
and early IIDXs would have, and I'm pretty ok with it.
THE PRESENTATION - The artwork comes off as really generic which I feel bad for
saying because it seems to be an homage to theartist's other works....but you
could of told me it was an homage to ITG Customs from 2009 and it'll still work. It
doesn't make me <not> want to play it, so I'll still give it a [3/5]. Blue is my favorite
color, after all.
THE HEAVY CHART - This chart is old school, perhaps slightly too old school; the patterns
sometimes seem a little sporadic and I'm not entirely sure if every one of these crossovers
were intentional or not. The spin at the end clearly was intentional, but not sure if it
really fits? This comes off as a chart that would be in 4th or 5th and everyone would just
double-step their asses off, which does have it's own charm. Freeze steps modernize it
to a degree, but this could of probably worked without them and been a pre-Max chart.
16ths are fun, and the chart isn't so fast you can't handle what it's throwing out there.
I think I would have stepped this very diffrently, but also think it's good for what it
wanted to be so [7/10]. The repeating steps almost made me lower the score, but it's very
onbrand for the era being emulated.
THE STANDARD CHART - Tad more then I expected for the Standard chart. Other then more
doable crossovers this is your tried and true chart to a song. Hard enough to had been
an easier Heavy, so if the 16ths are too much you can get your kicks here. Not much to
really comment on here so [7/10]
TOTAL SCORE: 17/25
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Mirror Prism]
Mirror Prism
Sega Sound Team called and told us to stop stealing their retro racing jams.
THE PRESENTATION - Not a lot of varied artwork, has a bit of a 4th Mix vibe to it except
4th Mix would have chosen a worse shade and tried rendering it out in like 10 pixels.
With the sound of the song, I wish the graphics where rendered with Blast Processing but
that's a personal nit pick. This ReadMe is now the current nicest ReadMe, and as an aside:
I actually do remember that file, Spark XD [3/5]
THE HEAVY CHART - I appriciate that we have a file that's trying to use freezes creatively,
but I don't think this works. I'm not sure what's happening half the time and I swear it looks
like the file wants me to like 180 at parts. Early crossovers go nowhere, and at the 100 combo
marker the freeze pattern is either demanding too much from my overweight butt or just isn't
thought out as well as it should be. It's a shame because I like the ideas at play here: Freezes
with crossovers and maybe a spin here and there suits this very well but this chart doesn't
pull it together like it should. It's sync well, it isn't a train wreck, but it does seem a
little sloppy. [5/10]
THE STANDARD CHART - This one wasn't near as bad until whatever that spin was at around 170-ish
combo marker and then it got hella awkward hella fast. Think the same critisms apply here as
above but this is slightly better. [6/10]
TILT SCORE - [+1] Dude COMMISSIONED a new song for this contest. That's awesome. Tell your bud I
loved it.
TOTAL SCORE 15/25
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Oops! I did it Again]
Oops! I did it Again (Bootleg)
I'm glad to see the general air around Brittney Spears change back to something more positive. I
can't say I was ever a huge fan (I only know the singles and can't say I like every one of them)
but for a hot minute people were just laying on the hate for no real reason. Well ok, she was
really bad at PR but still, it was a litte much and I'm glad nostalgia is letting us enjoy her work
again. This remix was done by the stepartist, so we have a unique situation where the step artist
had a say in every aspect of the file.
THE PRESENTATION - The background videos sell the presentation and makes this fee like an official
CS Exclusive from like Max or Max2, and it put a hardcore smile on my face. I thought "all that's
missing is the DDR Dancers and this'll be exactly as Konami would have done it" right as the DDR
dancers started to pop up in the background. Banner/BG/Jacket/etc are simple and safe, but very
onbrand and with the video pulling on my nostalgia, they don't have to be anything complicated.
Is [5/5] too generous? Perhaps. Am I giving it that score anyway? Ya bet.
THE HEAVY CHART - My only complaint here is that I feel the repeating patterns at the very beginning
probably could of been something else, but otherwise this is exactly the kind of chart you'd
hope would be with a song like this if you picked it on a machine. Fun crossovers, a few easy
16th trills for flavor, freezes and jumps in all the right spots. Solid [8/10].
THE STANDARD CHART - Unlike some of the previous songs, this feels like what a standard chart should:
mostly 4ths with some 8th burst, and jumps to highlight certain beats. If BAAM's Standard is an 8,
then this also gets [8/10] with no further questions.
TILT: [+1] It's lame to award a point because a song tugs at your nostalgia but....That's what I'm going to
do. The style of remix, the backgrounds, the actual steps---it just works. Max and Max 2 CS mixes where
the hotness when I first started DDR seriously and Britney Spears was very popular and omnipotent when I
was still young and impressionable; even if I don't go out of my way to play those mixes or listen
to her songs they still leave a positive emotion with me. If this base score ties with any of my
other reviews I probably edge this one out, so an extra point seems appropriate here.
TOTAL SCORE: 22/25
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=QUAKE]
QUAKE
Not gonna lie, if this is a remix from the games it's been way too long since I've heard
the originals to pick up on it.
THE PRESENTATION - I love the ReadMe's flavor, and I love having the background videos.
I'm getting really jealous that everyone but me found a way to get their videos in
their files without going over the filesize limit. I read the ReadMe first, so when I
saw that it had a video I was half expecting QUAKE Gameplay and that didn't happen.
The vdeos are nothing but positive, though. Come to think of it, the banner doesn't
use the Quake logo/font either....is it, not suppose to remind me of the game? Aw well
Medal of Honor Underground was more my jam. [4/5]
THE HEAVY CHART - "Chaos" 16ths and triplets make this a pretty fun experience that
makes me wish I had the knees of a younger man. It's actually really fun on keyboard
even though I can't give more points for that for this contest. The speed up was hype
tho and I like that while the first half was single, melody driven notes the last part
after the speed increase was much more stamina and jump focus. [8/10]
THE STANDARD CHART - Like the Heavy Chart, but easier. Perhaps a little too hard for
Standard but I already commited to not lowering scores for that. Nothing really to
say. [7/10]
TOTAL: 19/25
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=sore wa hanabi no youna koi]
Sore Wa Hanabi no Youna Koi
Alphabetically (using Hepburn Romanization), this should be next on the songwheel, but
the romanization of the title was added so it defaults to the very bottom of the page
instead.
Allow me to use this space and be a little mean (in a non-serious, non-angry way) in a
response to the ReadMe.
It is absolutely fair to let the song choice affect your score.
I try not to. I'm pretty sure I had to admit a previous song deserved a higher score then I
really wanted to give it because the song is objectively fine and the chart fit well, but not
all songs are created equal and not all songs are suited for music games. If I submitted the
(admittedly extreme example) first 3 bars of I Love Beijing Tiananmen on loop like it's heard
in Hong Kong '97 The SNES...game..?...then I expect to get roasted for that pick. Absolutely
no one owes it to me try and look past something that has no business being here. Obviously, I
don't think Hanani no Youna koi is that bad. I don't think it's bad. I kinda like it if I'm
being honest, but preemptively trying to swat away criticism of the song choice just feels....
...not fair? Like ok clearly if someone gives really low scores across the board just because
they didn't like the genre that'll be overly shitty, but the music is kind of a big part of
the files. If a song that just doesn't connect appear in the contest then it deserves the
criticism of not connecting. Konami had to carefully pick songs and deal with the backlash of
covering Lips of an Angel: I don't see how anyone here should somehow be immunued to that.
Anyway, I don't think this is going to really be an issue in this bracket.
THE PRESENTATION - Another file with a background video--I'm extremely pleased to keep finding
these, as they where kinda rare back in the heyday (well, so was bandwidth). The animation
reminds me of the old Touhou flash animations and I thought the karaoke parody was pretty funny.
Was kind of hard to enjoy the video doing gameplay, but that's the sign of a good video.
Banner/BG/Jacket all use the same image but again, the video gives the file character so that
isn't an issue. Easy [4/5], was tempted to lower it to a 3 because a transliteration wasn't added
but I think that's probably not what's being asked about in this category. Plus, the official
games never had that feature so it's shitty to demand it here too.
THE HEAVY CHART - This is about what you'd expect when you hear the song's demo: 8th notes.
lots of 8th note streams. It's fun and reminds me of the 7s and 8s that where in
SuperNOVAs 1, 2 and DDRX. I feel like there's a bit of double stepping required for this though,
which is sorta accurate to the faster DDR song experience but still unfortunate and best
avoided. I don't think this is the worst offender though, so I'll give it a [7/10]
THE ONI CHART - Oh shit, yeah I'm in no shape to do this. On Keyboard and looking at the
chart in editor it looks fine, this was the exact type of stuff I would avoid at the arcade
around a crowd of bystanders. Composition wise, this is much tigter then the Heavy chart;
doublestepping seems to be less of an issue here and every notable part of the song is
represented holy shit that word has a lot of Es. Anyway this would of been a tournament
stable had it been in an offcial mix 10 years ago. [8/10]
TOTAL SCORE: 19/25
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Sunshine Remix]
Sunshine
If there's a 10 minute version of this song I need that shit in my Jammin' playlist now.
THE PRESENTATION - I grew up on the beach, so I appriciate the vibe this is going for.
Nothing too fancy; the graphics know what they're about and do just that. [3/5] standard score.
THE HEAVY CHART - First half felt very DDR Extreme which, looking at the ReadMe, makes total sense.
In theory I'd love the crossover section with the 16ths, but damn I'd be tired out by then
and have to cheat XD I want to give props that this has a proper crossover SECTION so that if
the player trips up, they know the pattern will happen again and anticipate it. This is
much better then just throwing a crossover or two in and then moving on IMHO, although sometimes
the song kinda forces the issue. I'm glad this one didn't, and the step artist seized the day.
The ending pushes what a 9 can do on DDR Extreme, but there's a place for that here.
If you liked So Deep and Irresissiblement then you'll probably dig this. Tad much for my feet tho.
[8/10]
THE STANDARD CHART - This is gonna out how old I am but I am way more likely to return to this
chart before the Heavy one. This is what would have been the Heavy in the older DDRs---has a very
DDRMAX License Chart feel to it. I'd probably make this Heavy and make the other one the Oni chart
if it were my call, but that's too nitpicky to affect the score. [8/10]
TOTAL SCORE: 19/25
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Umbrella Beach]
Umbrella Beach
FILE DOES NOT CONTAIN A README AS REQUIRED BY THE RULES
However, as I am unsure how to reflect this in the scores, so I won't be docking any points.
ReadMe's are overrated anyway
Owl City always seemed ripe to be featured alongside the BEMANI artist, a shame that never became
a thing either officially or in the Stepmania community.
THE PRESENTATION - I was not expecting to see The Flying Dog background in such high quality
Jesus Christ I had to end the song and restart. Like Oops!..., this is hitting my nostalgia pretty
hard. Very good editing/timing on this. Banner isn't cropped from background but very consistant.
Every choice feels like what Konami would have done for Max 2/ Extreme. [5/5]
THE HEAVY CHART - As early as the 28th step, we got what seems to be mandatory double-stepping. It's
a consistant issue along with maybe too many crossover for the song/difficulty that this is trying
to be. I think this probably needed more time to smooth it out and switch a few of the notes around.
[6/10] because I think this is slightly better then Mirror Prism (the slower pace and lack of any real
voltage certainly makes it less of an issue) but not by much.
THE STANDARD CHART - There's not much to really say here. No issues, no fanfare. [7/10] is the score
for charts that do the job and do it well enough.
TOTAL SCORE: 18/25
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Up n Down]
Up n Down
I don't really know Charlie XCX's discog or whatever, but if this is what she normally sounds like
then I'm a little surprised that this stuff hasn't worked it's way into more music games.
I won't pretend like I'll ever listen to this outside of Stepmania, but it's pretty fun sounding
and that goes a long way sometimes. Anyway, shout outs to a fellow BEST-MIX 5 contestent that went
misunderstood---Our files wheren't <that> bad T-T
THE PRESENTATION - I am running out of ways to say that the file does contain the requirments and
that gets you a shinny [3/5]. They admittedly look pretty generic but not so much that I would
consider lowering the base score.
THE HEAVY CHART - Will-i-Am thinks that we can't complain about double stepping on heavy.
Will-i-Am is very, very wrong
Except that isn't really a big issue with this chart. It happens but not near as bad as some of the
other songs. This is another chart that tries to use freezes to spice it up and I think it's working
as the step artist intended it to work. There are a few nitpicks (that first 16th jump feels weird
even on the replays) but te big issue is that the difficulty isn't consistant: The first part feels
somehow understepped, then we have the crossover with freezes and those are challenging but then the
16th trills start poppin' off and the chart is no longer playing with the logic that it started off
with. I much rather it either crank it up to a high 9 all the way or tone it down to an 8 instead,
leaving the crossovers as the main challenge. I can absolutely sympathize here as I'm constantly making
the last part of my files way harder then the rest of it; I think Konami was guilty of this too.
This realistically is probably a high 6, but I'll go ahead and give it a [7/10] because I think part
of me not feeling this is just that I don't have the body for charts like these anymore (it's why I
play IIDX now lol) although I do think this could have benefitted from another pass or two.
THE STANDARD CHART - These patterns are a little much for a 6-footer, but I guess they ain't offensive.
Was that a spin at the end? I kind of messed it up and I don't really wanna go back and check. Ok I
checked anyway and no, just kinda weird double stepping. I probably like this just as much as I do
the Heavy chart but I'm more inclined to not cut it as much slack because of it not being a 6,
so [6/10]
TOTAL SCORE: 16/25
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=The Best Song in the Bracket]
Who The Hell Are You?
This shit has been my jam for years and if that bias makes you think my score isn't pure then
so be it. It's a dirty, filthy score that's been getting down to the tune of Madison Avenue.
Also this is a good cut of the song and as someone who also had to edit their entry, I see you
*Raises Fist in Brotherhood*
There will be a point for the TILT category, it will be for this reason. You have been warned
THE PRESENTATION - How in the blue blazes do people keep getting the movie file so small? I swear
my video was like 100 MBs on it's own. Song uses a cut of the actual music video and that's awesome
in itself, and the banner/bg/jacket ain't just different crop jobs of the same image so that's neat.
The video flashes a lot. I'm in no danger of getting a seizer but this might call for a warning all
the same? The original video had the flashes but I don't remember them being this bad.
Might just be overthinking it, especially since you can darken the movies in newer Stepmanias and
turn them off if it absolutely came to it. [4/5]
THE HEAVY CHART - Take notes folks: This is how you make a song that evolves around crossovers and
make it casual fun. This would have been played to death when I was at the arcade as a kid because
I just find this sort of thing fun. Add just a dash of gallops for flavor and *chef's kiss* we got
what ever license song strived to be in the early 2000s: Easy, fun, ideal for warming up or cooling
off after a long session. What I don't really understand is the repeating notes of three that happen
several times. I don't know what else to put there to still keep it a 7 but I feel...wait that's an 8?
That is no 8. That's way too easy for an 8 when crossovers are that consistant. Speaking of 8s, [8/10].
It's probably gonna be my favorite file in this bracket, but the only other 9 I have of writing this
particular review is BAAM! and I think BAAM!'s chart just sells the song so much better and is better
composed overall, so I can't really justify giving it higher then an 8.
THE STANDARD CHART - This is probably a 4 and not a 5. Nothing really special here, probably
could have been a litte adventurous with the patterns. Almost rated this a 6 but it doesn't
deserve to be in the same category as the other 6s so it can have a very optimistic [7/10] standard
"did the job" score.
TILT - +1 because when I was a little girl my momma sat me down and told me
told me all abou the world
TOTAL SCORE: 19/25
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=World Coming Down]
World Coming Down
It's past midnight as I write this. I think I forgot to eat and I have one last song left before I pretend I
rested enough for work tomorrow. I highlight this song, hear the demo, see the BPMs, look at the difficulty,
and realize there is no way I am about to enjoy myself. Alright lets get this over with...
THE PRESENTATION - A set of Banner/Background/Jacket filling out the requirment. Not near as generic as some
of these have been but still probably a [3/5]
THE HEAVT CHART - This was not near as bad as I thought it would be. I feel parts of the slowdown are kinda
like arrow salad and don't really follow as closely as I'd like though but that may be on me. I kinda wish
this wasn't set to 222 BPM as I feel the song isn't actually going that fast, but I get a step artist can
play with speeds for effects, I just wouldn't make this particular call. This is a really easy 10; I feel
some of the 9 where a harder challenge physical where the speed changes is what's making this a pain.
[7/10]
THE ONI CHART - See this was what I was dreading, lol
The only complaint I'll present here is that the mini jacks are not welcomed by me. They also don't seem to
have like a tangible logic to them--I couldn't figure out how to predict them or why they where there. The first
one set a expectation for the opening 8 or so bars but then it didn't repeat with the rest of the pattern so
I wondered if it was a mistake. I feel the rest of the file answered for me.
This is clearly meant to be one of the boss songs, and that means it's gotta be tough and for the most part
I think this earns it's 10-footer rating. Those minijacks tho, I don't like'em. It's really the only
sin that this chart has objectively though. [7/10]
TOTAL SCORE: 17/25
[/spoiler]
Overall as a pack this is very good stuff--way more positives then negatives. Assuming the base, default,
"inoffensively average" score would be 3+7+7=17/25, most of these score above average so that's awesome.
I assume, since this is a discussion thread that we are allowed to discuss and debate these reviews and possibly amend them before
the deadline? If so, give me feedback on these reviews and I will happily engage anyone on them. After sleep
and work
and more sleep.
-
- Posting Member
- Posts: 31
- Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2008 8:11 pm
- Location: Near P'cola, Fl.
Re: BRACKET 1 - Public Review
MixMasterLar wrote:Booty Me Down
TOTAL POINTS: 20/25[/spoiler]
Thanks, I'm really glad you enjoyed it!
All these were played on pad, minus the level 10s.
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BAAAM // 모모랜드 12/15
HEAVY 8/10
I usually find myself thinking of KPOP as a Pump It Up type thing, but this was a really fun chart! I loved the use of triple jacks in the chorus, I enjoyed that the main melody in the begining was a mixture of switching between the red/yellow/blue notes, and gallops (had this been new DDR, it'd be gallops all the way through for difficulty) the only feedback I could give is the part following the spins where there was some 8th runs which just patterns with 2 arrows (either LULULULUL RURURUR or LRLRLRLRL) those parts felt a little unimaginative/boring, but they don't last too long.
Presentation 3/5
The font is the same from the video which I like, I don't find the bevel used very appealing.
Tilt +1
I enjoyed the track!
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Be With You // Atomic Kitten 11/15
Expert 6/10
This felt somewhat nostalgic, been a while since I've heard it. After playing through the first time, I felt like my right foot was doing a lot more work than the left, or that it would always be on a freeze arrow, then after playing a 2nd time, it wasn't so much that but I felt that each time I would crossover or rotate, I found my left foot would always be on the down arrow, and my right foot would always be on the up arrow, it felt a bit unbalanced/samey. I really enjoyed the audio patterns that were stepped though, I don't think there's much that can be done with a song like this.
Presentation 4/5
I like the fonts and that the Atomic Kitten logo is used, was a bit simple but it works.
Tilt +1
I thought this was a good choice to step.
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COUNT WHAT YOU HAVE NOW // VANTAGE 10/15
Expert 6/10
Pretty good chart overall, I wasn't a fan of the double steps around bars 14/15, they felt a bit awkward for me playing on pad, the freeze spins also threw me off a little (I'm not good with spins at this speed) I like the arrows switching between the music and vocals, it has nice fluidity.
Presentation 3/5
I really like the art that was used, but I don't think much was done with it, tho the banner looks like some of the shapes were created
Tilt +1
Good song choice.
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FLY ON THE WINGS OF LOVE // XTM & DJ CHUCKY PRESENTS ANIA 11/15
Expert 8/10
The stepchart was very vocal heavy, but switched between the vocals and music very nicely. I think this is probably the best chart of this song? I remember some being awful years back, but this was good! the opening reminded me of classic DDR charts, and also reminded me of some fellow community member charts that I enjoy
had some very fun parts. I tried challenge also, but it was a bit over complicated, I think you tried to do too much with it.Presentation 2/5
When you make artwork, try not to place the text too high or too low, it can sometimes get covered by the interface or step area, I think it's always good to have text in a place someone can read the title of the song before the arrows start coming up. I like the colors for the text.
Tilt +1
Good song choice, I think this would have been in DDR if konami made more releases back in the early 2000s.
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Hallucination XXX // t+pazolite 10/15
Expert 7/10
This was a pretty solid chart, I couldn't manage to do the jacks on pad, ot the 12ths at the end, but I'm not as good as I use to be haha. The ending crossovers felt a little reptetetive, I know you changed it half way through but with the first section of crossovers, my right foot was on the down arrow, and then the 2nd section, my right foot was on the down arrow again, so it felt like it was just copied and pasted, even though it wasn't. I do wish this file has halfed bpm on the trap sections.
Presentation 3/5
Artwork looks Ok, it's not really enough to make me go "WOW" but, effort has gone in by clearing up the original art/upscaling.
Tilt n/a
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Itsuko // Richard Devine 10/15
Expert 6/10
I really enjoyed the audio patterns that this followed, but in terms of arrows, I found myself feeling a bit awkward with the double steps. I usually don't mind double steps, but they felt a little bit random and unbalanced. There were some super fun parts and I enjoyed the crossover!
Presentation 3/5
"Ew Ultramix" most might say, but I get what you were going for seeing as the music is very similar
Tilt +1
Giving a plus because I think the music is interesting, I like a bit more variety in these comps.
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Mirror Prism // Kurio 11/15
Expert 7/10
Not a bad chart, it goes very well with the music, for me personally, it got a little reptetive following the red, blue, yellow, red pattern between bars 8-36. It really picked up at bar 40, everything from there to the end was super fun!
Presentation 3/5
Reminds me of old Ditz, and early Hainaut stuff, which I feel somewhat nostalgic for, not a fan of the font for the artist logo tho.
Tilt +1
Original music made for the contest O: that deserves a plus!
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OOPS! I DID IT AGAIN (Rise Team Eurobeat Bootleg) // BRITNEY 15/15
Expert 10/10
This worked out Very well for this competition. Eurobeat always seems to work whether it's new style DDR or oldskool DDR. The chart was a lot of fun to play, I enjoyed the 4 jacks in the beginning, the crossovers were enjoyable, also the blue note jumps. The 16ths were a little bit of a surprise haha, but very good, well thought out chart. It was like playing something official. Oh, and I got an AAA with 9 perfects
Presentation 5/5
The artwork looks lovely, and is a good call back to the 5th Mix Exclamation points! ! !!!!!!!!!!!! !! !!!!! !
Video files give it that DDR vibe (though returning to the background mid song, I think that's more of an ITG thing) I like the pauses in video files too.
Tilt +1
I don't know if I can give something a tilt +1 for another original song making it a 16/15 a few of us had heard this already, and it's very good Eurobeat.
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QUAKE // Polyphonix; 11/15
Expert 8/10
Pretty solid chart, I wasn't expecting any house/hardstyle from this pack as it's usually considered "new style DDR" I enjoyed the chart quite a bit, the only part I'd point out is the crossover at bar 46, I wish there had been another following crossover on the other side of the pad? also some of the 16ths in the hardstyle section, most feel like they're up/down only 16th triplets.
Presentation 3/5
I like the design, but I find that dial over the Q very odd looking, the dialseems a bit blurry, mixed with the blur of the numbers within the text, is odd to me.
Tilt n/a
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Sunshine (Wippenberg Remix) // Dance Nation; 9/15
Expert 6/10
The chart got a little repetitive as the rhythms for main part of the song was also the same rhythms as the build up before the bpm stop. I got very lost with some of the freeze arrows having me hold a foot on one arrow, and doing a lot with the other foot. Some of the crossovers in the middle were really fun, reminded me a bit of twilight zone.
Presentation 2/5
I wish SUNSHINE was more readable and didn't look like just a shadow, the image looks like it was probably from a flyer/event.
Tilt +1
Though the cut feels repetetive, the song choice is pretty good for DDR.
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Umbrella Beach // Owl City; 12/15
Expert 6/10
This was enjoyable, but I did find myself during crossovers, that my right foot would always seem to be on the down arrow, crossing over with my left foot on the right arrow. Other than that, I liked the audio/rhythm patterns!
Presentation 5/5
I really like the way this looks, reminds me a lot of a particular persons artstyle. The colors give me a nice beach vibe
Tilt +1
I really liked the song choice.
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UP N DOWN // Charli XCX; 13/15
Expert 8/10
No complaints, it was an enjoyable file, maybe a bit more difficult than I anticipated haha. I enjoyed the crossovers with freezes, and some of the complex parts at the end, I liked the sort of So Deep type patterns in the middle too! overall, good/fun chart
Presentation 4/5
I really like the circular pattern going on in the background and the shape of the text, maybe a bit too much purple, it becomes a little unreadable.
Tilt +1
Good song choice, feels a bit somewhere between new DDR and old DDR which I like
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Who The Hell Are You (Original Mix - Edit) // Madison Avenue; 12/15
Expert 7/10
This was fun, I enjoyed the crossovers in the beginning, and the crossovers on the chorus that had you repeat a similar pattern using the same foot you just finished with, it was fun/different. I feel like there could have been a bit more done with the first verse in terms of vocals to make this a proper 8 foot chart, but overall a fun chart.
Presentation 4/5
Really love that blue/pink/purple bubble stuff going on in the background, I like the fonts used, not really a fan of the black on the gradient.
Tilt +1
Classic dance track, deserves a + for music choice.
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World Coming Down // Ashbury Heights; 10/15
Expert 6/10
I wasn't sure who stepped this, but as I was playing and getting the Butterfly Upswing Mix Syndrome Vibe, I remembered a few songs by Braeden in the Christmas and End Of Year packs that also had it. I like the rhythms the chart follows, but it feels like it's facing up/left too much throughout. I think this could be a very decent file if it was a bit more balanced/not leaning to one area of the pad.
(challenge was similar, maybe too many arrows?)
Presentation 3/5
I really like that the text is going downwards for the word "down"
Tilt +1
Braeden has a lot of potential, and even though he doesn't make art, I like the effort gone into making some text a different color, and "down" going downwards.
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それは花火のような恋 // 夏色バーニングラブ☆Prim; 10/15
Expert 7/10
There were some crossovers I enjoyed, I thought it was a bit weird that there wasn't more done with the vocals in the first verse. Other than that, I didn't find the chart very fun/interesting.
(challenge was more enjoyable on keyboard for me than expert was on pad, I think if challenge had a few less gallops in the chorus segment, and maybe a few less 16ths, it'd have been a fun 9)
Presentation 3/5
The artwork looks like it's been upscaled? I found an image on remywiki to compare, it looks cleaner, not a fan of the blurred banner, I think you could have made this very simple and done 2 colors behind it, pink behind the title, white behind the artist, and it'd have looked nicer?
Tilt n/a I HATE THE SONG THOUGH
- Posting Member
- Posts: 27
- Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 12:45 pm
- Location: United Kingdom
Re: BRACKET 1 - Public Review
Scores:
BAAM - 23/25
Be With You - 24/25
Booty Me Down - 25/25
Count What You Have Now - 19/25
Fly On The Wings Of Love - 21/25
Hallucination XXX - 23/25
Itsuko - 23/25
Mirror Prism - 17/25
OOPS! I DID IT AGAIN (Rise Team Eurobeat Bootleg) - 25/25
QUAKE - 24/25
Sunshine (Wippenberg Remix) - 17/25
UMBRELLA BEACH - 23/25
UP N DOWN - 22/25
WHO THE HELL ARE YOU (Original Mix - Edit) - 21/25
World Coming Down - 11/25
それは花火のような恋 - 22/25
Full review:
Spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing
Document (that's hopefully more mobile-friendly):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bos ... sp=sharing
BAAM - 23/25
Be With You - 24/25
Booty Me Down - 25/25
Count What You Have Now - 19/25
Fly On The Wings Of Love - 21/25
Hallucination XXX - 23/25
Itsuko - 23/25
Mirror Prism - 17/25
OOPS! I DID IT AGAIN (Rise Team Eurobeat Bootleg) - 25/25
QUAKE - 24/25
Sunshine (Wippenberg Remix) - 17/25
UMBRELLA BEACH - 23/25
UP N DOWN - 22/25
WHO THE HELL ARE YOU (Original Mix - Edit) - 21/25
World Coming Down - 11/25
それは花火のような恋 - 22/25
Full review:
Spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing
Document (that's hopefully more mobile-friendly):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bos ... sp=sharing
Last edited by t7r on Thu Apr 29, 2021 7:23 am, edited 2 times in total.
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- Posting Member
- Posts: 106
- Joined: Wed Mar 05, 2008 7:16 pm
- Location: BEMANI Sound Team
Re: BRACKET 1 - Public Review
FULL REVIEW:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WrT ... pPIsM/edit
HIGHLIGHT BELOW TO REVEAL SCORES
1) WHO THE HELL ARE YOU (Original Mix - Edit) 25/25
2) OOPS! I DID IT AGAIN (Rise Team Eurobeat Bootleg) 24/25
2) Itsuko 24/25
4) Mirror Prism 23/25
5) BAAM 22/25
6) Be With You 21/25
6) UMBRELLA BEACH 21/25
8) Booty Me Down 20/25
8) Hallucination XXX 20/25
8) QUAKE 20/25
11) Sunshine (Winnenberg Remix) 19/25
11) それは花火のような恋 19/25
13) Count What You Have Now 17/25
14) Fly On The Wings Of Love 11/25
15) World Coming Down 10/25
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WrT ... pPIsM/edit
HIGHLIGHT BELOW TO REVEAL SCORES
1) WHO THE HELL ARE YOU (Original Mix - Edit) 25/25
2) OOPS! I DID IT AGAIN (Rise Team Eurobeat Bootleg) 24/25
2) Itsuko 24/25
4) Mirror Prism 23/25
5) BAAM 22/25
6) Be With You 21/25
6) UMBRELLA BEACH 21/25
8) Booty Me Down 20/25
8) Hallucination XXX 20/25
8) QUAKE 20/25
11) Sunshine (Winnenberg Remix) 19/25
11) それは花火のような恋 19/25
13) Count What You Have Now 17/25
14) Fly On The Wings Of Love 11/25
15) World Coming Down 10/25
- Posting Member
- Posts: 349
- Joined: Mon Jun 11, 2007 6:49 am
Re: BRACKET 1 - Public Review
Okay, i'm not getting any younger and I ran out of witty lines. I'll just add the breakdown later!
15/15
OOPS I DID IT AGAIN
WHO THE HELL ARE YOU (tilt)
14/15
それは花火のような恋
UMBRELLA BEACH
BAAM
Be With You
13/15
Booty Me Down
Hallucination XXX
Itsuko
12/15
Sunshine (Wippenberg Remix)
Fly On The Wings Of Love
Mirror Prism
UP N DOWN
11/15
Count What You Have Now
10/15
World Coming Down
Will be appended later.
15/15
OOPS I DID IT AGAIN
WHO THE HELL ARE YOU (tilt)
14/15
それは花火のような恋
UMBRELLA BEACH
BAAM
Be With You
13/15
Booty Me Down
Hallucination XXX
Itsuko
12/15
Sunshine (Wippenberg Remix)
Fly On The Wings Of Love
Mirror Prism
UP N DOWN
11/15
Count What You Have Now
10/15
World Coming Down
Will be appended later.
Last edited by Aki on Thu Apr 29, 2021 8:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
We're all soldiers now.
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- Posting Member
- Posts: 192
- Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2007 8:46 pm
- Location: Spain, the S is silent.
Re: BRACKET 1 - Public Review
Disclaimer: I played every chart in the entire pack on pad.
My approval votes:
Hallucination XXX
UMBRELLA BEACH
UP N DOWN
Fly on the Wings of Love
My approval votes:
Hallucination XXX
UMBRELLA BEACH
UP N DOWN
Fly on the Wings of Love
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- Posting Member
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Wed Oct 14, 2020 10:23 am
- Location: Germany
Re: BRACKET 1 - Public Review
How I played the songs:
[*] Played on a L-Tek dance pad.
[*] Played in the garage, with fan on and soundbar connected to tv
[*] Wrote down first impressions (which reviews are mostly off of).
[*] Did a second playthrough in stepmania on PC with headphones to get references to specific beats
[*] Tried to play these as anonymous as possible
BAAM (Total: 14 / 15)
Tilt: 0
Presentation: 5
Steps: 9
Definitely a fun 8 to play. Flowed pretty well overall; felt like most of the triple steps were on left foot, and got tripped up on an ambiguous turn (around beat 200). Didn’t care much for the forced turn with freeze arrows, but otherwise enjoyed quite a bit.
Be With You (Total: 12 / 15)
Tilt: 1 (song choice)
Presentation: 4 (timing of steps was quite off, had to adjust by about 65 ms)
Steps: 7
Seemed like almost all double steps were with the on left foot. Difficulty felt appropriate for the song - nice laid back feel overall. Enjoyed the long freeze arrows. I wasn’t a fun of the off-beat down arrows around beat 156 (hard to tell if it’s going with the song or not). Forced turn around beat 209 threw me off a bit.
Booty Me Down (Total: 9 / 15)
Tilt: 0
Presentation: 5
Steps: 4
This was hard for me to get into. I’m not a fan of the very short freezes, and the same measure of arrows repeated multiple times in a row. Some of the arrows around beat 196 felt like there was nothing to go on. Overall flow of steps seemed well suited for the song.
Count what you have now (Total: 11 / 15)
Tilt: 0
Presentation: 5
Steps: 6
Definitely liked some of the twists (like at beat 68) that didn’t result in full turns, although felt like I was always facing left. The beginning felt pretty hard for a 7. Like the general usage of jumps. Didn’t enjoy the short freeze arrows, and some fell like a half-a-beat too long or short.
Fly On the wings of love (Total: 12 / 15)
Tilt: 1 (song choice)
Presentation: 4 (title was pretty hard to read)
Steps: 7
Steps felt like they started too early. Direction of the steps was pretty good - didn’t find myself unexpectedly double stepping or turning. I had a hard time understanding what some of the steps were to, particularly when the vocals kicked in. Enjoyed the usage of jumps.
Hallucination XXX (Total: 10 / 15)
Tilt: 0
Presentation: 5
Steps: 5
Felt like a hard 9, but step placement felt good overall. Liked the usage of the up freeze arrows starting at beat 352. However, was hard for me to get into this - felt difficult to understand what the steps were going to in the main parts around beats 196 and 288 (the pattern changed between the two as well). The ending run starting at beat 400 felt forced.
Itsuko (Total: 9 / 15)
Tilt: 0
Presentation: 5
Steps: 4
Overall, this was hard for me to get into. Had to play it with headphones on the computer to hear what the steps were going to at times. Several times I found myself needing to double-step unexpectedly to avoid doing full circles. Really liked the freeze arrow and bpm shift on beat 120 - would have liked to see that in a few other places too (like beat 84).
Mirror Prism (Total: 10 / 15)
Tilt: 0
Presentation: 4 (Artist was very hard to read)
Steps: 6
Liked the usage of jumps in the song - feels like a good song to practice jumps on. Didn’t understand the usage of some of the freeze arrows - several were too short or felt half-a-beat too long or short, and others felt forced. Enjoyed the streaming sections around beat 176 and 184; outside of that, felt hard to get into the flow of the song.
Oops I did it again (Total: 12 / 15)
Tilt: 1 (song choice)
Presentation: 5
Steps: 6
Enjoyed half of the song, but couldn’t get into the other half. Felt like too many triple steps (especially into the jump) were forced, and some of the 16ths felt off or broke the flow for me. Really enjoyed the vocal sections that weren’t the main chorus (like beats 56 to 96).
Quake (Total: 13 / 15)
Tilt: 0
Presentation: 5
Steps: 8
Very enjoyable overall. Liked the gradual bpm speedup. Some of the 16ths in the beginning felt out of place (went with very quiet notes or background noises?), and some of the steps after jumps in the second half felt ambiguous (wasn’t sure to start with left or right foot, and needed to correct several times by double stepping).
Sunshine (Total: 9 / 15)
Tilt: 1 (song choice)
Presentation: 4 (test was pretty hard to read)
Steps: 4
Felt like the first step was one beat too early. Really liked beats 160 to 224. Way too much triple-stepping for my liking (some felt really forced). Several freeze arrows felt arbitrary, such as the ones that lasted half-a-beat. Timing of the arrows were generally pretty good (a couple felt like they didn’t go to anything), but was forced to turn too many times.
Umbrella Beach (Total: 10 / 15)
Tilt: 0
Presentation: 5
Steps: 5
Loved the usage of freeze arrows and jumps. Unfortunately, that was about it for me. Very hard to get into - I’m not sure if parts of the song were too quiet, but many times I felt like I was stepping to nothing and was forced to turn. Difficulty felt appropriate.
Up N Down (Total: 11 / 15)
Tilt: 1 (song choice)
Presentation: 5
Steps: 5
Great song choice. Really enjoyed the usage of jumps when it matched the vocals. I couldn’t understand what the steps were going to for a good part of the song (beats 80 to 112, 120 to 124, and 136 to 144, 192 to 216). Directionality of the arrows felt good (didn’t feel myself forcing to turn too much).
Who the hell are you (Total: 13 / 15)
Tilt: 0
Presentation: 5
Steps: 8
Didn’t like the song at first, but the steps flowed pretty well overall and got into it by the end. A couple of forced turns, and didn’t care for the triple steps (especially with the 16th note), but other than that was pretty fun.
World Coming Down (Total: 10 / 15)
Tilt: 1 (song choice)
Presentation: 3 (title feels out of place, rough ending with the mp3 cutoff).
Steps: 6
Liked the usage of bpm changes. Couldn’t tell what the arrows were going to during the first slowdown, and parts of the second slowdown. Really liked the directionality of the arrows - a good amount of twists but without forced turns. However, I couldn’t place the stop of streams to any patterns in the song (felt pretty arbitrary), making it pretty hard to get into the rhythm of it.
それは花火のような恋 (Total: 10 / 15)
Tilt: 0
Presentation: 5
Steps: 5
The chart felt a little unbalanced (parts felt like a decent 10). Really liked the usage of most of the jumps. Felt like most of the 16ths were out of place (seemed like rhythm for some of those were 24ths or 32nds?). Liked that there was a good amount of twists without force turns, but hard a hard time following the general flow of the chart.
[*] Played on a L-Tek dance pad.
[*] Played in the garage, with fan on and soundbar connected to tv
[*] Wrote down first impressions (which reviews are mostly off of).
[*] Did a second playthrough in stepmania on PC with headphones to get references to specific beats
[*] Tried to play these as anonymous as possible
BAAM (Total: 14 / 15)
Tilt: 0
Presentation: 5
Steps: 9
Definitely a fun 8 to play. Flowed pretty well overall; felt like most of the triple steps were on left foot, and got tripped up on an ambiguous turn (around beat 200). Didn’t care much for the forced turn with freeze arrows, but otherwise enjoyed quite a bit.
Be With You (Total: 12 / 15)
Tilt: 1 (song choice)
Presentation: 4 (timing of steps was quite off, had to adjust by about 65 ms)
Steps: 7
Seemed like almost all double steps were with the on left foot. Difficulty felt appropriate for the song - nice laid back feel overall. Enjoyed the long freeze arrows. I wasn’t a fun of the off-beat down arrows around beat 156 (hard to tell if it’s going with the song or not). Forced turn around beat 209 threw me off a bit.
Booty Me Down (Total: 9 / 15)
Tilt: 0
Presentation: 5
Steps: 4
This was hard for me to get into. I’m not a fan of the very short freezes, and the same measure of arrows repeated multiple times in a row. Some of the arrows around beat 196 felt like there was nothing to go on. Overall flow of steps seemed well suited for the song.
Count what you have now (Total: 11 / 15)
Tilt: 0
Presentation: 5
Steps: 6
Definitely liked some of the twists (like at beat 68) that didn’t result in full turns, although felt like I was always facing left. The beginning felt pretty hard for a 7. Like the general usage of jumps. Didn’t enjoy the short freeze arrows, and some fell like a half-a-beat too long or short.
Fly On the wings of love (Total: 12 / 15)
Tilt: 1 (song choice)
Presentation: 4 (title was pretty hard to read)
Steps: 7
Steps felt like they started too early. Direction of the steps was pretty good - didn’t find myself unexpectedly double stepping or turning. I had a hard time understanding what some of the steps were to, particularly when the vocals kicked in. Enjoyed the usage of jumps.
Hallucination XXX (Total: 10 / 15)
Tilt: 0
Presentation: 5
Steps: 5
Felt like a hard 9, but step placement felt good overall. Liked the usage of the up freeze arrows starting at beat 352. However, was hard for me to get into this - felt difficult to understand what the steps were going to in the main parts around beats 196 and 288 (the pattern changed between the two as well). The ending run starting at beat 400 felt forced.
Itsuko (Total: 9 / 15)
Tilt: 0
Presentation: 5
Steps: 4
Overall, this was hard for me to get into. Had to play it with headphones on the computer to hear what the steps were going to at times. Several times I found myself needing to double-step unexpectedly to avoid doing full circles. Really liked the freeze arrow and bpm shift on beat 120 - would have liked to see that in a few other places too (like beat 84).
Mirror Prism (Total: 10 / 15)
Tilt: 0
Presentation: 4 (Artist was very hard to read)
Steps: 6
Liked the usage of jumps in the song - feels like a good song to practice jumps on. Didn’t understand the usage of some of the freeze arrows - several were too short or felt half-a-beat too long or short, and others felt forced. Enjoyed the streaming sections around beat 176 and 184; outside of that, felt hard to get into the flow of the song.
Oops I did it again (Total: 12 / 15)
Tilt: 1 (song choice)
Presentation: 5
Steps: 6
Enjoyed half of the song, but couldn’t get into the other half. Felt like too many triple steps (especially into the jump) were forced, and some of the 16ths felt off or broke the flow for me. Really enjoyed the vocal sections that weren’t the main chorus (like beats 56 to 96).
Quake (Total: 13 / 15)
Tilt: 0
Presentation: 5
Steps: 8
Very enjoyable overall. Liked the gradual bpm speedup. Some of the 16ths in the beginning felt out of place (went with very quiet notes or background noises?), and some of the steps after jumps in the second half felt ambiguous (wasn’t sure to start with left or right foot, and needed to correct several times by double stepping).
Sunshine (Total: 9 / 15)
Tilt: 1 (song choice)
Presentation: 4 (test was pretty hard to read)
Steps: 4
Felt like the first step was one beat too early. Really liked beats 160 to 224. Way too much triple-stepping for my liking (some felt really forced). Several freeze arrows felt arbitrary, such as the ones that lasted half-a-beat. Timing of the arrows were generally pretty good (a couple felt like they didn’t go to anything), but was forced to turn too many times.
Umbrella Beach (Total: 10 / 15)
Tilt: 0
Presentation: 5
Steps: 5
Loved the usage of freeze arrows and jumps. Unfortunately, that was about it for me. Very hard to get into - I’m not sure if parts of the song were too quiet, but many times I felt like I was stepping to nothing and was forced to turn. Difficulty felt appropriate.
Up N Down (Total: 11 / 15)
Tilt: 1 (song choice)
Presentation: 5
Steps: 5
Great song choice. Really enjoyed the usage of jumps when it matched the vocals. I couldn’t understand what the steps were going to for a good part of the song (beats 80 to 112, 120 to 124, and 136 to 144, 192 to 216). Directionality of the arrows felt good (didn’t feel myself forcing to turn too much).
Who the hell are you (Total: 13 / 15)
Tilt: 0
Presentation: 5
Steps: 8
Didn’t like the song at first, but the steps flowed pretty well overall and got into it by the end. A couple of forced turns, and didn’t care for the triple steps (especially with the 16th note), but other than that was pretty fun.
World Coming Down (Total: 10 / 15)
Tilt: 1 (song choice)
Presentation: 3 (title feels out of place, rough ending with the mp3 cutoff).
Steps: 6
Liked the usage of bpm changes. Couldn’t tell what the arrows were going to during the first slowdown, and parts of the second slowdown. Really liked the directionality of the arrows - a good amount of twists but without forced turns. However, I couldn’t place the stop of streams to any patterns in the song (felt pretty arbitrary), making it pretty hard to get into the rhythm of it.
それは花火のような恋 (Total: 10 / 15)
Tilt: 0
Presentation: 5
Steps: 5
The chart felt a little unbalanced (parts felt like a decent 10). Really liked the usage of most of the jumps. Felt like most of the 16ths were out of place (seemed like rhythm for some of those were 24ths or 32nds?). Liked that there was a good amount of twists without force turns, but hard a hard time following the general flow of the chart.
Last edited by shortysnmn2010 on Fri Apr 30, 2021 4:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Wed Mar 31, 2021 3:57 pm
Re: BRACKET 1 - Public Review
I don't have a pad, but I was mocking it with my feet. I'll first play on keyboard (while pretending to do it on pad in my head) , and then I set it to autoplay to mock it physically.
Approval Votes:
BAAM
Count What You Have Now
Mirror Prism
OOPS! I DID IT AGAIN (Rise Team Eurobeat Bootleg)
Quake
Who the Hell Are You
Approval Votes:
BAAM
Count What You Have Now
Mirror Prism
OOPS! I DID IT AGAIN (Rise Team Eurobeat Bootleg)
Quake
Who the Hell Are You
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2021 2:49 pm
Re: BRACKET 1 - Public Review
I played all charts on keyboard first and replayed most of them on pad (except for 10s, too difficult for me 
). Below are my scores and random thoughts. This pack is shaping up to become absolutely amazing as the quality here is astounding. Great work, everybody!
BAAM
Steps: 9
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 0
Total: 14/15
Good graphics that fit their purpose, albeit a little bland. Steps are a lot of fun. The cut was on the longer side but it was alright. Love that it has a REAADME. Overall one of my favorites in the bracket!
Be With You
Steps: 7
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 0
Total: 12/15
Decent cut with some variety. Solid graphics that invoke older DDR mixes. File was off-sync but nothing that couldn't be easily fixed. Even though I wasn't too keen on the focus on vocals during the first chorus, there was a lot of variety here and I enjoyed it on pad.
Booty Me Down
Steps: 8
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 0
Total: 13/15
WTF, like what? Absolutely horrendous song haha. I initially thought the steps were way too jumpy before I actually played it on pad, where it's kind of neat actually. I appreciate the contrast between quarter air and 16th trills, and the monotonous repetition of patterns fit in a strange way.
Count What You Have Now
Steps: 6
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 0
Total: 11/15
Great song choice. Cut was on the longer side, causing the steps to feel a little uninspired towards the end. Also I had a few odd double steps on pad, but generally the flow was alright.
Fly On The Wings Of Love
Steps: 7
Presentation: 4
Tilt: 0
Total: 11/15
Overall a decent file, though I greatly prefer the Expert chart to Challenge, which was good fun on pad! The latter chart didn't work for me during the verse as it was glued to the vocals without falling back onto the beat here and there. As for presentation, I find the graphics a little hard to read, but they're functional for sure.
Hallucination XXX
Steps: 8
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 0
Total: 13/15
The Afronova steps made me LOL the first time I played this - weird how iconic and recognizable a few arrows can be. I can't get over the fact that the fourth hit of the synth melody (e.g. M49) isn't delayed by one 16th note, it throws me off every single time and is strangely out of sync in the context of the rest of this decent chart.
Mirror Prism
Steps: 6
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 1
Total: 12/15
What an amazing song choice for the theme, I want to retroactively inject this into all the old DDR mixes right away. Assigning a +1 tilt for the dedication to commission a track. I feel like more could've been done with the steps, as they feel like an orchestra hit solo without much regard for the grooves in the background. A little variety would have worked wonders and turned this into a favorite. Graphics are great!
OOPS! I DID IT AGAIN (Rise Team Eurobeat Bootleg)
Steps: 10
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 0
Total: 15/15
My God, this was fun as fuck. My very first initial impression in the song wheel was, "where is the bass?", but this song flows so well as a whole. Great chart as well, even though I am not the biggest fan of the overly long 16th trill in M28. It's not enough to make this anything but a perfect file, though, my God. Get this man the official stems for this track pls
QUAKE
Steps: 9
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 0
Total: 14/15
This was a lot of fun. The steps are kinda glued to the synth at the start but stray away from it eventually, taking you on quite the journey. The speed-up was a cool surprise and expertly done, definite stank face while playing it. Fun readme!
Sunshine (Wippenberg Remix)
Steps: 6
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 1
Total: 12/15
This file feels hindered by its song choice, which is somewhat one-note with the synths here. However, the song itself definitely fits the theme, so I'm wondering if a better cut could've been possible. Steps are okay, but too focused on the singular synth rhythm. I actually much preferred playing the Standard chart on pad, bumping this up with a +1 because of it.
UMBRELLA BEACH
Steps: 8
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 0
Total: 13/15
Cute graphics, immediate ":3" for sure. A fun-sized chart with some throwback videos and some good variety. I like how the chart alternates between syncopated 16th notes for synthesizers and the straightforward rhythm section.
UP N DOWN
Steps: 9
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 0
Total: 14/15
Bold song choice with a requirement for pretty unique arrow patterns, but the chart makes it work overall. I had some trouble with them in the first third, which was resolved on repeated play-throughs. Great fun on pad too, quite challenging but loyal to the track. Pretty fun, definitely among my favorites in the bracket.
WHO THE HELL ARE YOU (Original Mix - Edit)
Steps: 10
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 0
Total: 15/15
Did this file just come out of cryosleep? Everything from song choice to graphics to (unfortunately) the quality of the MP3 and video screams "YO I AM RETRO 2004 BEST YEAR". This chart is fun as fuck and a perfect example of how to blend vocal-steps and rhythm. Get me a 320 kbps cut for this and it will go straight into the hall of fame. <3
World Coming Down
Steps: 7
Presentation: 3
Tilt: 0
Total: 10/15
As with Sunshine, I prefer the not-hardest chart to the hardest one here. The high BPM fits the song well and I appreciate the streamy sections. It's maybe a little too repetitive at times, but it's still decent. Unfortunately, the overall presentation drags this down for me a tad. Regardless, this is among my favorite charts of yours!
それは花火のような恋
Steps: 7
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 0
Total: 12/15
The charts are good, even though Expert felt kinda difficult for an 8. Graphics are servicable as well, albeit the blurry character in the banner! I wish to never listen to this song ever again lol
). Below are my scores and random thoughts. This pack is shaping up to become absolutely amazing as the quality here is astounding. Great work, everybody!BAAM
Steps: 9
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 0
Total: 14/15
Good graphics that fit their purpose, albeit a little bland. Steps are a lot of fun. The cut was on the longer side but it was alright. Love that it has a REAADME. Overall one of my favorites in the bracket!
Be With You
Steps: 7
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 0
Total: 12/15
Decent cut with some variety. Solid graphics that invoke older DDR mixes. File was off-sync but nothing that couldn't be easily fixed. Even though I wasn't too keen on the focus on vocals during the first chorus, there was a lot of variety here and I enjoyed it on pad.
Booty Me Down
Steps: 8
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 0
Total: 13/15
WTF, like what? Absolutely horrendous song haha. I initially thought the steps were way too jumpy before I actually played it on pad, where it's kind of neat actually. I appreciate the contrast between quarter air and 16th trills, and the monotonous repetition of patterns fit in a strange way.
Count What You Have Now
Steps: 6
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 0
Total: 11/15
Great song choice. Cut was on the longer side, causing the steps to feel a little uninspired towards the end. Also I had a few odd double steps on pad, but generally the flow was alright.
Fly On The Wings Of Love
Steps: 7
Presentation: 4
Tilt: 0
Total: 11/15
Overall a decent file, though I greatly prefer the Expert chart to Challenge, which was good fun on pad! The latter chart didn't work for me during the verse as it was glued to the vocals without falling back onto the beat here and there. As for presentation, I find the graphics a little hard to read, but they're functional for sure.
Hallucination XXX
Steps: 8
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 0
Total: 13/15
The Afronova steps made me LOL the first time I played this - weird how iconic and recognizable a few arrows can be. I can't get over the fact that the fourth hit of the synth melody (e.g. M49) isn't delayed by one 16th note, it throws me off every single time and is strangely out of sync in the context of the rest of this decent chart.
Mirror Prism
Steps: 6
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 1
Total: 12/15
What an amazing song choice for the theme, I want to retroactively inject this into all the old DDR mixes right away. Assigning a +1 tilt for the dedication to commission a track. I feel like more could've been done with the steps, as they feel like an orchestra hit solo without much regard for the grooves in the background. A little variety would have worked wonders and turned this into a favorite. Graphics are great!
OOPS! I DID IT AGAIN (Rise Team Eurobeat Bootleg)
Steps: 10
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 0
Total: 15/15
My God, this was fun as fuck. My very first initial impression in the song wheel was, "where is the bass?", but this song flows so well as a whole. Great chart as well, even though I am not the biggest fan of the overly long 16th trill in M28. It's not enough to make this anything but a perfect file, though, my God. Get this man the official stems for this track pls
QUAKE
Steps: 9
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 0
Total: 14/15
This was a lot of fun. The steps are kinda glued to the synth at the start but stray away from it eventually, taking you on quite the journey. The speed-up was a cool surprise and expertly done, definite stank face while playing it. Fun readme!
Sunshine (Wippenberg Remix)
Steps: 6
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 1
Total: 12/15
This file feels hindered by its song choice, which is somewhat one-note with the synths here. However, the song itself definitely fits the theme, so I'm wondering if a better cut could've been possible. Steps are okay, but too focused on the singular synth rhythm. I actually much preferred playing the Standard chart on pad, bumping this up with a +1 because of it.
UMBRELLA BEACH
Steps: 8
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 0
Total: 13/15
Cute graphics, immediate ":3" for sure. A fun-sized chart with some throwback videos and some good variety. I like how the chart alternates between syncopated 16th notes for synthesizers and the straightforward rhythm section.
UP N DOWN
Steps: 9
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 0
Total: 14/15
Bold song choice with a requirement for pretty unique arrow patterns, but the chart makes it work overall. I had some trouble with them in the first third, which was resolved on repeated play-throughs. Great fun on pad too, quite challenging but loyal to the track. Pretty fun, definitely among my favorites in the bracket.
WHO THE HELL ARE YOU (Original Mix - Edit)
Steps: 10
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 0
Total: 15/15
Did this file just come out of cryosleep? Everything from song choice to graphics to (unfortunately) the quality of the MP3 and video screams "YO I AM RETRO 2004 BEST YEAR". This chart is fun as fuck and a perfect example of how to blend vocal-steps and rhythm. Get me a 320 kbps cut for this and it will go straight into the hall of fame. <3
World Coming Down
Steps: 7
Presentation: 3
Tilt: 0
Total: 10/15
As with Sunshine, I prefer the not-hardest chart to the hardest one here. The high BPM fits the song well and I appreciate the streamy sections. It's maybe a little too repetitive at times, but it's still decent. Unfortunately, the overall presentation drags this down for me a tad. Regardless, this is among my favorite charts of yours!
それは花火のような恋
Steps: 7
Presentation: 5
Tilt: 0
Total: 12/15
The charts are good, even though Expert felt kinda difficult for an 8. Graphics are servicable as well, albeit the blurry character in the banner! I wish to never listen to this song ever again lol
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Re: BRACKET 1 - Public Review
Posting just to say I have revised my score to Umbrella Beach after playing it a couple of times. It's still not my favorite in the bracket but I think I was a little hard on it, as it does some things I think are interesting. 5/10 was totally too low, I've bumped it to a 7/10.
While I still would have liked more rhythmic cohesion and consistency in the early part of the song and think it felt kinda chaotic and freeze-heavy, it does legitimately become a lot stronger toward the middle and end of the chart.
I don't think any chart in this bracket deserves any less than a 6. The quality level is just so good across the board and when I thought about it I realized I gave 7s to files that I think had less going for them in certain ways than Umbrella Beach does. Grading out of 10 is weird because I think we're all kind of accustomed to a "5" meaning an "F" or a bad grade. To me that isn't the case but I can't ignore the difference between what a 5 should mean and what it actually does mean to most people, so I gave it a score I think better represents what it is through that lens.
While I still would have liked more rhythmic cohesion and consistency in the early part of the song and think it felt kinda chaotic and freeze-heavy, it does legitimately become a lot stronger toward the middle and end of the chart.
I don't think any chart in this bracket deserves any less than a 6. The quality level is just so good across the board and when I thought about it I realized I gave 7s to files that I think had less going for them in certain ways than Umbrella Beach does. Grading out of 10 is weird because I think we're all kind of accustomed to a "5" meaning an "F" or a bad grade. To me that isn't the case but I can't ignore the difference between what a 5 should mean and what it actually does mean to most people, so I gave it a score I think better represents what it is through that lens.
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