How good/bad were you when you first started playing?

[MyChemicalRomance]

Hey, there's nothing wrong with not being able to pass heavier songs! The important thing is just to have fun. What really saddens me is when someone fails an easy song and instead of going" Haha can't believe I failed that, lemme try again!" they go " This game is to hard! I'll never be any good" and never try again. And just remember, there's ALWAYS someone worse then you!
_________________

Knowledge is Power........Power Corrupts......Study Hard and be Evil! >:]

[ʎɐb sı ʞ01ɹǝɥs]

Got DDRMAX and foam ignition pads in October of 2003. I was doing easier Standard songs by the end of my first night. Moved up to heavy after three months, started passing 8's and 9's. Pads broke in April '04, didn't play at all until September of '04 when I discovered a MAX2 machine in the student union near my dorm. Started getting heavy AAAs in the arcade by summer of '05. The rest is history!

[SEXY BEAST]

Some songs I failed during my first few arcade sessions

B4U Standard
Rhythm & Police Standard
We Will Rock You Standard

All with no mods though.
_________________

Best DDR player in Valley Stream...because nobody in Valley Stream plays DDR anymore.

Dance Master 2005
Stellar Master 2006
Hyper Master 2007
Street Master 2008

[Final Warning]

[tats]

My first round I kept missing the down arrow because I kept my feet in the middle but after that I got A's on all my songs haha.
_________________

http://www.youtube.com/user/haysuptats

[jesusfr3ak4evr]

I played Stepmania with fingers before ever buying a pad. I was able to pass 9 and 10 footers on Stepmania (I could have done better if I had known about speed mods).

First time playing on pad was on a Red Octane soft pad. I remember starting off on light. I got up to passing 9 footers with it.

Then I decided to get serious and purchased a Cobalt Flux. Since I purchased it this January, I'm now passing 12 footers and attempting 13's. However, I have to admit that all of my 12 passes have come while at the arcade. In fact, a large number of my 11 foot passes have come while at the arcade as well.
_________________

- http://www.youtube.com/UMBCSS

[NIQ9]

I started playing in December of 2005. My first song was butterfly upswing mix beginner. In about a week, I moved on to light (stuff like Afronova Primeval and PSM light) but I didn't do well on standard. I was on light mode for a good 3 months. I moved onto standard in probably April of 2006. In may, I passed Matsuri Japan maniac. I didn't play much over that summer, and in September, I started AAing 9 foot charts such as Tsugaru. In October, I started playing ITG. I got the ITG home version in December 2006, and after a week of playing, started passing 10's on both ITG and DDR left and right. About 2 weeks later, I started passing 11's. About a month later, I passed all of the 12's on the home version. I passed Pandy sometime in mid 2007 i think.

Now, I can ** most ITG 9's and some 10's. I have a few tri stars on expert, a ton on hard, and one hard quad. I play DDR at home, but I only play ITG at the arcade.

My footspeed sucks though. I can do 16th note streams up to about 190 BPM, sometimes up to 220 for shorter bursts, but anything after that is too hard for me
_________________

Recall___YOUTUBE
simfiles

[jesusfr3ak4evr]

[Final Warning]

[pleasedon'thurtme]

Well, I live in West Virginia, but would love to meet you to play and discuss the game -- I can use all the help I can get as Dance Dance Revolution/In The Groove is currently one of my biggest hobbies. When I mentioned I fail a bunch of heavy songs, I actually meant I cannot pass all of them -- I actually play almost nothing but heavy/hard on the arcade nowadays. At home, I always play heavy/expert (Dance Dance Revolution, not In The Groove expert) whenever I am not too winded/fatigued/tired/whatever. Eight-footers are about my limit -- I do not think I can pass the majority of nine-footers at least without using the bar (I have passed Brilliant R.E.D. and Destiny Lovers on expert using the bar although I cannot pass the latter consistently even using the bar). On X scale, 11-block songs are about my limit although I have managed to pass Saturn and Dance Celebration System SF or whatever it is called mix on expert. I have also passed a few 12-blocks such as Votum Stellarum, but I cannot pass Sunkiss Drop because I have not mastered crossovers. I first tried the game September 2006, started playing Dance Praise a couple months later, then I started playing Dance Dance Revolution regularly beginning in late October 2007. I have played regularly since then (mostly on the Playstation 2 including the hand controller -- I obtained StepMania last June or so and have mostly played the keyboard on that) and started visiting arcade locations (the closest one to where I live is an hour drive away) at the end of this past July. The only school sport I officially did was track in tenth and twelfth grade (I had to quit due to sickness in eleventh) -- I was the worst thrower on the team. My coordination is quite pathetic and I have a relatively high body fat percentage (probably over 20% by now). All advice would be greatly appreciated. Have you played regularly, or on and off since you started, Vaughn? Also, I consider myself one of the worst players in the sense that I started out worse than others and I require more time and practice than others do; therefore, I shall always be the worst player even if I ever get to the point of outperforming most everyone because of the greater time and effort it would require me to improve (someone who practices less and outperforms someone who practices more is better at the game even if the former cannot yet outperform the latter due to lack of experience).
_________________

Hate only bad actions, never people themselves because they bear the potential to become the good people you want them to be.

www.stayonsync.com/forum

[Final Warning]

I've been playing pretty regularly (at least two times a week) since I started. But I will admit to using Little on most of my Standard songs, though I do practice Standard without that modifier too.
_________________

DDR? Did someone say...DDR? DDR?! DDR?!?!

[Suko]

pleasedon'thurtme, Stop beatin your self up man. So what if you aren't the best. As long as you're having fun, who cares. Personally, I think my favorite difficulty level was Trick (Standard). I almost wish I could get a workout playing on it. If I could would.

Just keep playing and stop freaking out about who is better than you. It doesn't take much to impress the masses, and the average DDR player hopefully isn't so conceited that they wouldn't talk to you if you go up and "only" play 8 step songs.

Enjoy the game, have fun, and keep practicing. That's all that matters.
_________________

"Arcades have gone away but the culture is not gone."

DDRecall | Groovestats | Beatspace | UI Bemani Club | Suko's Shirt Shack

[v4extreme]

Failed we will rock you on beginner. Didn't even think about PA until I'd been playing on heavy for several months.
_________________

"remember that dancing game players make up their own terminology for music. musicians are noobs compared to itg players"
-rynker


http://www.youtube.com/user/v4extreme
http://ddr.ddrecall.com/user.php?mode=viewprofile&user=5721
http://beatspace.net/Profile.aspx?uid=422

[That guy with the afro...]

I started on 1st mix, so I started from Boom Boom Dollar and progressed to AM-3P on my first set. I skipped Have You Ever Been Mellow because it was so slow (I watched my brother play it which is why I wasn't digging the whole slow thing).

I was told to move on to Trick from these older guys who thought my ability to A AM-3P was nice. The first thing I told them was "How do I do that?" This was about the time 3rd Mix released in Broadway City Arcade and the Maniac Code for 1st mix was spread around in NYC, which was not too long after I started playing DDR. Within half a year I am sure.

I dunno what came over me, but I ignored their request and moved on to Maniac/SSR.

Since then I played so casually it took me a couple of years to actually AA something (Let's Groove on 7th mix). I am happy though, because now I can take pictures of my achievements instead of having my family vouch for me. Something they would have never done back then.
_________________

frick YEAH BOAT!

[pleasedon'thurtme]

Oh, it does not bother me that everyone is better than I am. As mentioned earlier, there is nothing wrong with being the worst so long as that is good enough because someone has to be the worst (which is not necessarily bad, so if the worst is good enough, everyone is good ). I suppose I am just curious how you guys are so many lightyears beyond me. As suggested earlier, I really like playing, so I am interested in learning as much as I can about the game and how it is played. I apologize for any trouble I have caused. From watching people try the game, it seemed as if it were normal for a first-timer to fail the easiest songs (more or less what happened to me), but apparently you guys were better than that when you first tried. Does this indicate the ones who really get into the game, the ones who practice to the point of AAAing the most insane songs, tend to be the ones with greater potential for the game (because one's skill is not performance, but natural talent -- how little practice is required to improve, so one who fails songs due to lack of practice, but requires only a couple months to AAA everything is better than another who can AAA everything now, but took four years to do so)?
_________________

Hate only bad actions, never people themselves because they bear the potential to become the good people you want them to be.

www.stayonsync.com/forum

[Suko]

I'm kind of the case of the little engine that could. I have met many players who started a year or two after I did, and beat Max 300 and could get more AAs than me too. However, those people usually got bored with the game after 4 years and stopped playing. I on the other hand have played slow but steadily for over 6.5 years now. I am considered pretty darn good by now by my peers (mostly 'cause of my accuracy), but I have had to work hard for it.

Realistically, I play an average of 2 or 3 times a week, at 1-2 hours per visit. This adds up to a LOT of DDR time. Far more than the average person. Keep in mind, this is my AVERAGE. Most people may claim to play more, but they often go for weeks without touching the game. So for an average, I'd say mine is pretty high . I have probably invested more time playing DDR than any of my peers.

So to answer your question in the shortest way possible:
No, I was no natural. I had to put a ridiculous amount of time, energy, and dedication into this game. I wasn't an overnight success. I have been consistently playing this game longer than most and that has got me to where I am today.
_________________

"Arcades have gone away but the culture is not gone."

DDRecall | Groovestats | Beatspace | UI Bemani Club | Suko's Shirt Shack

[That guy with the afro...]

[PureBlue]

[That guy with the afro...]

[quote="PureBlue"]

[v4extreme]