DDR Status Summary (2025 Edition)

Here’s the post from the end of last year.

https://www.esplo.net/posts/2024/11/otoge_202411

It didn’t include detailed stats, but my worries last year seemed to be that I wasn’t getting PFCs on Lv.12 and Lv.13 and AAAs on Lv.14, and that I had about 30 uncleared charts at Lv.18.

Overall Progress

I had played 1957 charts (33.7%), with an average of 961K and a median of 983K.

Easy to read. Thanks as always

The new thing is that I’m down to just one uncleared chart up through 18.

Progress by Difficulty

I’ll roughly split the difficulties into tiers and check progress that way.

Very, Very Low Difficulty (~Lv.6)

This is the difficulty range where I aim for SDP (999,910-).
I played 186 charts: 1 chart MFC, 78 charts SDP, 31 charts AAA, 2 charts AA+, and everything else was PFC.
I feel like I’m gradually getting better at going for SDP, but it might just be that it depends on the chart.

I don’t even touch this range during warmups, so there are a lot of charts I haven’t played recently.
I want to grind a bit more before I think about challenges here.
For now, as concentration training, I want to start by aiming for PFC with as few P as possible.

Very Low Difficulty (Lv.7–Lv.10)

(On normal charts) this is the difficulty range where PFC is the baseline. It’s the range I can play like I’m out for a walk.
I played 340 charts: 1 SDP, 90 PFC, 202 AAA, and 47 AA+.

Since I tend to pick these as a warmup when I’m full, or occasionally when I’m tired, I haven’t really ground them out like the above.
That said, there are boss-song Basics, totally wild speed changes, and totally wild charts, so I remember not getting great scores surprisingly often.
Filling in the AAA might be tougher than I expect, so I want to start there.

Low Difficulty (Lv.11–Lv.13)

This is the difficulty range where I want to aim for AAA. Normally my warmup starts from here.
I played 632 charts, with 53 PFC, 305 AAA, and 274 AA+.

Lv.11 average was 991,839 and the median was 993,625.
Lv.12 average was 988,060 and the median was 991,670.
Lv.13 average was 983,458 and the median was 985,965.

I wasn’t getting as many PFCs as I thought. There are quite a few charts at 995+, so consistency seems to be an issue.
At one point, I decided to keep going in warmup until I got a PFC, but there were days where I ended up finishing with just warmup, which defeated the purpose, so I stopped.

Around here, I want to balance things: aim for PFC while also improving charts where I haven’t reached AAA yet.

Mid Difficulty (Lv.14–Lv.15)

Personally, this is the difficulty range where I suddenly can’t score well.
I played 404 charts: PFC 0, AAA 31, AA+ 263, and the remaining 110.
There are 252 charts that I haven’t full-comboed yet, which is more than half.

Lv.14 average was 968,150 and the median was 970,845.
Lv.15 average was 953,416 and the median was 957,835.

From around here, there are more yellow arrows, and maybe because twists become a given, it also feels like reading gets harder.
Even when I’m stepping, I rack up Greats, so it feels like I’m hitting some kind of wall.
First, I want to increase my full combos, and also focus hard on raising scores.

High Difficulty (Lv.16–Lv.17)

These are tiring to play, but the difficulty range where I can at least handle long streams. I also run into parts I can’t read here and there.
I played 289 charts: 47 AA+, 147 AA, and 95 below AA.
25 are full-comboed, and 264 aren’t.

Lv.16 average was 926,643 and the median was 924,470.
Lv.17 average was 873,867 and the median was 888,380.

Since the gap between the upper and lower ends is huge, it’s hard to lump this range together.
Anyway, if I can’t read it, I can’t even fight, so I want to increase my full combos while also increasing the number of charts where I can break past nice round-number scores.

Ultra-High Difficulty (Lv.18)

A mixed bag. There are plenty that take some resolve just to pick, and in the first place I haven’t played many charts more than twice.
I played 102 charts: 1 AA (Mikazuki: Connect), 20 at 850K+, 26 at 800K+, 52 at 700K+, and 3 below that.
The only uncleared one was HyperTwist, and 31 charts were Flare 1 or higher.
The average was 798,256 and the median was 796,770.

There are so many charts that barely feel like the same difficulty, but first and foremost, picking them is what matters. I need to build stamina.
From a score perspective, I want to study songs I like and push them; from a clear perspective, I want to record BP and increase Flare 1 clears.

Lv.19

I played 3 charts and haven’t cleared any.
I’ll work on it when I get tired of 18.

Flare Skill

Total 81,721, with a breakdown of GOLD 27,870, WHITE 26,931, and CLASSIC 26,920.

Since my chart selection would probably get skewed, I’m not working on it intentionally.
It seems like good practice for raising my score ceiling, so once I can play a bit more Lv.16, I want to work on it seriously.

Hinabita♪ Folder Progress

Hinabita♪ and Banmeshi♪ folders

Excluding locked pack charts and the recently added Oni charts, I think I had 60 charts without a PFC.
I drop a fair number even at single-digit levels, so I want to loop through them regularly.
My floor is 887K on Maid Lunch, so I want to get it above 900K. The opening waterfall and the Tenjinkawa section (as I call it) tend to break my spirit early.

The balance has been getting better as more high-difficulty charts get added.
Banmeshi♪ suddenly came back, and there are also albums from Otogi Tantei, so I’m looking forward to more charts being added going forward.

What I’ll Work On Next Year

I haven’t decided on specific methods yet, but I’ll think about my approach in three buckets: “how I step”, “score ceiling”, and “score floor”.

How I Step

Lately, I’ve been feeling like I have issues with how I step.

On good days, I get the sense that I’m getting plenty of rebound from the cabinet even without really stomping.
Also, when I play high difficulty, I can intentionally relax and keep my movements small.

On bad days, on the other hand, it feels like I’m dragging my legs; I can’t go fast, and my shins start hurting too.

I still don’t understand the difference, but I suspect things like:
“Am I moving my legs from my thighs (or hips)?”
“Can I keep my leg height with my core and arms?”
“Can I read at sufficient speed?”

I’ve had the same experience in IIDX: if I play using only my fingertips, the keys feel incredibly heavy. On the other hand, when I can use my upper body well, the keys feel light, and I can get rebound.

I want to keep experimenting to find good stepping technique and make it stick.

Score Ceiling

This is mainly about increasing Marvelous/Perfect judgments on charts I can already read.
Right now, I’m relying heavily on visual timing, and it feels like rhythm is secondary. A bad habit from IIDX is showing.

At the end of the day it’s just sense of rhythm, but (in a DrumMania sense) I want to practice focusing on stepping to the kick drum while keeping my concentration so I don’t drop judgments.

As metrics, it seems good if the ratio of MFC/SDP/PFC/AAA increases in a straightforward way.
In particular, AAA on mid difficulty seems like a good indicator for measuring stability, so I want to track that closely.

Score Floor

This is mainly about doing something about charts where I can’t read, don’t know how to move, or run out of stamina.

Right now, these issues show up in the tough parts of 16/17, most of 18, and almost all of 19.
Also, even at low difficulty I can’t hit switches at all, so I want to deal with that already. Even Afro, when the density goes up, only looks like slides to me.

DDR is the kind of rhythm game that requires a fair amount of study, so when I don’t understand something I’ll take proper notes, look back, play again, and learn it. I usually don’t take notes.
The stamina problem probably overlaps a lot with stepping technique. Still, maybe I’ll see something by doing it even on bad days, so for now I want to build the habit of picking them.

As metrics, things like whether my average score went up, whether I picked 18 (especially Lindwurm, Basara, Trans Dance, weaponized, etc. are high-value), and whether I did study for charts I didn’t understand seem usable.

Summary

I feel like I’ve gotten steadily better than last year, but I still feel like I’m hitting a wall.
From an exercise standpoint, my weight—something I should be increasing—keeps dropping, so I guess I’m doing enough.
Next year, I want to keep exercising for my health while also breaking through that wall.

Also, since I didn’t play IIDX at all this year, I want to get back into IIDX too once it gets warmer.