How to Play DDR (Intermediate)

Intermediate Mode

(levels 4-7)

The Following are covered in this section:

• Crossovers
• Corner Jumps
• Blue Notes
• Reading The Groove Radar
• Combo
• Freeze Arrows
• Mines
• Rolls
• Speed Modifiers

Wow, there is a lot of ground to cover in this section. If you are looking at this section, you are somewhere between light and standard in DDR. The In the Groove equivalent is between Easy and Medium. This area is where a lot of the game's fundamentals are tested. Getting through this section will prepare you for advanced play. Lets start with the new arrow.

Meet the Arrows

Eighth Note: aka. 1/8 Note

Eighth notes are introduced very early in the game. As difficulty goes up, eighth notes become increasingly common. In some charts, they can outnumber quarter notes. They are timed to the "off beat"... which is the exact middle of two bass beats. When you first start seeing these, you probably did not know what they were, and just stepped them like a quarter note. Then you noticed that you got a strange grade. Eighth notes can appear in a variety of places (including jumps), so keep your eyes sharp for them. To view them on DDR, hold start when you choose your song and select "note" from the note skin options. The best way to tackle these notes is to practice songs that have them, and watch what grade you get when you step.

There are four corner jumps you will run into:

1. Hit the left arrow with your left foot and the up arrow with your right foot.

2. Hit the left arrow with your left foot and the down arrow with your right foot.

3. Hit the up arrow with your left foot and the right arrow with your right foot.

4. Hit the down arrow with your left foot and the right arrow with your right foot.

As mentioned with the blue notes, the best way to tackle these is to practice songs that have them. The best way to hit these is to know that they are coming, and prepare. This way they will not take you off guard. If you are playing DDR, play Dynamite Rave on Light/Basic. It has jumps like this in the chart.

On DDR, you will notice something that looks like this. This is the Groove Radar. It measures five dimensions of a song:

# Air - Measures the number of jumps in the song

# Chaos - Measure the irregularity of steps

# Freeze - Measures the number of freeze steps

# Stream - Overall density of the steps

# Voltage - Peak density of steps

When you go to practice songs, keep the groove radar in mind. It will show you what a song has and lacks. So, if you want to practice a song with jumps, look for something with "air". Chaos will tell you how many blue notes there are. Stream will tell you how much stamina the song will require, and voltage will show you how "fast" you will need to move.

Freeze Arrows

These guys give you a serious boost to your life bar if you hold them down. If you fail to hold them down correctly, they will reduce your life. Freeze arrows are key in keeping you alive in getting through difficult songs, so get those OKs!

Combos

If you have gotten this far, you already have noticed that if you step correctly a certain amount of times, you start to gain a combo. A combo is kept by scoring a "GREAT" or better with each step. The best way to learn how to combo better is to practice songs that make you lose your combo. If you practice the songs that you are bad at, you will get better at the songs you are already good at. Combos also show that you understand the steps to a song. If you are losing combo, it is often related to not "reading" the arrows properly (for instance, not knowing the difference between a blue note versus a red note).

Mines are introduced early in ITG. You will not find these in earlier versions of DDR, but if you have DDR X, you will see something similar, called Shock Arrows. In early levels, they are placed more or less at random, and you might hit one or two if you do not pay attention to where your feet are. As you progress through the game, mine placement will FORCE you to step a certain way. This could be by turning a certain way, jumping strangely, moving to the center or off the arrows altogether, or hitting with pinpoint accuracy. Mine placement will be discussed more in the advanced section, but on the intermediate level, you should know what they are and how to avoid them. The best way to avoid them in earlier levels is to look at the new arrows coming up and focusing on them instead of the mines.

I will give an intermediate example of ways to orient yourself into doing crossovers. The easier examples involve a freeze arrow:

In this situation, you have two options... you can hold the freeze arrow with your left foot and hit the quarter notes with your right foot, or you can hold the freeze arrow with your right foot and hit the quarter notes with your left. My preference in this situation is to do the first option. This is because it puts me in the DR position with my right foot on the right arrow, and its a lot more comfortable to go into a jump or another set of arrows in this position. There are, of course, exceptions. Future position is what matters in this case.

This is only an introduction to crossovers. Crossovers (blue and red note) will be covered more in the advanced section, since they start appearing around level 7.

Rolls are like freeze arrows, except that you have to keep stepping instead of holding them. The best way to do this is to hit the arrow like normal, and then step to the bass beat of the song. Rolls on the intermediate level are simply placed, so just tap to the beat of the song when you hit one and you should be OK.

Additonal Information

At this level, it is a good idea to try the harder basic level songs, and you should be mostly playing at standard level. Once you start getting through most of the 6 level songs on standard, take a stab at the 7 level songs, and work your way into Expert(DDR) or Hard(ITG). If you start playing expert level songs, watch out for the 16th notes!

If you have not done this yet, go to the options menu (by holding start) when you select your song. You should notice that there is a place at the top where you can change your speed modifier. This affects how the arrows are spread out. At the intermediate level, this is really useful, because it makes reading the blue arrows easier. I recommend that you use 1.5x or 2x to learn on. Use it for step charts where you need help. Ignore the other options on this screen - they will not help you (yet).

*Note: ITG defaults to 1.5x during normal play. If this does not work for you, use 2x or even 2.5x. Faster speed mods will allow you to see the arrows better (and learn how to step them faster), so take full advantage of them!

You can only see the BPM (Speed) of a song for ITG when you go to the options menu. This is important! Knowing the speed and using modifiers can help you find what speed modifier you are most comfortable with.

This is the end of Intermediate Mode. If you can read blue notes and get through them without many problems, do the simple crossover mentioned above, avoid some mines, hold your freeze arrows, get a good combo going, and you can do the jumps above, you are ready to advance!