Get those perfects and combos higher

by NOR, 3 February 02

Scoring is easy. All you need to do is get all perfects! Then you'll get the highest score.

"Come on, EnoOn, we all know that. How do you get all perfects. That's what we want to know"

Well, it's important to keep in mind that it's all about getting perfects. Now that we know what our goal is, we can work towards it.

I'm not the best, but I do have some hints. A good starting place.

First, if you're learning to score, and you're used to freestyling or just passing songs, go back to easier songs. Concentrate on getting full combo on songs. Concentrate on timing. People who are used to just passing songs by the skin of their teeth are usually not used to trying for full combo on easier songs... they want to pass much harder songs, which is normal and good. But when working on score, perfects are more important than keeping your gauge up.

Also, start with songs without 8th notes (some people call them triplets or half-beats, but those are actually different things). Most basic songs below 5 feet are good for this... some favorites are Dynamite Rave Basic (but it has a lot of jumps) and End of the Century Basic. Also good are Boys Basic and El Ritmo Tropical Basic (at least for me). Start with an easy song and work on it until you get to the level you want to get with it... 85% perfect, 90% perfect, whatever you're trying to achieve.

So, now we're on an easier song. Here are, for me, the best ways to work on getting perfects:

1) Before the arrows even start, get the beat. Walk back and forth on the arrows to the beat of the song, get into the beat.

2) There are a couple things that the game does to help with timing that a lot of people don't know about: Just before the song starts, the arrows at the top will begin flashing. They always flash to the beat of the song. Also, when you step on an arrow, the corresponding arrow at the top of the screen will pulsate. If you're JUST on the beat, the flash of the arrow and the pulsating of the arrow will perfectly correspond. You can't really do a lot with this when the song is going, but you usually have enough time at the beginning to get yourself on the beat.

3) During the song, DON'T LOSE the beat. This means if there's a break, keep stepping the beat, or at least bounce a little, to remind yourself of it.

4) Masa said something that I hadn't really thought of, but it's definitely true, and I've followed it, and it helps... when you're practicing, try to keep track of the parts where you get off beat, and then work to fix it. If you have a home version, you can use the judge mode in training/practice mode to see whether you're off the beat, and which way you're off the beat, early or late. USE THIS.

5) When you start working on harder songs, notably songs with eighth notes, that you don't start rushing the beat. A lot of people don't do eighth notes evenly. To think about this, count a beat. Then count it twice as fast. A lot of people count eighth notes as just 3 really fast notes... but they are exactly twice as fast. It needs to be practiced. Same with 16th notes, and other rhythms. It requires practice.

6) A technical piece of information: To get a perfect, you need to be within 1/32nd note (an 1/8th of a "beat") of the arrow. This isn't going to mean much, except that it's not based on time... so in faster songs, you have a smaller margin of error, time wise. When you need to be thinking about this, it will be useful. If it doesn't make sense, ignore it.

7) Most of all... RELAX! Even though you need to hold these things in your head, you can't be thinking about them, and you can't get tense about them. Thinking slows you down, as does tension... and if you're slow, you'll be off beat. It helps to work on them one at a time, and watch yourself improve slowly... you can't learn them all at once.

Good luck! If you have questions or comments, please let me know.