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You're a Maniac!

It's about time you started the real fun stuff. Its time to learn how to play Heavy difficulty songs, ranging from 6-footers to 10-footers and beyond. For now, we'll focus on the 6-8 range, as 9-foot and above is a whole 'nother ball game. So, you can pass just about any standard song, and easily clear any basics. Play through a round like you normally would, but instead of doing 3 standards, or 2 standards and 1 basic, do 2 standard and 1 heavy. This time, when you play, try to analize beat patterns and figure out how to do them in your mind. You might try using a controler to start out, just to figure out different step sets, and get them down cold in your head. When you feel you have the patterns recognized, and don't feel overwhelmed by the number of arrows on the screen, try playing full rounds of heavy songs. Also, try using options from the menu, like Speed Mods, which help to spread out the arrows, Boost, for the faster songs where you need to seperate the arrows a little more, Dark, which gets rid of the arrow bar on the top, forcing you to rely on instinct and beat, and Shuffle, which creates an entirely new routine out of the song by randomizing the steps. Feel compelled to go to arcades and practice there, it is worth however much money it will cost you for a good practice session. Practicing in an arcade makes you much better, because you don't want to look bad in public, and that determination to do well carries back over to the home pad. Just dont bite off more than you can chew. If you play Heavy on the home consoles, start off playing Standard in an arcade, to get a feel for what you can and can't do with the pad. Arcade pads are very different than home pads. They are less sensitive, and the arrows are sunk in, so it may be hard to find the arrows at first. If you can afford it (Which you probably can't, or don't want to), buy a metal pad for your console. It is great for practice, I improved immensely after purchasing mine. The best home pad you can buy normally is the CobaltFlux, and will run you $300 without S&H and accessories. This is the pad I use, I would not reccommend any others. Granted, I haven't played on others, but the Cobalt Flux is the best bang for your buck.
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