What is DDR?
Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) is a music video game that you play with your feet. Music plays, arrows march up the screen in time with the music, and the goal is to step on the right arrows at the exact right time. It starts out simple and slow, but as the difficulty increases, it starts to look less like dancing and more like an Old West shootout where the bad guy is shooting at the deputy’s feet and the deputy is frenetically hopping around for a minute and a half.
Why do I love DDR?
It’s the only form of exercise that’s actually fun for me. I love the music, I love the movement, and I love the competitive aspect. I used to be really good; I won statewide competitions in 3 states. I’ve fallen out of practice the past few years, but I’m still pretty good.
So what is AAAing a cata?
DDR songs have a difficulty level between 1 and 10. I’m currently focusing on difficulty 9 songs, which are called “catas” (short for “catastrophic”).
On each song, you get a grade depending on how accurately you step on the arrows. Your grade can be failure, C, B, A, AA, AAA, or AAAA. AAA, also known as “perfect combo”, is when you hit every step within 45 milliseconds (about a twentieth of a second) of exact timing.
My current project is to AAA every cata. Here’s my list so far:
- 2008-07-18 No Limit
- 200?-??-?? Freedom
- 200?-??-?? Hypnotic Crisis
- 200?-??-?? My Summer Love
- 2009-09-06 Resurrection
- 2009-12-05 This Is My DJ
- 2010-08-02 We Belong To The Sea
- 2011-01-24 Oasis
- 2011-02-15 Frozen Ray
- 2011-04-09 Kiss Me Red (Interlude)
- 2011-04-30 Not Available
- 2011-06-27 Flying High
- 2011-06-27 Furi Furi ’60
- 2011-07-10 Got To Be Real (Love to Infinity Mix)
- 2011-07-25 Gotta Let You Go
- 2011-07-30 Birdie
- 2011-09-25 Dreaming
- 2011-11-25 Baby Boy
- 2012-01-23 Spacy Crazy Girl
- 2012-01-28 Psalm Pilot
- 2012-03-18 Viva L’Amor
- 2012-04-30 Let Mom Sleep
- 2012-05-21 Orion.78
- 2012-06-16 Freedom (the other one)
- 2012-09-17 Irresistablement
- 2012-11-06 Road To You
- 2012-11-10 Star Festival Story
- 2012-11-10 #56
- 2012-11-12 Little Kitty Mine
- 2012-11-13 Visible Noise
- 2013-06-18 Remember December
- 2013-06-29 Must Be Dreaming
- 2013-07-25 Euphoria
- 2013-07-25 Disconnected Hyper
- 2013-08-09 Silvan Tales
- 2013-08-09 Stoic (for EXTREME)
- 2013-08-11 Tears
- 2013-08-12 Colors (for EXTREME)
- 2013-08-12 Collapsed Heaven
- 2013-08-15 sync (for EXTREME)
There are 157 catas total in my playlist, so I’ve still got a ways to go. Cata #39 was the one-quarter mark!
I’m also working on building my stamina back up by playing a lot of difficult songs in a row. My current stamina record is:
- 85 random endless catas (2:35:36) on 2013-07-13
“random” means random, and “endless” means no breaks between the songs. Man, you really appreciate those breaks once they’re gone!
I didn’t know you were so good. Wow! I’m lucky to get an A on a song. Most of the time I’m a C or B. I’m impressed. I haven’t played in awhile. You are making me want to bring it out again.