DDR Bracket 02 - Public Review

[Aeronautical Vigilante]

THIS THREAD IS ONLY FOR PUBLIC REVIEW! Discussion = -3 to your score or ignorance of your public review. Take it to the Discussion thread!

Please try and review as many files as you can. The more complete, the chances are your PR will be accepted.

Also, please keep them in forward alphabetical order - even if you actually do them in a different one, sort them into forward alphabetical order for Inc's sanity, please.

This is how the public review works:
Total Points Per Song /10
-Steps /6 - This is the same number the judges work with. Please try to play more than one chart if you can.
-Everything Else /4

The public reviews for each song will be averaged, and then multiplied by 4 to create the /40 of the /100 total points for each song in this round.

Any review can be thrown out by staff if deemed inadequate, irrational, or disrespectful. (Look at the KB ones for an example).

[discovolante]

All in the Way-
Steps: Heavy- Really good. I like what you did with the rhythms in the secnd half. Very DDR-like. 3/3
Challenge- Not that good. First of all it's really not a 9, it's still about a 7 or an easy 8. Second, the sixteenths seem pretty forced here. Could've been better. 1.5/3
Other: I feel like the end of the cut didn't really need to be there, but it's really not enough to dock points. The art is a bit plain, doesn't really stand out. 3/4
Overall: 7.5/10 Challenge chart was kinda unnecessary. Loved heavy.

Bouncin!-
Steps: Inconsistent. Rhythm shifted way too often (and at random points) for my tastes. Loved what you did with the freezes. 16ths following the drums were out of place for the difficulty. 2.5/6
Other: Really good art. Well-synced. 4/4
Overall: 6.5/10 Kind of lacking, good try though. I liked at least that there was a lot of jumps... since it's called "Bouncin'!" ^^

Dancin' In My Dreams-
Steps: With the exception of basically all the synth syncopation, this was great. My problem with the syncopation was that it changed too often, generally not following the synth properly at all. Great otherwise though. 4.5/6
Other: Love it. Art and video are perfect. 4/4
Overall: 8.5/10 Nice work.

Do You Know-
Steps: Heavy- Didn't like where the rhythm was sacrificed for straight 4th notes. Rest was good though. 2/3
Challenge- Same problem as heavy, only sometimes it's on blue notes instead of red ones. And now there's too much doublestepping. I just didn't like it very much overall. :/ 1/3
Other: I like the art. It's not perfect, but it works. 4/4
Overall: 7/10 Ehhh, your steps need work. Shows promise though.

Fuku Wa Uchi-
Steps: Brilliant as hell. 6/6
Other: This probably wasn't necessary, but I would've liked some English or at least the transliteration on the art. Mainly I'm reminded Aoi Shoudou (for Extreme), where I didn't even know what the song was until recently. At least the title in SM is transliterated. The art was great though, and I'm sure the text doesn't matter, so I've decided not to dock anything. 4/4
Overall: 10/10 Really good.

Gasolina-
Steps: This is like Ska a Go Go having sex with The Saints Go Marching In/ Wild Rush. And I love it. A 9 with a lot of character. 6/6
Other: Good art, if kind of plain. Song is a great choice. 4/4
Overall: 10/10 Nice work, a real keeper.

High School Love-
Steps: With the exceptions of the step direction being really repetitve in the first half and the sixteenths not really fitting the feel of the chart, it's great. Reminds me of Love <3 Shine. 4.5/6
Other: The art is terrible. Not only is there no continuity between the banner and background, it's very blurry and is basically just Pop'n-style art pasted on a Google'd background. Umm... sorry, this isn't good at all. It's well synced and everything, but the art's just no good. 2/4
Overall: 6.5/10 Good steps marred by really bad art.

INSPIRATION-
Steps: Not feeling the 9 here. It's a pretty solid 8, I'd say. That said it's really good, I loved it. 5.5/6
Other: CUUUTE! Love the art, and it's well synced. No complaints. 4/4
Overall: 9.5/10 Just missed a perfect rating on the count of a misrate. Great stuff though.

Kickstart My Heart (omg... it's the Crüe...)
Steps: Heavy- Couldn't really feel a lot of the rhythms you were going for here. At least not until the chorus, where it become pretty fun. Not a fan of the doublestepping though. 2/3 (I think 1.75 would be more accurate but that would be kinda awkward)
Challenge- Again, I really can't feel your rhythms for the first half of the song. Just doesn't feel right. Only the chorus isn't as fun this time once it gets to it... :/ Also this feels like an 8 more than a 9. I guess it could pass for an easy 9... Again, doublestepping. Crossovers are fun though. 1.5/3
Other: Sooo early at that slowdown. Great art. 3/4
Overall: 6.5/10 I seriously want to give bonus points just for having the gall to use Mötley Crüe... I'm not gonna though. It was average.

Little Little Princess-
Steps: HIP HOP JAM. Arbitrary 16th note gallops... </3 Not very consistent with them either. Don't like the doublestepping either. End is so weird. This whole stepchart/stepfile is bizarre. Could be a borderline 10. I don't know what to say here... 2/6
Other: Not a fan of the one unnecessary speedup. Art is quirky, cool. 2.5/4
Overall: 4.5/10 Kind of ridiculous overall.

Love is Eternity-
Steps: Heavy- Except for some awkward syncopation (a medium amount) and doublestepping (a lot), this is pretty good. 2/3
Challenge- Syncopation was much better here. Doublestepping was about the same amount of bad. Good though. 2.5/3
Other: I loves me some Sota Fujimori. Cut is definitely too long for DDR. Good art, if kind of inconsistent. 2.5/4
Overall: 7/10 Well, it's the best 10 (or harder) from the DDR brackets so far, I'll let you know that much.

Nagai Yume (the last song, I just wanted to make this alphabetical)-
Steps: Kind of uninteresting except for the jumps... and even those weren't amazing by any standard. 3/6
Other: Love the video, but like You Give Love a Bad Name, it's lifted from a music video channel, so all their crap is still there. Song reminded me of Katamari slightly. And I love it. Name is nowhere in English except on the filename. That's bad. There should be a transliteration that is visible somewhere while playing. 2.5/4
Overall: 5.5/10

Paranoia ~sky~
Steps: Heavy- Really paranoia-like. They definitely succeed in that respect. They're also quite fun, which I personally don't find paranoia-like. So good job pulling that off somehow. Little doublesteppy. 2.5/3
Challenge- Not quite as paranoia-like. Not as fun either. Just doesn't have that fun feeling that Heavy does.. Part with the sixteenths runs is terrible... specifically, why do they start then stop for three measures, never quite going with the music? They're also inconsistent with the difficulty of the rest of the chart. Not so good, Al. 1/3 (should probably be 0.75/3 but, again, that's a bit awkward)
Other: Song was definitely too long. I don't like that the video ends before the steps do. All of the graphics are literally hoisted from DDR which is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it. One more thing (that won't affect your score): If you are the person that made this or know the person that made this, tell them to ease up on the watery synth. It sounds like someone taking a liquid shit... musically. 2.5/4
Overall: 6/10 Eh, it was alright.

Pump Up the Jam
Steps: Wacky rhythms! Really hard for DDR and, if I may dare, ITG-like. Except for the gallops, which were very DDR, and very fun. I dunno, it was ok. 3/6
Other: Weird art... liked the brackets in the BG. Could be a bit higher quality, IMO. 3/4
Overall: 6/10

Right Now (I thought this would be Van Halen... Halen and Crüe in the same bracket? AHHHH the 80's)
Steps: Uh, this is like a hard Standard chart for the most part. Needs some more Heavy. The rhythms are there for you... Sorry. It wasn't so bad overall, but it just needed a little more oopmh. 2.5/6
Other: Flashy, great art. 4/4
Overall: 6.5/10

Sakura Kaduki (heh heh heh... Sakura)
Steps: Starts a little early, which is no problem on SM but kind of a bitch on pad. (on a hacked ITG machine the steps would be starting during the fade in, or right after :/) Very fun though. Could've been rated a 9, no question. 4.5/6
Other: VERY unique art for DDR. I'd give extra if I could. Stop seemed a little out of place... thank god for those extra points! 4/4
Overall: 8.5/10 Nice!

Samba Brazil-
Steps: Heavy- NICE. I like this a lot. Even the doublestepping was fun to alternate. Couldn't hear all your rhythms but it was just too fun. 3/3
Challenge- I had a feeling I wouldn't like this as much. The runs stink worse than the kind you'd get in Mexico (or Brazil lol). The rest was alright, if similar to heavy. 1.5/3
Other: Yay Captain Jack! Good art, nice sync (though I had to adjust the gap more than usual) 4/4
Overall: 8.5/10 Challenge chart keeps this from getting a 10.

Seasons of Love-
Steps: Very DDR. Except for that one hand that should've been fixed. Could be an 8. Fun though. 4/6
Other: I just want to say that I hate this song, and I have ever since having to sing it in choir. I don't like RENT, either. Again, that's not your fault. Great art, good sync. 4/4
Overall: 8/10

Sphere-
Steps: This is like an 8 or a hard 7. Really. There's nothing going here that makes it a 9. Nor is it very fun. 2/6
Other: Anyone reminded of Xepher here? Hahaha, it's like the same song... Sync isn't so hot. Love the art. Sorry but sync is more important. Arbitrary speedup sucks. 1/4
Overall: 3/10 Out of sync, boring steps.

This Is Love-
Steps: A lot like a slower version of Toxic. The sixteenth+freezes thing didn't feel right. Other than that it was good, but a little generic. 3/6
Other: Great art... very original. On sync. 4/4
Overall: 7/10 Steps could use a little more originality, but it was good, shows promise.

Together- (lots of DDR artists here, huh?)
Steps: Pretty plain, but a solid 7 nonetheless. Liked what you did the jumps and syncopation. 5/6
Other: Yay video. Yay art. It's good stuff. BG is kind of plain and doesn't fit the BN, but what can you do. 3.5/4
Overall: 8.5/10

Tunak Tunak Tun- (OMFG)
Steps: Whoa. Whoa. What the fuck. The part with the sixteenth-note jumps goes with the music at first, then REALLY doesn't. SO awkward, it's like the end of Higher, but throughout the whole chart. Gallops were incorrect as well. With the exception of the verses, this whole chart follows the music very, very poorly. 0.5/6
Other: GAHAHHHH DALER MENDHI. Art was a little low-quality, and the song was just a tad out of sync. 2.5/4
Overall: 3/10 TERRIBLE steps. I mean, bottom-barrel stuff here.

Way of Life-
Steps: They were alright, there was a lot more you could've done with the music though. Doublestepping was fun to alternate. Would be a 9 if it were any faster. Good, not amazing. 4/6
Other: Crazy video... >_> Good art, although the banner is just random compared to the background/video. 3/4
Overall: 7/10 But really that video is gonna haunt me forever...

Wild Thing/Poor Boy-
Steps: A lot more you could've done here. I don't think the chorus is very good... really generic. Liked the runs in the prechorus though. 2.5/6
Other: This is the same band that did Sucks To Be You, which I love. Is this video from Nickelodeon or something? Didn't really like it... Art didn't fit the video, which I think it should've. Should've at least been the same level of brightness. 2.5/4
Overall: 5/10 Average.

Wowowee-
Steps: EXORBITANT?? Ok... I don't agree. I thought this was pretty good in a minimalist sort of way. The gallops were a lot of fun. Pretty much no problems here... 6/6
Other: Don't get the background at all. What does it have to do with the song? Looks like a rescue boat... or something? I dunno, I just would've liked something brighter and more exciting, more like the banner. 3/4
Overall: 9/10 Good steps, very good.

You Give Love a Bad Name-
Steps: Ehh, ok. Nothing really amazing. I guess the 12th notes were different. Kinda boring otherwise. 3.5/6
Other: Video was lifted from MTV. I would've preferred the version without the MTV banners. But it's got a naked lady in it. Art works. 3/4
Overall: 6.5/10

I liked this bracket a bit more. The average was overall better, and what was really good was REALLY good.

[Xythar]

OK here's the first half and then I'm taking a break

Scores are subject to change if I finish rating everything and then decide they're not consistent across the board.

ALL IN THE WAY

Steps: 5.25/6 These were pretty good, but at the same time they felt like 6 foot Standard steps rather than 7 foot heavy steps (and it's not just because there are challenge steps as well). I felt the red, red, red-blue-red pattern was a bit overused at the expense of not following the music as closely as I'd like - the steps all worked fine, but the patterns felt a bit too generic. I liked the end, I would have preferred it if the start was more similar to the end I think.

Everything Else: 3.5/4 Alright song choice, alright graphics. It could use a lyrics file, tho, and I probably would have ended the cut a little earlier but this way works too.

8.75/10 Fairly good/professional, I just wish heavy had a bit more to it.

BOUNCIN

Steps: 5/6 I can appreciate that you made an effort to vary your steps for a song which basically consists of the same four bars of music over and over and over, but some parts (like the freezes with three steps) repeated a bit too much for my liking anyway, and I'm not sure the 16ths were really warranted for an 8 footer. There are also some short freezes here and there which could stand to be removed.

Everything Else: 3/4 I liked the graphics, but the song was just so boring and samey throughout that I think it made your file less fun to play than it could have been. It's sort of DDR material but there are probably better choices.

8/10 Technically it's not too bad, but I still probably won't play it much in the future.

DANCIN' IN MY DREAMS

Steps: 5.25/6 These were pretty good, I liked the use of jumps and even the stepjumps worked pretty well but I didn't agree with all the 16ths. A significant proportion of them didn't feel quite right in terms of matching the synth, particularly towards the end - I don't mean that you didn't use enough, just that they were placed a bit weirdly I think.

Everything Else: 3.75/4 I was going to invoke the "eurobeat is more than just Initial D clause" but I guess you wanted to use the video and have the graphics match the video so fine. It's all done pretty well and the song was a decent choice (although I've heard better eurobeat, from both a musical and DDR suitability standpoint, IMO), and I'll ignore the lack of a lyrics file in favour of the inclusion of a video and doubles steps, but the Initial D artstyle is so uglyyyy

9.25/10 Yeah, pretty good. You got a pretty significant bonus for your extras in the end but I probably would play this again all the same although the weird 16th placement will take some getting used to.

DO YOU KNOW

Steps: 5.25/6 They felt a bit double steppy for me at times, and every time you went red-yellow-blue (or vice versa) on "do you know" I think the yellow on "you" was a 16th too early (so it should have been red-red-blue or blue-blue-red). However, other than that, I thought these worked well.

Everything Else: 3.75/4 Excellent song choice. Children is a cool song and this is a nice vocal version of it which works well for DDR. Graphics aren't bad either, although there's no extras. I really did like your choice of song however, enough to be worth saying so twice

9/10 This was a pleasant surprise!

FUKU WA UCHI

Steps: 6/6 Really fun! I was a little iffy about the very end, but not enough to take points off for it. I especially liked the main chorus line, with the string of 8ths and then a jump slightly after on the "hey!" or whatever.

Everything Else: 3.75/4 I still don't really like Domino much (especially her faux-Japanese vocals) and the very start of the song makes me want to hit something, but the song works pretty well here, and the graphics are good. No extras, tho...

9.75/10 Best so far in this bracket, well done!

GASOLINA

Steps: 5.5/6 Pretty cool, although the first slow part takes some getting used to. About all I'd say is that it felt a bit sparse at times, you'd have 16ths and then nothing and then 16ths, where it might be more fun to fill in the space a bit. The 16ths late on could also use more variation instead of being on the same two arrows for several triplets in a row. Still, I liked it.

Everything Else: 4/4 The graphics are okay (CD title is a bit too big I think) but it's an interesting song choice with a well executed speedup and a lyrics file too (not to mention the bonus one, hahaha) so I'll give the full 4 here in recognition of technical achievement in particular. Also your readme is hilarious.

9.5/10 Memorable and well made!

HIGH SCHOOL LOVE

WHERE ARE THOSE LYRICS I WORKED OUT

Steps: 5.25/6 Pretty hard for an 8 (long streams, that one bit with 16ths), I think this most likely should have been a 9 although it's pretty easy to score. It's straight 8ths most of the way here, but you use them pretty well and I liked the freeze usage also. There are some parts where it feels like you used jumps unnecessarily (ie, they didn't really go with anything in the music) and some parts where you could have used jumps more, tho. For instance you use two jumps on two synth hits at the start, which makes sense, but then you use two jumps again on three drum hits, I realise three jumps is a bit hard but maybe put three steps instead, or two steps and a jump on the two arrows the player just stepped on, that pattern's usually cool (or maybe even a jump and two steps?). Especially at the end of the middle part because that triple piano chord with drums is so emphasised that two jumps feels like you're just shortchanging it. Also, I think you could have done more with the middle part - that's like the coolest bit of the song, but the steps are mostly the same as the rest except for that one part with 16ths that were probably more than what was necessary (actually, I think I've made the same complaint about Yolcu Mustafa with not using 16ths where I'd have liked to see them and then turning around and using 16ths where they weren't necessary but this is probably mostly a matter of 'is this how I'd step it' rather than 'are these good steps' so it's no big deal). But yeah, I just play that piano bit and it feels like it's missing something, I don't think the standard 8th streams do it justice, it's meant to stand out from the rest of the song and not just be the same as the rest (I realise the 16ths were kind of intended to do this but I didn't really feel it was enough, and I'm not talking difficulty). Sorry, that's just how I felt about it, but either way it was pretty fun and I really do like those freezes with steps on the cymbal hits, they're awesome. Holy crap this is like the longest paragraph I've ever written

Everything Else: 2.75/4 The song choice works pretty well but your graphics are still ugly as sin The text is alright but the character is as always rather pixelly and it seems like you've brought in a random pixelly Google Images background to match. I realise this is your style but it still doesn't exactly look pleasing. You had no excuse not to have a lyrics file this time :P although I only take off points for not having any extras if I was going to give a 4 otherwise, so it doesn't really matter in the end.

8/10 Honestly at this point I think your graphics are the main thing holding you back from a better score, so maybe we need a new scoring system, I dunno. I think I've already used enough words on this review, onto the next :P

INSPIRATION

...Is this seriously your first file? I can't help but wonder if this is someone's alias.

Steps: 6/6 Great! Probably closer to 8 than 9, and I wasn't certain about two of the 16ths, but most of it was excellent and matched the music really well. No other problems, and the ones above I didn't think were worth taking anything off for.

Everything Else: 3.75/4 Nice song choice, not to mention that you have hands down the best graphics in the bracket. But it doesn't have any extras, so I can't give the full 4...

9.75/10 Seriously, is this by one of the ex-nDDRo crew (I'm thinking Titiln, but I'm not sure) under an assumed name? >_> Um, if it's not, then you should take that as a compliment, heh. It's just a combination of factors that make me suspicious (such as the file contrasted with the readme, and your account only having two posts and both of them being in the OSC5 forum)

KICKSTART MY HEART

Steps: 5/6 To be honest, I think this one has the problem shared by a lot of other rock-based entries to OSC5 in that it basically just makes you pound out uniform chains of 8ths that don't particularly match the music for 2 minutes. Or at least, it ended up that way at the end, because I went to replay it and it does follow the music a bit early on, then it gets less interesting. It's not particularly bad, but also not particularly interesting and it doesn't make the file stand out much to me. Also, the slowdown at the end could have been a bit more graceful.

Everything Else: 2.75/4 The graphics are good, but I should probably be complimenting the guy who made the image instead, since the text added to it didn't look particularly amazing. Song isn't really what I'd pick for DDR, it's a bit hard to make steps to without them ending up kind of samey.

7.75/10 This isn't really technically bad in any way, but it doesn't stand out to me as a file I'd want to play again.

LITTLE LITTLE PRINCESS

Steps: 3.5/6 I will admit to a certain level of bias here because I am already quite used to the stepfile prepared for VJAMix for this (which is quite different) but even when trying to look at this objectively I just don't think this is that great. It's just a very amateurish stepfile, for lack of a better description - it follows the vocals too closely in some parts and follows seemingly nothing at all in others. Random 16th gallops (which at this BPM aren't a lot of fun) are thrown in where they don't belong. Freezes are overused for no good reason (I especially disliked the 16th gallop-into-freeze bits and saw one or two short freezes too) and the steps on the whole feel too random, they're unevenly spread all over the place without much regard for flow. At least you knew how to avoid double stepping for the most part, tho.

Everything Else: 2/4 The banner could be better, as the contrast between the text used for the title and artist are a bit too great, I think. The BG source image is a bit low quality as well. The song choice is alright, but all the BPM changes were just completely unnecessary - the double wasn't as bad as Domino's because it was so brief, but the numerous halvings were just annoying for the most part. I've played this song a bunch of times on IIDX, and the only time I remember the BPM slowing down was right at the end! Whereas you halve the BPM right before the end and then speed it up slightly for the last few notes, which is just strange any way you look at it considering the song slows down at that point.

5.5/10 Again, your steps'll get better with practice, I think. Just don't overuse BPM gimmicks so much, it's not a good way to make your file stand out other than in a negative light.

LOVE IS ETERNITY (SF SYNTH TRANCE MIX)

Steps: 5/6 In all honesty I think these could benefit from being easier, you do this thing often where you have a yellow arrow immediately followed or preceded by another, whereas just the yellow would also do (and I'd like it better that way). Still, that's pretty much a matter of preference. I found it a bit hard to grasp what some of the later patterns were following, however - they didn't go to the obvious elements in the music that I thought they would. In particular, the part after the first "Love is eternity" felt too early to me - I actually quit out and played light the first time I got there to see if the BPM/gap were off at all and they weren't, so I think the steps are just a bit counterintuitive, or at the very least not what I'd expect.

Everything Else: 3.25/4 Good song choice (I love this song ), and decent banner, but the BG felt a bit lacking to me (not as 'futuristic' as I feel the song should have, and the text was a bit plain). The graphics were alright overall, tho.

8.25/10 Pretty good but it didn't feel completely natural to me.

PARANOIA ~SKY~

Steps: 5.5/6 Ouch. These were really twisty and annoying for the most part, but then you're trying to emulate Paranoia, so I'd say you succeeded admirably in that respect. You have nearly 600 steps here, however, which is really pushing your 9 rating a tad. I think they were designed fairly well without a significant amount of double stepping (just lots of twisting), but I don't entirely enjoy steps like this (especially at this BPM). I liked the wind-down at the end with the red arrows.

Everything Else: 3.5/4 Cool song choice, nice banner, but background could need some work as it took me a moment to even see the "sky" element of it. I think the sky should be more prominent, much like the banner, so maybe you should take out more parts of the foreground like that grid or something. Good work on font matching, tho. The videos sort of alternated between cool (especially towards the end) and really annoying (especially towards the start), but I suppose in the end the net effect was positive. Song edit is a bit long.

9/10 This is pretty well made all round, I guess. I think you pretty much succeeded in doing what you set out to.

Note: Please see a few posts down for the remainder of my reviews.

[jesterline]

My judging might seem harsh, but I'd say a 6 = average. So if you think your score is low that's because my judging is kind of low, but it isn't as bad as it seems! Or something.

Also, I liked bracket 1 better. I'm weird.

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All In The Way - Sarina Paris

Steps: 4.5/6
It was good I guess, but nothing about it really stands out. It just kind of boring in

idea.

Everything Else: 2/4
The graphics are pretty bad. Weird bevels, and the base of it is ugly and doesn't really

fit.

TOTAL: 6.5/10

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Bouncin! - H-Corps

Steps: 4,5/6
It seems like you kept trying to do different things with this chart because of how

repetitive it is, which is good, but it felt weird sometimes. Also, you put freezes that

are so short that you don't need to even hold them to get the OK.

Everything Else: 1/4
The graphics are kind of "blah" with the blurry text and everything. Also, it's offsync.

The BPM is too fast, I think.

TOTAL: 5.5/10

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Dancin' In My Dreams - J. Storm

Steps: 4/6
The synthline was kind of awkward and strange, and the rest of the steps were kind of

"boring in idea" which I guess is my new phrase! Too jump, too, at points.

Everything Else: 3/4
The graphics are okay, kind of random anime girl and bg video but I'm sure they fit in

somehow! Right?

TOTAL: 7/10

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Do You Know (I Go Crazy) - Angel City

Steps: 4/6
I'm going to pull this one out again: boring in idea. It's pretty average.

Everything Else: 2/4
The graphics don't match the subtitle on the songwheel, which is pretty weird... The BG

is really blurry too.

TOTAL: 6/10

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Fuku Wa Uchi - Domino

Steps: 4.5/6
Good, kind of average. Nothing really stands out as amazing but it's good!

Everything Else: 4/4
Nothing wrong here.

TOTAL: 8.5/10

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Gasolina (Delaction Remix) - Danny Ray

Steps: 5/6
Finally I have some real feedback to give out. Some parts, I really like what you

did. Others, kind of strange. Mainly, the verse and chorus were kind of weird at points.

Still a fun chart, though!

Everything Else: 3/4
Weird graphics, mainly the background. Nice lyrics and everything, cool beans.

TOTAL: 8/10

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High School Love - DJ Yoshitaka feat. DWP

Steps: 4.5/6
I'm giving out a lot of 4.5s... These steps have a great idea but with some flaws. Like

when you put a jump on the really stressed beat, you would always put one on the silence

before it, which made no sense and did make it worse. Also right before that part with

the huge three stresses eighths, you put two jumps. Just follow it, it will be fine! You

definitely have talent and can make a really good chart!

Everything Else: 2/4
That background looks really pixelated and gross.

TOTAL: 6.5/10

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Inspiration - Eri

Steps: 6/6
Wow, this is definitely the best file of this competition. This is everything Dream Of

You should have been. It has the perfect combination of creative steps and steps that

follow the synth and... I don't really know what to say other than amazing job.

Everything Else: 4/4
The graphics are amazing, the song is amazing, it's just amazing. AMAZING!

TOTAL: 10/10
I didn't even know people made files this perfect. This is the winner of the contest.

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Kickstart My Heart - Motley Crue

Steps: 3.5/6
A lot of jumps, pretty crazy. Sometimes I didn't like the steps, sometimes they were

good. You were creative though, which is good. Yeah.

Everything Else: 1/4
This song could have been way shorter, the "chorus" was really repetitive and got

extremely boring and annoying after hearing it like 20 times. The graphics are also just

a cut and paste on a random generic 3D thing, which doesn't really fit the song, which

doesn't really fit DDR!

TOTAL: 4.5/10

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Little Little Princess - Shrine 418

Steps: 1.5/6
Ehh... this chart really had no flow at all. There were a lot of awkward gallops and

freezes that are too short to be held. Just not good sorry.

Everything Else: 1/4
BPM gimmicks... badly compressed/stretched graphics (not really sure which)...

TOTAL: 2.5/10

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Love Is Eternity (SF Synth Trance Mix) - Sota Fujimori

Steps: 2.5/6
You tried to follow the rhythms the whole time, but you really messed them up a bit

throughout the chart.

Everything Else: 4/4
On sync, nice graphics, nothing wrong really.

TOTAL: 6.5/10
This file reminds me of Ultramix. Take that how you want.

----------

Paranoia Sky - NW180

Steps: 5/6
This was really hard to rate. I didn't know if I should rate it as a Paranoia file or a

regular stepfile. It worked as a Paranoia file so you get a FIVE because it isn't all

that amazing but it's good.

Everything Else: 2/4
Bad graphics, and there are already enough Paranoias to go around.

TOTAL: 7/10

----------

Pump Up The Jam - Technotronic

Steps: .5/6
You follow the vocals and melody so close (and fails at it a lot) and it doesn't work at

all. I guess you'll get a ,5 for um... I don't know.

Everything Else: .5/4
When I think of Pump Up The Jam, I think of the 70s and the hair of a skunk. :X :X :X

It's on sync...? Too long...

TOTAL: 1/10

----------

Right Now (Dance Man Remix with The Bandman) - Atomic Kitten

Steps: 4.5/6
Kind of double steppy, but it actually worked. I don't know what to say about this, it's

a pretty good chart.

Everything Else: 3/4
The banner is absolutely impossible to read on the normal theme.

TOTAL: 7.5/10

----------

Sakura Kaduki - Akito

Steps: 1/6
You were trying to follow things that didn't exist in the song... and then a freeze note

orgy following something being plucked?

Everything Else: 2/4
I was going to say the graphics looked nice, but then I read your readme and saw that you

just took them from another game. Correct me if I'm wrong, because I'm kind of confused

about that.

TOTAL: 3/10

----------

Samba Brazil - Captain Jack

Steps: 3.5/6
Seems kind of messy. Pretty generic until the second chorus which was just kind of

strange.

Everything Else: 2/4
I don't know why you'd step a song called Samba Brazil and not at least use one color of

the Brazil flag. Not a big deal though. A big deal was the cut! What was with that long

section of percussion? That is not good for a DDR cut.

TOTAL: 5.5/10

----------

Seasons Of Love (Gomi's Lair Club Mix) - Rent

Steps: 2/6
This was mostly following the wrong things! A lot of weird things being followed in this

file. Usually it's trying to follow the vocals too closely. Also, freeze orgy!!! Why was

that last note like a 64th freeze?

Everything Else: 3/4
I can't really read the subtitle in the banner. The BG isn't bad and whatever.

TOTAL: 5/10

----------

Xe-sphere - Tatsh feat. K. Nayuki

Steps: 2.5/6
Not sure what's going on here. Really "messy" and weird. There's a lot to follow.

Everything Else: 1/4
Since when do we add BPM and genre to BGs? Also: BPM gimmicks and bad audio!

TOTAL: 3.5/10

----------

This Is Love - Utada Hikaru

Steps: 3/6
I liked the parts where there was a beat mostly. It seems like when the beat dropped

out/became more quiet you didn't really know what to do.

Everything Else: 4/4
Yeah nothing really wrong here! I like the graphics.

TOTAL: 7/10

----------

Together - Smile.dk

Steps: 5/6
These steps are very good! They don't totally stand out but they are really well done,

good job!

Everything Else: 3/4
The background was kind of boring, and the cut was kind of weird.

TOTAL: 8/10

----------

Tunak Tunak Tun Created by Dj ThugLife

I get this strong feeling that you aren't a thug considering you're making a stepfile and

it's to a Daler Mehndi song.

Steps: 1/6
Um, yeah. The TUNAK TUNAK TUN parts were crazy, too hard and off. The rest was pretty...

blah.

Everything Else: 1/4
Terrible graphics... Also you don't put your name on the songwheel no!

TOTAL: 2/10

----------

Way Of Life - Stylophonic

Steps: 2/6
You don't have to follow everything so closely!

Everything Else: 1/4
Went on for too long, atrocious graphics.

TOTAL: 3/10

----------

Wild Thing/Poor Boy - Prozzak

Steps: 5.5/6
Very good! I liked it a lot. I don't really no what to say other than it's quite good!

Everything Else: 3/4
The banner was pretty bad, and the background was kind of bad. But not too bad.

TOTAL: 8.5/10

----------

Wowowee - Willie Revillame featuring Lito Camo

Steps: 5,5/6
Predictable, to be honest, but I really think it works well for this song. It seems like

you were afraid to put in brakes a few times, though. Really good chart!

Everything Else: 3.5/4
The background seems a little weird, like more could be done. But it's good. I really

liked the banner, too. Perfect.

TOTAL: 9/10

----------

You Give Love A Bad Name - Mandaryna

Steps: 3/6
Really.. I don't know... average? It's kind of boring.

Everything Else: 2/4
Bad graphics, and for a while the BPM is doubled.

TOTAL: 5/10

----------

Nagai Yume - Yuki

Steps: 4.5/6
These were actually quite good. I didn't like some of the ending, though. I'm not sure what to say but it was pretty good.

Everything Else: 3/4
The text on the graphics is bad. BAD. Did the BG ever even show up? I don't know, um, but I looked at it and the text is bad. Yeah.

TOTAL: 7.5/10

[Rob00996]

I am reviewing from Z to A with an exception. Nagai Yume will be the first song I review. I will rate Heavy and Oni steps only.

NAGAI YUME

Heavy 4/6

Not bad. The steps at the beginning started off pretty good, the steps reminded me a little of Mahou Na Tobira from DDR. There was an excessive amount of freezes near the end and the steps got more boring near the end.

Extra 3/4

The banner is nice, but there is no background. The video is nice though. This would have been a 2 out of 4 if it weren't for the video.

Overall 7/10

A pretty solid way for me to start off reviewing the 2nd bracket. It could have been alot better though.


YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME

Heavy 1/6

Pretty bad. You should have avoided using 12th notes to try and follow the vocals. Some of the steps or jumps didn't even go to thje beat of anything. ONe thing I liked though is that the stream during the chorus was well placed.

Extra 1.5/4

The banner is ugly. The background is allright. The song choice was pretty decent. This would have been a .5 out of 4 if it weren't for the video.

Overall 2.5/10

So far, it's my least favorite simfile in the bracket. It could have been alot better if you fixed a couple of issues.


WOWOWEE

Heavy 5.5/6

Really fun steps. Nothing wrong except for some double stepping.

Extra 4/4

Nothing wrong. The song choice is pretty good.

Overall 9.5/10

Has some really good steps. This would have been perfect if you fixed that double stepping.


WILD THING / POOR BOY

Heavy 4/6

The steps were entertaining, but it was pretty repetitive. The steps could have been a little more diverse.

Extra 2/4

The background and banner were allright, but they had nothing to do with the video. I disliked the video and song choice for some reason, but I will still give you credit for adding a video. This would have been a 1 out of 4 if it weren't for the video.

Overall 6/10

Steps-wise, this simfile is allright. Everything else about it I don't like as much.


WAY OF LIFE

Heavy 5.5/6

These steps were really fun. This would have been perfect if there weren't so much double stepping.

Extra 2.5/4

The background is pretty ugly, and the banner has nothing to do with the video. The song choice would fit for a DDR song. This would have been a 1.5 out of 4 if it weren't the video.

Overall 8/10

Not bad at all. The song reminds me of Get Up and Dance (from DDR) a little bit.


TUNAK TUNAK TUN

Heavy .5/6

I was REALLY dissapointed with the steps. I was expecting better steps. There was just wayyyyy too many jumps with some of the jumps that didn't go to the beat of anything. The streams were repetitive too. There was quite a bit of double stepping at the 16th note steps at the end also.

Extra .5/4

The background was allright but the banner is terrible. The song choice is not bad. You should have also added the video of this.

Overall 1/10

Well, If I had to say one good thing about this simfile, it would be that at least you have it at the right BPM.


TOGETHER

Heavy 5.5/6

The steps were good also. My only problem was the 16th note jumps are awkwardly placed going to the beat of the vocals.

Extra 3/4

The background and banner is good. The song choice is good but the way you edited the song at the end was bad.

Overall 8.5/10

Another really good simfile. The song editing was badly made though.


THIS IS LOVE

Heavy 5/6

I enjoyed these steps as well. The double stepping actually worked well with the song but the only problems are that the 16th note freezes felt wierd and didn't go well.

Extra 3/4

I can't see the background that well, but the banner is good. The song choice is good as well.

Overall 8/10

A pretty good file. I would play it again.


SPHERE

Heavy 1.5/6

I didn't like these steps that much. The jumps steps at the beginning weren't that good. The steps were just boring.

Extra 1/4

The song is called Sphere but I don't see no sphere in ther background or banner, and the background looks more like a Pump background than a DDR background. I did like the speed change at the end though.

Overall 2.5/10

Another one of my least favorite simfiles in the bracket.


SEASONS OF LOVE

Heavy 4.5/6

I enjoyed these steps alot. The only problems were that you used to many freezes to follow the vocals and the freeze at the end was unnecessary.

Extra 3.5/4

The background and banner doesn't look like it has anything to do with the Rent, but it fits the song I guess. I hated the original version of this song, but this remix makes the song tolerable.

Overall 8/10

This is definitely my favorite simfile you entered into OSC5. And I will be playing this simfile a bit.


SAMBA BRAZIL

Heavy 2.5/3

I enjoyed these steps alot. But I think this should have been a 9 footer. There was a doublestepping part in the end also.

Oni 1.5/3

The steps were allright. There was some unnecessary short freezes in the middle of the song and the steps were ridiculously difficult for this type of song. However, these are now one of my favorite 10 footer steps in the DDR bracket.

Overall 4/4

Nothing wrong here. Captain Jack is always a good song choice for DDR and the background and banner are nice as well.

Overall 8/10

The Oni steps could have been done without. The steps in heavy were fun.


SAKURA KADUKI

Heavy 1/6

Quite a dissapointment. There was way too many freeze jumps and the steps could have had a little more variety. The 8th note freeze steps were unnecessary and the gallops could have been done without.

Extra 3.5/4

The background and banner are good. I enjoyed your song choice and the fact that you added background animations in certain parts of the song. The stop in the middle of the song was unnecessary and a little offbeat. This would have been a 3 out of 4 if it weren't for the background animations.

Overall 4.5/10

Quite nice presentation and song choice, but the steps are what ruined this simfile.


RIGHT NOW

Heavy 5/6

The steps were really fun, but there was alot of double stepping that's not that bad since theres just 4th note double steps most of the time. The 16th note at the end was unnecessary since you didn't really put any other 16th notes anywhere else.

Extra 3/4

The background and banner I don't like alot. The song choice is okay also.

Overall 8/10

Not bad, but there was just alot of double stepping that could have been fixed.


PUMP UP THE JAM

Heavy 1/6

The steps started off pretty good until the vocals started to kick in and you tried to follow the vocals most of the time. The steps had some unnecessary small freezes and tons of double stepping.

Extra 1/4

The background and banner don't really fit, but it's sorta does with the DDR arrows in it. The song choice is boring.

Overall 2/10

This simfile could have been so much better if you didn't try to follow the vocals so much.


PARANOIA SKY

Heavy 2.5/3

These steps were really fun. Only problem was the 16th note gallops were kind of unnecessary.

Oni 2.5/3

Same thing exactly as heavy mode steps. I also believe you didn't really need an oni step chart.

Extra 4/4

The background and banner and song choice fit. Nothing wrong here.

Overall 9/10


LOVE IS ETERNITY

Heavy 2/3

These steps are pretty fun. However, you did have a bit of double stepping and you followed the beat of the music a bit too much.

Challenge 2/3

These steps are definitely without a doubt, my favorite 10 footer steps in the bracket now. But that doesn't mean it's perfect. You were still following the beat a bit too much and the steps could have used a little more diversity.

Extra 4/4

Nothing wrong here.

Overall 8/10

A really good simfile with good 10 footer steps (finally).


LITTLE LITTLE PRINCESS

Heavy 1/6

The steps were pretty bad. There was alot of double stepping and jumps freezes throughout the song. The gallops were unnecessary also.

Extra 1/4

I did like the song choice and the banner. But the background was ugly and pixelated. The BPM changes were badly made too.

Overall 2/10

Not one of my favorites in the bracket.


KICKSTART MY HEART

Heavy 2.5/3

These steps were really fun. The double stepping was the only problem here.

Oni 1.5/3

These were really boring to me. I don't think you need an Oni mode chart for this song.

Extra 2.5/4

The song choice was allright. The banner and background I don't think have anything to do with Motley Crue though.

Overall 7.5/10

An average simfile. Nothing that bad about it though.


INSPIRATION

Heavy 5.5/6

Nothing wrong here except for the first awkwardly placed 16th note jump.

Extra 4/4

Definitely nothing wrong here.

Overall 9.5/10

This simfile could definitely be a DDR song, I will also be playing this song for a while as well.


HIGH SCHOOL LOVE

Heavy 5.5/6

Nothing wrong here except for the first jump when the music stops and the chorus starts which was awkwardly placed.

Extra 3/4

The banner and background are allright, but the character sprite looks pixelated, especially in the background. I don't know if it's just me or the sound quality is bad, so I won't count off for that.

Overall 8.5/10

A really good simfile as well. Boy, there's alot of good simfiles in this bracket.


GASOLINA

Heavy 6/6

One of the best steps in the bracket. Definitely nothing wrong. Good work!

Extra 4/4

Nothing wrong here either. The BPM changes were spot on.

Overall 10/10

Right now, this is one of my favorite simfiles in the bracket so far.


FUKU WA UCHI

Heavy 5.5/6

The steps were really good, but you started the steps off at a rather odd spot.

Extra 4/4

Nothing wrong here, it's rather nice looking and good song choice.

Overall 9.5/10

I enjoyed this simfile alot. Good work!


DO YOU KNOW

Heavy 2.5/3

There was a bit of double stepping that ruined the stepchart.

Oni 2/3

The steps started off bad with the steps trying to follow the vocals and alot of double stepping. But it then got progressivly better. You also placed your 16th note arrows perfectly.

Extra 3.5/4

The song choice is good. But I don't think the font you used for this simfile fit the song well.

Overall 8/10

Another good simfile, I will be playing heavy and oni for a while.


DANCIN IN MY DREAMS

Heavy 5/6

Your jumps were perfectly placed. However, I the 16th notes weren't well placed in certain areas, and there was some double stepping at the end.

Extra 4/4

The background was allright, but the banner and background and song choice were good. This would have been a 3.5 out of 4 if it weren't for the video.

Overall 9/10

Yet another really good simfile.


BOUNCIN

Heavy 1.5/6

These steps are really boring. You used way to many freeze arrows and there wasn't much variety in the steps.

Extra 2/4

The background and banner were allright, but the song was really annyoing.

Overall 3.5/10

Not one of favorite simfiles.


ALL IN THE WAY

Heavy 3/3

One of my favorite Heavy mode steps in the bracket.

Oni 2.5/3

These steps were also good except for the fact that the 16th notes weren't needed in the steps.

Extra 4/4

Nothing wrong here.

Overall 9.5/10

Once again, another good simfile which I'll be playng for a bit.


Here are my top 3 for this bracket

1. Gasolina
2. All In The Way
3. Wowowee

And here are the averages of my revies from each bracket.

Bracket 1 - 72.22

Bracket 2 - 60.82

Apparently, The 1st bracket is wayyy better based on my public reviews.

Well, I once again wish the best of luck to everyone in this bracket and everyone going to the challenge rounds.

[Akira]

Yes, this is incomplete. Songs are picked by random.

All In The Way
Steps: 5/6
Extras: 3/4
Comments: Sweet. Defenitely great song choice. The chart is practically easy and fun. The title in the BG needs more emphasis though.
Total: 8/10

Bouncin
Steps: 4/6
Extras: 2/4
Comments: Bounce...Bounce...Bounce streamstreamstreamstreamstreamstream... that's how I felt with the chart then add some holds to add variation. Still this song still feld kinda repetitive especially with the main rhythm. On the graphical side, it matches well. It gives more bouncy feel. Although you need to fix that bad samplestart and there are too much unnecessary holds.
Total: 6/10

Dancin In My Dreams
Steps: 3/6
Extras: 3/4INITIAL D FTWcapsfilter
Comments: This is an example of a great song that gets messed up with a bad chart. At the start, I liked the patterns until the intro phrase ended. The steps may seem randomly done as it doesn't follow most of the song which showed either laziness or lack of imagination. You should have spent more time for this file. +Points for using Initial D
Total: 6/10

Do You Know
Steps: 5.5/6
Extras: 3.5/4
Comments: Great song choice. I loved that song! The steps has quite a number of spins. One part forced me to doublestep though :p But still, it's a great chart. The graphics are somewhat night vigilante superhero-ish... heh great one.
Total: 9/10

Fuku Wa Uchi
Steps: 5/6
Extras: 3/4
Comments: I got a BSOD in the 1st try of this file.
Oni wa soto, Fuku Wa Uchi... para, para, para, para B.S.O.D! OMG L.S.S.! I also liked the flow of this song. Steps are nice and just right. No further violent reactions.
Total: 8/10

Gasolina [Delaction Mix]
Steps: 6/6
Extras: 4/4
Comments: LIEK WHOA! Dammit! This should be the best one in this bracket! Steps flowed out fine and everything is at sync, especially at the speedup part as it goes back to 143BPM. This is defenitely a win!
Total: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!

High School Love
Steps: 4.5/6
Extras: 2.5/4
Comments: Yes this is a cute song. Well, I SEE WHAT YOU DID WITH THE BACKGROUND You should have used Photoshop or Gimp to smoothen it out. Looking for a better pic for a basketball court is also a good option. For the steps, pretty nice. Some parts somewhat felt weird but in majority, it fits with the song.
Total: 7/10

Kickstart My Heart
Steps: 4/6
Extras: 3/4
Comments: Cool. You just gotta love the 80s
Aside from the forced doublestepping, those jump+short 8th streams gives this song a rating of 9 at heavy. Challenge level has a lot of spins O_o... although most of the steps are more guilty of doublestepping rather than spins. And yeah, cool graphics! I liked them
Total: 7

Little Little Princess
Steps: 5/6
Extras: 2/4
Comments: Awwww.... so cute :3 I dunno but it sounds like Handsome jet with Yu Tokiwa (Sorry I dunno the details for this song but I know it's from Happy Sky)
I liked the song. It should have been cut into DDR Length. Great job on the steps and BPM changes. The graphics seemed messed up since you only used a screencap of the video and stretched it out. You should have at least find a similar/alternate source.
Total: 7

Nagai Yume
[insert defensive blurbs here]

Pump Up The Jam
Steps: 4/6
Extras: 3/4
Comments: Heh! This song is so 80's! I liked the way you incorporated the DDR concept to this song. The steps seems nice but there are some parts that seems to be out of the place.
Total: 7/10

Tunak Tunak TUN

Steps: 3/6
Extras: 1/4
Comments: It's actually Tunak Tunak Tun. Terrible graphics. It screams out for the video you mentioned. I find the song a BIG LOL though
As for the steps, it's damn repetitive and it sometimes doesn't follow some parts of the "chorus"
Total: 4

Wowowee
Steps: 5.5/6
Extras: 4/4
Comments: I should give you a 1 for using the themesong of this god forsaken show. Hundreds got hurt and died because of this. (Reference 1) (Reference 2)

lol just kidding. It's a great effort to use a novelty song like this as an OSC entry

Anyway, we're not here to criticise a show. For the steps, they're great. This is an example of a cheesy song given life by a great chart. As for the graphical side, I bet you can't find any graphics related to the show right? Still, let's say that Willie Revillame is just in that crowd... and man, that's Hi-res

And thanks for mentioning me for the "JUST DO IT" PM

Total: 9.5/10

[Xythar]

I had this done yesterday but then Bemanistyle went down (boo). So here it is now, in a separate post of course because it wouldn't fit into the original, heh.

PUMP UP THE JAM

Steps: 3/6 Sorry, not great. I liked the start, but it went downhill from there (barring one part in the middle which was decent). Your main problem is poorly executed karaoke steps. In a song like this, you cannot afford to only follow the vocals closely because it leads to huge blank spaces where there are no vocals and therefore no steps alternating with bouts of awkward steps riddled with yellow-arrow syndrome. In a song like this, you should really be making more of an effort to follow the beat. You also used a lot of freeze arrows that didn't really go to anything and mainly seemed to be employed as a means to fill space (not to mention that the ones where one arrow starts a 16th later than the other look kind of ugly). Much like Little Little Princess before, this chart is just all over the place and has awful flow as a result, plus some double stepping later on (although you seemed to mostly avoid it until then).

Everything Else: 2.5/4 Graphics weren't particularly amazing, I thought the outline around the text looked a little ugly and didn't much like that lime green colour for the artist text. Song was also really quiet for some reason and didn't seem to have that much going on besides. It does include videos, tho, which is nice.

5.5/10 You need to work on your step rhythms a lot. Concentrate on making your steps more even throughout the music and avoid leaving in large gaps or following the vocals too closely.

RIGHT NOW (DANCEMAN REMIX)

Man, 10 perfects...

Steps: 4.5/6 Much like Days Dreamer hard, these would be really good if they weren't so double steppy. I had to double step a ridiculous number of times to get through this, you should really work on your steps a bit more and test them out on pad so that this doesn't happen. Other than that I thought they were pretty cool disco steps, I was thinking they should be a 6 early on but I guess those runs in the middle make it a 7. Probably.

Everything Else: 3/4 Pretty good choice of song, but lacking in extras. The graphics were so-so - I don't understand why you had to make the title and artist so ridiculously small on the banner considering that you had plenty of empty space to work with.

7.5/10 Double steps! Aurgh! They're what's holding you back here, so please work on eliminating them in the future.

SAKURA KADZUKI

Oh man, nostalgia value! Back when the closest I had to Beatmania of any kind was BMDX and my computer keyboard, I had a bunch of Akito BMSes that I used to play constantly, and this was one of them. I never actually knew its full name, since all I had was some unreadable shift-JIS in the title field and the directory name "sakura_k". It was awesome hearing this song again unexpectedly like this, so thanks for entering it. (And incidentally, your readme is wrong for this reason, as it originated as that BMS far before DJMAX)

Steps: 4/6 Where do you keep hearing 16ths in this song?! The first part was alright except for the 16th triplets that went to nothing, the bit after the freeze with the gallops etc had seemingly nothing at all to do with the music whatsoever, the bit after that with the 5-note runs was alright if repetitive, and then after that there are parts in the music where there would be an actual 16th triplet followed by 8ths but you'd put in two 16th triplets for no apparent reason (this part was also fairly repetitive in terms of steps and step placement, too.) Please don't just invent 16ths to make the song harder like you seem to be doing. There were a bunch of freezes, but they weren't too bad and I didn't even mind the short ones too much since it seemed like you were trying to emphasise that crossover for some reason. Double stepping was also kept to a minimum although that one part where you had to crossover LDR and then jump LD immediately after was pushing it a bit. I just wish the steps had more to do with the song in this case, and less random 16th triplets everywhere.

Everything Else: 3.5/4 The graphics were pretty beautiful, although I'm guessing you just took them straight out of DJMAX with minimal modification. I really, really love this song, as I may have mentioned already.

7.5/10 Honestly, I'd love to see better steps for this song that do a better job of following the music, but these are okay I guess... you might be mostly on riding the coattails of your song choice, however.

Maybe I should go step one of the other Akito songs... >_>

SAMBA BRAZIL

Steps: 5.5/6 I thought the two 16th gallops in a row were a little overused (or maybe I just don't like it when they both go the same way, and yes I'm a hypocrite) and I thought the cluster of 16ths near the start was probably a little out of place with the rest of the song. Your usage of 8ths and 12ths however (as well as that good old red-yellow-blue rhythm) was excellent and these steps were pretty enjoyable all round if a little repetitive (yep, huge hypocrite, right here)

Everything Else: 3.75/4 Can't go wrong with Captain Jack! Graphics were quite good as well, I think. But, this is another file lacking in extras, I'd have liked to see a lyrics file or such before giving the full score in this category.

(Incidentally, I tried your challenge chart and thought it was pretty good, kinda reminded me of a lot of the 10s from ITG2, although you overused the jumps a bit. Yeah, so I said ITG and not DDR, but that doesn't mean you should take it out, I think there will be people who enjoy it all the same. In any case, the challenge chart isn't a factor in determining your score by my system)

9.25/10 A quality file! Well done.

SEASONS OF LOVE

Steps: 5.25/6 Pretty good, but there seemed to be a few double steps in parts (not too many, tho) which are made worse by the presence of freeze arrows. However, I think without the double steps the freeze arrow usage is good - normally I'd be suspicious of a song with this many (possibly to the point of including a recommendation that the step author submit their resumé to Konami of Hawaii) but in this case, it goes well with the music. There are also a few points where the steps feel overly sparse, however.

Everything Else: 3.5/4 Decent graphics and nice choice of song (it's got a nice beat to it, and I like the lyrics). Could use a lyrics file or other extras, tho.

8.75/10 Not bad. Could use a touching up with regards to step placement tho.

SPHERE

Steps: 3.25/6 Well, it's not rainbow soup at least, so that's one plus. However, they're not very interesting either and make little effort to follow the music much if at all - especially in a song like this which begs for specific 8th streams that you seemed to ignore entirely. Furthermore, the steps tend towards annoying doublesteps quite often and the stepjumps are overused and annoying at 160 bpm, especially when most of them have two steps and then a jump on the other two arrows (as opposed to sharing an arrow with one of the previous two steps) and some patterns tend to repeat too much, again with little regard for how the music is actually doing. It's better than Speedy Cat, but it's still not very fun.

Everything Else: 2/4 Firstly, the speedup was completely unwarranted in my opinion and made it really hard to hit the last few notes. The graphics are okay, but what do they have to do with a medieval choir or a sphere or the song in any way? The banner looks like Metroid or something and I have no idea what the background is even meant to be. DDR backgrounds also don't generally have the genre or BPM. I realise you used a game version for this because you made it way back before the RED OST was out but you could have taken the time to replace it with the OST version in the meantime, I think - especially considering that 'meantime' is well over a year now I believe...?

5.25/10 It's a step in the right direction, but you still need to work on making steps that suit the music better, paying more attention to what patterns work on feet and varying things up a bit more.

THIS IS LOVE

Steps: 5.75/6 Nice! They're a little too twisty I think, but the rhythm is fun and you use freeze arrows well (except when they are combined with the aforementioned twisting). Still, these were pretty cool, although relatively hard for a 7, perhaps.

Everything Else: 3.75/4 Pretty song and nice graphics, and lyric file! The only problem is that the BG has information too close to the top and bottom, which tends to get covered up in the default Stepmania theme... it does look really nice out of Stepmania, tho. The song and graphics together kind of remind me of Kingdom Hearts.

9.5/10 A solid, well-made stepfile! Not much to complain about here.

TOGETHER

Steps: 5.5/6 Not bad! I wasn't sure of the rhythms in a few places, you tended to switch between red-yellow-blue and red-blue-red too frequently and I couldn't usually work out why, so I'd do one red-yellow-blue bit and expect the next part to follow that as well, but it'd be red-blue-red and I'd end up getting a great. There was also the part near the end with more 16ths that I didn't really get. Overall however this was pretty good.

Everything Else: 3.75/4 Great song choice, good graphics, lyrics file and video script - the only problem with this is the fadeout at the end which is a bit fast and early for my liking. I'd have preferred it if it started a little later and was slightly more drawn out, I think. Also, your CD title is way too big and it's just a square image - it'd be better if it had just the album logo on a transparent background. Other than that, nice work!

9.25/10 Well done, this feels pretty DDR-authentic except for a few minor issues.

TUNAK TUNAK TUN

Steps: 2.75/6 Blargh. Firstly, way too many jumps. The whole start and end and whatever have a ton of jumps in a row where normal arrows would suffice and be far more suitable - jumps are meant for emphasis, you don't just replace a bunch of arrows with them randomly. Most of the yellow jumps were off as well and didn't match the music properly. The rest of the steps weren't too interesting, didn't necessarily follow the music very closely, and had double stepping and one part with pointless random gallops everywhere. Really not much fun at all.

Everything Else: 1.5/4 Banner is stretched and ugly, background is blurry and ugly. CD title is way, way too large and ugly. Your name should not be in the subtitle field of the file, in fact this was explicitly stated in capitals in the official rules so you should probably count yourself lucky you weren't DQed for it. Song is absolutely awful (albeit moderately DDRable, I guess) and I did not enjoy it.

4.25/10 Sorry, not a fan.

WAY OF LIFE

Steps: 4.75/6 I liked how you didn't try to follow everything exactly, but to me it still felt like it was harder than it needed to be - too many 16ths and too many jumps, in my opinion. I think the steps would have been groovier if they were just mostly 8ths with the occasional jump to punctuate the end of a line or something, but maybe that's just me. There was also a small amount of double stepping here and there, although nothing serious.

Everything Else: 3/4 Song was alright, but I didn't really like the graphics that much. Text was a bit ugly & hard to read on the banner, and I didn't really like how much it was spread out on the BG, and the graphics didn't really have anything to do with the video (it would have been better if they did, I think). On the plus side, the video was pretty cool, although the song itself felt like it was cut a little long.

7.75/10 It wasn't too bad, but I didn't really feel like the song warranted the steps that it got.

WILD THING / POOR BOY

Steps: 6/6 Awesome! I loved the 8th runs and jump placement. Really nothing to complain about, great steps!

Everything Else: 3.5/4 Banner is a little plain, BG is alright. That's some pokecapn reasoning as to why you made them like that, tho... :P The video and lyrics were a nice touch, and I guess the song works pretty well (although the falsetto on the "Poor Boy" parts hurts my ears... >_>).

9.5/10 Great file! Although, it probably would have been better if you'd avoided the fadeout.

(just kidding :P)

WOWOWEE

Steps: 5.5/6 I liked everything except the gallops, which I thought were a little overused perhaps (I could see how the first one fit, the others not so well, but they were okay all the same). Especially the jumps, which were cool.

Everything Else: 3.75/4 The graphics are good, although their connection to the song is pretty tenuous... :P Maybe even some kind of generically game-show-like background would be better if you didn't want to use a Wowowee one specifically, I dunno. I guess the song works, although I have no idea where you got the idea to use this, heh. Lyrics and other random extras are cool.

9.25/10 Here's to another well done bracket 2 stepfile!

YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME

Steps: 5.5/6 Pretty good! The 6ths early on took some getting used to and felt a little out of place with the rest of the song, but I can dig them. The rest of the steps were fairly good throughout, although I liked the start of the synth hook a bit better than the later parts and there were also steps during this quiet part that didn't really seem to go to anything. Still, nice job!

Everything Else: 3.5/4 Graphics were okay, but the banner and BG didn't seem to have anything much to do with each other. Excellent song choice however, and nice video.

9/10 This bracket's hardly short on quality entries, that's for sure...

NAGAI YUME (a.k.a. "Akira forgot to enter a romanisation and so this is last in the list instead of being with the Ns like it should..." :P)

Steps: 5.25/6 Yeah, no huge problems, although you were guilty of following the vocals a little too closely at times I think, which led to a lot of freeze arrowry. They didn't stand out to me as fantastic, but they weren't bad.

Everything Else: 3/4 How come you didn't do a decent font effect on your new banner like you did on your old? The text looks nasty on the new one, and the image in the banner looks a bit fuzzy too, same with your 'background' (although black.png is the actual background used, which is kind of annoying because I think a transition from your real BG would be just as good and give you the added bonus of actually having a BG). Anyway, the presence of a video is nice, in any case, and the song's alright, when combined with the video it has a fun kind of marching feel. The lack of a romanisation in the SM file bugs me, tho.

8.25/10 Not stand-out amazing, but not bad either, a decent enough entry.

[sinh(Lily)]

This is Part 1 of 2. (12 / 24 songs)

Public Review for OSC 5 DDR Bracket 2
Reviewer: Thany117 / Lilina

=====================================

Version 0,5

Warning: I really give 0s. And not without reason. Also, I round up
scores if the decimal part is 75-99.

Guys, I do NOT give 1s for no apparent reason. You really gotta watch out-- you'll find that
most of the people who get low scores had poor Light and Standard charts. I DO NOT go for the
Heavy steps alone.

Table of Contents: (Use the Find command, the enter the stuff in brackets to jump to that part.)

1. [DIMD] Dancin in my Dreams
2. [GASO] Gasolina (Delaction Mix)
3. [HSLV] High School Love
4. [INSP] Inspiration
5. [LLPR] Little Little Princess
6. [LETE] Love is Eternity (SF Synth Trance Mix)
7. [NGYM] Nagai Yume
8. [PSKY] Paranoia SKY
9. [SBRZ] Samba Brazil
10. [SPHR] Sphere
11. [WWWE] Wo-wo-wee
12. [YGLB] You give Love a Bad Name

Review Breakdown:
6 points - Stepcharts

* I will not rate beginner charts.

* I am very strict with foot-sync. Plenty of double-stepping errors can give you an instant ZERO.

* If there are Challenge charts, point breakdown is as follows:
1 pt. - Light
2 pt. - Standard
2.5 pt. - Heavy
0.5 pt. - Challenge

* If there are no Challenge charts, Heavy becomes 3 points.

4 points - Everything Else
1 pt. - Graphics and Videos
2 pt. - Song Choice, Synching and Editing (This includes your BPMs)
1 pt. - Fun Factor (Replayability)

NOTES: I will complete this by Wednesday.

==== SONG REVIEWS BEGIN HERE ====

1. SONG: Dancin in my Dreams [DIMD]

STEPCHARTS: 5.5 / 6

Light - 1 / 1

Stock Light chart. But it was executed well; I noticed a great flow in the steps, even if they were for a Light chart.

Standard - 1.5 / 2

Almost perfect, with a great variety of techniques in the song executed well. However, there was one problem-- I felt as if I'd be facing left for most of the song (which will really hurt your rating for this chart IMO). A few good rotations could have made the chart perfect.

Heavy - 3 / 3

Perfect. Flash in the Night-style, but it was executed well. You really knew how to bring out the energy of a eurobeat song. The variety of patterns was simply great, from gallops to 16-th note skips, to mini-8th-note runs, all flowing very, very well. To cut it short, I loved it. Excellent work.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 4 / 4

Graphics and Videos - 1 / 1

BG/BN were great, immediately gave me the idea it's Eurobeat; to be exact, Initial D Eurobeat. Although at first glance, the video may seem unrelated, but the scene's racing action really gave me a feel of the energy of the song. Nice.

Song Choice, Synching and Editing - 2 / 2

Granted, its stock Initial D Eurobeat, but it was a great song choice, with various moods in the song. And I see you edited it in the usual DDR/PPP eurobeat style, which is usually intro-synth-chorus-synth-ending. Great work.

Fun Factor - 1 / 1

I love Eurobeat. Add the great steps, and I'll be playing this OVER and OVER.

YOUR SCORE: 9.5 / 10

2. Gasolina (Delaction Mix) [GASO]

STEPCHARTS: 4.1 / 6

Light - 0.5 / 1

Flow was good, but there was pretty much ONE flaw with this chart: I don't think all those freezes in the slow part were a good idea, especially the isolated ones. That part felt like something straight out of Ultramix, which isn't always a good thing. Try to look for other patterns that work well with that part, and it'd be great.

Standard - 2 / 2

Great work. The chart felt energetic, and flowed very well. The jumps and 8th-note triplets fit the song like a glove, especially for a Standard chart. I doubt there's anything to criticize in this one, so I'd leave it at that.

Heavy - 1.6 / 3

Well, you managed to bring out the energy of this song. However, there were some problems in your execution. Basically, there were minor double-stepping errors, which made some of the patterns feel awkward. In addition, I don't think some of those freezes should be there, especially those that break out of 16-th note triplets. They don't go very well with the song. Still, pretty good.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 3.2 / 4

Graphics and Videos: 0.6 / 1

The banner was great, but the background graphic seemed kinda boring. Still, its not that bad.

Song choice, Synching and Editing: 2 / 2

The song really felt danceable, and that slow portion really added some "suspense" to the song. Song edit was also pretty good, especially in the last part.

Fun Factor - 0.6 / 1

I'd probably play this for freestyle, but not for regular play. The great song and STD steps can't overshadow the problems with the LGT and HVY steps.

YOUR SCORE: 7.3 / 10

3. High School Love [HSLV]

STEPCHARTS: 1.5 / 6

Light - 0.1 / 1

As with the other charts, this chart seems to focus too much on the left side. I also saw an inconsistency in your patterns. I know this is Light difficulty, but please try to re-check your steps.

Standard - 0.4 / 2

Pretty boring. Faces the left side for the most part, and there seem to be way too many steps for a Standard chart. Though you managed to capture some of the energy of the song, its still best that you balance things out by omitting some of the abundant notes and by balancing the player's perspective by NOT making the player face the left side for the whole song. In addition, watch your jumps-- some of the notes (Hsplit, Hsplit, for example) didn't seem to correspond to anything in the song.

Heavy - 1 / 3

Though you got the energy of the song in a good part of the chart, it has many gaping errors. First of all, I felt as if I was facing the left side for most of the song. Balance it out by putting rotations and parts that make you face the right. Next, there were some jumps that corresponded to nothing, especially the stuff like UR, then LD. Finally, there were a few double-stepping errors, but not much. Still, plenty of room for improvement.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 2.1 / 4

Graphics and Videos: 0.4 / 1

The banner was pretty nice (the guy looked pretty good), but the background leaves much to be desired. Most of it was fuzzy and pixelated. Try to go for a sharper image.

Song choice, Synching and Editing: 1.5 / 2

Great song choice-- feels like your usual J-Pop in energy. However, that samplestart has to be edited-- its ending is too abrupt. Its the only problem in your song edit.

Fun Factor: 0.2 / 1

I'd probably check this out every once in a while. I liked the song's energy, but the step patterns could use some work.

YOUR SCORE: 3.6 / 10

4.Inspiration [INSP]

-> Titiln, Ebisumari, lrxevan, DigiJared, or SHOH, you're not fooling anyone ^__^.

STEPCHARTS: 5.8 / 6

Light - 0.8 / 1

Over-rated. The chart had great flow, but its a bit too easy to be a 4 difficulty song. Still, it was really, really good-- plenty of free-style potential.

Standard - 2 / 2

All the steps fit the song like a glove. The flow was incredible-- especially towards the chorus. A real winner of a Standard chart.

Heavy - 3 / 3

Perfect flow. The steps really fit the song, from the mini-gallops to the 8th-note runs. Eurodance steps at its finest. Nothing I can criticize here.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 4 / 4

Graphics and Videos: 1 / 1

Really pretty, and it actually fits the uplifting mood of the song. Rainbows bring hope to some, and it really compliments the theme of the song.

Song choice, Synching and Editing: 2 / 2

I doubt its Naoki (from your readme) who made this. But hey, its great eurodance executed very well. I loved the mood of the song, which seems to be based on hope; very uplifting indeed. Your song edit was also really good. Excellent job.

Fun Factor: 1 / 1

Everything about the song is incredible. Its now the first song in my Mp3 player, and I think I'll go abuse it in my Stepmania. Thank you.

YOUR SCORE: 10 / 10 (rounded up)

5. SONG: Little Little Princess [LLPR]

STEPCHARTS: 0.6 / 6

Light - 0 / 1

Man... this is more of a Standard chart. Basically, my comments for the Light steps would be similar to that of the ones for the Standard charts, except worse-- Light steps do not deserve convoluted bunches of steps.

Standard - 0.1 / 2

Ugghh... this really didn't feel like a Standard chart. To start, there were way too many steps. 300+ steps!? Not only that, but a lot of them don't fit the song, like the freezes (just like in Heavy). In addition, the steps were boring, it seemed as if I was only facing one side for most of the song. Please address these issues.

Heavy - 0.5 / 3

Needs a lot of work. To start, there are plenty of awkward runs here rife with double-stepping errors. In addition, the steps feel convoluted and boring-- just plenty of steps with barely any rest without much choice in variety. To top it all off, a lot of the steps don't fit-- the gallops and freezes, for one. Well, you might want to re-do this chart. I'm sorry for the 0.x.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 0.35 / 4

Graphics and Videos - 0.1 / 1

The banner seemed haphazard, kinda boring to look at. The background seemed like it was merely taken out of a IIDX video. At the very least, try to spend some time on your graphics. They really looked boring, and they didn't seem connected to your song choice.

Song Choice, Synching and Editing - 0.25 / 2

While the song felt danceable (catchy, too), and the edit was ok-- it was the Happy Sky version, not much to criticize there, but the sudden BPM changes really felt out of place, and these really, really kill the song. They felt out of place, and seemed like they were only there to surprise the player. It'd be a lot better if you removed them.

Fun Factor - 0 / 1

Boring steps and double-stepping make for an awkward pad experience. Add the boring graphics, and now, I doubt I'll be replaying this song.

YOUR SCORE: 1 / 10 (rounded up)

6. SONG: Love is Eternity (SF Synth Trance Mix) [LETE]

-> Has Challenge charts.

STEPCHARTS:

Light - 0.25 / 1

Ouch. More than 230 steps for a Light chart. It felt really convoluted, and seemed to have been rushed. Some of the rhythms were boring-- the chorus could use a few jumps.

Standard - 0.5 / 2

Not as good as the Heavy chart. While there was a good variety of step patterns, with the 16-th note rhythms and all, the sheer number of steps doesn't go well with Standard difficulty. As with Heavy and Challenge, double-stepping errors really kill some parts of the chart, as well as the abundance of notes in the silent portions.

Also, I think this would be better suited as a Heavy chart. Some of the patterns you used, especially in the chorus, seem to bode towards Heavy charts.

Heavy - 1.25 / 2.5

Had great potential. I saw a great variety of step patterns here, from 16-th note syncopation patterns to jumps, however, the execution leaves much to be desired. First of all, I saw plenty of double-stepping errors, especially in the later portions of the song, which made the potentially fun patterns feel awkward. In addition, I felt that some parts of the song don't get the steps they deserved. I saw more notes on the rather silent part near the beginning than in the chorus. You might want to address these two issues.

Challenge - 0.25 / 0.5

Funny enough, this chart had less double-stepping problems than the Heavy chart. However, this isn't enough to cover up some of the flaws in the chart. For one, considering that this is a DDR chart, step overloads are pretty bad for 10-footers. 670+ steps is quite a lot for a DDR chart. This almost belongs in In the Groove, for one. In addition, we have a problem similar to the Heavy chart, although its a little balanced out here-- the silent parts seem to have too many steps. Please address these issues.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 3.5 / 4

Graphics and Videos - 1 / 1

Pretty background and banner. It feels the trance-ish mood of the song; pretty relaxing, indeed. Good work.

Song Choice, Synching and Editing - 2 / 2

One of my favorite IIDX song remixes. From that alone, you get points for song choice. Your song editing execution was great-- it flowed very well, and there will little editing errors. Notes were also very well synched. Good job.

Fun Factor - 0.5 / 1

I love the song, and I love the song flow. I will probably play this simfile again, though not on pad. Those double-stepping issues have to go.

YOUR SCORE: 6 / 10 (rounded up)

7. SONG: nagai yume [NGYM]

STEPCHARTS: 3.95 / 6

Light - 0.7 / 1

Typical Light chart stuff. I like how the step density builds up towards the chorus, and breaks down towards the end. And while this seemed to be the case in all your charts for the song, I only found it working well here. Good work.

Standard - 1.75 / 2

Wow. This chart felt more energetic than the Heavy chart. Although its easier, the last half had more variety in steps, and overall, there were less energy-killing freezes. However, double-stepping errors throughout the song kill what could have been a perfect score. Excellent work on this Standard chart, though.

Heavy - 1.5 / 3

Double-edged sword. Although the song's chart felt really energetic in the first half, it goes down in the second half, with all those freezes killing the energetic flow of the first half. In addition, there was a good deal of double-stepping errors throughout the whole song. You might want to check out the whole thing to see where you went wrong. Basically, add MORE ENERGY to the steps, especially the latter half. It could have been great.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 2.9 / 4

Graphics and Videos - 0.6 / 1

Banner was pretty good, but the lack of a background file puts the score down. The loading screen's really empty without it, if you know what I mean. Thankfully, there's a great (and CUTE) bg video, which'll save your file's graphics score-- video gave me a nice, energizing feeling.

Song Choice, Synching and Editing - 1.5 / 2

Reminded me of some of the more serene (but high BPM) songs in DDR (forgot which ones, I haven't played DDR AC in a while). The song cut was great... until the last part, where the energy of the song dwindles.

Fun Factor - 0.8 / 1

The steps were pretty okay, but the real reason I'm playing this is for the bg video. Its so CUTE!!!

YOUR SCORE: 7 / 10

8. SONG: PARANOIA SKY [PSKY]

-> Has Challenge charts.

STEPCHARTS: 2.05 / 6

Light - 0 / 1

This one's more of a Standard chart. The flow could've been good, but what you placed (8th-note portions, rotations, etc.) doesn't work for Light. So, I'm really sorry, but this really isn't a Light chart.

Standard - 0.5 / 2

Flowed pretty well, but I did notice the usual double-stepping error in the chart, as well as an an over-abundance of notes. Lighten up-- 500+ steps on a Standard chart? This would have been great if it were the Heavy chart, but no. Its a bit too much.

Heavy - 1.35 / 2.5

Great potential. I liked the flow of the chart, for the most part; however, I noticed some major flaws. First of all, there were several double-stepping problems throughout the chart. I know some could easily rotate in order to hit them smoothly, but I'm expecting that THERE ARE players who don't know that yet. Next, that last part has to go (the 4th-note set of right arrows). It was a pretty lame ending to a great song. Finally, there was quite a LOT of steps in it-- try to put break down portions. 590+ steps on a 9-footer Heavy chart is kinda overkill IMO. Kinda disappointing.

Challenge - 0.2 / 0.5

Vintage Paranoia, with 16-th notes. Although the patterns were pretty good, they were killed by the many double-stepping errors. It really made a lot of the parts feel kinda awkward. The flow of the chart could have been great, especially when the steps build up in the final part.; However, what's with the last part? I don't think those right arrows were a good idea.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 2.6 / 4

Graphics and Videos - 0.6 / 1

The BN was okay, but the BG was a mere edit ripped right out of DDR, but it was edited fairly well. The BG video script was great, though.

Song Choice, Synching and Editing - 1.5 / 2

I'm no Paranoia fanboy, but I thought that your song choice really fit the steps you used. My only gripe on the song is that you could have edited it-- I'd prefer a sudden beep ending similar to the other Paranoias than that gradual ending.

Fun Factor - 0.5 / 1

It's Paranoia, and the steps could be pretty good if they weren't so abundant. I'd play this again on keyboard, but probably not on pad.

YOUR SCORE: 4.65 / 10

9. SAMBA BRAZIL [SBRZ]

STEPCHARTS: 5.2 / 6

Light - 0.75 / 1

Great flow, great step variety for a Light chart. However, there were two flaws: one, there seemed to be quite a lot of steps for a Light song, but they weren't much, and two, don't think some of the freezes were a good idea (the ones that go Right, Right Freeze). Still, pretty good work.

Standard - 1.75 / 2

Awesomeness in the form of a Standard chart. The patterns were really fun, and they flowed well. However, I don't think those 8th-note triplets at the start of the song were a good idea, since the patterns suddenly became easier on the first chorus. Close one, though.

Heavy - 2.5 / 2.5

Excellent work. The steps really worked-- from the Captain Jack style 16-th note patterns to the quick jumps. Its a high-level 8, but its great stuff. Flow was perfect, and basically, there's nothing to criticize here.

Challenge - 0.2 / 5

Flow was great, really great. However, I did notice that as you said in your readme, this could probably be for ITG, and you're right. You put way so many 16-th note runs and quick jumps that you just took the chart out of DDR territory. You still get pains, though, since I loved the step flow.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 4 / 4

Graphics and Videos - 1 / 1

Nice and relaxing. Not much I can criticize-- the BG & BN were well made.

Song Choice, Synching and Editing - 2 / 2

Captain Jack's songs have always sounded like perfect dance tunes, and you executed the song edit very well. Excellent work.

Fun Factor -
1 / 1

With a song choice that's addictive as crack, and steps that flow really well, I doubt I'll put this song down.

YOUR SCORE: 9.2 / 10

[sinh(Lily)]

(Had to doublepost. There's a character limit)

10. SONG: Sphere [SPHR]

STEPCHARTS: 0.2 / 6

Light - 0 / 1

This chart is too hard to be a good Light chart. The main reason is that you put in quite a lot of 8th-note patterns, which given the typical Light stepchart, would not be present in most cases. In addition, the foot-sync was also really, really messy, with plenty of double-stepping errors. Finally, not only where there patterns that don't belong in Light charts, but there were also patterns that didn't seem to go well with the song over-all, like those rampant freezes in the middle.

Standard - 0 / 2

This chart IS not a Standard chart. This is actually a Heavy chart in disguise. There are way too many steps, and a lot of them just don't fit. Add in poor foot-sync, and this really feels like a mess.

Heavy - 0.2 / 3

Boring, and there didn't seem to be an appreciable rhythm to your steps. It felt like bad karaoke stepping all the way. What makes these two problems worse is the horrible foot-sync; way too many double-stepping errors. Sorry, but I really have to give the worst rating I could give. One huge mess-- try to re-analyze your steps.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 0.35 / 4

Graphics and Videos - 0.2 / 1

The banner was okay, but the background file was pretty bad. Basically one black screen with this insignia and the words "Sphere, Medieval Choir @ BPM 160" in a font that didn't go well with the song. It seemed more like an O2Jam loading screen than a DDR song background. (Personally, I didn't find it a good idea that you included the BPM)

Song Choice, Synching and Editing - 0.15 / 2

What happened to Sphere? The edit feels like it was cut by Konami of America, which is usually bad news. You removed a good part of Sphere, which I feel is a necessary build-up. In addition, Sphere didn't feel like a very dance-able song to begin with. Aggraviting these problems is the sudden BPM change towards the end. It doesn't fit, and it really doesn't do anything to make it any more fun. Sorry.

Fun Factor - 0 / 1

Bad steps and a bad cut for a song that isn't very danceable. Pretty boring over-all. I doubt I'll be replaying this.

YOUR SCORE: 0.55 / 10

11. SONG: Wo-wo-wee [WWWE]

STEPCHARTS: 5.8 / 6

Light - 1 / 1

Typical light chart. Basic patterns, but I found them to be very well-executed. Not much I can critize here.

Standard - 2 / 2

Perfect. Although there were few double-stepping errors here, they could easily be negated by freestyle players. The song may be relaxed, but it screams freestyle routines. Easily your best chart for this song.

Heavy - 2.8 / 3

The steps really fit the song. Yes, all of them-- gallops, jumps, etc. They all accentuate the energy of the song, which although relaxed, makes the listener want to dance along. As some of the others said, there are double-stepping errors, but there are so few of them in this chart, that its almost negligible. Excellent work.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 3.75 / 4

Graphics and Videos - 0.75 / 1

The banner was great, but although I know you mentioned it in the readme, regarding your BG, I don't think the Boracay bg fit the song. A bg featuring the song's logo would have been nice, but I think you addressed it in your readme

Song Choice, Synching and Editing - 2 / 2

Great Filipino novelty song choice. Now, I know that not everyone will like your song choice, given that not all of them understand Tagalog, but it IS VERY CATCHY. Steps were very well synched, as well. Great job. (And I think you used the TV version, so you didn't really need to cut that much)

Fun Factor - 1 / 1

Catchy song and fun steps. I will play this over and over, even with the few double-stepping errors.

YOUR SCORE: 9.55 / 10

12. You Give Love a Bad Name [YGLB]

STEPCHARTS: 1.05 / 6

Light - 0 / 1

Ouch. Really, really boring. The step flow was pretty slow, and there were some jumps that didn't feel very good, especially in the middle of the song.

Standard - 0.25 / 2

As with heavy, the steps were pretty inconsistent. However, what makes this worse is that the Standard steps were also really boring, with steps that don't accentuate the energy and steps that feel out of place. To be exact, I'd like to comment about the Afronova-ish jumps. They just don't go well with the song.

Heavy - 0.7 / 3

Pretty inconsistent. Though the flow was okay, I didn't notice a base pattern for your steps. Its almost as if you just placed 8th-note after 8th-note. The song had nice stepping potentital, but I didn't think you really tried to tap that potential.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 2.25 / 4

Graphics and Videos: 0.5 / 1

Background and banner were pretty generic, but the video takes the cake.

Song choice, Synching and Editing: 1.5 / 2

Nice, a eurodance version of You Give Love a Bad Name. Catchy stuff, and a great edit, but you kinda ruined it by that lame samplestart. Please edit that.

Fun Factor: 0.25 / 1

I'll play this every once in a while, but only for the hot video and the song. Steps kinda ruined it for me .

YOUR SCORE: 3.30 / 10

==== SONG REVIEWS END HERE ====

[pokecapn]

put your ass up in the air ai ai air

all in the way:
steps: honestly i have no idea why you didn't end it right before the second verse, because you include the first part of the second verse the song seems to drag on. 4.5/6
tilt: your song title is cut off in the bg and looks more like a captcha than a song title 3/4
overall: 7.5/10

bouncin:
steps: one, this song goes on for far too long. two, there are random bursts of difficulty that are in stark contrast with the rest of the steps. three, short freezes. four, you pretty much have 4 patterns and repeat them over and over again. these would be excellent ITG Hard steps, and if you knew my opinion of ITG Hard steps, you'd know that that's not a compliment. 1.5/6
tilt: i'm not sure what explosions and swirly things have to do with bouncing but i guess it works 4/4
overall: 5.5/10

dancin in my dreams:
steps: my major complaint is your synth line, it's a different pattern every time it comes up, and is extremely confusing to the player. if you had stuck with the first pattern you had and kept it for the other 3 repetitions of the synth it would have been a lot better. also a lot of the verse/chorus patterns are boring 3/6
tilt: quick check shows that this does song is indeed on the inital d soundtracks, slightly amused that xythar and jesterline didn't catch that 4/4
overall: 7/10

do you know
steps: hmm, the "do you know" syncopation felt wrong. In addition, a lot of these patterns (phrases? i have no idea what it's actually called) started with the left foot and tended to follow 4286 and were basically uncreative at best. that long freeze on the one jump makes me think you ran out of ideas to fill that space because it doesn't really match up. noticed some doublestepping as well 2/6
tilt: since i know this song, i know that the sound quality is kinda poor, also your graphics aren't great what with the lens flare and i think that skyline is jacked from a ddr song maybe 1.5/4
overall: 3.5/10

fuku wa uchi:
steps: these are pretty good, a bit on the twisty side but because the song is neither as fast or as relentless as dream of you i think it works out a lot better. 5.5/6
tilt: i kinda hate domino's songs but whatever 4/4
overall: 9.5/10

gasolina:
/10 postedit: this is my own entry so i am entreating you to an amusing picture instead of a score

high school love:
steps: okay, this is definitely a 9, what with the 16ths and the long runs and having to re-align your footing to hit the jumps at the end of runs. I think those oversights, along with the long freezes and the jumps that sometimes didn't go to anything and the repetitive patterns also hurt the song. 2/6
tilt: there's conceptually bad graphics and technically bad graphics and yours are the latter category. 1/4
overall: 3/10

inspiration:
steps and tilt: this one came out of nowhere! eurobeat version of inspiration, fantastic steps, it's pretty remarkable! 10/10

kickstart my heart:
steps: you've got the same problem as high school love regarding difficulty, but you didn't make as big a trespass. the beginning was awfully confusing because i wasn't sure what i was following and it almost seemed like it was a half beat offsync until it got into the groove. 3/6
tilt: hey these graphics aren't bad but the song got a little repetitive 3/4
overall: 6/10

little little princess:
steps: i would say see my review of blow me away but i guess i'll be nice and explain it. the bpm changes are completely unecessary. i have no idea what you're stepping to in the quiet parts. there are tons of doublesteps. there are short freezes in some places and long ones in other places even though it's the same part of the song. 0.5/6
tilt: your graphics and song are bad too 0.5/4
walks like a bad first simfile talks like a bad first simfile scores like a bad first simfile 1/10

love is eternity:
steps: let's put it like this, i like your attempt at sorrow steps, i don't like your attempt at crossovers, and i don't like your attempt at not making the song drag on. 3.5/6
tilt: what bugs me is that this song doesn't really sound much like a sorrow song 3.5/4
overall: 7/10

paranoia sky:
steps: ah a paranoia remix time to let my normal grading conventions slide and go into paranoia grading mode. given that, i think you should have cut the song down a bit. also, i don't think that the gallops really belonged in the song, and i was disappointed at the lack of geniunely spinnable parts. your challenge steps are full of the bullshit we know and love, but they're also full of 16ths and runs into jumps which aren't so hot. a smart merge of your heavy and challenge steps would have made this a great boss song. hell i might try and merge them myself because i think this has pretty good potential 4/6
tilt: video work was pretty well done NW180 MORE LIKE NW181 4/4
overall: 8/10

pump up the jam:
steps: was wondering why it took so long to get this stepped. i guess it was because people were held back by the incredible potential this song had so when it finally was stepped the author had a brain fart and made it as karaoke step as possible. too many pauses in the action, and i doubt many people are like me and know the lyrics well enough to get the timing right on the first try for the raps. a good effort but inherently flawed 2/6
tilt: graphics kinda lazy 3/4
overall: 5/10

right now:
steps: the sheer number of doublesteps in this file broke it for me, they would have been really good otherwise 4/6
tilt: song title cut off in background 3/4
overall: 7/10

sakura whatsit:
steps: hmm, the overdifficulty in some spots compared with the huge freeze section wasn't so hot. 3/6
tilt: when i saw that freeze, stop, change background gimmick, i thought it was great and was anticipating to see it more often in the song, but it never happened again. this was pretty disappointing given the number of long freezes you could have done it again on. with the gimmick being done only once it comes across as kinda sloppy. 2/4
overall: 5/10

samba brazil:
steps: hey, these were pretty good. the one thing i didn't like was that one short 16th run. i guess you could say i should have been expecting it because you were building up the difficulty to that part, but it just didn't mesh well. it put me in a bad mood for the rest of the song, but otherwise these steps were nice. 5/6
tilt: these were fine graphics 4/4
overall: 9/10

seasons of love:
steps: sometimes it follows stuff too closely and results in sparseness. i was liking what you were doing with the freezes until you started pulling up short freezes and doublesteps and all sorts of messiness in the second freeze section. 2.5/6
tilt: what is with the title being cut off of the background in this bracket 3/4
overall: 5.5/10

sphere:
steps: here's my thought process as i was playing this file: "kinda repetitive, but it seems like you're going for an A kind of feel so it's not so bad. short freezes are annoying though. oh hey i didn't have to doublestep that part that was pretty good. yeah, this is a lot like A but at the same time it's a lot more repetitive than A. is it getting faster what is going FUCK SHIT WHAT FUCK AHF FUCK" i think you can pick out what needs to be improved. better than speedy cat though! 3/6
tilt: pump style background and poor audio at least it doesn't have a final fantasy yiff lord in it. 2/4
overall: 5/10

this is love:
steps: ugh, way too many forced spins/doublesteps, the 16th run into a freeze was pretty reckless but i tended to start on the right foot with that so that wasn't so bad. the song is really quiet and isn't really busy or suited to ddr so there's a bit of sparseness when nothing's going on in the song 2.5/6
tilt: oh what's that the background is cut off okay also i can't read your lyrics at all pick a brighter color 2/4
overall: 4.5/10

together:
steps: hmm an odd choice for a samplestart. these steps weren't too bad, the amount of times i had to tap with the same foot was a little annoying but not bad, i think there was once forced spin which is bad, and you messed up the vocal syncopation at the end of the verse. 4.5/6
tilt: your background is really plain and once the videos start the lyrics are hard to read 3/4
overall: 7.5/10

tunak tunak tun:
steps: let's see, you can't keep the chorus syncopated at all, you have problems syncopating the verses, everything is repetitive, there are way too many jumps, the freezes make the steps painfully disjointed. 0/6
tilt: THUG FUCKING LIFE (your graphics are bad, artist name cut off in the bg, and your put your username in the song wheel)0/4
overall: they see me r0llin they hatin patr0llin they trying to catch me ridin dirty 0/10

way of life:
steps: the steps went too much in most parts and were really sparse in others, sticking too close to k-steps/melody steps does not a good file make. lots of doublesteps, and the song went on forever. i did not enjoy these at all. but they were better than other files in this bracker 1.5/6
tilt: your graphics are painful but you included a video i guess that's good because then i don't have to look at the background 0.5/4
overall: 2/10

wild thing poor boy:
steps: the sparseness made sense during the verse of wild thing but not during the part right before it if you know what i mean. i thought the patterns got kind of annoying and tiresome but i'm not sure why 4.5/6
tilt: i don't know what pokecapn reasoning is or why xythar mentioned it but i approve of many things involving my username 4/4
overall: 8.5/10

wowowee:
steps: these were pretty good but didn't make me say wowowee when i played them 5.5/6
tilt: i have no idea what a real life photo of a boat with people on it has to do with this song 3/4
overall: 8.5/10

you give love a bad name:
steps: the quiet part shouldn't have been included, it doesn't really work. steps were kinda sparse until the second half of the song after the first chorus and then they improved 4.5/6
tilt: my computer chocked on the video but whatever 4/4
overall: 8.5/10

moonspeak:
steps: okay but the ending was kinda weird 5/6
tilt: the video is nightmare inducing, so is the song, and you didn't have any background 1.5/4
overall: 6.5/10

top chizzles:
inspiration
fuku wa uchi
samba brazil

[TakeWalker]

I'm sorry if my reviews don't flow terribly well. I write a big list of short notes to myself while playing the files, which I then attempt to condense into something coherent. It doesn't always work, but by the time I'm done, I'm usually sick of looking at the damn things, so I can't be arsed to edit my comments.


All in the Way

Sarina Paris: always a good choice. Overall, this sim shows little in the way of technical flaws, but at the same time doesn't show anything terribly impressive. Light and Standard are both well made, Standard possibly overrated. I thought Heavy was a lot like Standard, though; enough that you really should have just made the Oni steps Heavy and forgotten about Oni altogether. As for Oni, I didn't think the 16ths fit very well; I otherwise felt both Heavy and Oni were uninspired and fairly bland. Your graphics are all nice. Heavy is definitely the low point of this file.
steps- 3.5/6
other- 4/4
overall- 7.5/10


Bouncin!

This is a great song, but like one or two instrumentals in the first bracket, the music constrains you to about three different patterns that just keep repeating. Light didn't have this problem. Standard has a little too much double-stepping, and those short freezes don't work. As for Heavy, the 16ths near the end go with the music, but don't really fit the rest of the file. I also felt there were a lot of LR jumps (what are those, 5 jumps or something?). I think what might have helped this file most was if you had cut the song down a little: it felt a tad long, and the repetition necessitated by the length of the music just killed the replay value of what would otherwise be a very fun step.
steps- 4/6
other- 3.5/4
overall- 7.5/10


Dancin' in My Dreams

Okay, you made me feel like an ass. Why? Because one of my first comments on the song was, "The vocals are really annoying." And it turns out to be the guy from Rhapsody. ._. OMGWTF. I guess he needs to stick to metal.

Okay, steps. This file features a lot of good patterns: Light and Heavy especially, Heavy has some great crossovers. This factor is watered down by a lot of what goes on in Heavy, namely tons and tons of jump combos, and a significant amount of odd (UDL, URL) 16th triples. And you know, without the 16ths, I wouldn't have called this a 9, so the rating is a little dodgy; or else the 16ths are.

And, you know, I didn't mention any readmes in B1, although I read them all; I find myself compelled to do so in this bracket. You sure do talk about yourself a lot, although you aren't the only one. I didn't give or take and points for readmes, I'm just sayin'.
steps- 3.5/6
other- 4/4
overall- 7.5/10


Do You Know

This is a very nice song, although the opening suffers from a lack of strong beats. Your Light chart flows very well. Standard has some freezes near the beginning that last a little longer than they should. Also, I think the final freeze which appears in, what, all the charts? lasts too long. Heavy's got good patterns, though there are a lot of places where I had to use one foot to hit a few arrows, in the 4/16/8 patterns behind the freezes. It felt heavily karaoke'd, too.

Oni's got a lot of 16ths that don't fit the music/chart, but it's a good deal more fun than Heavy. As for the graphics, they were both good, but the background didn't look as sharp as the banner.
steps- 4/6
other- 3.5/4
overall- 7.5/10


Fuku wa Uchi

This is a great file. You kept everything consistent, yet varied at the same time, and it all just worked perfectly. Light falls a little flat, and I thought the song's intro was rather long.

Honestly, there's nothing else I can say; this is a keeper. Great job.
steps- 6/6
other- 3/4
overall- 9/10


Gasolina

This is another great file. The slowdown was amazing, your charts are all well made and enjoyable, and Heavy especially is a solid 9 without being killyoass hard. The one thing you lost points on is the song. I fucking hate this song. By the time I started up the file, I was sick of hearing the word "gasolina" from the opening. Augh. This song reminds me of noise-related nightmares I've had. It's terrible. But despair not! For I really enjoyed your readme and gave you half a point back for making me LOL.
steps- 6/6
other- 3.5/4
overall- 9.5/10


High School Love

This is quite possibly my most favorite file in the tournament. It makes me sad, though, because I had to take off a lot of points for little technical things. Like, the fact that the background is really bad quality; not something that detracts from the fun, but definitely from your score. I also found your Light and Standard charts to be lacking. Light should be a 5; Standard made me feel like I was hitting the same arrows all the time or something. I'd like to thank you for resisting the urge to put stops in all the quiet spots, as I'm sure a lot of people would have wanted to. Unfortunately, the jumps in those quiet spots aren't a good replacement. That's about it, really. This is goddamn fun, and I'm keeping it.
steps- 5/6
other- 3.5/4
overall- 8.5/10


Inspiration

You know, I wouldn't have called shenanigans if not for the Standard chart. Seriously. There's some patterns in there I've never seen in a fanmade file before. Anyway, this is a beautiful song, it works great, it's almost flawless. Light might be underrated; Heavy's 16th jumps are a little weird, they'd have worked better as single steps for the most part. Other than that, it's great... first file or no. <.<
steps- 6/6
other- 3.5/4
overall- 9.5/10


Kickstart My Heart

I'm gonna sum this one up first: at least the flaws in the file don't stem from the song being metal. *cough*BlowMeAway*cough* I dunno why you decided to throw some Crüe into an OSC, but you made it work pretty well. You *do* have some flaws, though. Standard should be a 7, it's got some really hard sections (Light was solid, BTW). Heavy has some awkward patterns, which are a big problem at that speed. And Oni is basically Heavy with more steps, though it's funner. And oh yeah... THAT ENDING SUCKS. D:
steps- 3.5/6
other- 3.5/4
overall- 7/10


Little Little Princess

Let me start by saying that I hate everything in this file. That having been said, I'm going to stow the rest of the insults and give you some constructive criticism, since this is your first file and I'm a nice guy and I believe in constructive criticism. When you said this was your first in the thread, I was thinking, "This guy has some balls for entering a tournament with his first file." But actually, it's a great idea, because you're guaranteed to get some really detailed feedback on this file. So I gave you a half point on the steps for trying (well, and Standard wasn't bad), and half a point for being clever. Even if you didn't mean it.

Okay, for starters, you picked a bad song, straight up. The female parts are nice, but are ruined by that guy moaning and groaning in the background. Plus, it's over 2 minutes, and could have stood to be chopped down some. So I wouldn't recommend trying to redo this file, honestly; find another, better song, and start fresh.

Next, your graphics. Okay, they suck, I said it. I'm honestly the last person to give you any advice on them (look at mine), so I'll just say, if you want a good showing for your graphics, see if you can't find someone else to do them. If that fails, do what I do and Google. D: Just make sure they're good quality and not .jpgs, because those tend to suck.

Finally, your steps. First of all, randomly doubling the BPM in the middle of a song when it's not really suggested by the music is bad, bad, bad, bad and, lest I sound redundant, not a good idea. Note that I'm not complaining about when you halved the BPM, that actually works. Second... well, it's hard to know where to start. A lot of the steps don't seem to follow anything in the song. The long 16th runs in the slow parts aren't a great idea. Gallops at this speed are a big no-no. And that's just Heavy. Light should be a 5 (even Stepmania tells you so), and Standard ought to be an 8. Okay, your Standard chart wasn't that bad, I will give you that.

Anyway, it's a courageous showing. I wish you luck in the future.
steps- .5/6
other- .5/4
overall- 1/10


Love Is Eternity

Before I start, let me say, I've got a different version of this (steps as well as song), and it's far better. I'm sorry I'm comparing this to a file that's not in this competition, but there you go. I can't unplay the other one.

I read in your readme that you didn't want to use someone else's cut of the song; you really should have, because this goes too long (the intro could have been cut down), and because of that, it draaaaags. Your Light and Standard charts are good, straight up. Heavy and especially Oni suffer from doing the same thing over and over. And it's a hard same thing. And I didn't really like it. Also, what's with the background? It didn't seem to fit at all.
steps- 2/6
other- 2.5/4
overall- 4.5/10


some Japanese song, must be Nagai Yume

So, the song's last on the song wheel, but right where it should be in the edit/sync menu? o.o

Anyway, this is a pretty average file. I liked the video (it reminds of both South Park and Mischeif Makers o.O), but the song... God, lady, stop shrieking. o_<; Your charts weren't bad, but weren't spectacular. Light doesn't lend itself to that many jumps, or most of the blue steps. I thought the ending of Standard was rather boring; and speaking of endings, that very last step? That's in all three charts? Really shouldn't have been there. The song fades out too much before you put it in, so it feels a little sloppy. I like the ending freeze-jumps in Heavy (not the last set, but the set before), but otherwise, the charts was kind of basic. I think I said that.
steps- 3/6
other- 3.5/4
overall- 6.5/10


Paranoia Sky

Another ballsy yet clever move: entering a Paranoia in an OSC. Ballsy because you know it's gonna be compared to all the other Paranoias; clever because it's almost impossible to judge this as a stepfile instead of a Paranoia stepfile. Well, you pulled it off. I have two big complaints, but otherwise loved this file the more I played it. first, I wish you'd made a better background, rather than just throwing "sky" onto the old Paranoia bg. Your videos did make up for a lot of that, though, great choices. Second, that ending: would it have killed you to at least change which arrow was used? I mean, I can understand a theme element, but man... Hitting 8 rights just got old after a while. Fantastic otherwise.
steps- 5.5/6
other- 3.5/4
overall- 9/10


Pump Up the Jam

Man, I'm not sick of hearing this song, no sir. Still not a poor choice, all things considered, but you could have stood to cut it down a bit more, it was over 2 minutes. I thought your graphics were fairly generic; why the arrows in the background? As for the steps, I found Light unimpressive; Standard has too much of the same arrow over and over. And Heavy is a big mess of poorly karaoke'd yellow stuff. Honestly, you don't have to follow *every* note in the vocals. You can switch it up, or just give us something that follows the beat and suggests the vocals. The freezes in the "make my day" were extremely weird. It was all the same thing over and over, and really just not that great.
steps- 1/6
other- 2.5/4
overall- 3.5/10


Right Now

I can't say I'm a fan of the original, and this remix is somehow worse, mostly because they took out the vocals from the chorus that were, y'know, on key. The word for this file is "generic", because that's pretty much what everything was: generic, and boring. The text in your banner is good small. The steps are mostly boring, on all charts. That's it, really.
steps- 3/6
other- 2/4
overall- 5/10


Sakura Kaduki

I was disappointed by this, because your graphics are very pretty and got my hopes up. Light and Standard are nothing really special. Heavy I found very repetitive, especially toward the end. A lot of the steps right after the stop are very confusing (and why'd you put that stop in there, anyway?). More importantly, a lot of the 16th notes didn't fit the song, which, I should add, has some real beat problems, and was often too quiet for a decent beat. I think you also had some transition issues; looking at the file in the edit section, there seemed to be a number towards the beginning that didn't happen.
steps- 2/6
other- 3/4
overall- 5/10


Samba Brazil

This was great, except for one thing: the Oni steps. Maybe you should have submitted this to ITG, like you say you had thought about. Light and Standard are both good, Heavy is just perfect, but the Oni chart kills the whole file. I mean, for starters, this song in no way suggests "Hey, make a 10-footer stepchart for me!" But with all the long 16th runs, jump chains and tons of karaoke'd 16ths... yeah, I hated it. I'm gonna keep the rest, though.
steps- 4/6
other- 4/4
overall- 8/10


Seasons of Love

Sadly, the best part of this file is the song choice. What an awesome find! But your steps really didn't do it justice. You have some very odd patterns and rhythm choices, especially the "seasons of love" freezes in L&S. Also, there are too many of those, they got redundant after a while. Heavy's got a lot of old-school patterns going on, but otherwise I wasn't really impressed. Like, I really wanted to dance to the "twenty-five-thousand" on 16ths. Freeze spins, ugh.
steps- 2.5/6
other- 4/4
overall- 6.5/10


Sphere

Speedup bad. And I looked at it, and saw there's three speedup sections, and the third one doesn't even go to the rhythm. Most of your steps were okay, Light seemed underrated, but the streams in Standard didn't offset the rest of the chart, which wasn't good at all. I got very tired of all the UDUD in Heavy. Also, you shouldn't have thrown that extra info into the background. I thought, overall, this file felt very sloppily made.
steps- 1/6
other- 2/4
overall- 3/10


This Is Love

Am I the only person in the world who doesn't go gaga for Hikaru Utada? I mean, I never really found her to be that great a singer in the first place; then she did that "easy breezy JAPANEEZY" shit and I just started hating her. But enough of that.

Umm, what to say? This didn't leave much of an impression on me. Two things: you do something cool with a freeze jump in Standard, but that's about it. For all three charts. Two, freeze spins. There were some nice turns in Heavy, but far too many spins with technical steps. So, no, I didn't like it. Your graphics were very nice, though.
steps- 2.5/6
other- 3.5/4
overall- 6/10


Together

Yeah, I noticed the fadeout too, but you explain it well, so I'll give it to you. This is, unfortunately, another of those files that really doesn't stand out in any way. The graphics fairly generic, though the background leads nicely into the first video. The song was VERY repetitive. Not the best Smile.dk has done. The steps, in all, were just lackluster, they had no character. Nothing specific, just meh.
steps- 3/6
other- 3.5/4
overall- 6.5/10


Tunak Tunak Tun

This is, hands down, the WORST simfile in the tournament. This makes me look wistfully at my computer monitor and dream of Parasite World. Little Little Princess is far better than this epithet. Never before has my hatred of a simfile honestly made me hate the author. D: Yes, I hate you, DJThugLife, for making me experience this.

Where to start? Banner: squished. CD-Title: OMGHUGE. Opening: bad. Background: hey, it's a background. Song appropriatenesss: Dragostea Din Teï was enough internet meme songs for one tournament, thanks. Oh yeah, and you put your damn name in the title. If you hadn't, then my rage would have remained undirected to this day. Light: it's blue! That means you gapped it to the wrong beat! Standard: a complete mess. Heavy: even more of a mess. I thought Pump Up the Jam was a poor example of karaoke'd steps; I have no idea what any of these steps are going to. And it's the same crap over and over and over.

Somebody, please save me from the horror that is Tunak Tunak Tun. No, I don't know why you deserve half a point. I'm too broken to care. D:
steps- 0/6
other- .5/4
overall- .5/10


Way of Life

There isn't much to like about this file. I mean, it's rap, #1. It's rap with RICHARD HUMPTY VISSION, #2. His voice is worse than Jay-Z's, ugh. Plus, it's over 2 minutes, so I'm begging for a razor by the end. Steps? Well, Light was all right, and Standard was actually pretty fun, though you take a lot of liberties with the slow BPM. Heavy is where it falls flat: far too karaoke'd, and thus extremely repetitive. Also, there are too many sections of too many jumps all together.

So what did I like? The video. Yes, you get lots of furry happiness points for that video. Go

you.
steps- 2/6
other- 3.5/4
overall- 5.5/10


Wild Thing/Poor Boy

This is the only file in this bracket to get a 10 from me, and only the second in the DDR section I gave a 10 to. It's just perfect. There's nothing at all wrong with it (well, except you forgot the / in the background, but that's not worth that many points). I've been getting nostalgic about Prozzäk recently, and while this isn't one of my favorites by them (I prefer Saturday People to Hot Show), it's still a great choice for DDR. And you included the video. And you made great steps; I'll point especially to how you handled the quieter "I think I love you" part.

Congratulations; it's the only file this bracket I liked that didn't have any technical flaws.
steps- 6/6
other- 4/4
overall- 10/10


Wowowee

Thank you for that info in the readme. If nothing else, it helped explain the background. I think, however, you should have picked something a little more... I dunno, flashy? I mean, look at the title: it certainly doesn't scream "fishing boats" to me. But maybe that's because I'm not from the Philippines. Speaking of which, good job finding an OPN tune I don't absolutely detest. I've played numerous OPN simfiles before, and I was pretty much convinced that Philippine music is all crap. You have proven me wrong.

So what about the steps? Man, THIS is how you karaoke a song. Absolutely nothing in Heavy works the wrong way. Light and Standard both have nice patterns, too. This is a great file, and I wish you luck in making it to the end of the competition.
steps- 6/6
other- 3/4
overall- 9/10


You Give Love a Bad Name

Doesn't stand a chance.

[sinh(Lily)]

Public Review for OSC 5 DDR Bracket 2
Reviewer: Thany117 / Lilina

=====================================

Version 1

Part 2


Table of Contents: (Use the Find command, the enter the stuff in brackets to jump to that part.)
1. All in the Way [ALWY]
2. Bouncin [BOUN]
3. Do You Know (I Go Crazy) [DYKN]
4. Fuku Wa Uchi [FUWA]
5. Kickstart my Heart [KICK]
6. Pump up the Jam [PJAM]
7. Right Now [RNOW]
8. Sakura Kaduki [SKRK]
9. Seasons of Love (Gomi's Lair Club Remix) [SOLG]
10. Tanuk Tanuk Tun [TTTN]
11. This is Love [TILV]
12. Together [TOGE]
13. Way of Life [WOLF]
14. Wild Thing, Poor Boy [WTPB]

[i]==== SONG REVIEWS BEGIN HERE ====[i]

1. All in the Way [ALWY]

STEPCHARTS: 5.5 / 6

Light - 1 / 1

Stock Light chart. Good work on trying to minimize the steps-- it makes it a lot better, especially for freestyle.

Standard - 2 / 2

Perfect. For once, the isolated freezes actually work well with the song. Nothing to criticize here.

Heavy - 2 / 2.5

Great stuff here-- the steps really fit the gay mood of the song, and there was only one problem: those isolated freezes that go before a split in the first part don't seem to work very well. Try to look for a different pattern for that.

Challenge - 0.5 / 0.5

Wow.. last song I reviewed, and for once, a great Challenge notechart. This one's pretty much perfect-- the step variety, foot-sync and flow were pretty much perfect. I loved the flow of the notes during the chorus, as well as the freeze break-outs that actually work for this song.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 3.5 / 4

Graphics and Videos - 1 / 2

BG was great, it gave me a feel of the gay mood of the song. However, I didn't like the BN-- it looked like it was merely cut from the BG, even if you noted it in your Readme. Sorry.

Song choice, Synching and Editing - 1.5 / 2

This one really sounded nice and danceable. However, that last part wasn't exactly up to my tastes. Try to look for alternatives for that.

Fun Factor - 1 / 1

Fun charts and a light mood will most likely make me play this over and over.

YOUR SCORE: 9 / 10

2. Bouncin [BOUN]

STEPCHARTS: 0.5 / 6

Light - 0 / 1

Pretty boring, even for a Light chart. Though there visible rhythms, the karaoke stepping kinda ruins the flow. In addition, I noticed a few double-stepping errors. Now, I know not everybody plays Light nowadays, but you really should try to improve this.

Standard - 0 / 2

Ouch. Way too karaoke. Though there was an appreciable flow in the chart, it just gets really annoying that every single sound had a note attached to it. A lot of the steps have to be re-edited, especially the isolated freezes in the middle and end of the chart. Complicating this problem are the double-stepping errors that litter the chart. Try to re-do this.

Heavy - 0.5 / 3

Well, you managed to bring out the energy of the song. The problem is, the chart is riddled with double-stepping and unncessary steps. First of all, you should try re-doing the chart, since there are plenty of foot-sync errors that kill the flow of the song. They just feel really awkward. Also, try to cut down on the steps. The chart felt very, very karaoke: every single major sound had a note attached to it. It's not that good of an idea. Overall, try to fix the errors in your chart. The song had potential: you must bring it out in your chart.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 2.55 / 4

Graphics and Videos: 0.7 / 1

The BG and BN could've looked perfect, but the text didn't look really good; the text was kinda hard to read. Try to fix it.

Song choice, Synching and Editing - 1.25 / 2

A happy, energetic (but repetitive) song, with a well-sized cut. Well-executed for the most part.

Fun Factor - 0.6 / 1

I would replay this sometimes. The song sounds really, really fun-- though most likely on keyboard. I don't think I'll replay this on pad.

YOUR SCORE: 3.05 / 10

3. Do You Know (I Go Crazy) [DYKN]

-> Has Challenge charts.

STEPCHARTS: 2.5 / 6

Light - 0.5 / 1

The flow was good, for the most part. This has free-style potential. However, you might want to cut down on those freezes. They didn't really go well with the flow of the song.

Standard - 0.5 / 2

Ouch. Freezes. Well, the flow could've been good, but the freezes really, really killed it. It felt too karaoke, especially with those freeze break-outs. Well, the freezes didn't even seem to blend well parts of the song, especially in the chorus. Try to lighten up on them-- it'd make this a lot better. (The multiple double-stepping errors also put this one down, too, by the way.)

Heavy - 1.25 / 2.5

Pretty good... the flow of the song was great, and there were good moments, especially in the chorus. However, the chart was filled with double-stepping errors and freeze break-outs. The double-stepping errors should be addressed, since they make runs awkward-- especially in the 8th-note runs. The freeze break-outs should be minimized-- I don't think they go very well with the song. Still, nice one.

Challenge - 0.25 / 5

Had good potential. The step flow was great-- I easily got to feel the energy of the song. However, there were flaws. First of all, the double-stepping errors should be re-assessed. They make the 8th-note runs feel awkward. Also, I felt that some of the steps shouldn't be there. I wonder why there are plenty of notes on the silent part of the song. Try to vary the step density depending on the part of the song. It'll create a better mood.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 3.3 / 4

Graphics and Videos - 1 / 1

You managed to capture the mood of the song in your BG & BN. They looked really good, and fit well with the dark-ish mood of the song. Good work.

Song choice, Synching and Editing - 1.8 / 2

Nice choice-- it really felt danceable, although it ws a bit moody. The cut was great, although the start felt a bit rough around the edges. Good work, though.

Fun Factor - 0.5 / 1

This is one simfile I'll re-visit occassionally, especially given what could have been an excellent Challenge chart.

YOUR SCORE: 6 / 10 (rounded up)

4. Fuku Wa Uchi [FUWA]

STEPCHARTS: 5.5 / 6

Light - 1 / 1

A bit overrated, this should be a 3. Still, it flows really well and it seems to have great freestyle potential, even if it is pretty much stock Light chart.

Standard - 1.5 / 2

Most of the steps flowed well, and they really fit most of the song. However, the score will be lowered due to two reasons: one, I don't think the silent part of the song in the first part deserves the 8th-note triplets, especially in Standard difficulty. In addition, that freeze in the last part ends a bit late (past the last song note). Still, great work.

Heavy - 3 / 3

Perfect. Great flow, and fun steps. You managed to unleash the energy of the song, from those well-placed freezes to the mini-16th note isolations after some of the jumps. I also like how the parts with repeated lyrics got gradually harder steps, which gave me a feeling of progression. Very, very good stuff.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 3.5 / 4

Graphics and Videos - 1 / 1

Pretty sharp, and given the feminine feel of the song, the colours work really well. Excellent.

Song Choice, Synching and Editing - 1.5 / 2

Stock Domino eurobeat. I would have given it 2 / 2 if it weren't for the intro. I just don't think we need that kind of silent part on a song like this. I think its best that you unleash the energy and keep it at a relatively high rate throughout the song.

Fun Factor - 1 / 1

The steps are good, and the song is really catchy. I think I'll replay this a good deal; especially for freestyling in Standard difficulty.

YOUR SCORE: 9 / 10

5. Kickstart my Heart [KICK]

-> Has Challenge charts.

STEPCHARTS: 2.1 / 6

Light - 0.25 / 1

Step flow was good. There was energy in the chart, even it is a Light chart. However, the double-stepping errors really put the score down-- this is a Light chart-- normally, there shouldn't be any double-stepping errors.

Standard - 0.5 / 2

Could have been better. Although the step flow was great, and it felt really fun to do, the double-stepping errors and unnecessary steps weren't exactly a great idea. Speaking of unnecessary steps, it'd be nice to get rid of some of those isolated freezes. They ruin the flow of the song a bit. However, if you improved on the foot-sync and modded the step patterns a bit, this could have been a winner.

Heavy - 1.25 / 2.5

Man, this one really had potential. If properly executed, the runs you placed could make this near-perfect. However, this wasn't what was in the chart. There were way too many double-stepping errors throughout the chart that really killed the flow of the chart. What you could do is to assess your chart's foot-sync and get it right.

Challenge - 0.1 / 0.5

The song had great potential, but these steps don't exactly make the cut. Although you managed to find a way to bring out the excitement in the song, it wasn't too well-executed in this chart. First of all, there were plenty of double-stepping errors, and given the nature of the song, they could prove fatal. Second, it was pretty repetitive-- I noticed the same thing being done over and over. Finally, it felt convoluted-- its almost one continuous stream of 4th and 8th notes. Try to vary your patterns next time.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 2.3 / 4

Graphics and Videos - 0.5 / 1

Pretty sharp, and it looked pretty energetic. However, you get -.5 since your BN was only cut from the BG (sign of laziness).

Song choice, Synching and Editing - 1.5 / 2

Great song-- it really felt energetic throughout. Perfect for dancing, and the cut was good. However, that half-BPM change in the last part really ruined the edit. Remove it-- it'd be a lot better that way (IMO).

Fun Factor - 0.8 / 1

I'll replay this every once in a while (on keyboard, but not on pad-- see my stepchart comments)). The energy and catchiness of the song got to me.

YOUR SCORE: 4.4 / 10

6. Pump up the Jam [PJAM]

STEPCHARTS: 0.6 / 6

Light - 0 / 1

Ouch. First of all, for a Light chart, there were plenty of double-stepping errors, especially the first and last parts. Next, most of the song had me facing just one side (right). Finally, it was pretty boring and repetitive. Now, try to vary your steps-- have the player move around and rotate, not just randomly step about. That'll make this better.

Standard - 0.2 / 2

Really, really boring. Though I could see a basic pattern here, the steps weren't interesting, and they were rife with double-stepping errors. Try to re-do this one; you want to keep the player interested in the chart.

Heavy - 0.4 / 3

Boring and random. I didn't see a general pattern in the chart, and despite the name of the song, I didn't see any part where I could really pump up the jam. What the song could use is more diverse patterns and some added jumps. It also felt too karaoke for its own good; watch where you put your steps. All in all, needs a lot of work.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 0.7 / 4

Graphics and Videos - 0.2 / 1

The bg and bn look way too psychedelic. The color choices make me a bit dizzy (dark pink and light green don't exactly mesh). I also don't see how it's related to the song name; try to pick a more adequate image. Also, it was pretty unconvential, with the artist's name on the bg.

Song choice, Synching and Editing - 0.5 / 2

Okay, its a nice danceable oldie, and the cut was decent; however, you get 1 point off your score since its way too soft. I could barely hear it, yet I'm on a 4.1 system with the volume at 1/2 (which is really load for some people). In addition, please re-edit your samplestart. It doesn't sound very good; go for the chorus. It'd sound more interesting.

Fun Factor - 0 / 1

Boring steps and unnoticeable sound-- I don't think I'll remember this simfile due to those.

YOUR SCORE: 1.3 / 10

[sinh(Lily)]

7. Right Now [RNOW]

STEPCHARTS: 2.5 / 6

Light - 0 / 1

Stock Light chart. However, it feeled really, really boring, with a sheer lack of patterns coupled with double-stepping issues. Even if it IS a light chart, there should be variety on the steps.

Standard - 0.5 / 2

Pretty boring. Although there was a good variety in the steps, it felt really boring, since most of the song had me facing LEFT and only LEFT. You want to move the player around-- just having him face one side will most likely bore him. Try to improve on the variety of the steps. It'd be a lot better that way.

Heavy - 2 / 3

Pretty light, but it does go with the fairly relaxed energy of the song. However, there were several double-stepping problems that didn't exactly match the flow of the song. Thankfully, the steps pretty much fit into the strong pretty well. Not bad, but it could've been a lot better.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 2.25 / 4

Graphics and Videos: 0.5 / 1

Nice bg, gave me the idea this is great for disco. However, laziness in your BN gets you a deduction. Sorry.

Song choice, Synching and Editing - 1.25 / 2

Pretty good song, great for dancing, however, the 5+ idle seconds at the start of the song aren't exactly great stuff to put, and that could really bore some players. Other than that, pretty good.

Fun Factor - 0.5 / 1

I might revisit this sometime. The song's pretty relaxing, but its not exactly the kind I think I'd play every time.

YOUR SCORE: 5 / 10 (rounded up)

8. Sakura Kaduki [SKRK]

STEPCHARTS: 2.75 / 6

Light - 1 / 1

Stock Light chart. The moderation in the notes is a lot like the relaxing mood of the song. Pretty good job.

Standard - 0.5 / 2

Kinda average. You might want to re-check this one: I noticed several double-stepping errors throughout the song. They ruined what could have been a good flow of steps. In addition, it seemed too karaoke for me. You followed the song too much-- its a good idea to lighten up, and not have to place steps everywhere. Due to this, the chart felt pretty boring.

Heavy - 1.25 / 3

Good flow. However, over-karaoke stepping kinda ruined the flow IMO. I noticed a lot of repetitive patterns, several bars of them, especially in the middle of the song (chorus). It went on for several bars; it might be nice to vary things a bit. In addition, the over-karaoke stepping led to rampant freezes, especially isolated ones during long freezes which didn't look really good, especially when playing the song. Overall, pretty average; just lighten up on the karaoke and add some variety-- this chart can be great. You do get extra points, for very little foot-synch errors.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 2.7 / 4

Graphics and Videos - 0.8 / 1

I found the graphics pretty relaxing to look at. I just found the bg and banner unconventional, given that you put the guy who made the bg on it. However, I don't think you should have added those other switching bgs. Still, nice work.

Song choice, Synching and Editing - 1.5 / 2

For once, a song that is danceable and relaxing. The edit was pretty good, though I'm not sure about that stop in the song. Otherwise, its pretty good.

Fun Factor - 0.4 / 1

I guess I'll revisit this one when I stressed. The song is pretty relaxing, and this'll keep me coming back sometime

YOUR SCORE: 5.45 / 10

9. Seasons of Love (Gomi's Lair Club Remix) [SOLG]

STEPCHARTS: 2.8 / 6

Light - 0.4 / 1

Okay... not bad. The flow was good, but there were double-stepping errors and unnecessary steps. First, you might want to re-check your foot-sync, since it can ruin the flow of the song. Also, please remove some of the freezes. There are WAY TOO MANY of them.

Standard - 1.9 / 2

Fun chart. Although there were double-stepping errors, the step placement was great for freestyle. I felt the isolated freezes actually worked here. Personally, the Standard chart was better than your Heavy chart.

Heavy - 0.5 / 3

Freezes, freezes, freezes. Felt like an Ultramix chart-- karaoke, double-step laden (middle) and freeze-laden (everywhere0. Now, try to vary the kinds of steps you put. Try to look for more interesting patterns. The song had potential, especially since it was meant to be danced.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 3.6 / 4

Graphics and Videos - 0.6 / 1

Great background, iffy banner. The background gave me an idea of the urban theme of the movie / musical the song was originally from. However, the banner was... generic.

Song choice, Synching and Editing - 2 / 2

Very danceable song-- and to think, the original Seasons of Love could already be given a great stepchart pattern! The song edit was really good-- you took the best part of the song, which had plenty of energy. Excellent work.

Fun Factor - 1 / 1

I will play this song for freestyle. A Lot. Good job on Standard-- and given the catchiness of the song, I'll go back to this.

YOUR SCORE: 6.4 / 10

10. Tanuk Tanuk Tun [TTTN]

STEPCHARTS: 0 / 6

Light - 0 / 1

One near-continuous 4th-note stream with repetitive patterns. Really boring, and for a light chart, it has double-stepping issues. Ouch.

Standard - 0 / 2

Arrghh... this feels more like a Heavy chart. The steps aren't exactly the things we'd see in a Standard chart, and they were both off-sync and double-step ridden to boot. The flow was pretty bad, and it really, really was boring. Please re-analyze your chart.

Heavy - 0 / 3

One huge mess. Not only were the steps kinda off-sync, but they didn't go well with the rhythm, especially the jumps, which were pretty ridiculous IMO. In addition, the foot-sync and step flow were both horrible. Re-do this stepchart. For now, I'm sorry, i'm giving this an egg.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 0 / 4

Graphics and Videos - 0 / 1

The bg and bn were really fuzzy and didn't look pretty at all; the background was also non-standard, with the artist name also written.

Song choice, Synching and Editing - 0 / 2

Personally, i didn't think the song was danceable. It had a lot of a cappella portions, with a little percussion. What made it worse was that some steps seemed off-sync, and that the song edit was ended too abruptly-- the last part didn't sound good at all.

Fun Factor - 0 / 1

This isn't a joke file? Wow... if not, sorry, but I'm NOT touching this ever again. The stepcharts really need a lot of work.

YOUR SCORE: 0 / 10

11. This is Love [TILV]

STEPCHARTS: 2.7 / 6

Light - 1 / 1

Stock Light chart. Well-executed, and given the song, the freezes actually work. Pretty good job.

Standard - 1 / 2

Not bad-- the flow's pretty good, and I can actually forgive the double-stepping for this chart, since its slow at 116 bpm. Anyway, you might want to work out some more interesting patterns-- this is pretty much the problem of this chart-- its kinda boring.

Heavy - 0.7 / 3

The flow is good, but its pretty much the only thing going for it. Its a pretty relaxed song, so the runs don't really go well with it. Try to lighten up-- its a 110-ish bpm song that isn't exactly very intense, so try to relax a little bit. Also, I saw really annoying double-stepping errors, especially when some of the jump->freezes break out. Try to fix them up, and try to lighten up-- this could be better.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 2 / 4

Graphics and Videos - 1.5 / 2

Nice and sample BN and BG. However, there are two gripes with the BG: one, it blocks the lyrics (either edit the BG or the LRC), and two, I can't see some parts of the song title in the BG (unconvential, too-> you don't usually see artist names on the BG.)

Song choice, Synching and Editing - 1 / 2

Though I can grasp the danceability of the song, I just can't get myself to like your cut. That fade-out on the last part didn't sound very good. Try to re-edit it. Its kinda abrupt.

Fun Factor - 0.5 / 1

Great chill-out simfile. I'll play this occassionally-- especially when stressed.

YOUR SCORE: 4.7 / 10 (you missed the round up by .05)

12. Together [TOGE]

STEPCHARTS: 4.6 / 6

Light - 1 / 1

Stock Light charts. This is where the isolated freezes actually fit the song. Nothing to criticize. Good work here.

Standard - 1.1 / 2

Not bad. The flow was pretty good, but some of the steps, especially the isolated freezes, didn't seem to go with anything in the song. There were a few foot-sync errors as well, but they weren't too much to really kill your score. Just re-analyze your freezes-- it'd be much better if you re-checked them.

Heavy - 2.5 / 3

Great stuff. The patterns really suited the flow of the song, and they reminded me of the steps of other smileDK songs. There was one minor problem: there were a few double-stepping errors throughout the entirety of the song. Still, excellent work. Just re-check your foot sync, and this chart will be perfect.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 3.2 / 4

Graphics and Videos - 1 / 1

The bg and bn really felt feminine, and looked really cute IMO. The videos seemed to give me a feeling of love and togetherness, especially the Emi & Rage scene. Great work.

Song choice, Synching and Editing - 1.5 / 2

Great choice of song; great eurodance song, and it really sounded cute. However, the edit was a little rough around the edges. That abrupt ending needs to be edited a bit.

Fun Factor - 0.7 / 1

I'll play this every once in a while, with the cuteness factor, nice charts and all.

YOUR SCORE: 8 / 10 (rounded up)

13. Way of Life [WOLF]

STEPCHARTS: 1.25 / 6

Light - 0 / 1

Pretty boring. Composed of long 4th-note runs for the most part. Try to add more step variations-- it'd really help in keeping the player's interest.

Standard - 0.5 / 2

Convoluted, and almost didn't feel like a Standard chart if it wasn't a slow song. A lot of the song seems to be composed of 8th-note runs. In addition, there were some freezes that didn't seem to go well with the song, especially one in the start with that awkward "UP-UP-DOWN while holding RIGHT" pattern. The double-stepping errors don't help this one, either. Try to clean up the chart-- address these issues.

Heavy - 0.75 / 3

Plenty of potential for a great chart. However, this potentital wasn't seen in the actual chart. First of all, there were plenty of annoying double-stepping errors which really kill the flow at some points, especially in the early parts. Next, it felt way too karaoke-- especially some of the freezes. They didn't seem to go well with the song-- try to cut down on them. Finally, there seemed to be way too many steps for a chill-out song. Try to lighten up.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 2.9 / 4

Graphics and Videos - 0.3 / 1

The BN and BG text were near-invisible, and they were unrelated to the video, which is pretty much the only reason you're getting points here.

Song choice, Synching and Editing - 2 / 2

Good chill-out dance tune, and the cut was pretty good. Nothing to criticize here.

Fun Factor - 0.6 / 1

I'll come back a good deal, mostly for the video.

YOUR SCORE: 4.15 / 10

14. Wild Thing, Poor Boy [WTPB]

STEPCHARTS: 5.6 / 10

Light - 0.8 / 1

Great for the most part. The patterns were good to step, but sometimes, it felt convoluted. A little less steps could be better, but its good nonetheless. Just try to NOT go nuts on Light charts-- its not the kind of chart where you'd put a ton of steps.

Standard - 2 / 2

Excellent. The flow was great, and it seemed to have freestyle potential. Step variety was pretty good for Standard; basically, nothing to criticize here. Excellent work.

Heavy - 2.8 / 3

Energetic steps, this one. Pretty fun, and the flow was excellent-- steps flowed well with the song, very little foot-sync problems. A little more variety steps could have made this perfect. Nice one, though. Not much I could criticze.

EVERYTHING ELSE: 3 / 4

Graphcs and Videos - 1 / 1

The bg and banner were pretty good, but the video takes the cake. It really gave me an idea of what the song is really all about, and well.. good work.

Song choice, Synching and Editing - 1 / 2

Personally, its not my kind of song for dancing, but it kinda fit the game pretty well... somehow, given its "strange" energy. The cut was pretty good, and well... okay, the ending isn't to my taste, but you did explain why in your Readme.

Fun Factor - 1 / 1

Energetic song, and the great charts will make me want to replay this. Nice work.

YOUR SCORE: 8.6 / 10

==== SONG REVIEWS END HERE ====

[#Infinity]

All In The Way

Steps: I enjoyed the Heavy stepchart for its great simplicity. There are no 16ths and it probably could’ve worked as a 6, but it’s great for being easy. As for the Challenge steps, they were a great harder alternative to the Heavy stepchart, but the 16ths were completely unnecessary and took out from a lot of the fun. It also should’ve been rated a 7 and most certainly not a 9. (5/6)
EE: I very much enjoyed the song, which I found to be sweet and catchy to dance to. The graphics show potential, but they don’t really seem to work that well. (3/4)
Overall Score: 8/10

Bouncin!

Steps: Fairly mediocre overall. The streams were a bit overdone and didn’t feel fun alongside the jumps and the rest of the steps. (2.5/6)
EE: Graphics were just okay, but I enjoyed the backdrop. The song was fun, but the steps didn’t really execute it the way I would’ve hoped. (3/4)
Overall Score: 5.5/10

Dancing In My Dreams

Steps: You did pretty well overall with the jumps and streams here to follow the song right. Unfortunately though, I wasn’t a fan of those forced jump-steps and step-jumps during the chorus, and while following the chaos, I didn’t like the 3 note bursts that require movement for making the steps feel more of a hastle compared to the rest of the song. Try drill patterns (4-6-4) instead. (4.5/6)
EE: You got an appropriate song choice (energetic eurobeat), as well as the great inclusion of a video. The graphics were rather so-so, though. (3.5/4)
Overall Score: 8/10

Do You Know

Steps: I liked the Heavy steps for following the song appropriately, but they really weren’t very mind-blowing. I enjoyed the Challenge steps more, as they had more interesting patterns and followed the drum rolls appropriately without being too hard. (5/6)
EE: Song choice was okay, if a bit dull. Graphics were just okay. You probably should’ve chosen a different approach than a city’s silhouette. The black didn’t look good with the text. (2.5/4)
Overall Score: 7.5/10

Fuku Wa Uchi

Steps: Very nice usage of 8th patterns here, with the perfect amount of turning and other forms. The gallops were fun, also. I found it to be quite fun overall, really. (5.5/6)
EE: Great song choice for DDR, very catchy and of the appropriate genre. Also loved your well-made graphics. (4/4)
Overall Score: 9.5/10

Gasolina (Delacation Remix)

Steps: Darn it all, how do find such a great song to step so creatively well? These steps are anything but generic. They follow the song well, with cleverly-placed 16ths throughout, and the slowdown/acceleration concept simply blew this one out of the park. Astoundingly impressive. (6/6)
EE: Great song choice, as it showed lots of potential that you put into perfect usage with your steps. The graphics were pretty good overall, but I didn’t like the backdrop (a paved road?) or how far apart the song and artist name were on the banner. (3/4)
Overall Score: 9/10

High School Love

Steps: Quite a good stepchart for a fast song, really. My only real complaints were that the 16th burst section felt too fast compared to the rest of the song and thus didn’t really flow too well, and I also disliked how you placed jumps during the pauses right before the main melodies. (5/6)
EE: Song choice was good, as you found something nice under the happy hardcore genre. I disliked the graphics, though, as the backdrop and Pop’n Music character are both obviously stretched, not to mention I didn’t really care for the bland text format. (2.5/4)
Overall Score: 7.5/10

Inspiration

Steps: Very nicely made. It puts great use of 8th streams and is fun because of the well-placed chaos. It probably should’ve been rated an 8 instead of a 9, though. (6/6)
EE: Nice song choice, even if DDR is already loaded up with eurobeat similar to this. I love the graphics for some reason as well. (4/4)
Overall Score: 10/10

Kickstart My Heart

Steps: I guess I can say the Heavy steps decently follow the song, although it didn’t blow me away. I didn’t like the Challenge stepchart as much, as it was mainly long streams and lots of jumps that made its difficulty feel sort of overdone. (3/6)
EE: Stepping hard rock songs can often be pretty risky, but I found this one to be quite upbeat and pretty good for DDR, if not the best choice. Graphics were decent as well. (3/4)
Overall Score: 6/10

Little Little Princess

Steps: At a whopping 212 bpm, this probably could’ve been a rather interesting stepchart, but it was too overdone. It feels more like a 10, as it’s extremely tiring due to lots of poorly executed turns that thrown you completely in the wrong places, and the fast pace of the song most certainly doesn’t make it feel any less frustrating. I actually thought the quick gallops were pretty fun, but they also felt pretty awkward. The speed up to 424 bpm was very annoying. (2/6)
EE: I actually like this song quite a lot, as it’s very upbeat and fun. What I don’t like, however, are the overly blurry and pixilated graphics that make the song seem much less professional. (2.5/4)
Overall Score: 4.5/10

Love Is Eternity (SF Synth Trance Remix)

Steps: Using such chaotic patterns in both stepcharts was a very neat idea, although it doesn’t make the song horribly fun to dance to. Again, step-jumps and vice versa in 8th patterns just don’t really work to me. (4/6)
EE: I was amazed by the banner’s quality; nice job! Song is atmospherically beautiful, though maybe not the best choice for DDR. Works fine, though. (4/4)
Overall Score: 8/10

PARANOiA ~sky~

Steps: I’m enjoying these steps a lot, really. They’re very PARANOiA-like, with their fast pace and marvelously deployed turns and jumps. I also enjoyed how the ending became very difficult with tons of twisting. Not really anything to complain about, except for the step-jumps from the Challenge stepchart that require too much footspeed. (5,5/6)
EE: While the song doesn’t sound too much like PARANOiA, it still maintains the intense feel of the original song while managing to be even more energetic and fun. The video was first-class, as well. (4/4)
Overall Score: 9.5/10

Pump Up The Jam

Steps: Okay look, following the lyrics as precisely as you did in this song was a huge mistake. It feels horribly awkward and doesn’t flow well with the song at all. Instead, try more simplistic patterns, preferably 8th streams with occasional 16ths, that keep in touch with the lyrics and flow appropriately with the beat. Some patterns were pretty fun, such as the gallops, but l still found it to be extremely messy. (2/6)
EE: The graphics were rather so-so. They didn’t seem horrible overall, but I hated the thin, white border of the text. The song choice was nice, but the music file is far too quiet. When working with such old songs like this, you’ll need to be aware that it’s essential to increase the volume to make them actually work. (2.5/4)
Overall Score: 4/10

Right Now (DANCE MAN Remix with the Badman)

Steps: Simplistic, but rather full of turns. I find it to be a pretty good stepchart, although maybe you should use a bit less turning to prevent awkwardness in the future. Also probably could’ve been a 6. (4.5/6)
EE: I don’t like it that the song is just a remix of another song that already appeared on DDR 5th mix, but it works fine. You should’ve made the backdrop less realistic, as it makes the graphics not really look like something I’d expect to see on DDR, unless that was also because the text was a bit small. Eh, probably just together it doesn’t work that well. (3/4)
Overall Score: 7.5/10

Sakura Kaduki

Steps: Very creative, liked the freeze arrows and diversity of patterns a lot. It’s out of the usual, but it works nicely. (5.5/6)
EE: A rather different song choice approach this is, but I like it a lot, really. Also enjoyed the old-looking Japanese art, as well as the idea of a slideshow with different song backgrounds. (4/4)
Overall Score: 9.5/10

Samba Brazil - This is my entry, so I’m not going to review it. Moving on…

Seasons of Love (Gomi’s Lair Club Mix)

Steps: More freeze arrows than usual here, but I like them, as they work very well with the song. Basically well-thought-up patterns throughout, accompanied by the freezes. The “64th” freeze at the end was sort of unnecessary, although it does make the ending step worth more than usual. Still liked it overall. (5.5/6)
EE: The soulful-yet-dancy song choice was surprising fun, although I didn’t really care for the graphics that much. (3/4)
Overall Score: 8.5/10

Sphere

Steps: Rather repetitive and even playing it safe, with those step-jumps that you should know by now that I hate. It’s not nearly as bad as everyone’s saying it is, but it wasn’t the best of the whole group. Still a whole lot better than Speedy Cat, though. (3/6)
EE: The graphics’ approach could’ve worked pretty well, but I didn’t like how you scrunched up everything in the left corner of the banner. I used to hate Sphere a lot, although it’s grown on me a bit. I guess it’s a pretty interesting song choice, though. (2.5/6)
Overall Score: 5.5/10

This Is Love

Steps: Pretty good usage of jumps and twisty 8th patterns. However, during the “This Is Love” parts, you forced the player into turning way too much before the little burst of chaos. Not everyone’s going to want to doublestep there. (4.5/6)
EE: The graphics look like they were made out of the single’s cover (I don’t know what it looks like, though), but they worked fine otherwise. I ended up enjoying the song so much that it basically just got me interested in the artist, and it works pretty well with DDR overall. (3.5/4)
Overall score: 8/10

Together

Steps: Great patterns, and the triplets made the steps very catchy and fun. Nothing to complain about, really. (6/6)
EE: The graphics were rather simplistic, but they still compliment the song well. Good song choice, especially since it’s by smile.dk, and I loved the video. The only problem I had was the abrupt fadeout in the end. (3.5/4)
Overall Score: 9.5/10

Tunak Tunak Tun

Steps: So far pretty much the least popular stepchart in the bracket, and for a reason. The triplet jumps weren’t really too great of an idea, not to mention they didn’t always follow the song directly. There wasn’t very much beyond that, as during middle, it was basically the same unoriginal 8th streams throughout. The ending threw in some chaos, but it couldn’t really save the song because it didn’t really seem to follow the song completely accurately, either. (2/6)
EE: The graphics weren’t very well-made, but they do seem to look better than some of the worst ones. As for the song, world music is often pretty risky, but I guess this worked okay. I was far too busy laughing at how silly-sounding this song is compared to its competition to really mind, though. (2.5/4)
Overall Score: 4.5/10

Way of Life

Steps: Really not too shabby. Following the lyrics directly felt a bit forced, but overall, the patterns were interesting and worked well with the song. (4/5/6)
EE: The graphics were poorly-made, but that doesn’t matter as much when you’ve got a video in the background. Speaking of which, that was the most hilarious background I’ve ever seen in any DDR simfile. A dancing, rapping panda? That calls for some big laughs from me. Good song choice, although it was a bit slow. (3/4)
Overall Score: 7.5/10

Wild Thing / Poor Boy

Steps: No 16ths, but that’s fine, since it doesn’t matter when you’ve got a refined and fun stepchart with appropriate usage of twisting and jumps. (5/6)
EE: The song was pretty catchy, but I found it to feel cheesy with the cartoon video in the background, not to mention the graphics had no real relation to the video at all. (3/4)
Overall Score: 8/10

Wowowee

Steps: Wow, nice stuff here. Not too hard, but has a diversity of patterns and follows the song well in a very fun way. Great usage of jumps, gallops, and triplets. No complaints, really. (6/6)
EE: Fabulous song choice, very upbeat and catchy. I also loved the graphics, as well as the fact that there are slightly alternate graphics in the folder. (4/4)
Overall Score: 10/10

You Give Love A Bad Name

Steps: Followed the song pretty well. The choruses were mainly just long, twisty streams, but the steps overall are pretty decent. During the triplets however, you should’ve transitioned back to 8ths a bit sooner than you did each time. (4/6)
EE: The graphics were so-so, but I liked the inclusion of a video. Great song, as well. (3.5/4)
Overall Score: 7.5/10

nagai yume

Steps: These steps followed the song very well. They aren’t mind-blowing or anything, but they still work. (5/6)
EE: It’s always great when someone includes a video with their simfile, although the girl in it looked like an Eskimo Geshia. As for the song, overall it was fine, but seriously, that girl has one of the whiniest voices I’ve ever heard. (3/4)
Overall Score: 8/10

[Azure Haights]

OSC5 DDRB2

Again: heavy, first impressions. More keyboard testing this time, just because that's how things worked out. I did play up to Sakura Kaduki on pad though. Tilt once again = graphics + clever videos + song choice + you know whatever. And if you don't hear anything about something, then there was nothing particularly wrong about it.

All In The Way
Pros: Nice-sounding song. The steps weren't groundbreaking, but they weren't boring.
Cons: Felt like it ran a bit long. Graphics (especially background) were a bit bland.
Steps: 4.5/6
Tilt: 2.5/4
Total: 7/10

Bouncin!
Pros: Interesting graphics. The easy parts of the steps were okay.
Cons: The graphics don't really match the feeling of the song - it's too happy for random 3D renders. That wacky 16ths part came out of nowhere and I can't read that at normal speed.
Steps: 4/6
Tilt: 2/4
Total: 6/10

Dancin In My Dreams
Pros: Nice graphics, lol inishal dee
Cons: The Flash-style 16ths were meh. Also, those jumps in the broken streams during the chorus were kind of tiring.
Steps: 4/6
Tilt: 3/4
Total: 7/10

Do You Know
Pros: lol Children from TM4. The steps were pretty fun.
Cons: Is "I Go Crazy" part of the songtitle? Also, the background was lacking.
Step: 5/6
Tilt: 2/4
Total: 7/10

Fuku wa Uchi
Pros: The steps were pretty fun, and the graphics are solid.
Cons: The steps are a hard 8, if not a 9; the chorus is phrased oddly.

Gasolina (DelACTION mix, not de-lactation mix plz)
A+++++++ WOULD STEP AGAIN

High School Love
Pros: Nice banner. Most of the steps were fun, and I liked the step-step-freeze-step--step--step parts.
COns: Iffy background, very pixelated. The chorus is a lot to wrap my feet around. The middle part was hard, with its 16th triplets.
Steps: 5/6
Tilt: 2.5/4
Total: 7.5/10

Inspiration
Pros: Nice sounding song. Decent enough graphics. THe steps were fun, albeit hard.
Cons: The song title is a bit hard to read, especially in the banner. That damn step (either taken out where I expected it or put in where I didn't - I forget) in the middle of the intro-outro keeps screwing me up.
Steps: 5.5/6
Tilt: 3.5/4
Total: 9/10

Kickstart My Heart
Pros: Gutsy genre choice. Some of the steps were fun. Solid-enough graphics. (No, this isn't all a backhanded compliment.)
Cons: I think, personally, that you favored the jump coming in and out of a stream too much. Also, the title's too hard to read in the graphics.
Steps: 4.5/6
Tilt: 3/4
Total: 7.5/10

Little Little Princess
Pros: Nice graphics. Fun song.
Cons: To be honest, the background seems a bit... unless that's from the video, it seems out of place. The steps were way too hard for me. Every other 5-note cluster in the middle went to NOTHING. The first time I keyed this, I quit in disgust at that 2nd slowdown. The second time, I had to go through the BPM jack-up immediately following it, and I swear that ending felt like an Insertionny tempo waver. Also, no lead-in.
Steps: 2/6
Tilt: 1.5/4
Total: 3.5/10 (NOT thirtyfive)

Love Is Eternity
Pros: Interesting song, and it starts out with some interesting steps.
Cons: ...and then it tries to be the next So Deep. The 16ths are a bit much here. Also, the graphics (especially the BG) are very blah.
Steps: 2.5/6
Tilt: 2/6
Total: 4/10

Nagai Yume
Pros: WHOAH CUTE THING
Cons: Kind of meh plain graphics. Boo at not transliterating your title. Too many steps after what should have been the ending. THe song sounds only marginally less annoying than Motto from TM5.
Steps: 4/6
Tilt: 1.5/4
Total: 5.5/10

Paranoia Sky
Pros: Nice use of videos, ESPECIALLY the Max Period 3rd Mix screen. Pretty nice steps, given the whole Paranoia thing. I suppose this could pass for an easy paranoia.
Cons: Bad plain graphics. I kind of wish I heard more Paranoia in that. The string of rights at the end could have been replaced with just about ANYTHING better than that.
Steps: 3.5/6
Tilt: 3/4
Total: 6.5/10

Pump Up the Jam
Pros; Um, yay more Technotronic?
Cons: A lot. The graphics are very bland, and in the case of the banner hard to read. I can tell the steps were Ctrl+R-ed, and not very well. You were going for absolute karaoke steps here, and in that you succeeded, although I'd love to know why some of those jumps are offset like that. The song itself is, to be honest, a bit overplayed, so I'm not feeling it, ESPECIALLY with that samplestart.
Steps: 1/6
Tilt: .5/4
Total: 1.5/10

Right Now
Pros: A good 5thMIX song, and a good remix thereof. The graphics have a good start. The steps are fun, and my one AA on pad.
Cons: The text is way too small, because the banner's way too big. The samplestart's a bit long. The ending felt about a measure too long.
Steps: 4.5/6
Tilt: 2.5/4
Total: 7/10

Sakura Kaduki
Pros: The graphics are pretty. It feels like it should be a solid file, but...
Cons: It started and ended too karaoke, and was too hard for its 8 in the middle. I think one of the backgrounds didn't work. The samplestart's a bit off. I swear I heard some obvious cut points.
Steps: 3/6
Tilt: 2.5/4
Total: 5.5/10

Samba Brazil
Pros: C-JAH :'( A fun song (although, all love of the good Captain aside, we need to do a good upbeat, not so epic sounding CJ simfile sometime soon. I miss Another One Bites the Dust. I guess this is a step in that direction. The time for mourning the end is over, the time for celebrating the beginning is NOW but anyways back to the review) Fun song, nice graphics, nice steps. Like the RGCanada vids said, this is the Radio Star of the bracket - the one that most captures the DDR feeling.
Cons: The BG was too monotone. The oni steps should have probably been an edit.
Steps: 5.5/6
Tilt: 3/4
Total: 8.5/10

Seasons of Love
Pros: The graphics were okay, if not monotone. No pointless furriness.
Cons: Odd samplestart. Boring steps. There was an attempt at a 42684 with freezes that looked like it'd be hard on pad. I believe I saw a 16th-note-long freeze at the end that had no reason to be there. I was going to get you for attributing the song to a work of art rather than an artist (I"m not fully familiar with either this song or the musical Rent), but looking up ThriveMix '02, it appears to pan out.
Steps: 3/6
Tilt: 2.5/4
Total: 5.5/10

Sphere
Pros: Um. The banner was kinda nice.
Cons: That tempo-genre thing doesn't really work here, any better than it did in SpeedY Cat. Also, that typeface doesn't fit... anywhere, really. The steps were boring, and you did way too much step-step-jump. The BPM speedup at the end sucked; I don't care how it actually goes in IIDX, "We had to deal with it in this song now you do too" only works if the weird part is not that weird or the file is released for people who are familiar with it. (Meaning: yeah, I know I know BEMANIstyle so everyone else knows it well not me. Sorry.) Oh, and speaking of BPM changes, hiding it? Bad form, old bean.
Steps: 2/6
Tilt: 1.5/4
Total: 3.5

This is Love
Pros: Um.
Cons: Too many forced spins. Blah graphics, especially the background. Too much of the song had not enough beat in it to keep the song going that well.
Steps: 2.5/6
Tilt: 1.5/4
Total: 4/10

Together
Pros: Nice song. Interesting skippy bit at the end - easy enough to pick up and nail on the second try. Nice use of videos.
Cons: The CDtitle would have been better if it were just the title logo. The background is very plain compared with the banner. The samplestart is odd. The ending is abrupt, and the video fadeout is late.
Steps: 5/6
Tilt: 2.5/4
Total: 7.5/10

Tunak Tunak Tun
Pros: Oh. MY god.
Cons: Where to start?

A squished-framegrab banner.
A blurry-framegrab background.
WAY too short.
No lead in.
A chorus that feels like a fast Night in Motion.
A Night in Motion with no consistency, that doesn't know what the notes actually are that it's sticking to.
Steps that, if they aren't the wrong BPM, sure as hell feel like it.
A too-big cdtitle that doesn't show off the logo well enough.
A samplestart that is designed oddly and falls off before the actual chorus.
A creation subtitle. A freaking CREATED BY STEPFILER SUBTITLE! I know I should be civil about this, but I thought that went the way of Tournamix 1! If the only thing you did to the song was make it shorter, you did not create the song, so you do not belong on the songwheel!

This had better be a filler entry or a joke entry or something.
Steps: 1/6
Tilt: 0/4
Total: 1/10

Way of Life
Pros: Um, interesting sounding song, I suppose.
Cons: Too much, uh, karaoke-rap syndrome? You know, like Under the Sea. It wasn't as bad as the 3 rap files in OSC4, but sticking to rap freestyle isn't usually all that much fun on the pad. The video was... freaky. Weird rendering. The banner doesn't match the feeling of the video, and the background (for as long as it shows) doesn't match the banner and makes the title hard to make out.
Steps: 2/6
Tilt: 1/4
Total: 3/10

Wild Thing/Poor Boy
Pros: Interesting use of video. The steps were okay, and the plain graphics were good, although they didn't quite match. Fun song.
Cons: You see, ever since I looked up the album title for Tsunami back in OSC3 or something, I knew one thing - these cartoon bandmembers are freaky ugly. About as freaky as the animals in Way of Life. I think looking to see if that was still the case distracted me. At any rate... I think a few streams broke off and continued at odd times.
Steps: 4/6
Tilt: 2/4
Total: 6/10

Wowowee
Pros: Nice banner! I don't blame you for not going with the original show-related graphics. The steps were pretty fun.
Cons: The background isn't as easy to read, and not as... eyecatching, I suppose.
Steps: 4.5/6
Tilt: 2.5/4
Total: 7/10

You Give Love a Bad Name
Pros: Um... remix of classic Bon Jovi? Yay?
Cons: Odd samplestart. Iffy graphics, which don't match between background and banner. The verse had no beat to hold up the steps at the beginning. The steps in general were quite boring.
Steps: 3/6
Tilt: 1.5/4
Total: 4.5/10