#2dkaps ddr

At long last, the date has finally arrived. After what felt like an eternity of this being the newest version... questions about whether there was even going to be another entry... and despair even amidst the constant flow of content... SOUND VOLTEX has finally upgraded from the EXCEED GEAR we've all known and loved, to...

...NABLA!!!!!!!!!

this was a most unexpected release and sudden release given the window between now and its announcement. after over 4 and a half years since exceed gear's release, we got the announcement in the middle of another sudden/random BEMANI LIVE last month (the first since 2017 i think?) that the big new version would be coming... sometime soon . little did we know that "soon" meant THIS YEAR, even with only a month and a half to go before the new version!!! and on christmas, no less!!!! truly a major shock, especially with the new pop'n cab and version releasing just a few weeks prior . what is konami on this year to make such insane back-to-back releases???

of course, it being held on christmas meant i was preoccupied with family festivities and wasn't able to make it for the grand release of the version... nor for the day after its release... nor for the day after the day after its release... until NOW!!! i was finally free from family festivities and gifting, and had all the time in the world to head on up to round 1 and indulge in the next evolution of the SOUND VOLTEX series...

(yes i did pull for nabla rasis before i even got to play, look at her!! a beautiful character in a beautiful outfit, and with such big... nevermind)

but before that! what better way to start the new version the same way we ended the old one; an AAA+ on Typhoon Craaash!! [GRV 18.3]!!! ah right, and since this version introduces chart constants for charts rated 17 and higher, i'll be listing said constants in text wherever i can! (though i won't be going back and editing any of the constants in the past posts for preservation purposes, go figure those out yourself)

NOW THEN, FOR THE REAL DEAL!!! to be honest, i genuinely had no idea how i wanted to kick off my journey this version, so i consulted some friends of the Full Combo team for songs to play and did a few of those... but in the process, i did get a solid near-S on Dyscontrolled Galaxy [EXH 17.5], an INSANE sightread 998 on the all-new Synthesis. [EXH 17], and the biggest shock of all... i finally got an S rank on Lachryma(Re:Queen'M) [EXH 18.5]!!! my hardest S-rank thus far!!!!!! finally to wrap up the sesh for now, a few other random songs (did you guess the theme of the recommendations yet? that's right, it's "songs that have appeared in robeats!"!), including my second-ever 19 clear in... A Lasting Promise [MXM 19.4]!!!

while undoubtedly a huge part of why i wanted to visit round 1 today, sound voltex nabla wasn't the only reason... rather, my second big reason was for what would be the final content update to PUMP IT UP 2024 PHOENIX as we neared the confirmed and imminent release of PHOENIX2. sure, they added two songs from CHRONO CIRCLE as new content, but I didn't really care for them; I cared about the LOAD of new charts added to legacy songs to finish the version off strong . so after a quick warmup on Stardream -Eurobeat Remix- S19 and SWEET WONDERLAND S17 with my good buddy Shoopa, i was ready to get to work...

...on playing the new charts given to perhaps the greatest song to ever be added into the game, and probably the song that got me into being a hardcore pump player...

ALL I WANT FOR X-MAS!!!!

not to be confused with the Mariah Carey song of a similar name, this is a classic from Perfect Collection whose hardest chart up until now was an extremely janky D15 locked behind PRIME's Mission Mode. but now that it's christmas (x2), this song got two charts each for singles and doubles to celebrate... and being the #1 fan of this song, i HAD to tackle them all... and after two credits worth of plays, i came out of it with a PG on the S15, and two tragic flags on the S17 and D16... Fuck

well... as much as i wanted to stick around and replay the charts for better scores, i had to get going somewhere soon . so to bid farewell to Round 1 for what was likely the last time this year, i played a single credit DDR and SDVX back-to-back... which resulted in getting 15 PFC #46 on Rabbit Hole (ESP-15, 36p) and an AAA+ on the extremely-overrated-but-much-appreciated L (SDVX ver.) [MXM 18.6] respectively

now, where exactly was this "somewhere" i was in a hurry to visit? home? work? school? nope, it was actually The Nest for their Freeplay Fridays!!! i know i know, jumping from one arcade to another is a little questionable, but it really had been a while since my last visit and i wanted to check it out one last time before the end of the year... so i hopped on the bus there and made my last(?) arcade visit of 2025 .

despite The Nest being way more known for their dance games, i was feeling in more of a wacca mood and thought "hmmmm . i really need to grind this game after all" . and so i did in an effort to recover my stamina before re-tackling the dance games . it went swell, and i got quite a bit of rating from scores like an SSS on Overdrive [Expert 13], an SSS+ on MAGENTA POTION [Expert 12], SS+s on PUPA and BUCHiGiRE Berserker [both Expert 13+]... then to group the images and save on space later in this post, i also got a few more scores across new version songs and whatnot, including Boku no Yume, Mecha Kuso Mugen Waki (Nanahira ver.) [Expert 13+], Chronomia [Expert 13+], and a bit more minmaxxing in the old version songs with an SSS on JINGLE DEATH [Expert 13] and a bunch of rando 12s that gave me rating for whatever reason

finally, i'm hitting the 30 image limit here and am too lazy to make a new post, so i'll just attach the most important scores i got that weren't just getting PGs on all of the All I Want for X-Mas difficulties; i managed to upscore Nostalgia D21 up to an AAA+!

and to wrap up this hell of a final session.... i got my FIRST EVER D22 CLEAR on ENERGY SYNERGY MATRIX D22!!!! WITH AN AAA+ AT THAT!!!!!! GRAAAAAAAAAAAGH I'M DA FUCKIN GOATTTTTT

...huh? we're back so soon? but i thought... i thought yesterday was the grind day...

...well, it was! yesterday was the last day i wanted to go for the year, as the arena season was about to end and i wanted to enjoy the rest of the holidays with my family before i went back into action and grind . BUT!!! i had to do some christmas gift shopping for my parents before all the stores either closed or got packed, and word on the street was that the once-mythical SDVX 7 (NABLA) was set to release not next year, not next week, not tomorrow, but TODAY (12/24 in Japan) . i didn't believe it, i thought it wouldn't come out here at the same time, but every one of my worries before had already been disproven... what's to say this wouldn't be the same? so in a bit of a dizzied state and in the worst of conditions to attend, i bussed up to round 1 and hopped on the cab to play my final few sets of Exceed Gear before it went away...

didn't really get a lot of scores in, all things considered, but they were pretty good for my final set of the update!! got me a MAX-11 (wtf) PUC on Tomorrow Perfume (tpz Despair Remix) [EXH-13], and ended with my final play, of both the day and of Exceed Gear, on Typhoon Craaaash!! [GRV-18]. it's been a good 4-and-a-half-year run, Exceed Gear. i'll certainly miss you... uh... some other time i guess? probably not for a year or so; you Did last 4x that amount, after all . but eventually i will... just you wait!

...huh, that's funny . playing my last exceed gear set of the night didn't magically cause the cabs to update . how could this be?

i'm kidding, buuut even as arcades in Korea and Japan started getting the updates, we were still stuck with no sign of them for the time being . maybe i was right after all... maybe we wouldn't get it for another few days, kinda like how our iidx updates are always delayed or messed up one way or another until they magically get fixed a few days later . but since i already declared my farewells and wasn't about to wait around a cab for a few hours for an update i wasn't even sure was gonna happen, i went to the next best cab and update from yesterday... PUMP IT UP!!! specifically to Only Play the New All I Want for X-Mas Charts and Nothing Else . dude i've been so hyped to play these ever since they were announced samfjsadj;l it alone was a supplementary reason to go to round 1 yesterday even if i wasn't sure the update was releasing that day either . but it's here... it's beautiful... it's all i ever wanted... for x-mas

(bonus note: all of these were played back-to-back across two sets, as evident by the credit result breakdowns below . i am fucking HOOKED on this song)

even with those plays however, the update for SDVX still wasn't here, and i lost hope that it'd release today . so with my head semi-low yet still on the high from playing All I Want for X-mas, i shifted to the other dance game to do a little bit of stamina draining before i went home . a good choice too, as i managed two 17 Flare EX FCs on Step This Way [CSP-17] and Plain Asia -PHQ remix- [CSP-17] - Both sightreads, too!!!

soooo that was the end of the visit for me, and i went home satisfied with at least having played my last few sets of Exceed Gear with honor before the rollover into the next version . yet what do i see a few hours later but the update happening at my arcade and sdvx nabla being released... if only i had stayed until closing!!! buuuuut i really was exhausted, and i was also carrying a bunch of bags full of presents that definitely wouldn't have survived the night had i stuck around . so ah well... maybe next time . here's a random sightread PFC on PLATiNUM DRIVE [4L OVER 27, MAX-70] from today on PLATiNA :: LAB i got out of spite (just kidding, it was before i even went to the mall, but ehhh still counts)

a new weekend has (almost) arrived, so you know what that means... ANOTHER SOLSTICE ARENA GRIND SESH!!! this time, it's the very last round of the team tournament, and i need to get grinding and submitting NOW!!! for a very special occasion awaits me later this weekend... not much else to talk about until i reach that point tho, so let's GET INTO IT!!! ...right after these extra few random scores on Crystallium's Open Beta after showing it off to some friends... eghhh still dunno how to feel about it, though i guess it's pretty neat

starting with chunithm because i had just talked with a friend about accuracy habits and learning to build it without fully deciating to uppers, and i wanted to back my statements up with at least a little bit of evidence so i wouldn't appear as a nonsense fraud talking about myself!! found an abandoned credit of chunithm to do just that, and... i ended up appearing as a nonsensical fraud . i swear i'm better than this i'm promise sorry sorry sorry i don't know what happened

continuing forth! iirc i saw a free credit after talking with a friend who was playing and didn't wanna hop on the DDR grind just yet, so here's a little set of DrumMania where i cleared both I'm so Happy (Rockin' ver.) [ADVANCED 6.25] and Sand Blow [ADVANCED 4.85]!! the latter being less impressive... i really need to play this game more :p

okay NOW it's ddr time!! and the preparation proved Extremely true... because after a sorta lackluster warmup set (with the only notable score being a 14 flag), i proceeded to kick off the next set with a GFC on DDR MEGAMIX [CSP-16] and... CHAOS [CSP-16]????? no idea how, why, or what, or asldkjflkdsajflksda i don't even know, but this was INSANE and suuuper promising for the rest of the session... so long as i kept up the momentum, that is. and then to end off the session, i also massively upscored my Healing-D-Vision [CSP-18] from 871k to... 963k????? how??????? i'll take it tho, hooooly

aaand since it's only one score, i'll upload my first attempt on the first of the trial songs... an unprecedented, already-insane 994k on Tokyo Shinwa [ESP-17] and a 94.37% EX% to boot!!! and since the average EX% requirement this time around was only 92%, my score was already super solid enough to submit!!! figuring i could get a better score later on though (since this was first try of the day) i put a pin in it to revisit later...)

SDVX friend was still playing SDVX so i decided to take a breather from DDR and join him for a teensy bit to get some upscores of my own... resulting in a 978 on Shakunetsu Beach Side Bunny [EXH 18], my third(?) 18 S-rank on Innocent Azure [MXM 18] (with a 992 too!!), and to end it off... getting my 2nd ever 19 clear on the very funny Sasoribi [MXM-19]!!

stepmaniax break!! i've been DYING to play this game since my last visit and i finally had the chance... for it is UNBEATABLE MONTH and i haven't played this game since prior to its release (+ needing to warm back up for DDR), i started off with Worn Out Tapes [FULL+ 22] and got... a 57p PFC as my first 22 PFC??? i don't even remember if i have a 21 or 20 PFC... but nevertheless i'll take it LOL . also played the original Tidal Wave geometry dash song, Shiawase [FULL 23], as well as the great, big, glorious recent addition... London Bridge, on FULL+ 23, WILD 21, and FULL 14!!!

per oomf's (sorta) request and suggestions, here's a bit of IIDX after a bit of a lunch break so i don't instantly jump into dancing -- HCs on I Was The One [SPA-4, lol] and KAMIKAZE [SPA-10, damn] + EXHCs on Broken My Heart [SPA-9] and NEO GENERATOR SEVEN [SPH-9]!!! still kinda lost on what to do in this game...

once i felt good enough though, i headed back to the DDR cab to grind out the last few scores for the event. lo and behold, a friend from a rival team happened to have the same idea of grinding their scores on the same team... except we weren't really rivals because we were actually allied and relying on each other for the last team trial in a weird series of events!!! since we had similar target songs and weak points to work out, we decided to do some Friendship Training a la Umamusume to get some banger scores in for each of our teams... and for each other!!!

starting with the boss song we were both struggling with, ACE FOR ACES [ESP-15] with an insane first play upscore from 812k to 982k!!!! tbf i did study it while eating beforehand (and also hadn't played it since... 2021?), but still insane just how much one can improve in such time... and it didn't even stop there, because i then upscored it to a solid 995k!!! come to find out a few minutes later that my team actually needed one more person to do the CSP-18, so after a few goofy song picks (incl. a sightread AAA on CUE CUE RESCUE [CSP-17])... i tried it and got an INSANE first-try ever FC on it??? my second ever 18 FC and it's on ACE FOR ACES of all things??? what the fuck?????? in fairness, this has become a lot easier to do with the advent of CONSTANT in DDR WORLD, but it nonetheless is an incredible feat to pull off... especially for my team, since it put me on par with (if not better than) most others who had to play the chart!!! and so, after that and finally getting a PFC on Aka to ao no rampage [ESP-14, 24p], the session came to a very satisfying close and i submitted my scores to help bring the team average up and boost us to near-victory!!! (save for a few teammates that still needed to submit their own scores... and the team average still not being sufficient... but that don't concern me anymore!!)

aaand to truly end the post: random ass AP on Memoria [Expert Lv.31] that i got before going to sleep . whatevs, 'least that's another Expert 31 down

"another arcade day??" yesyes, but this is for a mildly understandable reason!! yesterday finally marked the day that i finished the last of my finals and was officially FREE from university for the year!!! ...well, with one minor asterisk -- that being today was the last day to pick up the lock i still had on my rented locker back there, before it would be REPOSSESSED and kept locked away FOREVER!!!! i couldn't let that happen... i bought that lock with my own money!!! and it just looked cool damnit!!!

determined to keep it but also feeling lazy now that my classes were over, i opted to grab the 11 AM train to campus to commence what would become a special sesh that would last the whole day... buuuut getting to the arcade is gonna take a while, so here's some arcaea i played on the train in the meantime... somehow i did this??? qualia -ideaesthesia- (BYD-9+, MAX-18 -> MAX-5)??? literally How

some time later i got through everything, which i'll skip because it's kinda boring... but i eventually did get to the arcade and all, though not before seeing a friend play arcaea and . i guess wanting to join instead of actually going into the arcade and playing??? idk either, though i think i was finishing a drink that i didn't want to bring into the arcade... as one might expect though, it kinda sucked #tbh and i only got one score out of it, though it was quite a funny occasion :]

but after all was said and done, i stepped into the arcade and ran straight to the arcade to play me some mai!! mai!! deluxe!!!!!! (prism plus) . didn't really know anyone around when i got there, but i met some other solo players and we just gamed miscellaneous for the time being... turns out this solo player had some rather good picks, because i got a real good amount of rating out of this session, sightread FC'ing Expert 12s like Mare Maris and Drivessover, then i took to 12+s with SSS ranks on MYTH Re : LEASE, Atlas Rush, and conflict, mixing in a sightread SS on Mikazuki Step 2023 [Master Lv.13] and a big one on AMAZING MIGHTYYYY!!!! [Expert Lv.13+]!!!

rating-wise this was an incredible session, i jumped from 13341 to 13503 near-instantly!!! but alas, i already got my maimai fix earlier this week, and there was something else i needed to grind... so before i actually get to that, here's some iidx!!! why? no reason other than training my timing ability, but it was fun and cool an awesome... that Tsuki to milk [SPA-11] AA was pretty damn cool, plus i'm inching closer to the MAX- on OOO [SPA-10] (though i mostly only played it to unlock OOO LEGGENDARIA!!!! yippee!!!!)

alright NOW it's time for the moment you've all been waiting for... the game i Actually came here to play was none other than... DDR!!! if you saw my last post, you probably saw how the session was basically cut short by the ride my friend gave me back home + my exhaustion from the previous maimai and sdvx sets... but today was the day i'd redeem myself and get on that DDR grind for the rest of the night... for me... for my Solstice Around The World team... for my fans (that's you reading this, thank you!!)...!

...and already we're starting off strong with a 2nd-stage PFC on Urban Life (ESP-15, 36p) as 15 PFC #45!!! that's a toughie too wtf, jumped and fist pumped as soon as i got it... and yet the session continues!!! beat a DDR semi-rival by 1p on O JIYA [ESP-13] (funny), finally Flare EX'd Programmed Universe [CSP-16]...

...and then began the SATW (solstice around the world) grind . didn't want to repeat the mistake from yester-yesterday's session of playing too much before grinding the songs, so i got to them in only 2 sets this time (yippee!!!), and... worked out pretty swell!! big ups compared to last sesh, but i still felt i could do better... grinding wouldn't help much though (and i didn't wanna bore ddr friends with the same pick over and over), so i played other charts and got other neat scores like this 3g Flare EX on Snow Garland Fairy [ESP-17], a MASSIVE +115k upscore on DeltaMAX [CSP-17] (wtf), and a slight PFC upscore on O JIYA (ESP-13, 25p -> 19p)

all those scores led up to an attempt on the other SATW song i had to play... Wadatsumi!!! wasn't expecting much on this one, just dove right in to test the waters, but i came out of it on my first try with a SOLID 993k score out of nowhere... as 18 AAA #2!!! ...admittedly, i was hoping for under 100 perfects, something like perhaps a Flare EX clear... but even so, this was Solid AF and would be acceptable by the SATW team's standards... though the thought of being able to do better lingered in my head regardless. thus, i left to get a small meal to clear my head and replenish my energy.

came back from the meal and gave it another shot, but again, the same problem . was in the zone, went for a long lunch to get back into the zone, ended up falling out of the zone and feeling super heavy compared to my initial play . i should def know the pattern by now, but i was so sure it was just the final push i needed this time... wellll it worked in a few ways though, because my first (and only) set back allowed me to close out STEP MACHINE (ESP-14, 40p) as 14 PFC #45, and (as anticipated) Sector (ESP-16, 37p) as 16 PFC #9!!! (nice) (3 EX worse than the 998,980 score though, so.... not nice) (also gave wadatsumi another try for extra stage but ate shit)

that about sums it up for scores today... in retrospect, not a bad sesh at all!! records i set were pretty good for my team, and the pressure/averages i needed to singlehandedly bring them up were straight up impossible, plus we still had a few days left so i just needed to wait and see if anyone else would pull through... (kaps from the future here, they did thankfully) . thus, i leave this session off with this funky little IN THE ZONE score i got on taiko in between DDR sets to commemorate the announcement of ACE COMBAT 8 yesterday... god bless

Impromptu arcade visit for two important reasons that I'll get to later, but one reason involved DDR so that's how we're kicking off the visit right now!!! got a solid first score in my first set, then a PFC on Silly Love (ESP-14, 42p) as 14 PFC #44 (that's a lotta 4's), then choking on beanball... before redeeming myself on extra stage with a sudden, insane PFC on Night of Knights (Ryu Remix) (ESP-16, 38p) as 16 PFC #8!!!!

realized i needed a water bottle and stopped my session to pick one up at a nearby store, but i was Back in Business soon after!!! mainly just upscored and AAA'ed a few old scores of mine (some new ones too), then tried training my gimmick senses with random plays of CHAOS [ESP-14] leading to a Really bad barely-Flare-EX FC on it followed by a much better 4gr 1g FC on it later!!! (wish i could've gotten the GFC though... maybe some other time) . oh also random FC on fluctus [ESP-16] right after... quite the tricky one indeed

alright, that's enough miscellaneous warmup now!! i need to lock in on the reason i came here to grind... and that, of course, is for my Solstice Around The World team!!! it's a unique kind of team event hosted by the Solstice Arena team, where we're grouped into teams with members of every skill levels, attempting to score high on assigned songs of our skill levels and allow our team to survive each round!! the first round was concluding the next day, so i was kinda admittedly playing last-minute despite the mounds of homework i still had to deal with... but for the sake of my team, i couldn't just leave them without a submission!!

played some extra charts i had really low scores on and wanted to upscore for LIFE4 goals (with VERY close Flare EX clears, mind you), but as soon as we started the next set... BOOM, Prey [DSP-15], the first of two songs i needed to challenge and score high on this round... and already honestly did pretty solid!!! this was indeed a passable score -- an upscore from 965k to a 996k GFC, and a solid 96.81% EX that could very well pass the stage requirement!!! but no... i knew i could do better... and my body agreed, because i was Famished at this point and really needed to eat something before proceeding with DDR (and because person i was grinding with was grinding unlocks that kinda bored me so i wanted to wait until they were done before i committed again) . and so, after an actually Huge upscore on Hi-Tech Tokio [CSP-18] from 923k to 968k and an abandoned GITADORA credit i spotted before leaving, i was on my way to get my grub on...

back from getting my grub on, reenergized and revitalized, said player was still on the grind and seemingly wasn't letting up... so i turned to the second big thing i wanted to check out here today... MUSIC DIVER SEASON 3!!!! SHE'S CRYSTAL FOR AN AMAZING REASON!!! GOD IT LOOKS SO BEAUTIFUL WAHOOOOOO!!! it was awesome to see, and i was really hype to try it out... but unbeknownst to me (since i hadn't played the game in Ages)... the cabs here were Really, REALLY poor to play on . every hit felt like it was double inputting, there was no guarantee with the registration, and it was utterly soul crushing since i was Really looking forward to playing the game after so long, and i thought i was doing something wrong, but nope... both cabs were plagued with this issue, and shortly after i moved on :[

good news is though -- after playing those sets of music diver, the cab was freed up and i could get back to the team grind!!! having watched a chartview of Prey [DSP-15] while eating, i knew everything i had to do and got straight to the grind... though it seems my preparation went against me, because i felt heavy like a Stone after my meal (i guess eating and adding weight to yourself will do that, to be fair...) . still, i pushed on, and got a tragic flag (though a very slight EX upscore) before moving on to the other song i was practicing...

MUTEKI BUFFALO [CSP-17]!!! this was the boss song/chart i had to play in addition to my assigned chart, and it was a very tricky, very difficult jump-heavy chart i had a pretty bad score on before . but a few attempts and GFCs later, i pulled through... and i managed to secure both a Flare EX and a 994k GFC to set a solid score for the team!!! really proud of this one actually, that came out of nowhere LOL even despite my drowsiness/heaviness

reinvigorated, i went back to Prey in the next set in hopes i could get a much higher, much better score... but i walked away instead with good news and bad news: i managed to close out the PFC i was seeking on this chart with 46p as 15 PFC #42!!! ...only to find that this was the exact same EX score as the score above... which was in turn only 1 EX better than my initial play on the chart (39p, 4g, -47) . truly this game is unjust, but nevertheless... we carry on . (oh also 1116 became free this week, so i retried the CSP-18 and brought it up to just barely a 950k!!! that ending is Brutal though, i seriously underestimated it because of how easy the rest of the chart is)

with my two song targets done and my goals achieved, i was ready to head back out . but recalling the mech i flagged down to reset the music diver cabs, i wanted to see if they were fixed or improved at all by the reset!! ...nope, still badly double inputting . ah well, can't say i didn't try... maybe next sesh . until then, peace out!!

RUNNING IT BACK!!!! this wretched chart may have gotten the better of me yesterday, but that was simply balancing out the sheer insanity of my arcaea scores these past few days!!! so now that everything was (or should be) fine and dandy, surely i can get a good score on this chart now, right? why yes indeed! after several chokes and sufferages, i finally got the run and achievement i wanted... an EX+ on Xxium and Purple haze [ETR-10]!!! ...should i call it Opium to stay consistent with my SDVX scores?? i don't even know man this censorship choice Sucks!!!

but regardless!!! against my better judgement, i decided today would be a maimai day (despite being a long uni day) to meet up with my good buddy Ron, and after my last (mandatory) class of the day... i headed off to game!!! (but not without the mandatory arcaea score on a maimai song, of course)

arrived at the spot and got to WORK playing!!! just barely caught ron before he left and shenanigans ensued, though i got him to play Hardcore Syndrome [Master Lv.13+] before he left, and i somehow pulled off an S to push me just over the border and achieve the glorious... 13k SILVER RATING!!! now we're in it for real this time (no longer smurfing)... so let's keep the momentum going with other 2p/solo plays!! and right after that silver rating, i even got my first MASTER AP on Hai Yorokonde [Master Lv.11+] with just 2 non-crit breaks!!! (i tried asking people on twitter how to refer to AP scores relative to how close they were to an AP+ and they just made fun of me for saying "MAX-2" like the filthy BEMANI player i am)

still, quite the fun session!!! individual scores past those two weren't awfully notable, but i got some HUGE rating raises while i was here (went from like 12917 last sesh to 13248 already!!!) and even got a new 13 FC on Onegai! KonKon Oinari-sama [Master Lv.13]!!

also tried playing ddr after all the maimai and just absolutely trolled . yeah it's not a ddr day for me LOL, already expensed all my energy there so the only thing i really managed was this sightread PFC on Dadadadadadadadadadada (Nijisanji Dance Club ver.) (ESP-14, 55p) as 14 PFC #43!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!! it's a very special and very haunting day indeed... haunting for most because of the festivity's nature, but haunting for me because i suddenly got an "iCloud Storage Almost Full" notification that followed me all weekend and didn't sync any of my scores/photos from today to my computer!!! so alas, i have to do this the classic way and get my photos from the icloud website now that i've deleted a few things and made room for my Awesome Cool Very Important Scores

to start, here's some very cool awesome quick maimai scores i got while waiting on a friend to party at the mall and watch a movie!!! maaay have gone a little overboard and overtime with maimai, but i had fun and actually set some rather good scores... like that SS+ on both Vampire [Re:MASTER Lv.13] and Shun-ran [MASTER Lv.13]??? how is that even possible... (+ the friend in question at the bottom after we played Ochame Kinou [MASTER Lv.13+] and Donut hole [MASTER Lv.13+] in the same set...

after we went to go watch our movie (it was Chainsaw Man The Movie: Reze Arc btw), we headed back to Round 1 and spent the rest of our stay there chilling with nothing better to do... nothing except random plays on random cabs like Taiko and SDVX!!! wasjn't anything too crazy, but that AAA on KINGWORLD [MXM-18] is kindaaaa :eyes:

once my friend had to go and i was left to my own devices, i decided to sift through the giant halloween crowd at the arcade and get a DDR set in, making sure to play the most festive and scariest of DDR songs for the season... in boots not at all appropriate for the job . DON'T WORRY THEY WEREN'T HIGH HEELS THEY WERE FLAT, but it really did make hitting the panels harder... well hey!!! at least it got me a PFC ON みゅ、みゅ、Müllる (ESP-13, 26p)!!! also BREAKING THE FUTURE because Funny

also got to play a few more sets of Taiko on my e-amuse card!!! i have no idea what i was writing last night i'm so sorry LMFAO something about proseka twitter because it was 2 am and i wanted to catch some Z's... but that's not relevant!! what IS relevant is the sick ass scores i got on these cabs despite their sorta Mid condition and sensitivity issues on the drums!!! marisa donch is awesome

back at home i just wanted to shower and recover from the trip, but my family was having a tiny halloween gathering and i got to show off the Miku songs in Muse Dash to one of my cousins who's been obsessed with her as of late . no idea how or why, but hey!! need to keep my skill fresh and trained for once i get to play the game more often(?)

FRIEND MEETUP DAY!!! ALDSJFLSJFLSJADK!!!! today was a great big day not just because of the rhythm gaming (and the special new game appearance), but because i was finally meeting up with an online friend of several years as they visited seattle for an event!!! alas, they lived in seattle and i Didn't, so i had to travel up north for a long while (hitching a ride with my parents to ease the trip) and wait in the cold for an even Longer while... but eventually we found each other, we chatted a little, and we took the bus back down to the mall for the duration of our meetup!!!

the hangout before the round 1 visit was a BLAST -- i got to introduce them to the huge Filipino section of the mall, we visited several other cool-looking stops at the mall, and we did a mini grocery shopping spree before entering Round 1!!! (all i got was a monster and some hand sanitizer, though) . after a quick bathroom break, we went up and set our sights on the biggest most amazing coolest new addition to the arcade...

*** TAIKO NO TATSUJIN NIJIIRO VER. USA!!!!!! ***

this was HUGE !!!! i remember back when they announced these would start shipping in like November 2024 , i was so hype for my round 1 to finally get some sweet sweet online updated taiko goodness... and now it was finally here!!! and i was getting to play it for the first time with my good buddy from across the coast!!! was a good experience, though with a few issues... the cab was super quite, the bachi didn't feel great, and hitting the drum was also kinda rough (though that may have just been a skill issue) . i don't think i'm ready to invest in custom material for this game just yet unfortunately, but i guess i'll remember it exists...? even so, it was really cool to experience and i look forward to any adjustments they might make to quell these issues!!!

immediately after this set and a game of Arcade HALO, we went to go eat at the nearby jollibee quickly (i.g.???) and had a ball of a time there . granted, it took me a bit to realize this wasn't one of my rhythm gamer friends and wouldn't share an interest with all the other rhythm games i enjoyed at the arcade, and they also were reluctant to play ddr due to B.O. issues at the event they were to attend later, so alas... we still got to play maimai once we got back!!!

and unfortunately, this would be the last game i played with them before they had to take the long haul back to the convention center . i bid my farewell, gave them a parting gift, and returned to get rid of what extra energy i had left over in me to play rhythm games... which was quite a bit!!! expected, given i had only played 2 credits of rhythm games total, but more silly action for me is always good~~

during my single other set of maimai here (lines simply too busy), i got to play a ton of my unlocked MASTER charts due to playing with someone else that had quite a lot of them!!! which lead to a sweet S on Ultimate taste [Master Lv.13+], an S+ on Shun-ran [Master Lv.13], and then a sweet SSS FC on Heat abnormal [Master Lv.12] (not remas so doesn't fully count) ?!?! and then the grand reveal that this set was mainly to unlock the very cool, very difficult, very incredible ATLAS RUSH... i may only be able to play the Expert for now, but it's an absolute Flex to have

another taiko set!!! playing on the other cab this time, still very low audio and the same issues as the other cab... but hey!!! maintenance had ended and i was able to card in again, which means i get to save my scores from here on out!!! that's another unfortunate circumstance of the US taiko release; the maintenance time is INSANE, running from 2-7 AM JST which is *checks notes* 10 AM to 3 PM OVER HERE???? JESUS THAT'S FROM ARCADE OPENING TO AFTERNOON!!! looks like it'll get better once daylight saving time ends (9 AM to 2 PM), but that means i literally can't play taiko for 4-5 hours after the arcade opens if i don't wanna play as a guest... and i thought maimai's maintenance was bad!!! sucks to be a japanese arcade rhythm game enjoyer, and all the asian versions don't have this problem because they have similar timezones anyways... Fuck me Man . if you saw any of these screenshots on the Full Combo news account, No You Didn't

quick sdvx because i wanna slap buttons and because my wrists hurt from the drumming (need to research proper bachi form, mine is Terrible right now...) . actually had considerably more success here...! a huge upscore to a 973 HC on Kita Saitama 2000 [EXH-18], my first Hexadiver Lv.3 clear on Don't you dare play GOD [EXH-18] (again, with a solid 964 despite all the soflan trickery), yet another solid 977 HC on Bangin' Burst [EXH-18], and -- after a failed attempt at first -- an ultra-cool S-rank HC on FREEDOM DiVE [EXH-17]!!! def could've had a better score given my UC until 1486 combo, but i'll come back for it next time... S rank is an S rank after all!

AND, i'm up to 17.913 VF now -- just 0.087 VF away from the beautiful prized Eldora!!! SO!!!! if any of you are (or aren't) voltex players and know some very good 17 or 18 suggestions to set high scores and increase my VF, shoot!!! trying to get Eldora by the end of the year, after all~

okay and then FINALLY to end the arcade sesh off, here's a very random series of very """minor""" upscores in a single set of DDR before leaving for the bus . Damn wtf that HAPPY LUCKY YEAPPY [ESP-16] is Insane