Calimist vs Madmatt -- who's the better player?

[ledwix]

What is going on here....the growth of the ITG standards seems unstoppable. I thought the limit would have been reached by freakin' 2011.

It's almost like in '03 the Wright Brothers made their first flight, and now people are on the moon, and still getting better.

[Reincarnate]

The way Matt plays falls in line with what I've always envisioned to be the "optimal" playmode for DDR/ITG/etc. There are additional optimizations to be made on top of how he already plays, but he's definitely pushing it. I refer to grouping un-like arrows with the same cross-panel hit because it'll serve both purposes well even if it's not hitting an arrow on both panels -- but this is purely a visual/reading optimization and doesn't have much bearing on his PHYSICAL abilities, but much of his quickness comes not from raw speed but from efficiency of splitting up arrows across each half in order to minimize travel distance per foot. Being able to read in this way would conserve his energy and further reduce his foot distances to the point where he'd be playing at maximum efficiency. Past that point I think all you can really do is either make the pad smaller (namely the central metal plate) or the arrows more level with the rest of the mat/possibly more sensitive.

[nois-or-e]

After watching these videos of matt playing, i've tried to adapt a similair style of play. Has been massively successful and much more efficient. But it has been years since I played seriously and i'm running into trouble with certain patterns/crossovers. He makes it look too damn easy rofl.

[Arch0wl]

Rubix, you've articulated what I've been trying to say for a long time, except for a different reason.

I miss the way pros used to play DDR. Even though the actual arrows per second were less, the movements of the players themselves were more impressive to watch. For some reason, watching CaliMist do this is far less entertaining to watch than seeing JSB do this, which is hilarious because at the time everyone marveled at how little JSB moved his feet and by today's standards his distance is ridiculously wide.

[TheNoSoMan]

Definitely Mad Matt in terms of speed, stamina, and probably FA. But I'm looking forward to other guys like Flash who quads a lot of stuff that are less intense like officials, which feels like a break to me. Also try to consider Little Matt and Rynker.

whoops

[ddrxero64]

Originally Posted by Arch0wl

Rubix, you've articulated what I've been trying to say for a long time, except for a different reason.

I miss the way pros used to play DDR. Even though the actual arrows per second were less, the movements of the players themselves were more impressive to watch. For some reason, watching CaliMist do this is far less entertaining to watch than seeing JSB do this, which is hilarious because at the time everyone marveled at how little JSB moved his feet and by today's standards his distance is ridiculously wide.

Wow, great video of JSB. That is an awesome video that has been around for a while. No bar, and at the time it was really good. Now, the technical and energy conservation techniques have far surpasses that, but this was always a great watch. It seems though the less energy you use and the faster you get, the less fun it is to actually play the game.

[TC_Halogen]

Originally Posted by TheNoSoMan

Definitely Mad Matt in terms of speed, stamina, and probably FA. But I'm looking forward to other guys like Flash who quads a lot of stuff that are less intense like officials, which feels like a break to me. Also try to consider Little Matt and Rynker.

whoops

What about Happy Feet? He quadded Sweet World Expert -- you can't sit there and say that's not an accomplishment. Not only that, but he can pull quads on 14s and 99s on 16s just like the big dogs can too. Overall, I think he's the best ITG player overall at this point; he can quad songs 14 and lower, he can knock out hard to FA officials, and he's got the speed and stamina to boot.

Originally Posted by ddrxero64

Wow, great video of JSB. That is an awesome video that has been around for a while. No bar, and at the time it was really good. Now, the technical and energy conservation techniques have far surpasses that, but this was always a great watch. It seems though the less energy you use and the faster you get, the less fun it is to actually play the game.

I agree 100%, I love the thrill of being in intense pain in your legs/chest because you've taken a hell of a beating physically from an unrelenting chart. If I were to get to the point that a lot of the ITG community has, I'd be making nothing but unthinkably difficult charts just to satisfy that boredom. Mad Matt has been doing the same, too.

[Reincarnate]

I agree Arch. That old JSB vid is one of my faves, too. :P

When I play on foot, it's really hard for me. I'm a pretty tall guy, and so I can't bar-rape very efficiently without contorting myself. I also still play pretty wide -- I don't yet know how to heel-toe/bracket-rape at all.

So, for me, songs like Max 300 are still a challenge, and I like it that way. That song will always be special to me because it's not only tiring, but it just SOUNDS epic and ominous all the way through and I like the progressions. Few DDR victories felt as sweet as passing Max 300 for the first time. :P There's an adrenaline rush that comes with just barely passing something tough.

Of course, being the kind of guy who gets tired on Max 300 means that upper-tier ITG songs are facerapists of nth-degree magnitude. The hardest song I've EVER passed was Energizer Expert (first time I played it, too). I played wide, stepped too hard, and made all the classic foot-play mistakes.

When I was done, I stumbled quickly to the nearest bathroom (I had just eaten and consumed a fair quantity of lemonade two hours prior) and puked my brains out with the utmost fury (also scaring the shit out of the friends I was playing with when I said I felt like my heart was on fire). It hurt so badly, but it was, simultaneously, a huge victory for me, haha. I can't remember any other time I was in such pain and yet smiling hardcore at the same time, lmfao. I suppose my point is that I still find fun in things that are challenging to me. Keyboard play is a massive borefest to me now, but I'll probably always enjoy playing on foot from time to time just because it completely pushes my boundaries (even if I suck majorly compared to the pros).

[Arch0wl]

I'm not sure if you guys have ever seen it, but this doubles video of PIU is still ridiculously entertaining to watch.

[Reincarnate]

That's got nothing on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfYq24Tkkpo

also hot

esp 2:22+ awesomeness