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As everyone knows, the song difficulties are extremely messed up. So much so that according to the game, Lethal Injection is easier than Bubbleman. The primary problem is that there have been no standards for stepfile difficulty ratings. Think about it. Isn't it odd that no song in the game is easier than 2 foot? If Mario is 2 foot, then how easy would a 1 foot song be? So easy it's not even worth putting in the game? Was FFR Special Mix (when it existed) 1 foot?
We must eliminate the use of an arbitrary numerical system to rate stepfile difficulties. It is meaningless for a stepfile maker to assign a difficulty to his stepfile when he is not comparing it to anything else already in the game in doing so.
What I have devised is a standard for sorting songs into difficulty levels. It uses only 6 levels, not 10+, so it should be easier for stepfile artists to put their songs in the proper difficulty levels.
The levels are broken down as such:
Beginner: Very simple step patterns, nothing more complicated than quarter notes (except maybe a short pattern of eighths here or there.) Jumps are kept to a minimum.
Easy: Streams of quarter notes and streams of slow eighths. Jumps may be slightly more frequent. Sixteenth notes are practically nonexistant.
Intermediate: Fast streams of quarters and eighths, some with jumps in the stream. Sixteenth notes begin to show up more frequently, as well as awkward rhythms. Some songs may have similar step patterns as Easy songs, but Intermediate songs are usually faster.
Advanced: Requires very fast fingerwork, but still not too uncomplicated for most people to do. Fast streams of sixteenth notes are common, as are extremely awkward rhythms.
Expert: Difficult to read songs that are still doable, though not FC'able, by most good people without keysmashing. May contain very fast streams of sixteenth notes, and some 32nd notes in moderation. Requires far more skill than Advanced to rack up a sizeable combo.
Master: The hardest of the hardest - songs for folks like Reach, Nima, Arch0wl, etc. Hard to clear and even harder to score well on.
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That being said, I have sorted every song in the game into these new difficulty brackets. I hope they will soon be adopted, as it is a very accurate representation of difficulty, and is far more informative than the current system.
The letter before the name corresponds to the genre the song can be found in. This list took many hours to create, and I hope it is seriously considered.
Beginner
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(A) Mario 8Bit Eighties Remix
(D) Trip To The Moon
(D) Activity Unbroken
(D) SkellyBones
(D) Computer Dreams
(D) Dance 2 This
(D) Halcyon
(D) The Color of Battle
(H) Love You Anymore
(H) Seattle's Finest
(H) 100 Bar Blackout
(H) This Beat Is For Tha Streets
(H) Freak Out
(R) Stay With Me
(R) For Who I Am
Easy
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(A) Bubbleman Stage Theme
(C) Moonlight Sonata
(D) 136.6
(D) Soul Shift
(D) Get on The Move
(D) Story of Snowman and Sunshine Girl
(D) Falling Into You
(D) Spontaneous Hydroxide
(D) Raindrops
(D) Euphoria
(D) Salad For Your Tuesday
(D) Terror From Beyond
(F) Cat Walk 2
(F) Too Tight
(F) Funk In G
(H) Return F Superdouble
(R) Resistance
Intermediate
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(?) Burnout
(?) Secret Zombie Room
(?) La Luna Caida
(?) Ingenuity
(A) Boss Machine
(A) One Last Battle
(A) Megaman 2 Dr. Wily theme
(A) Crystalis House Leaves
(A) Metalman Goes Clubbing
(A) Legend of Zelda Remix
(A) 4FT3R M3
(D) Dendrite
(D) Alpha Helix
(D) Emotions
(D) Life Goes On
(D) Massive
(D) Breaking The Common
(F) Slap Guitar 2
(H) The Essential
(H) Shag
(M) Ball of Malt
(M) She Bangs William Hung Version
(P) Stay With Me v2
(R) Until The End
Advanced
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(?) Fett's Vette
(?) Abtrusity
(?) Green Twilight
(?) Water Like Pudding
(?) Synesthetic
(A) Final Fantasy 7 Battle
(D) Beethoven Virus
(D) Blank Knowing
(D) Contra-distinction
(D) Stalled Out & Sushi Bars
(P) NeoMAX
(R) Last Firstborn
Expert
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(?) For FFR
(?) Lethal Injection
(A) Chrono Trigger Boss Theme
(C) Rondo Alla Turca
(D) CIA Rave
(D) Uber Rave
(P) Party 4u 'holy nite mix'
Master
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(C) Revolutionary Etude
(C) Flight of the Bumblebee
(C) One Minute Waltz
(C) Caprice
(C) Molto Vivace
(D) HELLBEAT
(D) RunnyMorning (SGX Mix)
(P) AIM Anthem
(P) Silence
Thoughts? Suggestions? Everything is welcome.
EDIT: Moved Uber Rave because I was thinking about doing what Fusi0n suggested, and his suggestion sealed the deal.
EDIT: Blank Knowing was accidentally in Beginner. Thanks to aperson for pointing it out.







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