What Newbie Need to Know

Most pro player been through the beginning of PIU when we don't even know how to stand properly when we are playing, and maybe we are even too shy to stand on top there to try. Regardless of how well you are now, looking backwards we try to recall many funny things we experience as newbie and many mistakes that we once did, but no longer do it now because we are no long newbie (unless you REALLY are).

While there are tons of guide for people to improve, I believe there is a need to produce a guide for newbie or starter not only to improve like an ordinary speeder, but also to know something that we never thought of or unaware when we are still new, but it's quite important because that could affect how much you able to learn and experience frm the stage of newbie towards the pro stage.

1. Play more songs on other version

You need to know how to do full mode on this. While there are lots of nice song on Prime, Fiesta 2, and Fiesta EX, there are some songs that you really like and tend to play often every time you pump. Playing your favorite songs is enjoyable, but for improvement purpose you need to play more songs because all songs have different notes and pattern. The more you experience with different type of songs, the more you expose to different type of notes and that's make you learn in a wider range.

2. Work on your accuracy

PIU is not all about stepping on the notes. After learning how to step correctly on the five notes, you need to learn how to hit accurately to get Perfect, instead of targeting to hit on the notes regardless of the note as great, good or bad. This is a habit that suppose to be built as early as possible because if you don't, chances are you feel harder to train your accuracy after playing for a long time, because you have already used to hitting the note regardless of accuracy. Remember that accuracy is the key of getting higher score and can determine your grade.

3. Listen to the beat

Just like many other music games, the notes in all songs don't appear without following the beat. Listening to the beat is the key to know when to step after you know which note to hit next. One of the newbie mistake is they unsure of when they should hit the notes when there are a bunch of them coming up. This is when listening to the beat is important. Consider it as a training and it's extremely useful when you are in the pro stage later.

4. Don't jump too much, save your energy

While PIU is consider as a dancing game, but we actually don't really need to keep on jumping (unless you playing freestyle). The more you jump, more energy and breath will be consumed. One of the common obstacle that keep newbie improve slower is the lacking of stamina. But it's not only because they are new so they have not develop better stamina yet, one of the main factor is the misuse of stamina when they keep on jumping and putting a lot of force to step on a single note. If you learn how to step simple note with little force, that could keep you going and improve much faster.
When you are in a pro stage, let's say you are an average level 15 player, you can keep going on with level 10 songs without feeling tired because by level 15, you already knew how to step correctly and using little force for each step. So it's important to develop this practice as early as possible.

5. Don't shake your body too much

Similar to the point above. Constantly jumping on simple notes and lower level song make you exhausted faster, and if you are maintaining your upper body well, it kills your stamina much faster because not only that your leg is tired of all those jumping, your are asking your leg to support the shaking of your upper body too. Another bad thing about shaking your upper body, is disrupting your note reading.

6. Take care of your health

PIU is not an ordinary game that you can just play as long as you have keyboard and mouse. How well you play is strongly depending on how good your stamina and skill is. And the training of stamina and skill boil down to one thing: your health. No good health, no good stamina and you can't simply play without it. If you haven't started it, make sure you take really good care of your body from now on. Take up all the health tips: sleep early, eat healthy food, do exercise regularly and others.
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Easy Entry level: Every level has a few easy song

Last Updated: 23th October 2014

After experiencing many different level and songs, you probably know a few songs that is quite easy in a certain level. Sometimes when you finish with a song, you might think to yourself: “Is this **** level? This is so easy!”. You probably played a song that is really easy in that level.

The songs are just there. We don’t know how the stepchart difficulty is being rated and determined. There is no surprise that you can play well on a song of a particular level, but can’t play another song in the same difficulty. It’s just the stepchart complication and overall difficulty of the songs that do the talk, unless you put aside the level and experience the real difficulty on your own.

Regardless, there are quite a few songs that are quite easy in each level. The good thing about these type of songs, are for people who want to enter into a new level to train and adapt to its difficulty. Although this type of easy entry level can’t guarantee that you definitely able to play songs with higher difficulty in the same level, but it can give you a good start on that level. At the very least, all easy entry songs in each level require you to have a certain level of stamina and skill in order to play and pass. If you can pass the song but couldn’t do really well, you can keep training with the same song to build up your skill, then get ready for another harder chart for that level. But if you couldn’t play well on the easy entry level songs, you probably need to reduce your level and train on lower level songs.

As usual, the song list below are based on my own experience and it’s not depending on any vote. I label the songs below as easy entry level by comparing the songs with other stepchart in the same level and analyze on the difficulty depending on the comparison. The songs below are easier to get A, and the overall stepchart difficulty is not that complicated compare to others.

Level 15
Heart Breaker (Fiesta 2) A little bit of twist that you can find in level 10, or even much easier than level 10, in a few part of the song is not any big thing. The main thing through out the song is the triple notes and triple hold before the last part. Basically if you are fine with twist in level 10 and triple notes, then this one will be easy.
Nobody(Fiesta 2) The only difficulty for this song is the freeze that is entirely based on the beat of the song. It might takes some time to get used to the beat but it's not a big deal. And then the last part will require you to twist a little fast to end the song.
Unique (Fiesta 2) The only challenge in this song is the fast drilling notes. There are a bit of twists in the song but it's not that complicated and not really fast. So your main focus is the fast drilling throughout the song and the last part.
Fire (Fiesta) Same like Nobody S15, you need to step according to the beat but this one is slightly easier. The only problem is the hidden notes that seems like you only need to step once, but the beats telling you that you need to step exactly according to it.
Good Life (Fiesta) Since twist is a common skill in most songs, this one consists of many twists that allow you to test if your twist is good enough for higher level. The only tricky part is the middle part that make the speed really slow and you can only see a lump of notes all stick together. You need to read the notes properly and step fast, but not too extremely fast.


Level 16
Emperor (Rebirth - PREX3) It's all about triple notes for a single mode. Usually you just need to deal with a long note with one leg, and deal with double notes with another leg. When you get used to it's pattern, you won't feel anything after playing this level 16 song. Just that the song is quite weird if you listen to the lyric.
Dr. M(Rebirth - PREX3) It's about drilling from the beginning until the end. Just a little bit of fast twist in the middle and end of the song. This is good to train the basic drill that is required for level 16 and higher. Beware of the last drilling part, it's repeating for a long time (not that long, maybe 15 seconds) but it's fun to play and train.
Fire (Fiesta) You are require to run for a little while in the beginning, and also minor twist and drill throughout the song. It can be a little tiring. The main thing is the flashing notes in the chorus that you need to read really fast when the notes suddenly jump up and you need to learn how to catch properly.
No.3 (Fiesta EX) This one is a stamina killer. The overall stepchart is not so complicated, just some minor twist here and there. The problem is its forcing you to jump in various parts, and then make you run in the last part before you make a hard twist and end the song. It's a good song to train stamina and breath thou.
Pop the Track (Fiesta 2) Several running parts in the song can worn you out a little, or maybe more. The part that could make your combo break is the drilling part in the chorus, unless you are good with those drills. it's not really a stamina killing song, but this one test more on your skills.


Level 17
Elise (Fiesta 2) As long as you are good with basic twist, you can accumulate quite a lot of combo and can easily lead you for an A. The bigger problem is the drilling notes appear several time in the song and also some run in the middle & last part of the song.
Unique (Fiesta 2) The drilling notes in several parts of the song can make your leg tired and break combo. The running part with some drills is the challenge here. And also beware of sudden twist in the last part before the end of the song. Other than that, the overall stepchart complication is quite low.
Baroque Virus(Fiesta 2) It's all about drilling (again). This song test a bit on your basic twist in the beginning, and then the last part is running that turns into twist drill which can be quite tough. But in overall, you just need to make sure you are good with the drilling notes.
Crashday (Fiesta EX) This running with a bit of drilling notes during the run is not that tough in the beginning. The only challenge is the stair and fast twist in the middle of the song, and the long chain of drilling notes in the end of the song.
Toccata (NXA) This one test a lot in your twist skill. It can be quite fun when you know the proper way to twist. The twisting is not that fast, but not really slow. So you need to maintain the similar stamina when you play throughout the song, which is good as you can maintain and train your stamina, but can be a little tiring after your finishing it.


Level 18
Cleaner (Fiesta EX) The only level 18 song that you can accumulate all combo before the half of the songs if you put in a bit more effort. With the front and middle part more like a level 12 song, the probability of not getting A even if you play really bad in the last part is very low. It's fun to play once in awhile, but I recommend you to play to train seriously on the last part when you ready for it.
Xenesis (Fiesta) The good thing (or could be bad) about this one is the sudden twist for you to train. The lots-of-combo long notes can help you easier in getting A. The only thing to beware is the running notes and fast twist in the end of the song.
Love is a Danger Zone (Cranky Mix)[Fiesta 2] Lots of twisting with long notes is the fun part here, and they give you a good number of perfects and combo. The thing that can worn you out is the sudden and quick twist throughout the song and also some drilling notes before the last part.


Level 19
Ignis Fatuus This is one hell of fast twist song in most of the part, and then some hell of drilling notes in a few parts. Oh, and also a few hell of triple notes. In this song, playing well on the twisting part is the key to get A because most of the twists are in long notes, so missing most of them can be disaster.
Accident A slightly complicated twists in the middle of the song is the best part to accumulate combo and get enough perfects to ensure you can get A. You just need to listen to the music and twist according to the notes. Other than this, the front part can be a little tough but you shouldn't miss too much. As for the last part, that's truly some type of typical level 19 difficulty. Just try to step as much as you can.
Elise Apart of more drilling notes that you can find in its level 17, you also need to twist harder and faster for this level. The challenging part is the middle, extremely fast twist-drill-twist-drill and also the last running and twisting part before the end of the songs. The overall difficulty is more like a level 19 style, but at least most of the notes are still readable and you can keep training on it to build up your skill for other level 19.


Level 20
The Devil Same pattern with the S9 & S12, the speed eventually get faster and faster. Since this one is level 20, the stepchart difficulty is higher. But at least the front and middle part are manageable if you really ready for level 20.
Lucid It's a fun combination of run, twist, and drill song. You just need to beware of the sudden twist, it's not that complicated but your combo might break if you lose your concentration. The drilling is just fine if you listen carefully to the music, just make sure not to miss to many of them. As for the running, just go according to the song but stay calm. In overall, this one test a lot in your skill and how well you can listen to the beat. The skill requirement isn't that high so you will be able to pass this one as long as you have sufficient amount of stamina.
Passacaglia Other than the hard and quick twist in many parts of the song, and also the hard drilling parts, one of the challenges is that, this song can easily make your leg tired, and then you felt harder to step before the end of the songs. But in overall, you need to accumulate more combo in the front part where the running, drilling and twisting part to increase your chance to get A. Before the last part, there are some easy long notes for you to rest and accumulate combo, follow by the hard drill with twist in it. As long as you do well in those part, getting an A might be hard, but shouldn't be too much hard.


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Boss Level Songs: Every level has a few extremely difficult songs

Latest Update: 13th October 2014

If you played many different songs in the same difficulty, you probably know a few songs that are really difficulty in that level compare to other songs that is quite okay, or at least not that extreme.

For me, I spend quite some time to search for the songs that are really difficult in each level in order to challenge myself and see how well am I in each level. So I have a list of songs that I call it "Boss Level" in each of the level below.

The song list below are created based on my own experience and it's not based on any vote or people opinion. So you might not think that it's difficult from your own playing experience. If you have a much more difficult song to recommend or you want to share your list of Boss Level Songs with me, feel free to drop me an e-mail and let me know.

Just for your information, I have not tried every songs in each level below, so I can only list out difficult songs that I had played before. Unfortunately, I do not have much information about song level under level 15. If you need to look for any difficult songs below level 15, do let me know as I can suggest a few of them.

Single 15
Sorceress Elise (Fiesta) The overall difficulty of this song maintain from the beginning until the almost-ending part. Twist and drill will appear several times with the similar pattern and there is any part that really allow you to rest. Unless you are able to rest with twist or run. The ending part make you perform two sets of stair from left to right and the other way round before a sudden hard twist to end the song. This is one stamina and breath killing song that need to have a good hard twist, drill and energy saving skill.
Hi Bi (Exceed - Zero) A perfect song to train quick and hard twist in many ways. Rest is allowed in several part of this song. Other than that, you gotta give all out for really tough and quick twisting if you are going to perform full twist for this one.
Blazing (Exceed - Zero) It's hard to expect an extreme type of run-twist available for a single 15 song. The hellish running part make you feel like you are playing a level 18 running song. Other than that, you just need to beware with some quick sudden twist to maintain your combo.

Single 16
Final Audition 2 (1ST - 3RD) This song begin to make you keep repeating the run-twist method when the real part really started. The difficult part is the repetitive hard turning that you need to quickly twist your body to both side, right after you done performing a full twist. I lost count of how many times you gotta do that. You only know you can stop when the music slow down.
Destination (Fiesta) With minimal rest, you need to give really tons of breath for twist, run and some stairs from the beginning of the song until the short and slow resting part, and then towards the end. A typical song that doesn't allow you to rest and you have to take this as a single 18 songs due to the amount of stamina it consume on you.
Overblow (Fiesta EX) Running, running, running, and then some twists is not really hard, but not so when you need to perform numerous jump before that. And you have to perform two sessions on that before the last part require you to run much quicker and do a sudden twist to end the song.

Single 17
Solitary 2 (Exceed - Zero) This song is awesome for many reasons. First is the music. Second is the minimum rest time for you: 8 seconds (Roughly). Throughout the entire song, there are parts that appear to be a short moment when you can take one whole breath, but it quickly kill that chances. Every time you finish one part and start on another, it's another bloody hard pattern that require you to perform another type of tough skills and it keep on consuming your breath while you doing that. Twist is the major thing here. Those drills, stair, and triple are there to make you waste a bit more energy and breath for a much harder twisting experience.
Reality (Fiesta EX) The song make you begin with some fast running when the singer really start singing in good mood. Follow by some small twisting. Not long after that, without much resting time, you need to perform another hard twist-run that make you exhale heavily. But that's only half of the song. You gotta go on with more jump-twist that make you feel like fainting before you meet the final twist:- Hellish extreme twist like twisting in single 20 song.
Last Farewell (Fiesta EX) Drilling is more fun now when you need to perform tons of twist and run at the mean time. When you are not twisting or running, your body have to keep on jumping for the drills. Oh yeah, you also jump when you are twisting. Just like the previous one, crazy twist awaits you before you have the last farewell for that part.

Single 18
Destination (Fiesta) It's safe to say that this song has no resting moment at all. When the music became slow, you can grasp for a few breath but you still need to keep on stepping. What can I say? Non-stopping of twist and run for two minutes.
U Got 2 Know (Fiesta) This entire song is in twist. But you won't be able to find any ordinary twist in this song. That is, every twist in this song make you feel like you gone to hell and just got back. But you have to repeat that again.
Sorceress Elise (Fiesta) You can find some relaxing part in this song when you twist, and then it make you push yourself to twist a little. But the other parts will be ultra kill. Especially the drill and repetitive twist before the final run-for-your-life, with twist and stair, before the end of this song.

Single 19
U Got 2 Know (Fiesta) You can see some ordinary twisting pattern in this level, but you won't be able to twist them properly after tons of tough time twisting harder parts and catching some tricky notes. As expected for a level 19 twisting song anyway.
Moonlight (Exceed - Zero) Drill, drill, drill, drill.... (Repeat as many times as you want). If there is a comparison of the most drilling notes among all level 19 songs, this one definitely win. Not only that you need to drill on the slow part, the sudden twist also make everything harder.
Phantom Intermezzo (Fiesta) The twists in this song is at least readable, although it doesn't reduce the difficulty and it's position as a single 19 extreme song. Imagine you gotta maintain the same, fast, twisting speed but with all different twisting method plus some quick drilling to make your twist harder to accumulate combo.

Single 20
Love is a Danger Zone (Cranky Mix)[Fiesta 2] I consider all of the twists in this song is really fun among all love-is-a-danger-zone series. You feel that when you really know how to do the proper twist for this one. It's a great way to train your drill while you twist and make your hip more flexible.
Canon D (Exceed - Zero) Apart of the great music, you gotta run like how the electric guitar sound. Sudden twist is very common throughout the song. You can imagine how fast the finger move when playing on electric guitar, just that the speed of the finger movement is apply on the leg. Twist is not the major deal here, crazy run with a sudden twist is the main challenge.
Dignity (Exceed - Zero) If you are going to perform a full twist on this, then this will be the hardest single 20. All those messy and stick-together notes give you a tough time to figure out how to step in the correct order. And before you realize it, you ran out of breath for a long chain of stairs follow by some crazy run. Well, at least you can make this level a little easier. It's up to you anyway.
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Setting up Training Plan

Training plan, just like the sounds for it, is like setting a path for yourself to follow instead of keep walking without any direction. Of course, keep walking usually make you reach somewhere but you might not really feel motivated or you are just unsure where you are heading to. So training plan could be a key to allow you to think and try to figure out where are you heading to, and make sure you have a proper plan of improvement instead of keep playing/training and somehow wish that you will improve. I mean, usually you will improve but, when and how?

Probably you already following a training plan or you just have a thinking in your mind but a bit of deep philosophy, human mind is always unstable and we can’t ensure we will follow the decision we made from last time until now, and we won’t know or we just don’t care if the decision we made now will definitely last for a long time. So creating a physical and proper training plan can at least make you remember that you had made one decision and you need to follow it instead of forgetting. Therefore, a training plan can be very crucial and affect how well you improve in the long run and the only things you need to do after creating it is to follow and execute the plan without giving up in the middle of the plan.

As for the way to have a training plan, it vary according to how you prefer. You may get some papers and pen to write down how you want to train, what you want to train, and write a list of songs that you want to play to achieve your plan. So at the very least, you will need set a type of training method and also list of songs.

Beside this, you can also have more than one type of training plan so that you can switch training plan according to different situation like certain training plan might make you more tired at a particular day and you don’t want that, so you can use a training plan that is less energy consuming. But note that too much of training plan is like having too much of things to complete and you take slow amount of time to complete each of them.

Another point you need to remember is that, creating a training plan does not mean you definitely have to execute it until the very end. When you realize the training plan is not as good as what you thought, you can always abandon it and create a new one. This method is to experience many different ways to find out a method that works well for you through your own understanding. But make sure you don't change it all the time because that is not going to get you to any where.

Below are not all but a few training plan you can refer to, as you are welcome to create your own training plan according to your desire, in what way you wish to improve, or what you wish to achieve as soon as possible through pump training.

Steady/Stable Train

Consider as the most steady and fine training plan because this is usually planing for a list of songs that are suitable for your level. In terms of suitable level, it’s usually level or songs that is few level lower than the maximum level you can play. For example, if the maximum level you can play is level 15, the steady/stable level could be around level 12 or 13.

But this is also depends how well you play between level 12 to 15. You can consider stable to be less than 5 misses, less than 20 great, or getting at least silver S This training plan is to basically play the songs that you can play well and not too difficult, not to the extent that you felt really tired and wish to stop training, but allowing you to keep going on longer and improve your endurance better. Therefore, you can have a list of 10 or 20 songs and try to go on with the list and you can set a target, like changing the entire list when you achieve a golden S or SS for every song in the list.

Advantages:
  • Less tiring
  • Considered as not-too-extreme exercise that might damage your body
  • Allow body to slowly adapt and improve in several aspect
  • Ensure improvement of stamina and endurance in the long run
  • Stabilize skills and accuracy
Disadvantages:
  • Slower improvement in terms of skills and overall stamina & endurance
  • Slow in increasing your maximum song’s level

Stamina Train

Stamina train can be very similar to Steady/Stable train but note that this is mainly focusing on improving your stamina. So basically the list of songs can be the same with Steady/Stable train but you might want to consider songs that could help in improving stamina instead of being stable.

In terms of training method, it’s best to include double and no-bar training because these two styles require you to put more breath and energy to play, thus relevant to improving your stamina in overall. Therefore, you can create a list of 10 songs and try to play all of them continuously to consider yourself succeed with this training at one time and keep track of how tired are you every time you successfully completing this training.

Advantages:
  • Improve stamina and overall body system
  • Gain better stamina to deal with higher difficulty songs in the long run
  • Better tracking and measurement of your improvement if you execute a continuous training style using this training plan
Disadvantages:
  • Might get yourself further away from the original idea of game play like improving accuracy and skills
  • Lack of performance tracking and list of songs for stamina improvement might damage your health and lower your stamina & performance
  • Require more time and study to understand the suitable songs that related to improving stamina because you only know if certain songs that suitable when you actually play it


Full-Combo (FC) Train

One of the good traits of a well trained Pumpers is the capability to full combo songs. Getting at least a silver S means you are improving in your playing/training ability because you are achieving zero miss and of course, you want to achieve zero bad with very little amount of great and good at the same time.

FC train is very ideal for people who want to have a good game play experience and getting better high score for better playing pleasure. Aside of that, as achieving higher score directly indicate that the player is improving his/her skills so it’s much like a result oriented way to tell if you are improving or not, rather than you just feel or observe from how many misses you had after several attempts on the same song. So you can comes up with a few songs, like 3 to 10 songs you think you can FC, or 3 to 5 songs you really want to FC, and then set a target whether you want to get silver S, golden S, or SS to consider yourself completing this training.

But of course, everything mentioned above will be useful only if you consider PIU is just a game.

Advantages:
  • Better game play experience when you had a list of FC-ed songs
  • Better pleasure of achieving higher score
  • Indirect improvement in overall skill and capability
  • Improve in concentration during game play
Disadvantages:
  • Need to spend more time and efforts in a song rather than improving in other aspects and with other songs
  • Might be much more tiring due to excessive energy to be spent to ensure you are able to FC the song


Achievement Train

When you have a dream, you will look forward to achieving it. Achievement train is very subjective depending on you desire because the terms “Achievement” here is defined by yourself and this training plan can be very easy or very hard depending on what you want to achieve. It can be vary but not limited to getting SS, golden S, silver S, able to play no-bar of certain level, able to play double of certain level, able to perform good twisting skill, able to perform good running skill, able to complete songs with one leg, completing all tricky songs, completing all music train, completing all skill up zone, completing all mission zone, and etc.

The difficulty of this training plan is fully determined by the thing you want to achieve, so you need to have a clear idea of that particular thing you wish to achieve and consider what you will be able to get or benefit after achieving it.

And depending on your desire achievement, you need to set the amount and difficulty of songs by yourself because you are the one that knows what songs are suitable for this training plan.

Advantages:
  • Flexible difficulty
  • Able to practice unique idea for personal preferred achievement
  • Cover a wide range of improvement rather than focusing on single type of improvement
Disadvantages:
  • Lacking of clear idea or unthoughtful ambition in the beginning could lead to waste of time and efforts
  • Require great amount of time to think for your desire and figure out a list of relevant and useful method to achieve your goal


Skill Train

Skill train is basically cover the types of playing pattern as we experience or seen how other people play. If you look into Skill-Up zone before, you will see there are basically 5 types of skill, which is Twist, Run, Triple, Drill and Stair. This skill basically define how good you are as a PIU player because all of the songs basically cover these skill types especially in the high difficulty songs, you must be good with these skills to play the song well.

Most of the level 8 songs begin to test on your twisting skill, and 99% of the songs after that require you to twist and do some running and when the level go higher, you have to be good at all of the skills.

As for the songs arrangement, you can have entire list of songs that are concentrating on either one or two of the listed skills, like 10 songs to train twist and another 10 songs to train drill, or all songs to train twist. It’s alright if you want to include a list of songs that cover all 5 skills but it depends how quick you want each skill to be improved. The difficulty does not matter here as the main objective is to ensure you improve in one or few of the skills.

If you are serious with skill training, it’s good to always play Skill-Up zone and keep improving yourself in it because the songs in that mode are all specifically made for a particular skill.

Advantages:
  • Concentrate to Improve in particular or overall skill to handle notes complexity
  • Indirect improvement to stamina and game play experience
  • Able to achieve higher level songs and much difficult or complex stepchart in long run
Disadvantages:
  • Certain songs that concentrate on a particular skill might be tiring and might not improve too much on other aspects


Target Train

In general terms, the word “Target” sounds the same with “Achievement” but in the training plan, target plan is focusing on one of few level higher difficulty from your current level. It’s the same concept of look higher and bring your ambition into another level instead of staying in your safe zone. Many people has the will to go further and further because they want improvement, and they want higher improvement therefore, they need to set a target on somewhere they won’t be able to reach yet, then they will have to spend effort and find ways to reach it.

The fact that we will think about training plan actually means we have a target where we can’t reach yet, and we want to reach it so we need to do something to surpass our limit to reach there. It’s the same when we able to play level 10 songs, then we want to play level 11, and then level 12, level 13, level 15…. and the list go on. So target train is to set several songs that are consider tough or really difficult but we know that when we achieve it, the result is very rewarding.

So you need to create a list between 3 to 5 songs that you couldn’t play now, or you really wish you could play in the near future, and you need to spend a great amount of energy, time, and efforts to achieve the desire result. The difficulty can be 1 to 3 level higher than the maximum song level you can play. For example, if you able to play level 15 songs, create level 17 or 18 songs for this training plan and go with it. But bear in mind do not set song level higher than 3 because too much doesn’t mean better in this training plan.

Advantages:
  • Faster improvement in terms of stamina and skills through hard training and adapting to higher difficulty
  • Improvement in high difficulty eventually bring improvement to lower difficulty song
  • Quick adapt and experience in higher difficulty song
  • Better desire and motivation for improvement
  • Better pleasure for achieving on higher difficulty or level
Disadvantages:
  • Might face the risks of damaging health or bring down overall performance
  • Body condition such as tiredness and various inconvenient will greatly interrupt this training plan
  • Usually focus only on passing the songs instead of improvement in various aspects
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Accuracy Training

Accuracy is mainly related to scoring system and the key to determine the total score you could get in a song. In case you don't think of it as a big deal, accuracy affect how much score you got in the end of the song and that's determine your position in all type of PIU competitions and tournaments, as well as world ranking.

At this point, I'll be talking about type of accuracy in PIU fiesta 2 only.

The very basic type of accuracy (duh~) consists of Perfect, Great, Good, Bad, and Miss. There is no official information about how to define the differences between each type. Most players know what it is and how each accuracy is achieved when they have more experience. Below is the basic concept an description of each accuracy:

Perfect - Step with really good accuracy when the note reach the note bar (the static grey note skin on top of the screen where you know you need to step when the note reach that place. That's how I call it). Like more than 90% accuracy,

Great - Step with good accuracy and lesser compare to Perfect. Approximately around 70%.

Good - Consider fine. You are still manage to step on the note but slightly off from the beat. Maybe around 50%.

Bad - Not good. You step on the note when it reach near to the note bar but it's not reaching the note bar or it's passed the note bar.

Miss - Totally miss the note.

*Disclaimer: Above description are totally based on own thinking and experience, as there is no official info about this (Or I just failed to find it). You will understand it as you play often anyway.

Next, you need to know how to get a good accuracy in order to get a chain of perfect and good grade.

Accuracy and Grade

Grade basically consists of SS, S, A, B, C, D, and F. Obviously, SS is the best and F is the worst. When you are playing in full mode, get A and above maintain your life point which determine how many songs you can play. Other than affecting the life point, grade also give your extra points if you get S or SS.

Grade SS - Get all Perfect only. Which means zero Great, Good, Bad and Miss.

Grade S - Get any amount of Perfect, Great, Good and Bad but with zero Miss.

Grade A - Get small amount of Bad and Misses with high number of Perfect, Great, and Good.

Grade B - Get more Bad or Misses with slightly low amount of Perfect, Great and Good.

Grade C - Get tons of Bad and Misses although you also get tons of Perfect, Great and Good.

Grade D - Manage to get some Perfect, Great and Good but Bad and Misses are too much.

Grade F - Well, you know.

*Disclaimer: Well, you know. (Duh~)

Now, enough with the basic. Let's talk about the training for getting better accuracy.

Training for Better Accuracy

First of all, I can tell you that I'm not a player with good accuracy. I start off with doesn't care too much about accuracy, all I care was combo. Even now, the max level I can get SS is level 12. However, that does not disqualify me from telling people how to train for better accuracy.

Accuracy training is a long term training. Let's say, you can get less than 5 great and a golden S grade for numerous level 10 songs, you can invest all your money and time in getting SS for all level 10 songs before you move on with level 11. I can't say that's a bad idea, I won't suggest it's a good idea either. If you are capable of playing level 15 well, let's say you can get S but more than 20 greats, you should focus on this level where you can train. Because training on higher level give you more benefits for improving your skill and stamina. Just remember that, the key is to train based on the level that suit you.

Another important thing that improve my accuracy rate to another level is this thing call "Beat". People who learn the music theory or play instrument should this well. This doesn't mean people who don't know music theory or instrument won't get it thou. For the details of listening to beat in music, you can refer to How to hear the beat of music by James Joseph. It's not a must to under the details of beats anyway.

Basically, when you listen to a specific music or song, you can try to tag your feet according to the rhythm. That sound that your feet tap according to is basically known as beat. Same thing in PIU music. You need to listen carefully to the music. Most of the stepchart of music and songs in PIU are really good because the step chart and notes follow according to the beat. Which mean, most of the notes required you to step according to how the music and rhythm goes. Getting yourself familiar with the music allow you to know when to step as long as you can see the note.

This is not always true because there are music that sounds quite messy, and you might also found some extra notes that are not following to the beat. Therefore, you can't expect every note is follow exactly to the beats and rhythm.

So, listen closely to the beats can help you not only to step at the correct time but also enjoy the music or songs. The main thing you need is "Focus" on the beat, and also see clearly how the notes cope with the beats in order to achieve good accuracy. Oh, and careful with some extra notes.

Additionally, listening to the beats is one great way to improve accuracy but not necessary the only way. If you found any great way that work your self, feel free to drop me an e-mail to let me know.
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Overview: Speeder

"Speeder" is a commonly used term to describe PIU player who focus on playing and training on difficult songs to train different stepping and leg skills. The information belong is very basic and commonly understood by all players but I will try to cover some advance knowledge as well.
In terms of game play, speeder can train according to the following method. Note that I'm categorized each of the item below as with bar and no bar.

In case you are wondering, bar is the metal stick attached behind you when you standing on the game pad. It took me quite a long time to wondering what people meant by no bar when I was still new to PIU.

+ Single - With Bar

Play on one side of the game pad. You only need to focus on five keys. Usually, every player start with playing single at first to get familiar with the position of each key and how to step accurately. Being accurate here is not referring to the game score system that involve perfect, great, good, and so on, but I'm referring to the accuracy of your step on the physical key itself. No matter how well we can play, we might mistakenly step on the edge of the key and miss the notes, especially on songs with higher level difficulty where we need to step really fast and when we need to perform Twist.

When playing on single mode, one of the way of training for many players where you might not be able to notice is the training to conserve energy and stamina. Let's face this, when we push our self very hard and consume a lot of energy playing on one song, we get exhausted really fast even though most of the song durations are around 2 minutes to 2 & half minutes long except for full songs and remixes. If you fail to conserve and spending too much energy, you get really tired and just hope that the song end quickly. That's make you unable train with a correct manner because you need to train the accuracy and skills, which required a proper flow of breathing and energy as you play.

How to conserve energy? Here is the practical way in details from my experience. First you need to maintain a proper standing stance, with your knee slightly bend down but not too much, you don't want to look like a froggy man walking with two legs. Your upper half of the body should be straighten, try not to bend down unless you need to speed up really fast. But maintain a straightening upper body afterwards. This is crucial because the gesture of your upper body helps to reduce the strength that your leg need to takes when it step around. You can experiment this by standing on a flat floor, randomly move around your leg imagining you are stepping on the five keys. Try both stepping randomly with a straighten upper body and with your upper body bend down a little, then see which one make you feel tired sooner.

As for your lower body part, you just need to ensure your leg is at a proper position. As mentioned earlier, you need to bend your knee a little so that you be well prepared to twist, run faster and so on.

About the hand? Just make sure your hands hold tight on the bar and do not easily release the bar before the song finish. Release the bar only when you are very sure that the song is finish. I seen people who switch several times from holding bar to no bar, then hold bar again. I can't say you won't be able to train in such a way. But releasing the bar and hold it back afterwards give you the chance to lose grip of the bar because you don't have an eye on your back, you need to wander your hand on the back for awhile to grab to bar properly and that will result in losing balance, thus giving you a high chances of losing accuracy and miss many notes.

+ Double - With Bar

The obvious differences is that, you need to step on ten keys compare to five keys in single mode. But that's only covering the surface. Double mode is something very different. Able to play single very well doesn't guarantee you to be able to play fine in double, because the way to practice your skill in double is totally different.

The first thing you need to know about playing double is the position of your body on the game pad. The proper position of your body should be on the center of the game pad. Then, hold the left bar with your left hand and hold the right bar with your right hand. Sounds too basic and seems needless to mention about this? Well, I seen people who hold only one side of the bar and play double. That's making their way of stepping notes looks really awkward and difficult. There are also people who hold only one side of the bar with both hand all of a sudden, and then try to move their body to another bar and grab the other bar with both hand. Again, I can't say you definitely can't train in that way but I see more bad than good playing in such way. Not only you will feel really hard for your body to maintain at a proper position for playing double, you feel even more difficult to step properly and miss more notes when you can't even maintain your balance while holding bar.

I would suggest to practice holding bar when you playing double often. Although it sounds too basic, but it's a crucial method to ensure you able to step the ten notes in a correct way and perform the skill in double properly. To practice this, just keep these in mind when you are playing double:

i) Hold left hand on the left bar and right hand on the right bar. Hold tight and do not let go until you sure that the song is finish.

ii) Maintain your body on the middle of the game pad. Try not to move your body too much to the side.

iii) Bend your knee a little and imagine your leg should run around the ten keys. Your leg is the one that suppose to do all the running and stepping.

Anything else? That's cover what you should do when you are playing double but of course, that's just the basic that you need to master. Here's one factor you need to consider, level 15 single and level 15 double is very different not only the number of keys and how your body position should adapt to, the main thing here is stamina. Double is more breath and stamina killing because you need to use more energy from your upper body to move from left to right and another way round. So conserving energy is much more crucial for double.

Try to reduce the speed and maintain at a speed where you can see the notes really clear instead of trying to catch the notes with all your breath when playing double. For example, for a song with BPM 140, you can read the notes clear with speed 4.5. But for double, speed 4.5 could be too fast for you, so try to set speed 4. You might find it a little slow and you wish that it's a little faster, but the key here is to ensure you can really read the notes clearly in order to finish the entire song, instead of losing all your breath in the middle of the songs, playing well in the beginning but unable to play the rest of the songs. This is because faster speed required you to catch the notes faster, and kill your stamina much faster.
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