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okai im notlike a newbie to but yay... pay me money and ill helpu..lol

What I've found out that works, maybe 70% of the time, is that you should try alternating which foot steps. What I mean is, don't think, "Okay, so I'll use my right foot for right and up for all cases, and my left foot for left and down for all cases" or anything like that. Be ready to be able to hit any arrow with either foot. (Yeah, that may be common sense, but I was a newbie not a long time ago, and that's what I used to do.) It makes half-steps alot easier to hit as well if you alternate which foot does the stepping. You'll eventually start getting a feel for which foot should start when you're faced with a series of half steps.

I play trick/standard mode most of the time. I'm not sure if this applies well for heavy, but for a lot of trick mode songs, it seems to work for me.

never return your feet to the center....that's common knowledge but a lot of newbies don't know that and it screws them up a lot...

What everyone said before? Do it.
Thats all I gotta say. sike. I have some tips myself.

Listening to the song is always ALWAYS good! If you have the game at home, lets say for instance you have.... DDR MAX (6th mix) and you wanted to get MAX 300 down. Well what I did (this is what helped me to pass it on my 2 or 3rd try on standard) was went to training mode, put the help number to 6 (that means all elements including the music) and played the song, watching the arrows whiz on by.

Thats one thing you could do, look and study the arrows in the song, and if this helps, you could find some KEY parts of the music and use that to help you out. Like on Trip Machine ~luv mix~ the step pattern matches the beat thats going on. Use the music to your advantage, it helps alot.

Okay, to me? The slower songs are the hardest. Your ready step on that arrow but you either go too soon or too late. Thats what sucks. A little cheat is if you look at the arrows at the top (my mom actually caught this sweatdrop ) they're blinking. ooooh ahh. Anywyas, it's kind of a way to help you out because it's blinking to the beat. Head bang/ bob/ nod your head to the beat of the music, that helps too.

I count. It's a band habit. But it helps me out, you could do that, it's not necessary but you could try, see if it works out for you. Doesn't have to be loud.

Try not to stomp on the pad/ arcade pad. It wears it out. Sometimes if you keep on your toes, (not all the time though) that helps get around faster, or so I think.

ALOT OF N00BS have trouble with the infamous 1-2-3 step and/or the 1/8, 1/16 steps.

You will undoubtly see ALOT of that in ALOT of songs. Countless songs in fact.

Other crap to follow:

DDR in a way is just like water. Your #1 rule? Wait 45 min- 1 hour after you've eaten. TRUST ME! (once I was playing MAX 300 or unlimited or w/e and I felt fine, five minutes later unbearable cramps) Just wait. It'll save you the agony.

Water helps. Uhh...letsee... OH!

Some steps are strange like in Orion.78 Civilization mix. (even if you haven't played that song now, you'll see it later!)
When your halfway through finishing the song, the main melody comes into play, sometimes the steps will be lined up as to how the melody is.

(this part can either apply for "IN THE NAVY" by Captain Jack or "Tsugaru" on HEAVY by RevenG vs. DE-Sire; we'll go with Tsugaru)

In Tsugaru, when your midway through the song, there's a series of steps set in a strange way. Well...for that part? It's like skipping. Easy as pie. Go with the flow and you'll be fine.

I practically wrote some sort of a guide or w/e but just have some fun, relax, go loco(crazy) if you want, try different things, and yes switching between feet is ALWAYS good! ALWAYS! Don't return to the middle, keep your feet on the steps and hold the bar if you want to, but try and keep your hands off of it for a little more challenge!

Peace out!

~Alpha~

yeah, it needs to be stickified! smile

just keep playing and playing and you'll catch on, the more you practice the better....also, try to keep your feet off the middle and move around the steps, do what you find is easiest to move your feet xd

This has been said before, but avoid returning to the center. Get the song you want to dance to stuck in your head. Soon, it will be driving you crazy and you will begin to need vengance on that song scream . When you go to dance to it again, the melody, rhythem, beat, will all be implanted in your head, and that vengence will be the final driving force to complete the song. Well, that worked for me sweatdrop