Superstar SMtown Game Guide (updated 12-15-14, new update/event info added)
CURRENT EVENT:Â Dec 16-18: Login and get 1 Royal Card in your messages. Total 1 R card
PSA, messages expire in 7 days, just open them whenever you get a new one. All events are in Koreaâs time zone (kst), please take note of this.
Past noteworthy events:Â http://choiceswag.tumblr.com/post/104030450729/event-post
What is Superstar SMtown? Itâs a rhythm game with SM songs and idol cards you can collect for more points on your songs. You goal is to rank the highest and collect the highest grade of cards. Similar to Tapsonic but with better mechanics/controls.
This guide is written under a non-iap aka free player perspective, but I included info about how to spend money at the end of the guide.
Tumblr Username List:Â http://choiceswag.tumblr.com/post/105187846244/superstar-smtown-tumblr-username-list
Please ask or reblog to be added, amke sure to use the gift feature :) (I will give back gifts to ppl)
Idols that play this game:
Chanyeolâs id:Â real_pcy
Taeyeonâs id: ggtaeyeon39
Jonghyunâs id: 쥴íŹě´ě
(If you are not a beginner/playing this game already, you can ignore the If This is Your First Time Playing part)
my id is  Gëë곤 if you happen to see me on your weekly player chart :)
Android Download using Qooapp:Â http://download.qoo-app.com/apk/release/jpapps/com.qooapp.jpapps-10302.apk Install and open Qooapp, you should be able to find Superstar SMtown once you open, otherwise search for it under Korea. Use Qooapp to update the app when needed.
gifting: You have the option to gift when you buy a normal or premium packs or headphone/rp purchases. Choose the packs and gift your friends or gift yourself :)Â
Terms (+technical information):
rhythm points: in game currency you get for completing songs. Do not waste diamonds on this. rp for short
cards: the things with the idols pic on them. The grades range from C to Royal. The two stats are Score (how many points per beat), and Energy (which is how much rave/energy boost you get from hitting a beat). Stat distribution appears to be random, some cards can be inferior/superior in one or both stats even if the exact same card theme/grade/member/star level.Â
Royal is best grade, 5* is the max powerup. Two 5* same grade cards of the same member can be upgraded to one higher grade card. (example: two 5star B Tao cards, can be different themes-> 1star A Tao card). If someone leaves SM and is no longer in the game (ex: Luhan or Jessica in the future), a random replacement card will be in your inventory with the same grade and stars as the removed card.
 Normal cardpacks can give out S cards, but it is extremely rare. It is less then 1% (my estimate is 0.1%). Getting an A card is about ~1% chance in a 5 pack. Usually you get one B/4Cs ratio unless you are lucky. It does not matter which normal pack you get. Premium guaranteed at least 1 S.Â
diamonds: premium currency. Can get with $$$, by placing in the top 3 in your weekly player chart, through events, or  some maintenence or app updates. Use diamonds only on premium cardpacks. Very wise to save diamonds, only use them on premium cardpacks.
headphones: 1 headphone for each song play, you get a headphone every 5 minutes. If you move up/down a place, you get a headphone.
challenge mode: after you beat all the songs in easy/normal/hard, you unlock challenge mode. challenges are based off your high score for that song (up to 10,000 more than your high score) and you have up to 3 tries. If you win, you get a C card, 1 headphone, and 2500-5000+ rp. Challenges reappear after 4-6 song plays. In the most recent patch, failed attempts will yield normal rp amount. Â
rank: You start off at Bronze I, highest is Platinum III. You move up a rank by placing in the top 5 during the week. 16th-20th place drops a rank. Middle places get rp, the rp and diamonds given becomes higher as your rank gets higher. Strategically get a bad place to lose a rank if you are having problems getting diamonds.Â
iap: in-app purchase. non-iap: free player whale: heavy spender
If this is your first time playing/new account:
-If there is a current event with a free R/S card message, make sure you start out with a 3 card group like R card TTS or BoA. Check the tier list at the end of this guide.Â
-Go to My info/click on your username, Register your account so you get a 5 card premium pack. This should contain a S card.
-Complete Easy mode first, donât try to play perfectly. A trick to 3 star all easy mode songs and still get a terrible score is to use all four fingers and tap very quickly and continuously (you will get mostly goods, but still pass the song with 3 stars). Unlock challenge mode and grind it for rhythm points.
-Challenge Mode is based off your last high score, therefore score low, then when itâs challenge mode, no pressure.
-If you can handle Hard mode, I would aim to complete all of Hard mode. I would not attempt Hard mode unless you are good at this game already or you have significant amount of B/A/S fx/shinee/dbsk/suju cards.Â
-Hard mode does seem really fast at first, but your eyes and fingers adjust eventually. Once you complete hard mode, grind hard/challenge mode, save up rhythm points until you get more card packs.Â
-Weekly ranking judged by your top 5 song plays from your top five GROUPS. Exo-K/M are considered separate groups.
DO NOT SELL ANY OF YOUR CARDS. C cards are valuable for B card powerups. B cards should be kept unless you have duplicates and you want to try powerup your A card.
Turn off group card sorting, if you donât know how to do that, read the in game faq. Faq has good basic info, but is very limited.
Use of rp should be split between cardpacks and powerups. Once you have a good supply of cards, start powerups.Â
Powerups/upgrades should be opportune aka when attempting challenge mode. If you set a high score too high, some powerups can do the trick. About 10,000-50,000 for every extra *, upgrade from B to A can lead to up to 100,000+ more.
You build themes based on your S/A cards, upgrading is a good way to get the themes that you want for your group. Keep at least one A/B card for every theme for that group member is a good rule of thumb.
 Advanced play: (mechanics and strategy)
There is shiny perfect, perfect, good, and miss (shiny perfect=2x  perfect (yellow) =1x, Good=1/2x, lowers rave). Make sure you adjust your timing every so often, sometimes your reaction speed/beat hearing can change as you play the game.Â
(I have changed my timing at least three times since I started playing, but it is all preference if you like the setting or not. If your setting is getting you shinys most of the time and you feel it is right for you, donât adjust it.)
Card rotation changes with every play and this is completely random. Use this to your advantage in order to get a good score (you want your S cards to be near the beginning of the rotation and your worst cards last). Other than quality of your beats and your card stats, this is the next biggest factor in scoring.Â
How to powerup S cards? READ THIS:Â http://choiceswag.tumblr.com/post/101510548389/how-to-powerup-a-s-card
My Current Powerup strategy:Â http://choiceswag.tumblr.com/post/102922227274/powerup-method
Chances for Powerups have been IMPROVED in 1.21. For example, C to A is Normal, C to B is High (all 1 star examples). Powerups should be utilized over packs.  1 tier below=High, 2 tier below=Normal for 1 star feeds to 1 star target card. Example: 5 Cs to A is Normal chance
DO NOT FEED RARE A/S/ROYAL DUPES. Â The more expensive, the more likely the chance is higher to powerup. The more */grade the card, the more expensive. However, be prepared for disappointment as powerups for A/S cards are much riskier and costly.
Low chance is 1-15%, Normal chance is about 15-30% chance, High 30-50%. As of current patch, Normal chance is the most chance to rp and grade efficient
Upgrading costs 5,000 rp from C to B, 10,000 from B to A, 20,000 A to S. S to royal upgrade: two 5 star same member S cards, rp cost is free. B to A upgrade should only be used if you have another A but wrong theme. A to S is worth it because S cards are so rare.Â
Focus on three card groups with S cards. All songs have a potential to reach 3,000,000+ with perfect cards. S cards can have 90-99 for their final stats. It is random how each S cardâs statâs will end up in the end. Keep all extra S cards and get them to 5 star to see if there are any beneficial stat changes.Â
Card stats> theme. For example, you just got A card Kai, but it throws off your entire group theme (you have a B card Kai right now). Replace your B card, always replace with a higher grade card if that is one of your top 5 groups. Themes contribute about ~100,000 max, but having stronger cards affects your score much more.
Scoring stat is the most vital stat if you have no problem beating songs.Â
Strategy once you beat the game:
Always play hard mode, but make sure you beat all the normal/easy songs so you can get those C cards.Â
Have a song or two you can repeatedly play for rp. This song should be in a 3 card group (ex: BoA), be easy for you to complete perfectly, and have your strongest grade cards (preferably all S).Â
Have the same 5 songs you know you can beat easily/perfect for your ranking. These songs should be from 5 groups with the highest grade cards and should be ones you like bc you will use these songs to grind rp before challenge mode. This way you only have five high score to worry about for challenge mode instead of 30+.Â
Focus on powerup/upgrading your top 5 groups first.Â
Save minimum 20,000 rp in case of a challenge that you canât beat bc you accidentally scored too much or itâs one of your top 5 songs. Use your saved rp for powerups to beat the challenge easier.Â
Strategy to get more headphones/diamonds/rp:
Save up diamonds to buy the bulk 30 pack bc it is much cheaper this way. Diamonds should be bought in bulk and on sale if you plan on spending money. Diamonds should only be used to buy premium 30 cardpacks, not for anything else. Premium packs guarantee 1Â S per 5 cards.
If you have trouble placing in the top 3, drop a rank by neglecting to play the game for a week, or by playing only one song, completing random challenges, and hoping that others in the same rank overtake you so that you end up in the bottom 5 places.
It can actually be difficult to drop a rank if you play daily, so not playing for a few days is the best option. However, you can get ârustyâ and your play can get worse if you take too long of a break from the game (maybe play with an alternate account if you donât want to lose your skills). Dropping ranks, then taking 1st the next week takes twice as long to get diamonds, but it is a good option if you are struggling.
Headphones, the best way besides waiting is to only play your top song and stay around the middle of the ranking. Then, if you have confidence that you can take the top, start playing the rest of your best songs on the final day. You donât want to put early pressure on 1st place because someone will try to overtake you or they will set the scores higher.Â
Rhythm points should be saved and used on cardpacks primarily. Once you get a good set of S cards to powerup (complete 3 card group with same theme is preferable) and a decent amount of B/A cards, it is time to work on powerups. Use the powerup method links from this guide.Â
RP allocation/priority should be your number 1 group. You should work on getting one group to five star S asap. A group with perfect theme/5star S cards can earn about 2,500,000 to 3,000,000 (about 850-900+ rp depending on your cards). The base rp for hard is about 530-600, so getting at least 800 rp consistently will help your progress considerably as well as provide good scores for ranking.Â
Challenge Mode Strategy: (still in progress)
Focus only on your top 5 groups (5 songs only) and do not waste rp on other groups. Score as low as possible without failing on new songs and unequip all cards in that group unless the song is on a high difficulty (close to fx step and the songs on the right). Swapping out and unequipping cards will help set your scores low. Equip when necessary to beat the challenge or improve play. If you get a challenge that happens to be a top 5 song of yours, powerup/upgrade that group and the challenge should be beatable. The cardpacks and powerup rates have been nerfed, so rp should be saved until you get a hard challenge.
What is Hidden Track aka Hitchhikerâs 11?
The hardest song in the game, it shows up randomly after a challenge (whether you pass or fail the challenge, it does not seem to matter). If you beat it, it is NOT unlocked permanently and there is no special reward currently. Very rare to appear and it is currently unknown how to collect Hitchhiker cards.
Group Tiers (best to worst):
BoA/TTS/Henry/Kyuhyun/Zhoumi/Taemin (3 card groups)
The tiers are based on amount of cards in group, song difficulty, song list, difficulty to collect a single theme, and misc factors.Â
Why is Shinee/fx/tvxq higher up than Red Velvet? Those groups tend to have harder song difficulties. If you have no problem with hard songs, Red Velvet is just below TVXQ in terms of potential.Â
Tiers r 4 queers aka you should play this game for fun and you should build up your cards/groups based on the S/A cards you got. These tiers are just suggestions so that you can quickly get better scores/groups better to focus on first. It is easier to build up card grade/theme for 3 card groups to get higher scores so I suggest that at least two of your top5 groups should be 3 card groups.
Hardest songs to beat (this is personal preference, but from my experience): fx airplane, fx step, shinee lucifer, tvxq dream, suju knockout, fx sweet witches, suju bonamana, rest of songs. fx, tvxq, and super junior have trickiest songs in my opinion.Â
Best way to beat hard song missions is to powerup your cards for that group so your health stat goes up and practice/listen to those songs you are stuck on or watch someone play the song on youtube.
index/multiple fingers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3WJzRp4dfY
One hand-Â http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iYDmWKZtIk
Thumbs only- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iYDmWKZtIk
If you search ěě¤ě on youtube, you can find many more perfect song clears. Use videos as a reference to improve your play and figure out how to pass/3star a song.Â
If you hit pause and exit the app when playing a song in challenge mode, you will not lose the # of attempts to beat the challenge. However, this uses up a headphone. I use this glitch strategically for checking my goal/when I mess up.
If the app suddenly shuts down after you just beat a song, but you were not able to get to the score screen, you lose a challenge attempt/no regular rp given. Very rare, but itâs happened to me twice.Â
Not a true glitch, but if your phone is running too many apps/is hot, I would recommend exiting all the apps, letting your phone cool down. It affects performance in hitting beats.Â
If you do not live in korea, you need to buy Korean iTunes cards/google play credit (I have never spent money on any mobile games so not 100% sure if region locked or not for this game)Â Some regions like US and NZ have been confirmed to work with credit card. Feel free to spend whenever there is an event diamond sale. Buy only premium packs, nothing else is worth $$$. Buy diamonds in bulk/when on sale
(this guide will be edited periodically, if there are any errors let me know. The number estimates are mostly from my own experience. I will answer any asks that cannot be answered through this guide or discussion about the game in general such as translation requests.)
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