#2dkaps dar

[2dkapsddr]

April 8th, 2024 - DANCE aROUND, DDR A3, SDVX EG, Arcaea

got off work decently early today and had nothing better to do, so i went off to round 1 and enjoyed some time there as a reward for all my Hard Work!! danced around a bit, regrettably played DDR in my work clothes, and finished it off with a bit of SDVX before going home!

though, this wasn't just any ordinary sound voltex set. no, the accomplishments here were through the ROOF. the warmup was fairly normal, but the real surprise was getting VF 16/CORAL after a random clear and months of grinding!!!

not only that, but i kept it going well past this accomplishment (due to continuously missing the bus) and also managed to get my FIRST 18 CLEAR ON NEO GRAVITY EXH (haruka my wife)!!!! as well as a few other cool scores before taking my leave :]

was debating on whether to put these next scores from tuesday at midnight in this post, but since they're essentially part of the same session (and tuesday is gonna be full of proseka stuff), might as well! i got home and grinded some world mode stuff on arcaea before going to sleep, when all of a sudden... i noticed a big opening in this song that got randomly selected for me. and only after a few more tries and restarts... i GOT IT!!!! HELLOHELL (FTR-7, MAX) PM AS FTR PM #34!!!!! MY FIRST EVER MAX PM IN THE GAME!!!! AND MY FIRST EVER #1 WORLD LEADERBOARD SPOT!!!!

[2dkapsddr]

January 19th, 2024 - Taiko Rhythm Connect, DANCE aROUND, PIU 2023 PHOENIX, vivid/stasis

good donderful morning!! finally had time to set up rhythm connect on my phone (the line login was blocking me from doing it the whole time), and got a donderful combo on my first tutorial song!!! (granted i couldn't go any higher than normal, but i was sweatin halfway through)

speaking of vertical games and vertical scores though, i (reluctantly) met up with a friend at round 1 to play pump, though i was too tired to really dedicate myself to it... but i re-EXC'ed daisuke on dance around in one try!

as for the pump scores, here they are! session got crashed by vincent and we ended up just playing co-op, so my friend and i were kinda cheated out of a proper session (though we did do a really fun co-op chart together! and i guess i got a new S20 after everyone left...)

a panic rush ensued when it was time to go and i still had to qualify for the v/s tournament. i was studying quasar on my phone but couldn't put it into practice until i got home, where i ALSO needed to retrain my memory on the other qualifier songs including candy cracker (which i somehow hadn't played at all until that night). i was confident i had enough time to set my best run possible especially with that BADSECRET MAX (video below), buuut i found out that night that the qualifiers were set to close 10 hours earlier than scheduled Just Cuz':tm:. i had to rush with a ton of nerves because i didn't know if i'd make it in time, but i eventually did set a score just in time! only... i didn't record it. so i had to reattempt it, sacrificing my candy cracker MAX, and got an even lower socre. but whatever, i did what i could, and i started uploading the youtube video and submitting the form at the same time.

somehow, apparently i submitted at the very last second and got through by an inch, which I wasn't even relieved to hear. i got 12th overall and was a little disappointed with my result, but even more disappointed with the TO for making such an abrupt change in the last day when i literally didn't have more time to practice back at home without sacrificing stuff like school. vented a bit in another server about the whole thing but went to sleep with to drive away the thoughts, even though they persisted the next day.

BONUS: reaction to my BADSECRET Encore MAX, 13 MAX #3! (13 MAX #4 being Candy@-Cracker later in the qualifiers)

[2dkapsddr]

October 22nd, 2023 - TAKUMI Cubic, DANCE aROUND

spent the last of my days in ohio seeing the last sights, raising the last canes, and dancing around with my friends before departing back home. i've already shared every selfie on twitter with them, but i still very much miss being there with everyone and for sure want to go to another tournament in the future.

and since today was my leaving day, thereee's not many scores to share really. but there IS a teensy bit of takumi that i tried (and failed miserably with) on the plane up 32,000 ft in the air!

BONUS: DaUTF recorded videos of all of us playing our picks in DaR and uploaded them all, so here's my part with my iconic background dancers; Daisuke MASTER !!!

[2dkapsddr]

October 20th, 2023 - SDVX EG, Groove Coaster, Project DIVA, DANCE aROUND, PIU PHOENIX, DDR A3

THE TRUE DAY OF RECKONING HAS ARRIVED, NOW IT'S REALLY TIME FOR MOTL5 GAMING!!! but first, isn't this card the absolute coolest??? i got it while checking into the event, slapped a crude drawing of my fursona onto it, and now i'm geared up n ready to destroy!!!

so i went to waffle house for the very first time with my family to eat breakfast (very good experience btw, i already miss the chocolate waffles), then we set off to spend the whole day at the mall and GUESS WHO I FOUND FIRST THING IN THE MORNING

IT'S BOMBER IN REAL!!! IN THE FLESH!!! WITH HIS ICONIC LACH TOWEL!!! AND HE KICKED MY ASS AT SDVX!!! (but he gave me haruka e-amuse pass to compensate :])

always wanted to meet him in person and the dream had become REAL, SUPER COOL EXPERIENCE!!!

also random tangent but while we were playing sdvx, it turned out the PIU Phoenix kit was installed overnight and was being played while we were playing?? just last night it was XX... but i guess now i'd finally get a taste of the new system for the first time!

since all the dance game cabs (except DaR) were occupied for tourneys, i decided to warm up with the alternative... the busted old unused cabs! gc is so broken whyyy

bonus: HAPPY FAMILY feat. moca and uli!!! (the tiny kohammy is mine)

but now, after all those exhilarating meetings and fun times, it's time for the real deal, my personal action moment of the event... it was TOURNEY TIME!! STARTING WITH PIU PHOENIX!!! warmups were simple, trying out the new songs and getting used to the pads,

but then, it was the real deal vs MajinnTy in a waterfall-style bracket... and after almost getting wrecked with the top-right arrow dropping continuously... i managed to beat him 2-1 and took 2nd place in the pool!!! but since it's waterfall format (i didn't realize this until later), i got thrown into the redemption pool with everyone else and wouldn't get to play until later... but in retrospect that was STILL such an impressive victory.

so once the redemption pool started, i got put up against EMCAT, who had been slowly upgrading from level 2 up to here. it was a weird match, but i hypothetically managed to 2-0 in my set, getting this sick 985k on beat of the war! but once again, it wasn't enough to beat the acc gods in the pool, PacRob and Ty, and i ended up 3rd out of 6 in the bracket, which left me a little dejected to see i wouldn't have my dark horse moment in my first tourney... but in retrospect i worked against the odds and managed to do really well!!! such a nice showing personally, and i'm excited to train some more and try again some other time! (also the 2nd image is from the commentary that my friend watched when i was up which is why i mentioned the dark horse moment, forever alone...)

but NOW!!! IT WAS TIME FOR THE 2ND AND LAST TOURNEY OF MINE FOR THE NIGHT, THE ONE THAT WOULD SEAL MY POTENTIAL OVERALL LEGACY, THE DDR A3 TOURNAMENT!!! unlike the previous PIU tourney, this was a round robin format where all 4 players got to play against each other once in a best-of-three set. and after a set between two others in my pool, i was up for some back-to-back sets, starting with LUBANAHHHH

having warmed up already with pump, i decided to pick long train runnin' challenge for my warmup to confuse the commentators, but then the REAL action began. our first song was lubanah's pick, New York Evolved (Type A) DSP-13 (fucked up), which i dominated solely thanks to MA! and then when it was my pick, i PFC'ed Yoidore Shirazu ESP-13 on-stream once again, taking the set 2-0!!

next up was against KINDLADY/Zaphine, where we both went in without warmup and played Xepher CSP-15 (Zaphine's pick) and Mess With My Emotions ESP-12 (my pick), and i took the set 2-0 again!! except with such a close call on Mess With My Emotions...

and finally in my pool, i played against MisterGuy in both Step Machine ESP-14 (my pick) and Healing Vision (Angelic Mix) ESP-13 (MisterGuy's pick), where i would just barely win Step Machine by 2 points (even got clipped on the Ohio DDR channel), and then PFC Healing Vision to claim my 2nd in-tourney PFC, taking the set once again 2-0 and advancing to level 9 with a perfect performance!!!

level 9 came and i was put up against SnowStorm/SIM, thejurok, and gabbyjay, which would be where my demise would come... only before a bunch of cab crashes! no scores for most of these unfortunately, but i was bested 0-2 by SnowStorm on Revolutionary Addict ESP-13 and PARANOiA Revolution DSP-14 (my MA wasn't quite up to par on either songs, probably exhaustion from only eating before my pump tourney...)

for my set against jurok though, i won my first pick; roppongi EVOLVED Ver.D ESP-15, even despite forgetting to disable my sudden+ before the speedup!!! i forgot what his pick was, but i lost it and lost the tiebreaker too, MAX 300 DSP-12, in order to lose the set 1-2...

then lastly, the final and most ultimate set... the one against longtime Black Flag Academy admin and potential rival, GABBYJAY!!! this set was super funny because we both won each other's picks (he won Bang Pad(Werk Mix) ESP-13, i won osaka EVOLVED (TYPE1) DSP-13), and for the tiebreaker we got New Gravity CSP-14...

and after such an intense battle not shown on stream due to the sheer intensity and vulgarity (actually the stream was what was causing the cab to crash repeatedly), we finished the song and looked at each others' scores to see the results, and...

...by two points. i got a PFC up from a 988k, on-stream, not having seen the chart before, and yet i fell short by such a tight margin, losing the set once again 1-2...

but overall, super satisfying performance from both ends (and super funny reaction)!!! i loved this experience even if i didn't advance twice (which is fine, level 9 was more of a victory lap anyways LOL i was just a silly little teen playing against intimidating adults). but that did indeed conclude my tournament run at the mistaketh on the laketh, so until next time! thanks all who tuned in and cheered me on in chat, the support was so nice to read back at the hotel! but there's still 2 more days of the event to enjoy, so let's enjoy 'em!

[2dkapsddr]

October 19th, 2023 - DANCE aROUND, PIU XX

WE'RE HERE!!! IN THE HOME OF THE ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME!!! it was so surreal that i almost couldn't believe it... finally actually being in the state of my very first tournament... and i sure as hell was gonna make it a good one!!!

we were already here and with little to do before my actual events started, so i went with my family to the rock & roll hall of fame and had a ton of fun there!! was way bigger than we both could've imagined, yet it was filled to the brim with the coolest stuff i've seen in a museum. 10/10 experience, wish i brought back a souvenir but the gift shop was waaay too expensive discounting what we had already paid for the entrance fee.

that was all i really know to do in ohio, so we went on our way first to eat, then to the hotel, and finally... we arrived at the event hotspot. round 1 great lakes mall, where they were already advertising the DDR tournament happening this weekend!

i arrived at the hotspot and was... overwhelmed at first! so many people and so much noise, and it seemed like every cab was occupied. so while i was there, i warmed up with some DaR, feeling the most out of place that i could be even though everyone else here was a fellow rhythm gamer.

after this, i wandered around some more and met some other friends that i didn't know were even coming, like zelenk/voltiva!!! and lolitsme from SCM!!! after meeting and greeting, i still wandered around for stuff to do and found that the PIU cab was completely unoccupied! only being worked on for the stream setup and the like. so i gave it a set in order to warm up for my tourney set tomorrow evening... looking good so far!

i managed to stick around and watch most of the ddr challenges event with voltiva since there wasn't much else to do other than wait in card lines, but it looked SO FUN. i really need to sign up early next time if i even get the chance... but after that, it was time to head to the hotel and rest up, since i had a massive day ahead of me that i didn't want hindered by jet lag! until tomorrow then, see you in the next post!

[2dkapsddr]

August 22nd, 2023 - ProSeka, DANCE aROUND, PIU XX

after months of planning in advance and never finishing, i released my first ever sonolus chart in complete condition!!! go check it out HERE! (hover over the link before clicking it, practice internet safety. if you're on PC, it'll just give you an overview of the chart)

also in today's news; i went to round 1 for a tournament hosted by shoopa, my very first one! what kind of tournament was it, you might ask?

...phenomenal.

these are the two songs i played and scores i got in the tourney! didn't research if these were good i just rolled with them for fun

and while i was there, i snagged a broken A on Love is a Danger Zone 2 - FULL SONG - D21 ! it's a lot of misses, but i'm pretty confident i can get it on cab sometime soon (if i ever went to david busters)

[2dkapsddr]

August 9th, 2023 - SDVX EG, DANCE aROUND, PIU Infinity, DDR A3

very variety at first ! but then it just downgraded to DDR as per usual. still got some REALLY COOL UPSCORES, and even got to try the Undertale songs that were dropping on the same day!! (please don't find out that i was secretly hoping for US A3 to drop on this day)

[2dkapsddr]

July 10th, 2023 - DDR A3, DANCE aROUND, vivid/stasis, ProSeka

MET UP WITH A MUTUAL AND FORCED THEM TO PLAY DDR!!! BUT ALSO GOT THAT LOSE YOUR SENSE FC ALL ON MY OWN IN MY WARM UP SET RAGHHHH

AND THEN AN EXC ON DAISUKE WITH NO HIT MARKERS!!! I'M A MASTER OF THE DANCE NOW

also played some v/s at home after a while and got some all new AC+s!! (except infinite enerzy)

extra sonolus proseka stuff: played the Temp's custom croiX charts, fuckin Died