Pump it Up

Next week there is an anime and music games convention and I’m supposed to run the BEMANI section there. They want to have there Pump it up but I said that I won’t be taking my PS2 and my pad there (anyway it wouldn’t work).

So I wondered where the hell get something like PIU for PC? I found out that there is actually a PC version of Pump it up, but I was too lazy looking for more info. So I just tried all the PIU communities around if I won’t find anything for StepMania and I finally did. (Some Brazilian site with everything, though you need to register and “level up” to get to the download section).

I also remembered that my Polish friend has the simfiles so I tried asking him and finally he told me his secret^_~ He got them from Krokmania.com. So I downloaded some files and I got PIU metrics and theme from some Spanish speaking community. I put that together and ran my StepMania….

That’s how it looks like…and well there’s much more. The Spanish speaking community have like everything…I just can’t get it though-_- *sniff*

You can find more screenshots here if interested => http://s26.photobucket.com/albums/c113/STsung/piu%20sm/

This time before going to Warsaw I spoke with SinPi and we agreed on meeting in Galerie Mokotów.

When I arrived to the arcades there were already some local players. I found out that some of them are from DDRPL. I finally met there someone who knows how to operate the machine and who knows how to play well.

After them it was my turn to play. I chose Maria on crazy and got S on it. One of the players said “good”. After that I played some twelves. The last stage was cleared and SinPi showed up.

SinPi, the best player in Poland (at least the holder of the Machine record #1) came and challenged me. The first song he picked was Csikost Post on crazy. Next stages were little bit less difficult. SinPi soon found out that I’m better so we started to make crazy stuff - freestyle and some gags etc.

He always watched me like if I would be a spectre. He showed me one sms he sent to someone “I’m here with S’Tsung, who passes twelves with grade S and I feel like a ‘noob’”.

After we started to be little bit bored of playing on versus we switched to double. SinPi showed me what he can do and I was so eager to try it too. But I knew that my first time on double would be terrible. I asked him to choose something easy for me.

He picked me two three level songs, which were quite easy for me so I freestyled them.
Then he picked me a nasty four LVL song, which made me walk from one end of the platform to the other end. I almost tripped over when I had to do some kind of PIU crossover in the middle and failed the song at that moment.

We continued this way (SinPi choosing me songs, me playing). I managed to play fives after some time and SinPi was even more surprised than before.

The last sentence SinPi told me was “you are insane”. My father told him then that I had a grip that week and that normally I can do better. SinPi looked at me with that surprised look of his and said. “you are even more insane”.

This was the end of the day and I hope to see him again in the future.

This time we had more time in Wien to play Pump it up and we were more experienced than before. We went to the PIU machine with our friend Mary-chan.

First it was Mary who played. We were quite amazed by her technique. Next it was my turn. I chose Valenti because I knew I can full combo the song but I didn’t know the fact that it was supposed to be a twelve. This time it was Mary-chan who was staring at me.
After this I tried several other twelves to try if I can clear them and I managed to clear them all.

I got an extra stage so I tried my luck with the song Csikost Post (which is my favorite song maybe) on Crazy. I played still not using the bar. I lost my balance several times but I regained it fast and I cleared the song. I guess that Mary was staring at me with big open eyes but I couldn’t see her.

Later on the players we already met there in December came. One of them challenged me.
We started with Pump me up amadeus, which is a song known as “pretty difficult”. Well, we both survived this crazy stream song. The next song was some 9 footer. Passed. 3rd stage was a 12 footer. He looked at me if I’m serious about it and then confirmed it (I stayed silent). After we cleared the song he said “you’re quite good”. In that instant Mary-chan came and she said “She’s better than you”.

After that they started to chat in German.

Well, I don’t know if I was better or not. But all of them were surprised about my skill. Anyway I was glad I could see someone who knows how to really play Pump it up. That was what I wanted to see.

We were at Rubbinnex’s place in Cham, Germany. We played all the music games we could (BeatMania, Pop’n Music, In The Groove, Pump it Up…). After two days of intensive playing (note that I played songs like Healing Vision some 11 footer version, Air, Dokupenda or how the hell it is spelled and some other killers I couldn’t clear) we started playing Pump it up.

We played easier songs at first but later on they told me to show them how more difficult songs are played. After some twelves (and everything from yesterday and the day before yesterday) I was so tired that I had to lie down…

Someone took this photo…

My second time standing on a machine (but I played PIU several times before). The first thing was that the cabinet was from the SD series which is not actually that good. It didn’t work that well as the DX cabinet in Warsaw and I got many pad misses.

Anyway I was there with my Czech friends and friends from Slovakia who never played PIU before. So I kind of showed them how the machine works and how to play the game. They had quite difficulties with 2-4 footers. I sticked to 6-10 footers.

There were also some local players who had quite a good time as it seemed. They laughed a lot (while watching us play). But they liked my freestyles and they chatted about it for a long time.

Soon we had to leave and the party was over…

I went to Galerie Mokotów in Warsaw to play some music games. I knew that there would be DDR and Para Para Dancing. About the rest I had no idea.

When I entered the arcades the first arcade I could see was Pump it Up and next to it where two Korean versions of Para Para Paradise.

I put 2 zlotys in the PIU machine and went to try my luck on this game. I had no idea how to operate the machine but after those 40 seconds or so I managed to find out how to choose a song and how to choose a difficulty. The first song was chosen by an accident and the difficulty chosen accidentally by me was Hard.

In next few seconds I could see a lot of red and blue arrows scrolling on the screen at the speed of 100BPM. That was way too slow for me, but I managed not to fail the first stage.
After some time I found that the codes for speed mods are written on the machine so I used them and I tried what I can survive.

I found out that sometimes it says that the song has a difficulty seven but I can’t even clear it and sometimes it says 12 and I’m fine with that. But still I had no idea which song is difficult or easy so I killed myself on mr. larpus hard and kiss me crazy. But I cleared Valenti and Pump me up amadeus (hey quite difficult for a seven don’t you think?).

A lot of people were watching me play and they also applauded me several times. They had no idea how I can play this game. I also got some free credits.

Later on I found out that the machine is there for testing (it just arrived) and I was the only “good” player playing on it. Well, I have to say that for the first time it wasn’t that bad.