DDR Challenge Series V1.04 - In depth review

~SONGLIST/FIRST IMPRESSIONS~
I'm so confused as to why there's boss songs that hit up to level 20, and butterfly upswing mix is thrown in but the extra stage is...the original butterfly. Level 14. It's...a bit strange I'd say? Also are TRIP MACHINE and Silent Hill the only songs that aren't Challenge Specials? What does challenge special even mean if 99% of the songlist is one? The experience overall doesn't seem like it's very cohesive or logical.

~CHARTS~ (I'm only reviewing the highest difficulty of each song)
Abyss -Challenge Special-
Overall stuff flows weirdly. While the song isn't really changing too much, the chart violently gets more complex and has more crossovers and spins for seemingly only the purpose of difficulty. At the start of measure 36, there's an 8th that should be a 16th (and probably not a jump if synchronized correctly.) Also if you're going for the purpose of making a hard chart, I find it odd that you don't step the 12ths at the end of measure 39. The ending is back and forth between being overstepped and understepped.

AM-3P (AM EAST mix) -Challenge Special-
This is a bit of subtitle spaghetti. Anyway, most of the rhythms are horribly incorrect, inconsistent, and generally just bad. Also, the crossovers in this song seem way too hard for a 14. I can't believe I'm saying this because it's a horrible chart, but look to the opening of AM-3P Chaos Special to see what kind of crossovers at this BPM would fit in a 14. Don't try to learn anything else from that chart though, most of the Specials in SN2 are terrible. I can't speak too much about the hands since I don't play ITG or the like, but they also look like they'd be hard for a 14.

B4U Challenge Special
...where did the dashes go? Anyway...DO NOT MAKE 16TH SPINS AT 155 BPM THAT'S ABSURD. That's the kind of thing you'd only see in a 19. Also most of the synchronization is just completely bonkers anyways. Sometimes you step to stuff that's there, sometimes you step to stuff that doesn't exist, and sometimes you don't step to stuff that'd make perfect sense to step for a harder chart. The 24ths make no sense whatsoever, it's a single sound not 4 quick sounds. The stepjumps make no sense as well and don't look like they'd be any fun to play on foot. The hand jump out of nowhere at the end also feels out of place when there were no hands anywhere else in the song.

B4U(B4-ZA BEAT MIX) -Challenge Special-
This chart pretty much has the same problems as the regular B4U CS but minus a few issues and just not as badly. Work on synchronization some more.

BOOM BOOM DOLLAR (K.O.CS Special)
...this is a title. First off, think about how "K.O.CS" would be pronounced. Don't do that. Second, CS Special...Challenge Special Special...what? ...anyway the chart. The spins don't feel fun. Also all of the hard parts literally just feel like halfway through making a 13 you decided it should be a 16 suddenly and needed to make steps that push it up that hard, logic be damned. If you wanted a tricky chart for this song, you could just use 8th stepjumps for the BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM parts and it would make a lot more sense. The 16ths on "More time" are silly, please don't do that. The crossovers at the end feel like they belong in an 18 instead of a 16.

BUTTERFLY (UPSWING MIX) -Challenge Special)
...title needs some fixing. Anyway the chart could use some work but it's at least better than most of the charts I've played to this point. Some of the 16ths should be removed. If you want some extra 16ths so that the difficulty doesn't spike when the synth comes in, you could always synchronize to the drums. Speaking of the synth, what's up with the freeze arrows? They don't add anything to the chart except for a small distraction that'll just throw people off and annoy them. Also, some of the spins should be toned down a bit. Overall, if things are fixed in this chart I could actually see this being pretty fun.

CAPTAIN JACK (GRANDALE REMIX) -Challenge Special-
It's really weird that you have it start at a different point in the song than in DDR. I don't think it really adds anything to the experience. It's not a bad thing though, just a strange choice. Anyway, I actually find the lift gimmick in this chart interesting, but why is it only used properly early on? The fake gimmick (ESPECIALLY WHEN COMBINED WITH THE LIFT GIMMICK) is just annoying. Also the synchronization is bonkers as usual for your 18s. At this point I'm wondering, is this supposed to be a DDR style pack or an ITG style pack? It's getting pretty strange to see charts that follow DDR rules straight forwards and then ones that follow ITG rules instead.

Dragon Blade -Challenge Special-
It's not horribly bad? It feels like a KONAMI chart, but not in a good way. Mix between overstepped and understepped. Has a few weird parts where you play backwards for a bit that I'm not sure is intentional or not. Overall just mediocre but not horribly bad.

Healing Vision (Angelic Mix)(Challenge Special)
This...why is this a 16 exactly? And why is it now following DDR rules with a shock arrow style chart when you were doing ITG mine stuff before? I have many questions and no answers. Anyway, the chart is just as confusing and strange as the original chart for this song only now there's annoying shock arrows that nobody likes. If used right they can be fun, but if just thrown in the middle of streams it's not that great. I don't have the time to figure out if there's horrible doublestepping or if this is just like the original and had loads of spins and backwards playing for no apparent reason. This chart should be a 13 and not a 16, it doesn't do anything new or harder than the original chart for this song. Also, if you want a hard chart for this song, why on earth are you not synchronizing to the drums?

Healing Vision -Epic Challenge Special-
NEVER PUT ARROWS THAT CLOSE TO MINES/SHOCK ARROWS EVER. Also no clue what I'm stepping to at any point. This chart makes no sense.

Healing-D-Vision -Challenge Special-
...a 20, here we go...
uh.
okay.
Um...what did I just play? This feels more like a joke chart like NewbStepper(z-I-v)/hnkul702(Youtube) would make in her terrible edit series. The crossovers at the end of this song were already legendary for how hard they were, so lets make them afronova walks you say. That's just a little bit insanely absurd. Oh and there's loads of arrows that go to nothing in the song and only exist to make it harder to play and to read! I don't like this chart at all. You should prioritize charts that make sense of charts that are just hard for the sake of hard. If there's enough notes in the song itself to warrant a 20, then sure, make a 20, but this 100% is not the song to do it on.

HIGHER(next morning mix) -Challenge Special-
The chart started out okay I guess, but then there were gallops that made no sense, lots of awkward crossovers and such, and it just didn't flow right. A few notes are off sync. It's not fun, but again not as maddeningly nonsensical as some of the others.

HYSTERIA 2001 -Challenge Special-
Has the usual sync problems of these charts. In particular, you have loads of 12ths where there should be 16ths instead. Also you have an issue at measure 7 where you either doublestep or play backwards until measure 10, which I'm guessing and hoping is a mistake since there's nothing else like that in this chart.

MAX 300 Challenge Special
Suffers from the exact same problems as Healing-D-Vision with some extra unfun gimmicks thrown on top. Not much else to say, seriously make charts to be fun instead of to be hard.

MaxX ResurrexXion -Challenge Special-
Sync problems, weird and annoying crossovers, etc etc. I'm starting to sound a bit like a broken record by now.

MAXX UNLIMITED (Challenge Special)
You know that people can't jumpjack that fast right? Also you couldn't seem to decide on a gimmick for this song so you just threw in several gimmicks that don't fit together well at all. Yet again you have excessive crossovers just scattered all throughout the song.

NO LIMIT(RM Remix) -Challenge Special-
WHAT THE HELL IS MEASURE 28 WHY IS THIS IN A 17 WHAT.
Anyway, this shares the same problems as your 20s just in an easier song. There's really nothing else to say.

RHYTHM AND POLICE (K.O.CS Special)
If you want 16th bursts, the drums have the sync potential for that. The jacks make no sense. Measures 12, 16, 53, and 57 all should go 16th Burst, 16th Burst, 16th Burst, and then 12ths instead of being 12ths all the way through. The worst part about the sync is that not only does it make no sense but it's also inconsistent in what it wants to do with the parts you couldn't get right.

Silent Hill (X-MAS SPECIAL)
The jumps don't fit this song at all. The jacks make no sense. Loads of unnecessary freezes.

Star Gate Heaven (FUTURE CHALLENGE SPECIAL)
Most of the 16ths don't make sense, most of the jumps don't make sense, most of the chart doesn't make sense.

SUPER STAR (FROM NONSTOP MEGAMIX) -Challenge Special-
Most of the 32nds make no sense (a few do though) but more importantly the chart just eventually becomes pretty much nonstop 16ths. Early on, many of the 16ths also make completely no sense. At the end where there's loads of 16ths many of them are stepped where there's breaks in the rap, though that's not always the case.

The Legend of MAX Challenge Special
The original chart of this song didn't make much sense, and this just feels like that but with even more arrows that don't go to anything. The slowdown part is absolutely absurd.

THEME FROM ENTER THE DRAGON (notorious challenge special)
What's with the arrow at the start? Also how do you even mess up measure 32 like that? The only sound is the one you're trying to sync to, but you're an 8th off. aaaanyway as for the rest of the chart, the flow is weird and the repeating 16th bursts don't fit the song very well and neither do the streams.

Tino's White Horse -challenge special-
Past the opening, many of the 16ths are offsync. Some of them fit, but plenty of them are off. The gallops are really weird since it'd be much more fun and challenging to, you know, step to the song.

TRIP MACHINE
...nothing special I guess? Anyway, this chart has really weird sync as with all of these charts, and it seems to try to be a TRIP MACHINE style chart without fully understanding both what the original chart did right and what it did wrong.

TRIP MACHINE PhoeniX Challenge Special
The BPM changes and stops are all placed really weirdly. The steps after the jumps aren't reasonable to do on foot properly. The steps make as little sense as ever other chart.

WILD RUSH (FROM NONSTOP MEGAMIX) -Challenge Special-
What is up with measures 25 through 32? It looks neat I guess but it's not fun to play and it's also done improperly so the rest of the song is thrown slightly off sync. The steps don't go to the song properly anyways though, so it's not really made much different in the end. The jacks don't go to anything, lots of the jumps are silly.

Butterfly -Challenge Special-
It's the same issues. Odd crossovers that are too fast for the difficulty. 16ths that don't make sense. So on so forth.

~Conclusion~
Hopefully this tells you in more detail what you can improve on. The biggest takeaway from this is don't worry about the difficulty right away but instead focus on making a chart that always steps to something that's actually happening in the song. Also please don't replace the graphics if you're not extremely good at making them.