History VideoGame / Stepmania

* FakeDifficulty: Often unintentional.

* HarderThanHard: Default names for each difficulty level, from hardest to easiest, are: Challenge > Hard > Medium > Easy > Beginner with Edit charts usually being harder than Challenge.

** There are many different difficulty scales, ranging from the standard ''DDR'' or '''ITG''' scales, to the notes per minute scale to even making the easiest chart in the pack a 1 and the hardest a 10. The ''Dance Dance Revolution'' community has also largely shifted to the 1-20 ratings used since ''DDR X''.
* {{Retraux}}: 3.9's standard theme is a variation of the [[VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution DDRMAX]] user interface.
* SelfImposedChallenge: You can increase the rate at which the song is played, increasing the BPM and making it harder. Then there's increasing the judgement level all the way up to Justice.

There are several mainline versions currently in use; 5.0.12 is the current stable release, while a beta version known as 5.1 has some minor quality-of-life additions. There is also a version in development known as 5.3, which is focusing on major internal improvements.

%% * AnnouncerChatter: Only if the player wishes it via packs.

** '''''Justice'''''. For reference, the difficulty right below it shrinks the timing window down to 1/3 their normal size. '''''Justice''''' shrinks it down to 1/5th normal timing window, leaving a timing window of +/- 0.036 of a second to get anything other than a miss (comparable to the Perfect timing windows in DDR). It also makes it to where if you lift your foot off the pad during a freeze note (or hit a roll), [[FakeDifficulty you will automatically drop the note]]. Judgerank 8 is bearable, '''''Justice''''' is considered impossible by all but a select few that get shunned on every community.

%% * SturgeonsLaw: Jesus Christ on a stick, the FakeDifficulty in some simfiles.

* UnwinnableJokeGame: Hentai Sweedevibe, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj14MynHt5I Dear Arch]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBIScSnL2mw Right Type of Mood]] among other simfiles, whether they are designed to be either awful on purpose or just plain awful (see SturgeonsLaw).

** On a pad: The definition of "paddable" has hyperinflated with the rise of new, better and better players (associated particularly with the stamina community). Mad Matt passed an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp54qbnotiA 18 footer]] in 2011, with 16 steps per second. By 2020 the best players had reached [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oTHABljsWk 29 footers]], with over 20 steps per second (for comparison, Max 300 streams run at 10).

** Speaking of keyboard charts, every "Vibrajacking" pack is hard. The difficulties start at 10 and a select few go up to 23. Of course, that isn't as impressive as it was back then either.

* UnwinnableJokeGame: Hentai Sweedevibe, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj14MynHt5I Dear Arch]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBIScSnL2mw Right Type of Mood]] among other simfiles, whether they are designed to be either awful on purpose or just plain awful (see SturgeonsLaw). And not even perfect [=AutoplayCPU=] could pass Dear Arch.

** On a pad: During the last few years the definition of "paddable" has hyperinflated with the rise of new, better and better players (associated particularly with the stamina community). Mad Matt has passed an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp54qbnotiA 18 footer]]. Even 16 steps per second isn't all that fast for the best (for comparison, Max 300 streams run at 10).

** Speaking of keyboard charts, every "Vibrajacking" pack is hard. The difficulties start at 10 and a select few go up to '''''23!'''''

Currently, there's dozens of websites for the game, and standalone games have been made off of it such as ''VideoGame/InTheGroove'' (and its SpiritualSuccessor games ''[[VideoGame/PumpItUp Pump It Up Pro]]'', ''Infinity'', and ''[[https://stepmaniax.com StepManiaX]]''), ''VideoGame/{{Mungyodance}}'', ''[[http://store.steampowered.com/app/340960/Pulsen/ Pulsen]]'', and ''[[https://www.rhythmhorizon.com Rhythm Horizon]]''.

Currently, there's dozens of websites for the game, and standalone games have been made off of it such as ''VideoGame/InTheGroove'' (and its SpiritualSuccessor games ''[[VideoGame/PumpItUp Pump It Up Pro]]'', ''Infinity'', and ''[=Step ManiaX=]''), ''VideoGame/{{Mungyodance}}'', ''[[http://store.steampowered.com/app/340960/Pulsen/ Pulsen]]'', and ''[[https://stepmaniax.com StepManiaX]]''.

** '''''Justice'''''. For reference, the difficulty right below it shrinks the timing window down to 1/3 their normal size. '''''Justice''''' shrinks it down to 1/5th normal timing window, leaving a timing window of +/- 0.036 of a second to get anything other than a miss. It also makes it to where if you lift your foot off the pad during a freeze note (or hit a roll), [[FakeDifficulty you will automatically drop the note]]. Judgerank 8 is bearable, '''''Justice''''' is considered impossible by all but a select few that get shunned on every community.

** On a pad: During the last few years the definition of "paddable" has hyperinflated with the rise of new, better and better players (associated particularly with the stamina community). Mad Matt has passed an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp54qbnotiA 18 footer]]. Even 16 steps per second isn't all that fast for the best (for comparison, Max 300 steams run at 10).

* AscendedGlitch: The infamous "negative BPM" bug which could be exploited to cause "warps" in a chart, which could be used for all sorts of interesting effects. The 4.0 branch unfortunately fixed this bug, but the fork sm-ssc (later merged back in as "VideoGame/StepMania 5") adds a new element called a "Warp" (along with "fake" arrows) which can be used for emulating this behavior in a more future-proof manner.

** Stepmania 3.95, [=OpenITG=], and beyond allows [=AutoplayCPU=] to be accessed during normal gameplay (other versions are used for demo only). This allows score records to be made. Furthermore, it is possible to set [=AutoplayCPU=] to perform 100% Marvelous/Fantastics by modifying AI.ini.

** In addition to all the stuff ''VideoGame/InTheGroove'' had in Marathon Mode AND [[AscendedGlitch Negative-BPM/Warp shenanigans]], a portion of the engine's core is exposed to a Lua API (partially on 3.95, and even more so on 5.0.x), so Lua scripts can be embedded ''within'' songs using the background animation system as a backdoor. Thus, not only can you manipulate the normal modifiers, you can also re-position screen elements and the notefield ''itself'', and even ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyyuqB5anOY embed minigames right into songs]]''. The ability to place elements of background animations in the foreground has also been heavily utilized in such simfiles, often in tandem with other forms of scripting. Perhaps the most well-known example of such a "mod file" as of 2016 is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kGi9LE21dU TaroNuke's "Megalovania"]], which is just as deviously difficult as its [[VideoGame/{{Undertale}} source material]] (it's safe to say that, by the song title alone, this is a major ''Undertale'' spoiler).

* LevelEditor: An in-game tool is used to author stepcharts.

** On a pad: During the last few years the definition of "paddable" has hyperinflated with the rise of new, better and better players. Mad Matt has passed an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp54qbnotiA 18 footer]]. Even 16 steps per second isn't all that fast for the best (for comparison, Max 300 steams run at 10).

** There are many different difficulty scales, ranging from the standard 10 and up scale to the notes per minute scale to even making the easiest chart in the pack a 1 and the hardest a 10.

** [=OpenITG=] has a fork of its own, [=NotITG=], made by the aforementioned [=TaroNuke=]. It is oriented primarily towards enhancements for InterfaceScrew songs, including additional modifiers, enhancements to the playback mode in the song editor, backporting the [=ActorFrameTexture=] API from 5.0, as well as adding the ability to load [=OpenGL=] shaders.

** The Etterna build of ''5'', which serves as a very streamlined fork with features from other contemporary rhythm games, including a pacemaker and virtually no lag.

Currently, there's dozens of websites for the game, and commercial games have been made off of it such as ''VideoGame/InTheGroove'', ''VideoGame/{{Mungyodance}}'', ''[[VideoGame/PumpItUp Pump It Up Pro]]'', ''[[http://store.steampowered.com/app/340960/Pulsen/ Pulsen]]'', and ''[[https://stepmaniax.com StepManiaX]]''.

The latest version, [=StepMania=] 5.0.10, can be downloaded from [[http://www.stepmania.com/download/ the official site]].

Currently, there's dozens of websites for the game, and commercial games have been made off of it such as ''VideoGame/InTheGroove'', ''VideoGame/{{Mungyodance}}'', ''[[VideoGame/PumpItUp Pump It Up Pro]]'', ''[[http://store.steampowered.com/app/340960/Pulsen/ Pulsen]]'', and the upcoming [[https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154346537347204&set=a.186890022203.139348.703377203&type=3&theater StepManiaX]].

** [=OpenITG=] has a fork of its own, [=NotITG=], made by the aforementioned [=TaroNuke=]. It is oriented primarily towards enhancements for InterfaceScrew songs, including additional modifiers, enhancements to the playback mode in the song editor, and backporting the [=ActorFrameTexture=] API from 5.0.