The DDRNL glossary

[Thumbsy]

After Nel's suggestion, I decided to create this little thread to collect any abbreviations and terms that might leave newcomers pondering

The list will mostly be limited to abbrevations/terms related to DanceDanceRevolution, In The Groove and StepMania, and also generally limited to things that are relevant to us as DDRNL members.
I will attempt to keep this updated at all times, if there are any abbreviations or terms you've come across that you couldn't figure out or if you think something's missing/incorrect/improvable, let it be known and the list shall be updated!

Abbreviations

• DDR = DanceDanceRevolution Note: older releases separated the three words, newer releases concatenate them. Known as 'Dancing Stage' with the older releases for Europe.
• DDRNL = DanceDanceRevolution Netherlands Not like anyone on here would mistake us for some Germany-related forum or something though lmao
• FC = Full Combo
• ITG = In The Groove
• KB = Keyboard
• PA / FA = Perfect Attack / Fantastic Attack
• PFC = Perfect Full Combo
• PSMO = PARANOIA survivor MAX Oni
• SDG = Single Digit Great(s)
• SM = StepMania Note: Any number suffixes refer to the software version (i.e. SM3.9 / SM4 / SM5)

Terms

• Black flag: A full combo with only 1 great. As painful as it is impressive.
• (Step)chart: The collection of notes that belongs to a certain difficulty in a playable song.
• Crossover:
  A move that (when performed correctly) makes the player turn their (lower) body (-)90° from the screen. The four basic crossover patterns are as follows:
  Basic crossover downleft:
  

  [+] SPOILER!

  
  
  

  
  
  Basic crossover downright:
  

  [+] SPOILER!

  
  
  

  
  
  Basic crossover upleft:
  

  [+] SPOILER!

  
  
  

  
  
  Basic crossover upright:
  

  [+] SPOILER!

  
  
  

• Double step:
  A pattern where the player is forced to hit two different steps with the same foot (lest they end up backwards relative to the screen).
  This can be an error made by the the creator of the chart, but it can also be an intentional one to fit in with the music.
  A lot of players who want to save energy make use of double stepping to avoid having to perform a crossover.
• Foot switch:
  A pattern where the player is forced to hit the same target with two different feet one after another.
  It wasn't a known technique in the initial games, but was discovered by a few step editors in the online community.
  They are often used as alternatives to regular jacks, but unlike jacks, foot switches can easily be implemented in fast paced streams as well.
  Foot switches only apply to the UP or DOWN panels, but in doubles, they can be applied to any panel, except for P1 LEFT and P2 RIGHT.
• Gimmick:
  A visual manipulation of the way the targets are scrolling throughout the screen achieved through BPM changes and/or stops, which can add difficulty to a chart or create an effect to accentuate a certain part of the song. See here for a more detailed explanation. Example of song in DDR with lots of gimmicks
• Jack:
  A sequence of two or more steps in the same directions.
• Oni: The Japanese name for the Challenge difficulty in older DDR games, which is the hardest difficulty available. The equivalent of ITG's Expert difficulty.
• Perfect Attack / Fantastic Attack:
  The act of trying to get as many perfects/fantastic judgements as possible (in other words, trying to score as high as possible). Can be used with any type of judgement (for example 'Great Attack').
• Perfect Full Combo: Getting a full combo with only perfect judgements (or better).
• Simfile: A set of files that together compose a playable song for use in software such as StepMania.
• Single Digit Great(s): Getting less than ten greats on a song.
• (The) Swipe:
  A move that lets the player hit a jump consisting of opposite directions (i.e. up-down & left-right) using only one foot, realized by quickly hitting the two arrows after each other slightly before and after the jump respectively. This forces the player to 'swipe' their foot across the pad. Coining of the term originated from DDRNL competitions at Dutch conventions where advanced players would join the Light competitions, handicapping themselves by playing with just one foot (letting the other foot rest on one of the corner panels of the pad) in a humorous attempt to mitigate the (often) relatively low amount of participants in the light competitions.
• Stream:
  Any section of a chart that consists of a continuous consistent flow of notes. Generally, the term 'stream' is only used for patterns running at higher speeds.

For more exotic/specific terms, please check out the individual lists provided in this thread by various members:
Miscellaneous terms/abbreviations, mostly old-school
ITG/DDR Scoring and ranking + stepchart terms

[dawnmage]

O cool. I am a player for around 3 years and dident know some of these things.

[Marissa]

There used to be a glossary like this on DDRUK, it was really good. Too bad DDRUK is gone

Here's some I know, maybe a bit old-school:
Perfect Attack (PA)
Trying to get as many Perfects as possible on a song. Related: Fantastic Attack (on ITG), Great Attack, etc.

Single Digit Great (SDG)
Getting less than 10 greats on a song. This means you did really well and are close to a perfect score. Some players think it's required to also get a Full Combo on a song to count it as an SDG. On ITG, the term Single Digit Excellent also exists.

Black flag
Getting only 1 great on a song.

Groove Radar
In DDR, a set of five properties that determine the difficulty of a song: stream, voltage, chaos, air and freeze. These are visualized like a radar:


Stream
The average amount of arrows per minute, also known as the step density. Songs that have a constant flow of arrows have a high Stream.

Voltage
The step density of the measure with the most steps. Songs that have portions that are much faster than the rest of the song have a high Voltage.

Chaos
The amount of arrows that are not 1/4th or 1/8th measures. A song with many offbeat arrows, like Bag, has a high Chaos.

Air
The amount of jumps (two or more arrows at the same time) in a song. A song like The Legend of Max Heavy has a high Air.

Freeze
Arrows that you have to hold to get a full score.

Catastrophic
The old name for songs of difficulty 9. Also knows as Cata.

Cata plus
Anything higher than a Cata, so a 10 or higher difficulty.

Oni
The Japanese name for Challenge, the difficulty above Heavy.

PSMO
The most difficult song on DDR Extreme. Stands for Paranoia Survivor Max Oni.

Flashing Ten
On some DDR releases, very difficult songs will show as 10 flashing feet. This means they are even harder than normal 10 difficulty songs. Comparable to difficulty 11 (or 12) on ITG.

[Wastum]

Good thread! I'll just add some as well
Scoring and Rankings
Dance Dance Revolution
AAAA: The highest possible rank on a DDR song. This can be achieved by passing a song with nothing but Marvelous hits. This can ofcourse only be obtained if Marvelous scoring is actually enabled, which isn't the case in every DDR edition. Since getting an AAA is already hard enough to get, most people aim at getting AAA's.
AAA: An AAA is the highest possible rank in any DDR game that doesn't have Marvelous scoring available. It is achieved when the player passes a song with nothing but Perfect hits.
AA: An AA is the best score a player can achieve when they don't have a full perfect combo. Getting this score on the last song of a credit unlocks extra stages in most DDR games.
E: This means that the player failed to pass the song.

Marvelous: 100% accurate hit. Restores your life bar.
Perfect: Most accurate hit when Marvelous is not enabled or available. Restores your lifebar
Great: Stepping a little too early or too late. Does not influence your lifebar.
Good: Stepping way too early or too late. Does not influence your lifebar, breaks your combo.
Miss: Missing an arrow completely. Drains your lifebar, breaks your combo.

Good: Succesfully holding a freeze
Boo: Letting go of a freeze too soon.

In The Groove
Quad Star: The highest possible rank on an ITG song. This can be achieved by passing a chart with nothing but Fantastic hits, without hitting any mines and without dropping any holds.
Tristar / Trip: Achieved by getting a score between 99.00 and 99.99%
Double Star: Achieved by passing a chart with a score between 98.00 and 98.99%
Star: Achieved by passing a chart with a score between 96.00 and 97.99%
F: This means that the played failed to pass the chart.

Fantastic: 100% accurate hit. Restores your life bar.
Perfect: Most accurate hit when Marvelous is not enabled or available. Restores your lifebar
Great: Stepping a little too early or too late. Does not influence your lifebar.
Decent / Way Off: Stepping way too early or too late. Does not influence your lifebar, breaks your combo.
Miss: Missing a step completely. Drains your lifebar, breaks your combo.

Blue Combo: Also known as a Full Fantastic Combo. The combo display turns blue when the player only has Fantastic hits from the very beginning.
Gold Combo: Also known as a Full Excellent Combo. the combo display turns gold when the player only has Fantastic or Excellents hits from the very beginning.
Greeen Combo: Also known as a Full Combo. The combo display turns greeen when the player has a full combo from the very beginning. This is not a standard feature in ITG, but is implemented in most modern themes like Groovenights and Simply Love.

Stepchart Contents and Play Techniques
Bracket Jump:
A step where three or more panels have to be simultaneously.
Bracket Jumps do not appear in DDR, but are widely used in ITG and PIU.

Candle
A note pattern where the player has to directly cross one foot to the up or down panel over the center of the pad.
This requires a greater step distant, adding to the difficulty.

Crossover
A note pattern where the player has to make a turn to hit a step that is in the opposite direction of the foot that has to be used.
This requires more movement, adding to the difficulty.

Double Step
A pattern where the player is forced hit two different steps with the same foot.
This can be an error made by the the creator of the chart, but it can also be an intentional one to fit in with the music.
A lot of players who want to save energy make use of double stepping to avoid having to perform a crossover.

Foot Swith
A pattern where the player is forced to hit the same target with two different feet one after another.
It wasn't a known technique in the initial games, but was discovered by a few step editors in the online community.
They are often used as alternatives to regular jacks, but unlike jacks, foot switches can easily be implemented in fast paced streams as well.
Foot switches only apply to the UP or DOWN panels, but in doubles, they can be applied to any panel, except for P1 LEFT and P2 RIGHT.

Gimmick
A visual manipulation of the way the targets are scrolling throughout the screen, which can add difficulty to a chart or create an effect to accentuate a certain part of the song. It can be created by combining tempo changes and stops, without actually modifying the rhytm and the rest of the chart. There are many different kind of gimmicks used.
- Stutters: The targets appear in a laggy way. This is achieved by upping the BPM for a little bit and compensating it with a stop.
- Waves: The targets appear to wobble over the screen. This is achieved by combining several speed ups and slowdowns.

Hold / Freeze
A note that has to be held for a certain amount of time.

Jack
A sequence of two or more steps in the same directions.

Jump
A step where two panels have to be hit simultaneously.

Mine
A note that should not be hit. Hitting it will drop your score and cut your lifebar. It does not break your combo, however.
It can be used to add difficulty to a chart, to accentuate a sound in the song or indicate a forced double step, a foot switch or a slow down.

Pattern
The way a certain portion of steps are placed. Patterns are mostly made to the way the music sounds.

Roll
A note that is very similar to a hold, but has to be tapped repeatedly for a certain amount of time.

Step
Where the player has to hit a specific step.
Can also be called an arrow or a note.

Tempo / BPM Change
A portion of a chart where the BPM is altered. Most of the times, it's cut in half or doubles to accentuate a heavy change of the pace in a song.
These parts are harder to read because the speed modifier does not dynamically change, unless a C-Mod is used.
A slowdown occurs when the BPM is lowered. The scrolling of the notes are slowed down and appear much closer to each other.
A speed-up occurs when the BPM is upped. The scrolling of the notes are sped-up, making it harder to repeat.
But it can also be mandatory if the song has an actual change in tempo.

Turn:
A pattern that forces the player to make a full 360 spin to hit all targets.
DDR has no turns, but they are very common in PIU and also appear in quite some ITG charts, though to a lesser extent.

[Thumbsy]

Wowow big big ups guys!
I've updated the first post, added a few more of my own as well. Just to make clear, I'm only putting stuff in the first post that are relevant for the new Dutch players of the present (you don't really come across old-school stuff as the Groove Radar and Catastrophic anymore these days so I'm leaving that for the 'further reading' at the bottom ). I've also left out some of the more general things such as 'BPM change' and 'Mine' since I assume most beginners will be able to figure out what these are on their own.

There used to be a glossary like this on DDRUK, it was really good. Too bad DDRUK is gone

There's still DDR Freak's dictionary! I think a lot of it was taken from DDRUK too (or perhaps it was the other way around, I don't know)

Turn:
A pattern that forces the player to make a full 360 spin to hit all targets.
DDR has no turns, but they are very common in PIU and also appear in quite some ITG charts, though to a lesser extent.

DDR is full of turns actually o: (or spins, as they're also commonly referred to). We're talking about the left-down-right-up-left-... kind of pattern right?

[Nel]

Thank you so much guys, this is so helpfull!

[Marissa]

DDR is full of turns actually o: (or spins, as they're also commonly referred to). We're talking about the left-down-right-up-left-... kind of pattern right?

Yeah, a chart like Butterfly has a few of them. However, they are just separate arrows so you're not forced to turn. ITG has freezes sometimes where the only way to not break a freeze is to turn your back to the screen (Bend your mind has a few), maybe Wastum means that.

[dawnmage]

some songs ar just plain evil. trip songs were you end up having your left feet at the right arrow end your outher up and than quickly have to do the revers or somthign in that order. realy dont like the songs that force a switch, but i like the songs that alow it and dont force it a excample of this is the Yataa song where you can turn on the spot. some songs alow the same but with jumps.

in the past i tought that freeze ment a sudden change in thempo. real fast and then suddenly freeze. got a few of those songs. you want to continue on the same rithem but sudenly the song changes and you are left wit a feet in the air.wile you are suposte to sudenly go slow. themo changes are hard for beginners even experianced players will find them hard to deal with if they do not know the song.

[Marissa]

some songs ar just plain evil. trip songs were you end up having your left feet at the right arrow end your outher up and than quickly have to do the revers or somthign in that order. realy dont like the songs that force a switch, but i like the songs that alow it and dont force it a excample of this is the Yataa song where you can turn on the spot. some songs alow the same but with jumps.

Honestly if you play Yatta without turning and doing the dance you shouldn't be playing it at all.

[dawnmage]

some songs ar just plain evil. trip songs were you end up having your left feet at the right arrow end your outher up and than quickly have to do the revers or somthign in that order. realy dont like the songs that force a switch, but i like the songs that alow it and dont force it a excample of this is the Yataa song where you can turn on the spot. some songs alow the same but with jumps.

Honestly if you play Yatta without turning and doing the dance you shouldn't be playing it at all.

wel the first time i dident notice that it was posible with that song... and dificultiy of that song does not matter principel stays the same dansing around on the spot, dooing the yatta dance. now its one of my go to songs if i am bored or am in a bad mood. the song always manages to chear me up (probebly becaus of the song,clip and sillynes of it all).