Rhythm game questions/answers and advice!

[estvs]

hi!

i saw there was a general rhythm games discussion thread, but i always want people to get more into rhythm games (even if they play them already), so thought to make a thread where specifically people:
ask questions, give/receive advice, agonize about game specific struggles, share resources,.. etc!.. thought it might be nice to have all of that info in one place!

i find they can be a bit intimidating to get into playing and even just talking about since a lot of content for any rhythm game is people getting full combos on high difficulty charts.. (not to say that's a bad thing, it's quite the opposite lol)
so i wanted there to be another place on the net where you can get tips and advice that aren't just basically "play more, get better".. since i think there absolutely has to be more constructive comments to make besides that (even if playing a lot is still a big part of improvement!!)

whether you're trying to find a game you saw years ago, want to share your favorite hand stretches, or have hit an improvement wall... feel free to sound off!
no reason to worry about sounding silly here! every thing in existence is a part of the process!

also, another one of the reasons i thought to make a thread like this is because i'm in the early phases of making a rhythm game specific website where i plan on making a beginners guide/advice area and a general resource area.. so i'm kind of trying to feel out the sort of things people are wondering about and would like to see on that..
so.. as an additional thing, if you have anything you'd think to want on that, or something you think would be cool on a rhythm game based site in general... let me know!

[Zero Kirby]

Definitely some tips on latency would be an absolute must for any guide on rhythm games because they live and die on how well the audio, the video, and the player are all synched up. For reference, I first played Hi-Fi RUSH on a setup that had a little bit of audio latency. It was still really fun, but I couldn't really get the hang of staying on-beat through the whole thing (though being distracted by talking to my co-commentator probably also didn't help).

Then I played on a setup that had no (or at least much less) latency and wowee-zowie I was nailing Just Timings and parries and started rocking through Hard Mode like nobody's business - I was even able to beat Kale on Rhythm Master fairly easily, which was very satisfying after he killed me a billion times on my first playthrough, ha ha ha

So yeah, latency is a big deal - whether it be because you're using an audio processor like VoiceMeeter or playing through a device like an Elgato and viewing in OBS, even the tiniest amount of delay can throw the whole thing off and make the game close to impossible.

A good guide for importing songs into Dead as Disco would be pretty cool too but I think there's plenty of resources for that

[sparrowweaver]

I just stumbled on this post late at night, so sorry if this is incoherent. I don't know if it's even possible, but I would love to see a catalogue that categorises rhythm games based on how they feel to play. I used to play Love Live, and on the expert and master maps, the rhythms don't really fit the tune of the song: they mostly lay down their own beat, and every time you click there's a little tambourine sound, so it really feels like playing percussion along to the song. This is very different to something like project sekai, where the flow of the map mostly traces the main tune. And it's different again to hard rhythm games like geometry dash and a dance of fire and ice, where the song is specifically designed to trip you up, and you have to memorise every twist and turn, so it's really satisfying when you do.

I have no idea what categories would be useful to other people, but I'd love to use a list with keywords that described the "game feel" to find new rhythm games!

[Roxie / Eight !]

Specific, but what would be the best or a better way to play the playstation 1 and 2 Pop'n Music games? I am currently playing them with 5 keys on my keyboard positioned like how the arcade cab buttons are but it's not that great to play on for me, and would like to know some better alternatives. Other than buying a controller which I can't do atm.