Keyboard style is much more accessible and easier to play, but the learning curve is rather sharper than other rhythm games.Ĭurrently, there's dozens of websites for the game, and standalone games have been made off of it such as In the Groove (and its Spiritual Successor games Pump It Up Pro, Infinity, and StepManiaX), Mungyodance, Pulsen, and Rhythm Horizon. Either Pad (like how one would play DDR) or Keyboard, KB for short (like how one would play other rhythm games like beatmania or Keyboardmania).
Charting the arrows takes enough time and skill, but syncing the chart to the music properly is a big hurdle as well, and extremely difficult for songs played by a band that change subtly in tempo. Since the notechart for each song has to be made first before playing it, unless one goes online and looks for simfiles, downloads them and puts them on the game, and then you have to hope that the simfile is good. The one thing that gets people playing is the fact that any song can be put into the game and be playable, but sometimes this doesn't work out so well. The unique thing about it is that it's fully customizable, from the theme setup to the notes during gameplay to even the game's metrics. StepMania is a free Pump It Up and DanceDanceRevolution simulator for any operating system.
